Read ahead 5 chapter on patreon.
https://www.patreon.com/cw/Thanarit
199,999,999 / 200,000,000
Levi Warwick stared at the number floating in the air before him, his expression completely blank.
The counter had been there since the beginning. Always hovering at the edge of his vision. Always reminding him how impossibly far he had to go. He'd learned to ignore it most days, the same way you learned to ignore the ticking of a clock or the hum of a refrigerator.
Now it was almost done.
One book left.
He sat at his usual reading desk, the one positioned near the floating chandelier made of softly glowing stained glass. The same spot he'd occupied, on and off, for the past one hundred fourteen thousand, one hundred fifty-five years.
Before him sat the final volume.
A thick paperback with a cover so bright and garish it looked like it had been designed by someone who'd never heard of subtlety. The title blazed across the front in oversized silver font that sparkled when the light hit it just right:
YOLO LEVELING: A Novel About a Korean Hunter Who Levels Up Endlessly
Levi stared at it for a long moment.
"This is it?" he said aloud, his voice rough from disuse. "This is the last one?"
He leaned back in his chair, feeling a kind of exhaustion that had nothing to do with his body. Not that his body had changed at all. Over a hundred thousand years, and he hadn't aged a single second. No wrinkles. No gray hair. No subtle signs of time passing. He looked exactly the same as the day he'd clicked Send on that manuscript in his apartment.
And yet, inside, he felt impossibly old.
The Library had seen to all his physical needs. Food appeared when he was hungry, delivered by silent stone golems that looked like they'd been carved by someone with no sense of humor. His clothes stayed clean. The temperature remained comfortable. The lights never burned out.
He'd once asked the golems for a Michelin-star seafood platter from 2067 Tokyo, just to see if they could do it. They'd delivered it in under a minute, perfectly plated, still steaming.
He lacked for nothing except change. Except progress. Except anything that wasn't reading.
Time didn't move here the way it did outside. It dragged, slow and heavy, like trying to walk through water. Days blurred into months. Months into years. Years into centuries. Eventually, he'd stopped trying to keep track. The only thing that mattered was the counter, slowly ticking upward with every book he finished.
The only thing that had kept him from going completely insane was her.
"Meow."
A soft pressure against his leg brought him back to the present. Levi looked down.
The black cat had been with him from the very beginning. No matter where he went in the Library, no matter how far he wandered down impossible corridors or up floating staircases, she followed. She curled beside him when he slept. Rested on the corner of his desk while he read. Sat on his chest when he lay on the floor staring at nothing, reminding him that he still had a heartbeat.
She rubbed her head against his shin, purring.
Levi felt something tight in his chest loosen slightly. He reached down and scooped her up, cradling her against his chest. She settled immediately, tucking her head under his chin.
As he adjusted his grip, the small brass tag on her collar caught the light. He'd noticed it on the first day but had been too overwhelmed to pay attention. Now, after all these years, he finally read it properly.
Luna
The name was engraved in elegant script, like someone had known she'd be important long before Levi did.
"Luna," he murmured, testing the name. It fit perfectly. "That's a good name. Should've used it more often instead of just calling you 'cat' for the first thousand years."
Luna purred louder, as if approving of his belated recognition.
"You've been here the whole time," he continued, scratching gently behind her ears. "Even when I wanted to give up. Even when I couldn't remember what my own voice sounded like because I'd gone years without speaking."
Luna's purr rumbled warmly against his ribs, steady and comforting.
"Over a hundred thousand years," Levi said quietly. "I've read two hundred million books. I should be insane. I should be a gibbering mess. But I'm still here. Still me. Mostly because of you."
He kissed the top of her head and closed his eyes briefly.
"I think I'm finally going to be free from this nightmare, Luna. After all this time. I'm actually happy. Can you believe that?"
She looked up at him with those big yellow eyes and gave a soft, approving meow.
He smiled. A real smile, the first one in probably a decade.
Then he looked back at the book on his desk.
The smile faded slightly.
"You know," he muttered, "for all that dramatic talk about 'forbidden knowledge' and 'cosmic secrets,' this Library really pulled a fast one on me."
He picked up YOLO LEVELING, flipping through the first few pages with his free hand while Luna settled more comfortably in his other arm.
Page one: A seventeen year old hunter gets bullied at school and discovers he has a hidden ability.
Page two: Tutorial dungeon. Overly enthusiastic mentor character.
Page three: First goblin kill. Lots of exclamation points.
"This isn't forbidden knowledge," Levi said flatly. "This is just a web novel. A completely normal, generic web novel."
He glanced over his shoulder at the endless shelves.
"All of them were."
That was the real joke, the punchline to a century long setup.
For all its ominous warnings, all the mysterious atmosphere, all the cosmic grandeur, every single book he'd read had been a story. Fiction. Fantasy, sci-fi, romance, horror, drama, slice-of-life, cultivation novels, regression stories, tower climbing adventures. Some were brilliantly written. Some were barely coherent. Some he'd enjoyed. Many he'd suffered through.
But not a single one had been a grimoire. Not one contained actual spells or world-ending secrets or instructions for summoning demons.
They were just novels from worlds he would never visit, written by people he would never meet.
He let out a short, bitter laugh.
"Well, whatever. Doesn't matter now. I'm done either way."
He looked down at Luna, who was watching him with what seemed like infinite patience.
"You ready for this?" he asked.
"Meow," she replied, which he chose to interpret as yes.
He nodded, shifted her more comfortably in his lap, and opened the book to page one.
.
.
.
Six Hours Later
Levi closed the book slowly, carefully, like he was handling something fragile. He didn't slam it shut. Didn't throw it across the room in dramatic fashion. He just closed it the way you'd close the lid on a coffin after burying the last piece of your old life.
Then he stared at the cover for a long moment.
"Two hundred million," he said aloud, his voice dangerously calm. "Two hundred million books. And that was the last one."
He looked down at YOLO LEVELING and patted it gently, almost affectionately.
"You did your job, buddy. You were terrible, but you got me to the finish line."
He sank back into the oversized beanbag behind his desk, the one that had molded itself to his exact shape over the course of a hundred millennia. Luna immediately relocated from his lap to his chest, settling down like she'd always belonged there.
The Library was completely silent.
No alarms. No fanfare. No cosmic acknowledgment of what he'd just accomplished.
Just quiet.
Until:
DING.
A bright blue System window exploded into existence directly in front of his face with all the subtlety of a flashbang grenade.
CONGRATULATIONS!
You have completed the First Quest.
Levi didn't flinch. He'd learned a long time ago that flinching wasted energy.
He simply squinted at the window like it had just told him a particularly bad joke.
Did you miss me?
"No," Levi said flatly. "In fact, I forgot you existed. I told you to fuck off years ago, and life was genuinely better without you."
Ouch. You wound me.
"Not yet I haven't."
Still spicy after all this time. I appreciate the consistency.
Levi sighed, one hand automatically stroking Luna's fur. "Let me guess. You've been watching this whole time?"
Of course. I saw everything. Your breakdown in year 347. That romance trilogy binge in year 8,002. The questionable fanfiction phase between years 10,520 and 10,538.
"I told you we were never going to discuss Year 10,520."
And yet here we are.
Luna purred against his chest, a small island of peace in a sea of sarcasm.
Levi closed his eyes briefly. "At least one of you has been supportive."
Well, the important thing is you did it. You read every single book in the Library of Noctis.
"Took me over a hundred thousand years. And it wasn't fourteen million books like you originally said. It was two hundred million. You lied."
We adjusted the total as the multiverse expanded. Also, we honestly thought you'd give up or die. Most Librarians don't make it past year fifty.
"There were other Librarians?"
Were being the operative word.
Levi rubbed his face with his free hand. "Okay. Fine. What's my reward? Do I get to go home? Do I get my old life back? Do I at least get something useful?"
You get a job.
He opened his eyes. "Come again?"
You are now an Active Librarian. Your duties begin immediately.
"So my reward for surviving over a hundred thousand years of solitary psychological torture is more work?"
Correct! You'll get to meet Patrons from across the dimensions! Isn't that exciting?
"Oh, wonderful. Multiversal customer service. My dream came true."
Also, a Bonus Reward has been triggered.
Levi narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "If this is another reading assignment, I'm burning this entire library down."
Nope! Due to your exceptional endurance and persistent sarcasm, your first Patron will arrive shortly.
He sat up slightly, disturbing Luna, who gave him an annoyed look. "So I'm getting customers now? Plural?"
Double the responsibility! Double the purpose!
"Double the reasons to hate my existence."
Let's review your new responsibilities:
– Welcome the Patron to the Library.
– Ask them what they seek.
– Recommend the perfect book.
– Request payment.
Levi paused. "Wait. Payment?"
Correct. Any currency, item, or valuable object will be converted into Dimensional Crystals.
"And what do those do?"
You may exchange them for EXP or useful items from the Shop.
Levi stared at the screen. Then down at Luna. Then back at the screen.
"You're telling me I can earning rewards?"
Only after completing the First Quest.
"So I spent over a hundred thousand years reading for free like some kind of cosmic volunteer librarian, and now you're telling me there's a payment system?"
Yes.
"I hate you so much."
Noted.
Luna licked Levi wrist gently, offering what support she could.
Connecting Library to World #001: Valen. Genre: Classic Fantasy.
Levi stood slowly, setting Luna gently on the desk. He straightened his coat, which somehow still looked pristine despite being over a hundred thousand years old. He rolled his shoulders. Cracked his neck. Tried to remember how to interact with another human being.
"Alright," he said, his voice coming out steadier than he felt. "Let's meet our first interdimensional customer."
The marble floor trembled slightly beneath his feet. Dust that had been settled for millennia drifted down from the chandeliers. Somewhere in the distance, a book spine snapped shut with an audible crack of anticipation.
Then the doors, those massive stone doors that hadn't moved since the day Levi arrived, began to open.
They groaned like they were waking from a very long sleep. Golden light flooded the entrance, spilling across the floor in a warm wash of color.
And then a figure stepped through.
Red robes. Silver staff topped with a glowing crystal. Multiple rings on both hands, each one pulsing with subtle magic. Long silver beard that flowed down to his chest. The kind of posture that suggested he'd never slouched in his life.
He looked like he'd walked straight out of a fantasy novel. Which, given where they were, was probably accurate.
Levi squinted at him.
"A wizard."
He looked down at Luna, who had hopped down from the desk to stand beside him.
"Why is it always a wizard?"
Luna offered no opinion, just sat there looking smug.
First Patron successfully received.
Levi sighed deeply. "Alright. Let the cosmic book club begin."
Then another notification appeared, this one pulsing an angry red color that made his stomach drop.
SYSTEM WARNING
Never let the Patron see your fear. Never let them suspect you are weak. The Librarian must appear wise, calm, and powerful at all times.
REWARD: None.
FAILURE: DEATH.
Levi stared at the message, his mouth going dry.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" he muttered under his breath.
The word DEATH began to flicker brighter, like it was making sure he understood the stakes.
Luna meowed softly, as if to say, "You've got this."
Levi swallowed hard, straightened his spine, and smoothed down his coat one more time.
"Right. Wise and powerful. I can do that. Probably."
He took a breath, put on the most neutral expression he could manage, and walked forward to greet his first Patron in over a hundred thousand years.
Inside, he was screaming.
Outside, he looked perfectly calm.
Just another performance. Just another mask.
He'd gotten very good at those over the years.