At 8:30, he reached the bus stand, waiting for the single bus he took every day. It reached at the same time as every day. He entered the bus; only a few people were in it. He sat in the same seat. While listening to music, he scrolled through a website, and there was a title called, "The Worst Place to Start a Game – The World of Infinity." He just clicked on the title.
Since the game offered many worlds to start with different stories and skill sets, when the site opened, it listed five places. These were the worst places to start since the difficulty level was very high and offered only old-level rewards, and most of the places were created by old players. Some were created by events. One thing important: if a player cleared a world, it would be given to the player who won it. That meant the world he entered was not cleared by anyone up to this day.
When he defeated the serpent, the way to enter the world was blocked. Only he could enter this world, and any other people could enter only by him. But this was not the end. He had just cleared one level. He must defeat the book to claim that world—the old player creator—then he could have the reward which the old player had left there.
There was a notification on the website saying, "Someone claimed the underground dungeon…" When he saw that notification, he clicked on it. When it popped up, there was a picture of his avatar slaying the serpent. The real name of the world was Underground Dungeon. Ah… he saw what people thought about the dungeon in that world. Many people and raid missions had tried to capture the world, but nothing worked. Now it was captured by a newbie, and people were leaving some comments.
At the bus stop, he left the bus, staring at the sun for a new day in his life. Soon he reached the library and began his usual job, checking books and monitoring people returning them. He took a cup of coffee from the machine and had time to drink it. He thought of visiting his mate there. While drinking, he walked to the other section of the library.
There, he saw him arranging books on the wooden shelf. He said, "Good morning," and received the same reply. He asked how college was going."It's fine… though."
After completing his job, he went to the staff room and took his bag, coming out."So, are you leaving now?""Yes, I have a lecture in the morning. I already informed the higher-ups about this. Bye…"
He was a really busy person; going to college was not that easy. He recalled his college life—he actually had a degree in computer science—and went back to the library hall.
The bell sounded through the library hall, and the clock showed 9:30. The library opened. There was no real timing for the library; it opened early when people liked to use it. There was also some conspiracy going on—the government opened their organizations at different times. It could be because of security. Cameras were at every corner in the capital. When something changed, it recorded it. In this modern era, there were so many hackers. To protect government property without being hacked, they used the opening and closing times and changes in the capital as data to change the servers, which was truly unpredictable. This way, the world intel had been secure for many years.
Soon the door opened. It was Lyra, as usual. He asked the same question: which book she was searching for. Today she was searching for Semiconductor: 21st Edition. He checked on the computer; it showed the book in the other room. Since it was newly launched, the hard copy had not yet been transferred here. He told her if she could wait for a moment, he would go and get the book.
Soon he went into the room and found the book in the new engineering section of E block. He took the book and came back, but she was not there. He was puzzled; she had probably left in the 10 minutes he was gone. He placed the book on the table, standing there for a while.
TWWKTWWWKTWEEEK
A notification sound from his phone rang. He soon took the phone out of his pocket and checked it. There was a message from Lyra:
"Sorry… but I have to go. An urgent message just arrived from the same email. I will meet you at the coffee shop in the evening. Please bring the book with you."
So this was the matter. Time was running; it was now 11:03. People slowly started leaving the library. He took a book from his reading list. Its name was The Great Fool of Era: Comedy Edition. This was an inserting book covering all important events in history but in a multiverse version. For example, in the third world war, the nuclear weapons were automatically taken over by aliens, which explained why no nuclear weapon was used. People wondered what had happened, but the government still claimed they had nuclear weapons. Many chapters covered how the world wars ended. There was no single evidence of how they ended because the information was off-limits to the public, and many tried to oppose the right to information—but people eventually forgot after a long time.
Time passed… Sunday hit its position straight up and then went down. Soon evening came.
His shift was about to finish. He packed up his bag, checked the timing, and left the library. There was a message on his phone with the address of the coffee shop; it was a different address than usual. He soon went to the address, which was in the west-side central district. Using the map, he found the place. It was a 20th-century coffee shop with tables and chairs from old times. He messaged to ask where she was.
While looking around, he saw a hand raised, calling him. When he looked carefully, it was Lyra, sitting right there. He soon went there and sat at the opposite chair. He opened his bag, took the book she had asked for, and handed it to her. Soon the waiter came. They both ordered black coffee. When the waiter went back to take it, she took out her smartphone, displaying some messages, and placed it on the table. She asked him to look at the message.