Chapter 2
Chapter 2
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: Phantasmic Library: Celestia (1)
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Phantasmic Library: Celestia.
It was the name of a place that appeared in the sandbox game I used to play, [Celestia Maker].
A grand repository of knowledge created to store all the magic in the world.
The player, who served as its sole owner and chronicler, would take on the role of librarian, filling the shelves of Celestia with grimoires.
That was the core of [Celestia Maker].
And now, I had fallen right into the heart of that magical library from the game.
In a body whose very state—alive or dead—I couldn't even determine.
“...No matter how much I starve, I don’t feel hungry.”
A week had passed since I fell into the Phantasmic Library: Celestia.
In that time, I hadn’t consumed any proper food or water—not even one or the other.
For a normal human, this was about the point when danger signals should start appearing in the body.
Yet my current body showed no reaction whatsoever.
“...No matter how you look at it, it’s been over a week already. This isn’t a normal situation.”
It was a phenomenon that clearly exceeded the scope of my knowledge.
The limit for a person surviving without water is about three or four days at most.
And yet here I was, perfectly fine, wandering around inside the library.
This meant I wasn’t a human engaging in normal vital functions right now.
“At the very least, it’s proof that I’m not alive in the usual sense.”
Visually, I looked like an ordinary person, and I had no issues handling the grimoires in the library.
However, this was limited strictly to this mysterious magical library.
I had no confidence that I could maintain my current state once I left this place.
“...”
As I wandered the magical library, checking my condition, my gaze shifted toward a certain structure quietly situated at the center.
The entrance to the Phantasmic Library: Celestia.
There stood a massive door that anyone would recognize as such.
In a normal library, opening that door wide would reveal a passage leading straight outside.
I myself had already tried opening it once with that exact expectation.
Of course, the outcome had been far from ideal.
“Escaping the library is practically impossible.”
I had failed to exit the “Phantasmic Library: Celestia.”
Beyond the door lay a translucent barrier.
An impenetrable physical wall stood in my way.
But no matter how I thought about it, something was off.
The very fact that I had entered this place implied there had to be an entrance.
So it should serve as an exit too—yet for some reason, I couldn’t pass through that door.
“If there’s a way in, there has to be a way out. How the hell did I even get here in the first place?”
It was possible that no conventional method would allow me to leave this place.
However, that didn’t mean I could just hunker down here for a thousand years.
I had to figure out some way to escape this library.
Hmm—
Lost in thought, I picked up a sheet of paper from the table.
Then I took a pen and began writing something on it.
Scribble, scratch—
My hand moved busily across the paper, scrawling countless letters.
“...”
Tap.
I flicked the freshly written paper away with my fingertip.
After much deliberation, I had reached one conclusion.
“I’ve got time to kill, so let’s read some books.”
There might be clues among the volumes shelved here.
That was the decision I’d come to.
* * * * * *
A month had passed since I became trapped in the vast magical library.
In that time, I had uncovered several major and minor facts.
First, every grimoire in the library could be “used.”
To be precise, I had gained the ability to cast “magic” within this library.
I had become a wizard, something that had only existed in my imagination.
The grimoires I had authored in [Celestia Maker] all faithfully performed their functions.
The books here went beyond merely containing the content of the game’s grimoires—they operated in a manner strikingly similar to the game’s magic mechanics.
This was a huge boon for me, stuck inside the library.
“...The problem is that once my mana runs out, they’re useless.”
Second, that incredible discovery required its own fuel.
Just as an internal combustion engine won’t run without fuel, magic wouldn’t work without a special energy source.
Magic required mana—the power that drove it—to fully utilize the grimoires’ potential.
And replenishing that mana after depletion took a considerable amount of time.
Even the most powerful spells couldn’t be spammed indiscriminately.
“Still, this is no small gain. The rules for authoring grimoires don’t seem much different from the game’s, so if I keep researching, I might find a clue to escaping this place.”
Finally, I sensed a glimmer of possibility from the existence of magic.
My current body could survive without eating or drinking.
I didn’t even feel the need for sleep.
Whether calling this state “alive” was accurate, I wasn’t sure—but either way, it meant I had plenty of time.
Moreover, this library held numerous tomes I hadn’t fully explored yet.
The books given at the start of the game.
They weren’t quite grimoires, but volumes filled with magic theory—commonly known as the “tutorial guidebooks.”
Back when I first started the game, they’d been too difficult, so I hadn’t read them properly. But now, I felt the need to examine every book in this library.
“The only way out of here for me is magic. So I’ve got no choice but to dive into it headfirst.”
I’d always had a knack for authoring grimoires.
But now, I needed to push beyond that.
Magic alone would be the key to getting me out of here.
With that resolve, I decided to immerse myself in study for a while.
“Starting today, I’ll study magic for 23 hours a day.”
The miraculous magic study method, day one begins today.
Reaffirming that to myself, I picked up a pen from the library table.
* * * * * *
Phantasmic Library: Celestia.
A year had passed since I entered this vast magical library.
One year.
A long time if it was long, short if it was short.
During that year, I had devoted myself tirelessly to magical research.
And as a result, I succeeded in creating a “mana accumulation ritual” that stored vast amounts of mana in the library.
Even if my personal mana depleted, I could now draw on external mana reserves.
“The issue is how damn long this ritual is... I wonder if there’s room for streamlining.”
My initial goal when developing this magic had been to attach rituals to individual spells to minimize mana consumption.
But the finished product felt overly heavy and inefficient.
It took far too long for the magic to stabilize after activation.
Incorporating this into other spells would create excessive delays before they could even fire.
“But without it, research times would drag on forever. In that case, hmm...”
Scratch, scratch—
Using the pen in my hand, I jotted down an evaluation of the magic I’d just developed.
There seemed to be plenty of room for improvement.
But if I could refine it to sufficient efficiency, my magical research would gain serious momentum afterward.
After all, the whole point of starting this research was to use magic without mana limitations from the get-go.
“It feels like I’m almost there...”
The more I progressed in my magical research, the more I felt myself becoming a true mage.
Surpassing the walls before me wouldn’t be long now.
Clinging to that faith in myself, I diligently moved my pen.
“Yeah, I should work hard while I still can.”
Magic isn’t a miracle granted to just anyone.
Knowing that, I threw myself fiercely into the magical research before me.
* * * * * *
Five years passed.
At some point, I instinctively sensed that my magical prowess had broken through a wall.
Thanks to my steady continuation of magical research.
I had reached a respectable realm as a mage.
As a result, compared to when I first arrived, I now possessed vastly superior mana reserves.
“...”
The “mana accumulation ritual” I had developed also underwent countless refinements, beginning to exhibit exceptional performance.
Unless it was a grand-scale archmage spell, I could spam magic all day without issue.
My innate mana and the library’s accumulated mana—both were substantial.
Yet even after reaching this level, I wasn’t satisfied.
I felt myself drifting further from my original goal.
“Something... feels off about going on like this.”
As I researched magic, I gradually sensed my own humanity wearing away.
For over five years now, without eating or drinking, I had fixated solely on magical research.
A life spent 23 out of 24 hours a day devoted to magic.
What value could there be in such an existence?
I had a nagging feeling that if I continued like this, I’d break somewhere irreparably.
“Time to snap out of it. I haven’t even escaped the library yet—I can’t go insane already.”
Slap, slap—
After smacking my cheeks several times, I took in the grand vista of the Phantasmic Library: Celestia.
I needed different research.
Not research for magic’s sake, but research for my own humanity—magic for the sake of being human.
Useless magic.
And yet, magic for humanity.
I needed time for that.
“...Let’s eat some real food.”
The second goal I set after entering the magical library.
It was to eat food worthy of the name.