The world shimmered and dissolved around Alistair Finch, a name his parents, both professors of ancient history, had bestowed with perhaps too much scholarly enthusiasm. One moment he was hunched over his laptop, researching obscure Sumerian trade routes, the next he was sprawled on damp earth, the air thick with the scent of pine and something else… something wild and magical.
He scrambled to his feet, taking in his surroundings. Towering trees with luminous leaves cast dappled shadows on the forest floor. The air was crisp and clean, a stark contrast to the smoggy city he’d left behind. There were no sounds of traffic, no distant sirens – only the chirping of unseen creatures, their calls unlike anything he’d ever heard.
This was it. The isekai. And judging by the complete absence of any modern technology, he suspected he'd landed in a decidedly primitive era.
Alistair instinctively checked for the promised "cheat" ability. A mental prompt flickered in his mind: "Amazon Shopping (Books Only)". He groaned. Seriously? In a world that looked like it hadn’t invented the printing press – where the most advanced tool he’d likely see was a sharpened stick – his cheat was access to the largest online bookstore on Earth? And the kicker?
He needed money. Real-world money. The kind he currently didn’t have a lot of.
Days turned into weeks. He learned to forage for edible plants (mostly by trial and error, resulting in several unpleasant stomach aches) and avoid the glowing-eyed wolves that prowled at night. He encountered villagers who spoke a language he somehow understood, their clothes woven from roughspun cloth, their tools made of wood and stone.
Magic, he discovered, was real. He saw a wizened old woman mend a broken cartwheel with a flick of her wrist, sparks of blue energy dancing around her hands. This confirmed his initial assessment: Obelus was a land of fantasy and magic, seemingly untouched by technological advancement.
His frustration grew with each passing day. He had a portal to infinite knowledge, yet he couldn’t use it. He longed for even a book on basic survival, on the local flora and fauna, even a simple guide to the language. But every time he mentally accessed his skill, the same infuriating message popped up: "Insufficient Funds."
One evening, while huddled in a makeshift shelter, a creature with iridescent scales and razor-sharp claws attacked him. Fear lent him a surprising burst of adrenaline. He grabbed a sturdy branch and, remembering a documentary on self-defense, managed to fend it off, finally striking a lucky blow that sent it tumbling.
The creature dissolved into shimmering dust, leaving behind a single, fist-sized stone that pulsed with a faint inner light.
Alistair, remembering some isekai tropes about monster drops, cautiously picked it up. It felt strangely warm in his hand. He decided to try his skill again, just for the heck of it. He focused on the magic stone, then mentally accessed "Amazon Shopping." This time, a new prompt appeared: "Exchange Magic Stone?"
Hesitantly, he mentally agreed. A moment later, his mental interface showed a balance of… well, the number was so long he had to count the zeros. It was in the billions. Billions of Earth dollars. His jaw dropped.
He quickly searched for a random book – a hefty encyclopedia of medieval weaponry. The price was a mere fraction of his newfound wealth. He could buy… everything. Every book on Amazon. Multiple times over.
A wave of dizziness washed over him. This couldn't be right. A single monster stone worth more than the entire printed output of human history? It was absurd.
Then, a different thought struck him. He looked around at the village he’d briefly stayed in, at the eager, curious faces of the children who had peppered him with questions about the strange contraption he sometimes fiddled with (his phone, now useless). He remembered the old woman struggling with her broken cartwheel, the farmer lamenting the blight on his crops.
They needed knowledge, real knowledge, not just about magic, but about everything.
His skill wasn't meant for him to become some overpowered bookworm. It was a conduit. A ridiculously overpowered conduit, thanks to this world's bizarre economy. He could bring the accumulated knowledge of his world to this one.
Alistair smiled, a genuine, hopeful smile for the first time since his arrival. His frustration had evaporated, replaced by a sense of purpose he’d never felt back on Earth.
He might be stuck in a technologically backward world, but he held the key to its advancement, one book at a time. He still had a lot to figure out, like how to get these digital books into the hands of people who couldn’t read or didn’t have access to any form of technology.
But for the first time, Alistair Finch, the scholarly isekai protagonist, felt like he finally had a worthwhile quest. He was never going to be a hero. But his Amazon shopping skill, initially a disappointment, was about to become the greatest gift Obelus had ever received.
