Explorer's Manual

It may seem like this is your first time here, but that's not exactly the case. We've known each other for quite some time, I mean, you from several years in the future and myself.

Let me tell you this: in the future, you live a life that you'll never regret and are a natural high achiever.

You've recognized your own uniqueness and many other important things in your life.

This is clearly reflected in how you've been living your life: you never bother comparing yourself to or competing with other people.

You just live the way you believe is the best for yourself, even if other people don’t see it that way. Your time is too precious to seek approval from or impress them.

If you don't believe me, then you'll have to wait several years to see if I'm right.

I'm the Firefly, the creator and also the guardian of this place. You are now in Memory Vale, the past of your future self. You will find in here everything your future self used to find.

The future is never set in stone. Depending on the decisions you make from now on, your future self can be better, the same, or even worse than the person I already know.

Your future self realizes this and wants to guide you to where they are, but they know the past is something they can no longer touch.

They can only believe in their past self (i.e., you) to figure out the right things on your own. The best they could do is to leave me a planner book for you. So, it's my duty to hand it to you properly.

That you are able to view this chapter means you have already received your planner book from me.

You can access it at any time by clicking tapping on the hamburger icon located at the top left corner of this site. The icon serves as a portal to the dimensional pocket I created to store and safeguard your planner book. Only I can unlock it for you.

This dimensional pocket will follow you to wherever you go, so you don’t need to take the trouble to bring your planner book with you when exploring Memory Vale.

Your planner book is essentially a regular notebook, but I took the liberty of making some modification to it to better serve your exploration in here.

I added teleportation links that would certainly come in handy for you, and also hid some tasks your future self had written in your planner book until the appropriate time comes for them to be revealed.

Instead of your physical body, it is your mind that does the exploration in here. That means, you cannot use your legs but ‘teleport’ yourself from one point to another in order to change places.

For that purpose, I added one teleportation link to your planner book’s cover, and as many links as needed to every task your future self had written down for you in the book.

You only need to click tap on the links to activate the teleportation function.

The link on the cover page will take you back to the front layer of Memory Vale. It’s where you first met me, in case you forget. As for that link, I placed it on the MEMORY VALE logo.

The logo can indicate if you are in the front layer of Memory Vale or not.

If you see it flickering, that means you are away from the front layer. Simply click tap on it to get yourself teleported back to the front layer.

On the other hand, if you don’t see it flickering, that means you are currently in the front layer. The link is not active simply because it has no job to do.

Meanwhile, the links on the tasks listed in your planner book will take you to the correct location to perform the selected task.

Once you arrive at the location, the task item will be temporarily crossed out and the link will be deactivated until you move to another location.

The planner book shows what your future self has done before and suggests that you do the same, serving as a guide for what you should be doing in Memory Vale.

However, since it is written by your future self, the book assumes that Memory Vale is already far more developed than it currently is.

To avoid complicating things, I then decided to temporarily hide some tasks that you aren’t still able to perform as Memory Vale hasn’t reached the state where those tasks can be performed just yet.

But don't worry, there is a proper order for everything, and we aren’t supposed to rush them. Just enjoy to the fullest what you can enjoy for now.

When you explore Memory Vale, you are not exploring physical places or objects.

Instead, you are walking through memories about people and their experiences in life - their joys, sorrows, struggles, triumphs, and moments of admiration.

These memories encompass everything they have seen, thought, heard, felt, and sensed, all of which have been captured and preserved within my own memories.

Simply put, Memory Vale is a mental archive that holds my memories of everything and everyone I have encountered (or rather, will encounter) on my journey to understand the deeper meaning of life and freedom.

It is through the exploration of these memories that you will discover new perspectives and draw inspiration to move forward with your life.

In general, there will be instructions you can follow in order to interact with objects on every page you visit.

Only when you explore this site using your personal computer or laptop, everything that you can interact with will glow and the cursor will turn into a pointer or a hand when you hover over the object.

While it's true that the exploration you'll be doing is mental in nature, you'll still need a device, either a computer or a mobile phone, to connect your mind to the virtual world and access Memory Vale.

And to ensure proper connection, it's important that you make sure your device screen is comfortable for you to look at.

The correct display settings will allow you to view any object along with the instruction, if any, in one screen.

If, for any reason, you find yourself needing to scroll down your device screen to view the object along with the instruction, you may want to go to the Settings option, navigate to Display settings, and then select the recommended scaling for your device under Scale and layout settings.

For your reference, if you are using a personal computer with Windows 10 OS, you can use these settings* to optimize your experience on Memory Vale:

This was mentioned in an earlier chapter - it's the space designed to store your planner book that can accompany you wherever you go.

It's incredibly convenient and you don't have to worry about losing it. Simply click tap on the hamburger icon to access it.

These are the meat and potatoes of your exploration in Memory Vale.

Notes or written files are the embodiment of my memories - capturing everything and everyone I have seen, observed, or interacted with.

They are what give you the means in here to connect with something you can neither see nor touch, from which you’ll draw new insights applicable to your life.

These notes may update themselves to reflect the evolving nature of my thoughts and feelings.

As their name implies, scattered notes are spread throughout Memory Vale, ensuring you will come across one during your exploration.

To read a note, you only need to click tap on it to pick it up and enter into ‘examine’ mode*. Just follow the instruction displayed.

There are basically five types of notes you can find in here, and I will explain each of them in brief.

1) Journal of thoughts**: Everything that’s going on in my mind, whether it’s reflecting on and making sense of what I’m experiencing, or simply expressing what pops into my head.

2) Diary of wonders**: All wonders I heard elsewhere or I encountered by myself in my journey. They may leave you wondering what else lies beyond what you already know.

3) Creator’s notes**: Notes that I intentionally created to communicate something to you that may need a relatively long explanation. I also use them to provide additional information to what has been shown in any entries of journal of thoughts or diary of wonders.

4) Post-it notes: Also the notes I intentionally created to communicate something to you. They are brief and only temporary. I post them on the cover page of your planner book every time there’s an update I want you to know.

5) Special files: Unclassified notes for special purposes. They are neither numbered nor archived. Some can only be found through links in other notes, while some may even not be linked to anywhere.

Archival gates do not take the shape of fancy big doors, nor are they entrances to anything, but still, they are kind of gates.

Archival gates look just like other regular documents. But unlike scattered notes, they do not exist by themselves, and they do not contain my thoughts or memories.

Archival gates exist because I intentionally created them with the sole purpose of gathering locations of all scattered documents in one place so that you can easily navigate through journals and notes as if they were not scattered over different locations in the first place.

However, I can only trace locations of journals and notes that are numbered and compile them in archival gates, so there are three archival gates in Memory Vale as of now: one for journal of thoughts, one for diary of wonders, and one for creator’s notes.

To get to the archival gates, you can use the teleportation links in your planner books. They will take you to the correct archival gate based on what you want to find.

This is a special device that I have created for you to ask me any general questions about Memory Vale. It's a custom-made device that you can only find here. You'll receive an answer from me based on the question you have selected.

I’m a wizard in here, and my magic is time-based.

The range of time magic goes far beyond connecting past, present, and future times. It can be used to create time-based objects and even entire realms.

I myself have been using time magic to construct Memory Vale, as well as to perform various tasks inside it, such as creating something or conjuring certain objects for you to use, or teleporting you from one location to another.

Having said that, my time magic can only affect your mind and not your physical body, especially when you are inside Memory Vale.

And the degree to which my magic can affect your mind also depends on you. The more imaginative and open-minded you are, the more it can positively impact you.

When magic is cast, a magic circle may appear. The pattern of a magic circle may reflect its caster, the tasks they perform, their creations, or any combination of those, or none of them. There’s no fixed rule to how it should appear or represent.

In my case, the pattern of my time magic circle reflects the complexity of the realm I’m currently cultivating, and the pattern may change as I add more functions to the realm.

Since I've journeyed to the past of your future self, I find myself back in a time when Memory Vale is not yet as complex as it will be in the future. And as a result, my time magic circle pattern also appears very simple.

You can see the illustration of my current time magic circle on the cover page of this Explorer's Manual.

I would like to remind you of the following when you are exploring Memory Vale:

1) Memory Vale is my inner world made visible. Everything you see here reflects my personal experiences, knowledge, and beliefs, which may not align with yours. You may come across things that don't resonate with you. Practice discernment and fact-check information when appropriate.

2) Take every idea you find or learn from here with a grain of salt. Do your homework and decide for yourself whether they suit you or not. If they don't, adapt them as needed, or just consider them as entertainment.

3) Fantasy is not just for kids. Many messages and truths are hidden in it. Train yourself to always look beyond the surface level.

4) In some cases, what you can take away from here really depends on your imagination. The more imaginative you are, the deeper you can see into something. The deeper you can see into something, the more inspired you can become. The more inspired you are, the better equipped you are to decide what to do next.

5) Future only indicates possibility and doesn't provide any guarantees. It can change based on the decisions you make or the actions you take. Stay humble and open-minded, and follow your heart.

6) Don’t be afraid to disagree or agree with anything you find in here. Let’s correct and learn from each other. That’s how we will grow together.

I’m always on standby at front layer or ‘home page’ where we used to meet for the first time.

To interact with me in there, just click tap me and you will get good info and tips for your exploration. Maximize this opportunity if you're unsure or seeking new knowledge!

I will also show up when you use the question device to ask questions.

If you have questions other than what you can select from the question device, or if you have questions not covered in this Explorer's Manual, or better yet, if you have any ideas you want to discuss with me, you can reach me at any time at [email protected].

I’m currently still preparing a special contact form so you can directly email me from there. When it’s ready, I’ll update you through the post-it note on your planner book.

Your exploration in Memory Vale is nothing but a starting point. Your real tasks will only begin after you return to your own world and reality.

The path towards your promising future self isn’t the easy one. But worry not, you are already halfway there, and you will eventually reach the future I’ve told you.

So keep your spirit alive and never give up on what you’ve been putting efforts into up to this moment!

Whenever you need some relaxation, inspiration, or fresh ideas, you can always turn to Memory Vale, okay?

And last but not least.....

You can access Explorer's Manual at any time you want through the link I’ve put on your planner book.

Since I'm building everything in Memory Vale from scratch, you can expect to see more and more features added in the future. Please stay tuned and look forward to them!

Of course I will update this handbook accordingly, so please check it out again when you are notified of any updates through the note I’ll be posting on your planner book.

I hope you can enjoy your time in here. Have fun!