Chapter 16: The Desperate Shadow

The Infinity Library. The place where hope isn’t just a word, but power. Where resolve can reign, or crack under the teeth of stories. You could either climb to the top of the food chain or die trying.

It is the place that holds the truth.

But it didn’t exist from the beginning.

It is said that it was created by the gods as a blessing to humanity, just like the Codex had been born.

It was a mysterious place, but something that everyone knew was that it was the only way to grow stronger.

Natural selection. That was the word to describe the Infinite Library. Not everyone was made for it. Some were overwhelmed by the sheer number of stories, some by the trials they had faced inside.

To this day, the number of readers in the world dominated the chart when it came to awakened.

Even some who had managed to reach enlightenment were stuck as readers, for one simple reason.

The seeker trial.

Everyone dreaded the day when they would have to challenge their own.

These trials are called Trials of Salvation.

One aspect that distinguishes these trials from ordinary books is that they are specifically chosen by the codex for those who are deemed sufficiently adept to dare challenge them. On how the Codex chooses the story, it all revolves around the deeds of the challenger. That is why the withered have had so few seekers, because their deeds were the world.

So, in simple words, the Trials of Salvation were meant for readers to pay for their sins before they could ascend.

So if Aether wanted to become a Seeker, he would have to reach enlightenment and challenge his vices, and be forgiven.

…

Aether, who was lying on the floor, shrouded by books, tossed the book that was resting on his face and looked at the sky of the infinite library. It was beautiful, just that it wasn’t real.

He learned this from Clarise when she first helped him challenge a book.

Few things were real in the library, even the air wasn’t the same one they had on Earth. It was a small, detailed overlook by many, but for Aether, who knew this, it was a little strange knowing he wasn’t inhaling the same oxygen he knew and loved.

It made him think if it had any side effects.

…

’Enlightenment.’

A word treasured by many, but feared by more. For most, it was the end of their simple lives, while for some a new beginning, a way to escape.

But reaching enlightenment isn’t an easy job; it was treacherous, and it will always be that way, even if you ascended in class.

It is the point where your sync is fully saturated, where you and your affinity are closest. But to reach it, you had to conquer dozens of books, which for somelike Aether, wasn’t easy.

When choosing a book, you had to see which complemented your affinity, but also something that wouldn’t make you go against your bane much.

Well, there was one more thing to look out for…

Meanwhile, a reader can’t enter a seeker book, and a seeker won’t gain power from changing the fate of a reader book; this wasn’t the case for knowledge ranks.

A fragment reader could challenge the highest rank if it wanted.

Because you don’t have to kill or fight anyone, you just have to change the ending and story of the book.

Many fragmented readers were able to beat books with a much higher knowledge rank than their own, only because of the fact that they were in a reader class book.

While the rank of the books determines how strong the enemies inside were, the class determines the true difficulty of changing the story.

When entering a book, you take the role of another inside it, and meanwhile, you are still yourself; for others, you are not.

This is one thing that determined the book’s class, because if you were a king with an entire army at your disposal, it shouldn’t be that hard to beat any enemy, no matter the knowledge rank… well, not necessarily everyone.

Ranks are determined by the number of blood you’ve made others shed. It is the knowledge of murder, or survival, and how to bring death even to yourself.

When you awaken, you only have a fragment of knowledge on how to kill. Then, after killing enough of your kind, you fragment becomes an echo. But that is the limit for humans, for the simple fact of humanity’s morality. To get past this point, you have to become something else.

A beast.

Beasts are those who have killed enough to not be considered human anymore. It is said that they rely on instinct more than rational thinking, a killer instinct.

To continue ascending on the ladder of knowledge, you have to continue getting farther and farther away from being human.

If I think about it, both ranks and class require a reader to slowly get rid of their humanity. It makes you wonder, if the codex was created for humans to learn the truth, did that mean they had to become gods or demigods themselves to learn the truth of the gods?

Anyway, the next step is becoming a monster. Your killing instinct has to evolve into something dreadful, something unpleasant. But after this, we were hit by a wall once again.

To go beyond this point, you have to fall. To become a demon, your killing instinct has to be reshaped, and for it to bring destruction instead of death.

There is a grave difference between these two; death is clarity, peace, while destruction… is the opposite of salvation and stability. You have to destroy your prayer to destroy their existence.

And after doing so for a while, you become a devil. A ruler of destruction and chaos. A threat to humanity. But after creating your killing instinct, and reshape it to destruction. The next step… is losing your killing instinct.

It isn’t enough to be a beast, monster, demon, or devil; you have to ascend to reach the point between the mortal realm and the divine realm. A demigod who even the gods fear.

A titan.

They don’t have a killing instinct because they themselves are death. The point of no return. Most don’t even recognize Titans as humans anymore, because they are simply not.

So, fragment, echo, beast, monster, demon, devil, and titan.

That is it. The ascention ladder of knowledge rank…

for humans, at least.

Because as much as you kill, a human can’t become a god, the best they can do is be a demigod.

There are two more ranks. Godspawn, and God. Yet, they are impossible to reach, as the other revolves around killing, it is still unknown how to break the barrier between titan and godspawn, because the last two don’t revolve around killing intuition anymore.

But seeing a god book, or a godspawn, is almost impossible. And for someone like Aether, it was nothing but a dream. Well, actually, a nightmare in reality.

So I doubt he will have to challenge one any time soon… right?

…

After growing bored with staring at the fake sky, Aether got back up on his feet and continued his endless wonder. It was like he was a zombie.

He hasn’t had any luck so far. Well, it wasn’t like his codex helped him in any way. By what he knew so far, the only boon he had was that shadows opened their arms for him. But what he did know was that he had to do things alone, well, that’s what his bane probably expected him to do. He was already weak, so why shouldn’t he hide behind someone else who was stronger than him?

It didn’t matter if he grew weaker; he just had to find someone to fight for both of them.

…

But if he ever wanted to put that plan into place, he had to find a book first.

He didn’t know how much time he had spent searching. What he knew was that the library was growing bored with him. He knew the instant the shadow started to guide him around this infinite place.

He followed, but only because of curiosity.

It was as if they were trying to get him somewhere. It was quite annoying, while he could speak to them, he couldn’t make them speak back.

As he followed the shadow, a feeling was born in his soul; he didn’t know how to explain in words, but it was as if the world was calling his name. As if fate was dragging him around. It was… extraordinary, like a gentle flame burning in his heart.

If it were anyone else, they would have fallen prey to it.

This feeling… was hope. But not the normal hope that burns in most, but a desperate hope. The most dangerous of all, because when blessed by it, you make the most reckless decision. He knew this because Clarise’s affinity had to do something with it, so when he felt it. He knew that he had to run.

’This guy was dragging me into a trap!’

When the shadow wasn’t looking, Aether slowly turned, trying not to make a sound, and ran with a deep frown.

But he didn’t get far, as chains sprang around his arms and legs, cutting his skin, burning his muscles, and breaking his bones. The same chains that wrapped around him in the fog, when he got lost.

As blood started flowing from his mouth. A lone book appeared in front of him.

’Damn it, damn it!’

The chain made his broken hand move, and guided him towards the cover of the book.

“No, no no!”

He gritted his teeth, trying to resist with all his power. But it was too late. When his hand touched the book, the codex had already appeared in front of him.

[Reader Aether! Would you like to enter this story?]

[Name-Frozen Crown]

[Class-Reader]

[Knowledge rank- Godspawn]

[Description- “I desire eternity,” The queen said to the figure. With his eyes filled with darkness and shadows, it stared at her with a wicked smile on its face. “Very well, may the evil of the world be eternal.”]

Aether palled.

“What the fuck? Is this a joke?”

A godspawn book? He had never thought he would ever encounter one in his life. And definitely not now. He even talked about how it was impossible to find one… did he jinx it?

Even in the best circumstances, whose place could he ever take to even have a chance of beating this story? Godspawn were young gods after all, so how in the world was the lowest of the lowest human supposed to defeat a god?

It was a death wish, and he wasn’t suicidal. Not now, at least, he had just gotten his desires right and had chosen to live. So his decision is clear.

“N-”

But then he stopped for a second. And swallowed, a feather of doubt being born in his heart. What if he did enter and beat it? How much stronger would he get? How many steps would he cheat?

’I think I’m going insane. It’s a godspawn damn it!’

But still. Was he going to let go of this chance? He knew he was going to regret entering… but he would regret letting go of this chance even more.

Didn’t he say he wanted to be reborn, to kill his cowardly self? What better way of doing so than fighting a god?

It was a simple question, yet impossible to answer.

Was he going to risk his life and fight a god, but gain an insane amount of power, and even some relics if he did manage to survive? Or was he going to decline and run like a coward, continuing to wander for a book that was easy enough for him to feel “safe”?

He clenched his fist as he stared once again at the codex’s screen.

“May the evil of the world be eternal…” He smiled mischievously. “Then what is there to fear, I’m an evil too aren’t I, so I’ll be immortal.”

With a desperate kind of hope disturbing the calm sea inside his eyes, his answer was final.

“Yes.”

The codex flickered and appeared again. While Aether found himself in an endless darkness, he knew quite well now. A small light appeared in the horizon, getting closer and closer to him. He was entering the world of the Frozen Crown.

As the light conquered the darkness, the codex appeared again.

[Welcome, challenger Aether, to the world of Frozen Crown.]

As he heard those words, he found himself already regretting his decision. But there was no going back now.

As his surroundings slowly revealed themselves. He heard the final words of the codex and paled in terror.

…

[Your Path has been stripped away.]

[You have gained a new path]

[Your Affinity has been restricted.]

“The heck?!”

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