The next morning—
Lionel woke up peacefully.
No screaming.
No bricks.
No Kael.
No Fenrir.
No emperor trying to cave in his skull.
A perfect morning.
Then—
DUNNNNN.
DUNNNNNNN.
DUNNNNNNNNNNN.
Lionel slowly opened his eyes.
"..."
The Boss Theme Speaker was playing dramatic music from the corner of the room.
The system immediately appeared.
[Good morning, Boss.]
"Turn it off."
[No.]
"It's six in the morning."
[The grind never stops.]
Lionel stared at the ceiling.
One day—
he would find a way to murder a system.
An hour later—
Lionel walked through the capital disguised as an ordinary noble.
False Presence was active.
His silver hair appeared brown.
His royal features became ordinary.
Nobody paid attention.
Exactly what he wanted.
The capital was busy.
Merchants shouted.
Adventurers argued.
Children ran through the streets.
Nobles wasted money.
Everything looked normal.
But Lionel wasn't here for sightseeing.
He was hunting.
Future opportunities.
The system floated beside him.
[Target acquired.]
"I know."
[Then why are you walking so slowly?]
"I'm making sure nobody notices."
[You are literally disguised.]
"And?"
[Fair.]
Eventually—
Lionel arrived at a small artifact market.
The place looked unremarkable.
Crowded.
Noisy.
Forgettable.
Perfect.
Because hidden among hundreds of useless items—
were treasures worth kingdoms.
An old merchant spotted him.
"Young master!"
"Come look!"
"I only sell genuine artifacts!"
The system immediately laughed.
[That sentence alone should be illegal.]
Lionel casually approached.
Not too interested.
Not too bored.
Just another customer.
Because the moment a merchant sensed desire—
the price tripled.
He examined several random items.
A sword.
A necklace.
A broken wand.
A suspicious spoon.
The spoon concerned him.
Then—
he found it.
The Ring of Solomon.
Hidden among dozens of ordinary rings.
Dusty.
Old.
Completely ignored.
Nobody would guess what it truly was.
A key.
A key to the Library of Knowledge.
One of the greatest inheritances on the continent.
The system whistled.
[Found it.]
Lionel remained calm.
Years of experience told him one thing.
Never stare at treasure.
Treasure notices when you stare.
Merchants notice faster.
So he continued browsing.
And then—
he found something else.
A tiny golden throne.
Small enough to fit in one hand.
Beautiful.
Ridiculous.
Completely out of place.
Lionel stared for half a second.
Then looked away.
Because he immediately recognized it.
The Golden Throne of Absolution.
The treasure William ignored.
The system sounded excited.
[NO WAY.]
[THE GOD TOILET.]
"It's not a toilet."
[It absolutely is.]
"It's a throne."
[Golden toilet.]
Lionel chose not to argue.
After another ten minutes—
he finally pointed toward several random items.
Including the ring.
Including the throne.
And several worthless pieces of junk.
"Bundle price?"
The merchant immediately smiled.
Negotiations began.
Five minutes later—
the merchant named a ridiculous number.
Lionel named a lower one.
The merchant nearly fainted.
Lionel remained calm.
The merchant countered.
Lionel countered.
The merchant sighed dramatically.
Lionel pretended to leave.
The merchant instantly panicked.
Eventually—
a deal was reached.
Both sides smiled.
Only one side was actually winning.
The merchant happily accepted payment.
Lionel happily stole two future treasures.
Everybody was satisfied.
The system immediately spoke.
[Financial terrorism.]
"It was a fair trade."
[You robbed him legally.]
"He named the price."
[Still robbery.]
Several hours later—
Lionel sat inside his room.
The Ring of Solomon rested on the table.
The Golden Throne beside it.
Both looked harmless.
Neither was harmless.
Lionel picked up the ring.
Ancient runes glowed briefly.
A familiar sensation spread through the room.
The system suddenly became quiet.
Very quiet.
Which was unusual.
A black screen appeared.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Artifact Detected
Ring of Solomon
Status: Unbound
Description:
Key to the Library of Knowledge.
Created by Solomon, Lord of Magic. Creator of Wishes. The Wisest King.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Lionel smiled slowly.
William.
You won't be getting this one.
Not this time.
The system finally spoke.
[You know.]
"What?"
[The protagonist is going to hate you.]
Lionel leaned back.
A dangerous smile appeared on his face.
"Good."
The system immediately sighed.
[Yep.]
[Definitely a villain.]
Outside—
the capital remained peaceful.
Inside—
the future had already started changing.
This version keeps the focus on Lionel acquiring the Ring of Solomon and the Golden Throne while staying consistent with your earlier chapters.