Darkness.
Absolute darkness.
No light.
No sound.
No Library.
No Solomon.
No system.
Nothing.
---
Lionel hated it immediately.
---
Then—
light appeared.
---
Lionel blinked.
And froze.
---
Because he was standing inside the Imperial Palace.
---
His room.
---
His actual room.
---
The Boss Theme Speaker sat in the corner.
His bed was exactly where it should be.
Even the curtains looked identical.
---
Everything was perfect.
---
Too perfect.
---
Lionel immediately narrowed his eyes.
---
"This is fake."
---
A voice echoed through the world.
---
"Prove it."
---
Silence.
---
Lionel frowned.
---
Then immediately walked toward the window.
---
Outside—
the capital looked normal.
People moved.
Merchants shouted.
Knights patrolled.
Everything appeared real.
---
Yet something felt wrong.
---
The voice returned.
---
"What is truth?"
---
Lionel blinked.
---
"...That's the trial?"
---
No answer.
---
The voice simply repeated.
---
"What is truth?"
---
Lionel rubbed his forehead.
---
"Solomon really likes annoying questions."
---
Still—
he started thinking.
---
Truth.
---
Most people would answer immediately.
---
Facts.
Reality.
Evidence.
---
Wrong.
Too easy.
---
Solomon didn't create impossible trials for simple answers.
---
The voice echoed again.
---
"What is truth?"
---
Lionel remained silent.
---
Hours passed.
---
Nothing changed.
---
No clues.
No hints.
No help.
---
Just the question.
---
Eventually—
Lionel left the room.
---
The palace remained active.
---
Servants greeted him.
Knights saluted him.
Everything seemed normal.
---
Then he saw his mother.
---
Elena Ashbourne.
---
She smiled warmly.
---
"Lionel."
---
For a second—
his heart tightened.
---
Because she looked real.
---
Too real.
---
The voice immediately returned.
---
"What is truth?"
---
Lionel ignored it.
---
Elena walked toward him.
---
"I'm proud of you."
---
Lionel froze.
---
Because she had never said that before.
---
Not in the original timeline.
---
Not once.
---
His eyes narrowed.
---
"Interesting."
---
Elena tilted her head.
---
"What?"
---
Lionel smiled.
---
"Nothing."
---
Then he walked away.
---
The world trembled slightly.
---
Very slightly.
---
He noticed.
---
Good.
---
A mistake.
---
The illusion had made a mistake.
---
Because truth wasn't simply what happened.
---
Truth required consistency.
---
Truth required reality.
---
Truth couldn't conveniently become whatever you wanted.
---
The voice echoed again.
---
"What is truth?"
---
Lionel finally answered.
---
"Truth is what remains when desire is removed."
---
Silence.
---
The world froze.
---
Everything stopped moving.
---
People.
Buildings.
The sky.
The wind.
---
Everything.
---
Then the voice spoke.
---
"Explain."
---
Lionel nodded.
---
"Most people don't seek truth."
---
"They seek validation."
---
The frozen world cracked slightly.
---
"They seek comfort."
---
More cracks appeared.
---
"They seek what they want to hear."
---
The palace began collapsing.
---
"They call it truth."
---
His smile widened.
---
"But truth doesn't care."
---
CRACK.
---
"Truth doesn't care what you believe."
---
CRACK.
---
"Truth doesn't care what you want."
---
CRACK.
---
"Truth simply exists."
---
BOOOOOOOOM.
---
The entire illusion shattered.
---
The palace exploded into fragments of light.
---
The fake sky collapsed.
---
Reality disappeared.
---
And once again—
Lionel stood inside darkness.
---
A screen appeared.
---
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Second Trial Cleared
The Trial of Truth
Result: Perfect Completion
Evaluation:
Candidate distinguished truth from desire.
Reward:
Access to Floor Three
+ Wisdom Fragment
+ Solomon Recognition (Moderate)
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
---
Lionel blinked.
---
"...That was fast."
---
A familiar voice suddenly answered.
---
"Not really."
---
Lionel froze.
---
Solomon stood nearby.
---
Arms folded.
---
Looking annoyed.
---
"Do you know how long that took?"
---
Lionel frowned.
---
"An hour?"
---
Solomon stared.
---
"Three months."
---
"..."
---
"..."
---
"...What?"
---
Solomon looked unimpressed.
---
"Time flows differently inside the Trials."
---
Lionel immediately felt violated.
---
"You could have warned me."
---
"No."
---
"Why?"
---
"It was funny."
---
Silence.
---
Complete silence.
---
Lionel slowly realized something horrifying.
---
King Solomon was an asshole.
---
An incredibly powerful asshole.
---
But still an asshole.
---
Solomon suddenly laughed.
---
"Good."
---
"What?"
---
"You finally noticed."
---
Before Lionel could respond—
the ancient king's expression changed.
---
Serious.
---
Dangerously serious.
---
"The Third Trial begins soon."
---
For the first time—
there was no amusement in his voice.
---
No jokes.
No laughter.
---
Nothing.
---
And that frightened Lionel more than anything else.
---
Because if Solomon wasn't joking—
then whatever came next was truly dangerous.
---
Far away—
outside the Library—
the Ring of Solomon glowed faintly.
---
And for the first time in thousands of years—
the Third Trial began preparing itself.
---
The Trial that had destroyed more geniuses than all the others combined.
---
The Trial of Perspective.