Crackle.

A wooden two-story house was aflame in a giant fire that lit up the night across the suburban street. As time went by, the house began to crumble and then soon collapsed. Shadowy humans made of pure abyss watched over the scene from a neighboring lawn as abyssal firefighters emerged from the house before its destruction.

Not much to do in this dream.

Sitting on the lawn with the abyssal humans was Gus, who sat next to a smaller shadow that seemed to be almost weeping. Facing the house, Gus watched the house finally crumble before he turned to face what he presumed to be a child.

You have it tough too, huh?

With the house now rubble and the fire quickly fading from the determined firefighters' work, Gus knew the dream of the Burning House was going to end once again.

Welp. Get ready, Gus! You have another day to face. Not much left to do here.

Gus got up from the lawn, stared at the pitiable shadow child one last time, and then concentrated. The next thing he knew, Gus was awake.

Two. More. Days! Rise and shine, me, we gotta prepare for the first test.

Getting up from his sleeping spot in what used to be the ruined mosaic, Gus quietly watched the humans fast asleep in their sleeping bags as he tidied the library. Close to two months have passed since Gus first got that key. Both a lot and little happened during that time.

Nothing was as terrible, though, as the day when I saw that vision.

Back when he had climbed down from that eventful visit to the fifth floor, Gus was met with a large group of curious humans who were full of questions for the Golem. Yet the exhausted golem put its answers on hold, choosing to fall asleep first. The next day, Gus decided to give an excuse to the majority of the humans that he was merely testing the limits of how far he could travel in the library, choosing to only share the truth with Cricket and Marco about the failure of his plan.

Both were saddened by the news of failure, but even more so, they were horrified to find out the sheer extent of the power of the Merchant. From what they said, the Merchant had in fact never left the humans as they were enjoying their first course, meaning it had the power to have multiple bodies. Gus could only shiver when he thought about the sheer scope of that demon’s capabilities. But the shock wasn’t over yet for the humans. When Gus decided to share about the future that he was subjected to that almost caused him to commit suicide from seeing if it wasn’t for Nova, the humans fell into a deep silence.

“A terrible future like that…can you really not remember anything else about it?” Marco asked with a grim face.

“Unfortunately no. Burying those memories was the only way I could’ve survived…” Gus shamefully admitted.

“That’s okay, Gus. What matters is that you survived. It must have been very scary for you, I’m sorry you had to go through something like,” Cricket comforted.

The trio talked some more after that, but any real plans of escaping were never formed nor spoke of. While it saddened him, Gus couldn’t share with the pair both Nova and the key he had obtained which would have given them hope. Not wanting to repeat his mistake of allowing the Merchant to overhear his new discoveries, Gus decided to end the conversation with the pair of humans. It was simply too risky to work with them anymore.

A shame…

After that, time quickly flew by. The humans were active in their work, reading each of their assigned five books with much vigor. During those days when he stood watch as their trial guardian, Gus was surprised to hear the complaints of some of the humans about the difficulty of their assignments.

A couple of humans were especially loud about their annoyances such as the nerdy yet impulsive talker Primis who would randomly call out to Gus about a complaint and then backtrack into shyness after a couple of sentences. Such human behavior confused Gus, yet that was much more manageable than the other complainer, Larry. This young man littered with acne was always the first one to complain about their quality of life. At first, Larry simply asked Gus if there were any blankets in the library. Unable to find any, Gus chose to ask the Merchant through the communications page on his inner guide. Whatever system the Merchant had installed in him from that tablet, it was much more helpful than that Nova who always remained quiet. Not only did it have an inner map of the building that could track the humans and their progress, but it also had several helpful functions such as a communications tab.

Shortly after sending the question to the Merchant about the issue of warmth in the library, the mysterious trenchcoat demon suddenly appeared merely seconds later.

“Well, well, well. I believe it is time, yes, to open shop!”

With a mischievous grin and golden irises that Gus could have sworn looked like coins, the Merchant approached the golem and slapped him with its elongated hands. A sudden pain ached in his back from the touch, but merely a moment later it disappeared, leaving only a new icon in his trial system.

“Each contestant will be awarded five trial points for the first floor. Later points will only be awarded for passing each floor. Trade in those points, yes, to your local trial golem here for items that might help with your stay here. Check the prices with the big guy, and no haggling! I’m busy enough as it is.”

The Merchant had then left as soon as it arrived, dumping the duty of the sales clerk to the golem as it handled merchandise and managing.

Great, now I’m a corporate slave…

After that, the humans were always approaching the Golem they had once stayed far away from, greed outweighing their fear. Larry was one of the first ones to use up all their points on random goods, using it to buy things such as a lantern, sleeping bag, batteries, and deodorant. The latter had confused Gus who couldn’t smell, but it seemed the Primis had appreciated the buy. But the best part of the shop was that the injured of the group could finally be attended to, who were looking worse over the course of the few days. An older man named Bruno whose face was covered in developing wrinkles and hair full of partially whited hair thanked the Golem as he bought a few first aid kits from the Golem.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

Hopefully, they will be okay now…

As more time went on in the trial, Gus got to learn more about the group of thirty humans than just Marco and Cricket. The first cohort he interacted with was a small group of four familiar faces, being Primis, Larry, Jack, and Ms. Jasmine.

Primis was the same as always, a nerdy girl who would act impulsively at first and regret it later. But she was smart and talented and was currently accompanying her professor, the stoic and taciturn Ms. Jasmine on the expedition to learn about the ruins. Who could have guessed that it would turn into a series of death games led by an uncanny devil with a talking golem?

Larry and Jack, on the other hand, were different from the two, being loaned by a university that had owed a favor to Marco for donations. Larry was to help with studying the ruins by collecting samples while Jack was in charge of archaeology. That was until these trials began. Now they are simply young, scared men who simply want to return home. Larry in particular was always whining about missing his sweet Canadian girlfriend whom he assured everyone existed. Primis, though, never bought it, teasing him constantly about it.

A fun crowd. I hope they succeed in this test with flying colors. But Larry’s comments concern me. Could the subject matter, perhaps be too hard for them? I saw his book, it was on the shorter side of some of the others on this floor, yet he’s talking about how impossible it is to read. Maybe it’s just Larry? He does like to complain.

Yet his worries grew the more he talked to others. Approaching the injured who were now thankfully recovering slowly with the help of medicine, Gus made an effort to get a better view of them.

One was an adult woman named Laura whose left arm was in a makeshift sling. It was fortunate that the woman was still able to read even with one arm. The other was a cheery middle-aged man named Ernie who was wounded in his legs which were now wrapped in bandages. Luckily, the wound wasn’t grave or the man could have bled to death during those days of waiting. The last of the prominently injured members was an old man named Igor who had the appearance of someone both ancient and wise. Having a long white beard, Igor looked like a wizard placed in modern clothing. It turns out that Bruno, the man who was presumably in his sixties, was the son of Igor, and had been personally attending to his father. Igor was in the most dire shape of the group, having multiple sharp cuts across his chest from god knows what the team had encountered before arriving at the library. It was a miracle the old man had survived this long, but Gus knew such a miracle would not last forever. The reason for this was that Igor simply was not reading the books. When Gus asked why, Igor simply said he did not feel like it. Bruno was initially upset with his father for giving up, but eventually, it seemed something clicked in the man as he too soon accepted Igor’s fate.

How? How come that old man looks so content? You're going to die, and here you are making jokes with the other wounded?

Yet when Gus finally decided to confront the old man about it, all Igor would do was laugh.

“Bahaha! Why? Cause I’ve lived a long time, boy. My time is close anyways, I would rather choose to go out my way.”

And that was all he said to the subject. It was only a week later that the Igor finally decided to buy something from the Golem. The first few items were simple provisions that Igor then donated to the rest of the group. The last one, however, sent chills to the Golem. The one personal item the old man bought was just one simple pill. A cyanide pill.

Gus never asked the old man what he was going to do with it, but seeing Bruno’s face told him all.

He wants to die on his own terms…

While Gus knew that the humans could possibly die, he had never truly comprehended what that would mean if they were to actually fail these tests. But upon seeing that pill, Gus realized what these trials truly meant, a life or death challenge, one in which Gus would be the executioner.

I knew it…I truly did know what was to come. I just didn’t know… how I would feel when it came to happen.

Losing the desire to familiarize himself with more of the humans, Gus chose to only talk to them when he needed to attend to his duties. The rest of his time he would keep to himself, choosing to focus on his plan of escaping and more importantly, finding out how Nova works.

Time continued after that, and coming by quicker than he thought, two months were now close to passing. Only two days were left before the first test. Finishing his chores of cleaning up after the human's trash, Gus returned to the mosaic which had been repaired a few days after its destruction by a team of handymen golems. As he waited for the sunlight to come down from the oculus to awaken the humans, Gus quietly observed his inner core which was still being orbited by the spark that was the key.

That wretched Nova. It still hasn’t said a peep since that day when I saw that future.

Unlike the easy-to-work system the Merchant had installed in his body, Nova was a much more mysterious entity to work with. Even after all that time, Gus still couldn’t find out how to call upon the emergency service that was Nova.

Hello? Nova? Do you want to come out now?

Yet no matter what he thought, the strange system never said a single word to him.

How come everything Syuna sends me just never works? First, a book whose plot I still can’t remember, and now an emergency service that never speaks. I hate to say it, but that damn Merchant’s system is a godsend compared to Nova.

Growing desperate, Gus decided to try out something he had heard from Larry who was talking about those stories he once binged before coming here. Peeking around to make sure that no human was awake, the Golem took an embarrassing heroic stance, and then with quick movement, performed a pose and thought with much fervor:

Activate! Novaaaa!!

Silence lingered after that.

Damn it…I shouldn’t have trusted that fool.

“Um…what are you doing, Gus?” A familiar feminine voice called out to him.

Turning in horror, Gus saw Cricket who had just awoken staring at him with a confused expression over his hero pose.

I should have chosen death that day…

“This…this is uh…nothing, goodbye.” Gus quickly walked away from the center of the room, not daring to look at Cricket who was still staring at him.

Damn it! Why the hell are you not responding, Nova?

Awakening from the commotion, the humans proceeded to get out of their sleeping bags to be met with a strange scene.

Sitting in a dark corner of the library, the mighty golem of stone was crouched in a corner as if it was hiding from something. Yet the only one who was up with it was the frail, ill woman that was Cricket.

‘Should I be concerned?’ Marco thought.

But with no time to waste, the humans decided to ignore the scene and take to their study groups. The test was near, and with their survival depending on it, they had no time to waste. Luckily the group of intellectuals was all familiar with time crunches and intense long periods of studying, so they were able to handle the trial with ease. A trial of knowledge for a group dedicated to learning knowledge was a match made in heaven.

But will it really be this easy?

Despite Gus having access to the test sheets, he was only allowed to look at the questions for the floor he was currently on. All future floors were prohibited from viewing. The only thing Gus could do was hope that the humans could handle what was to come.

I mean, I was able to pass those tests fine even without a brain, so…shouldn’t they do better than me?

The golem turned to watch the active humans in silence, its flames dancing inside him in worry. But with no way to help, Gus could only watch as time went on.

Finally, the day of the first test had arrived.