*Puff*... *Haaa*... Adam held his stomach in pain; something had hit him. As he clutched his stomach, he remembered where he was. The young man rolled in the sand and quickly got up to see who had hit him.

—Don't worry, I don't blame you for not trusting my words...—said the old wizard with his staff in hand—It's okay to doubt others a bit.

Adam looked at the wizard in a daze, still trying to process everything that had happened. But what caught Adam's attention the most was that it was now daytime on the beach, and when he looked up, he noticed an orange sun shining down on them. Additionally, the bonfire seemed as good as new, ready to be used at any moment.

David noticed that the young hero was slowly recovering from the daze and added calmly:

—This time, we don't have to die quickly; we have to take the time to learn how to survive all the future challenges, and then we'll die to travel back to the past again. We have some time until the first attack happens, so get everything ready and look for clues on the beach.

—How do we know how much time we have this time?—Adam asked with doubts; the bonfire was no longer a clue.

—Figure it out for yourself—David replied, sitting back on the log—But I'll let you know in advance when the attack is about to happen, so you can run alongside me.

Adam understood that the wizard didn't want to give him more clues and let him discover as much as possible of the riddle on his own. With little concern, Adam went to look for clues. After having been resurrected and traveled to the future, his trust in the old wizard was absolute.

The young hero just had to wait, and the old wizard would figure everything out, but the best thing he could do was try to solve something on his own to prepare himself in case he ever managed to get another magical book that he could read.

The first clue that Adam tried to solve was the footprints, so he walked along the sand, paying attention to the marks left behind. Immediately, Adam noticed that there were no footprints. Consequently, the footprints should be the clue that he was heading back to the past and following the opposite logic of the 19 maximum steps from the previous time.

Next, Adam observed the bonfire. Last time, the bonfire provided many interesting clues, so it was a good place to investigate. Upon careful inspection, Adam noticed something flashing through the search lens of his glasses among the laurel branches and logs. It was quite hidden, so the young man had to move several logs until he found the object.

The object in question was a simple metal plate that, at first glance, didn't seem to have anything special. But Adam inspected it more closely.

The first thing the young man felt was that the metal plate was cold, indicating that the bonfire hadn't been lit yet. The second thing Adam noticed was that the metal plate seemed to have something written in the language of the wooden floors.

The metal plate read as follows:

> "The king comes for my head, but he will never get it, as this island holds a great secret buried where my worst enemies rest. Good luck, young hero, you won't come out alive if you rely only on the ancient wizard: this book turned out to be more complicated than he expected."

Adam's hands began to tremble, and he dropped the metal plate to the ground. With concern, the young man looked at David, who was calmly smoking above the log, and shouted:

—I'm in danger! At this rate, I'll die because of this book!

—Did you discover something?—David asked with a smile, trying to convey calmness to the boy.

—This is my handwriting, and this is a hidden message sent from the future by myself—Adam replied, pointing to the metal plate—That is, the plate was sent from the past to the time we'll travel to, which will become my current future, and in that future, we didn't manage to survive.

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David didn't say anything but quickly picked up the metal plate from the sand, read it, and with a tone completely opposite to the calm he had tried to transmit a moment ago, he asked:

—How did you get this book? What's different about it from the other 5 books you read before?

Frightened by the ancient wizard's altered state, Adam quickly responded with sweat on his face:

—The first two magical books were rewards for some ascents, and the other three magical books were given to me by the same bookshelf that gave me this book.

—That doesn't say anything, you idiot!—David shouted, in a bad mood. He seemed genuinely concerned about Adam's death—What are the conditions for the bookshelf to give you the book? What did you do?

—It's my reward for participating in a war of ascents, 4 magical books and their effects.

—That doesn't tell me anything, idiot!—David exclaimed impatiently. He seemed to be losing his patience due to Adam's potential demise—What are the rules for you to read the book under normal circumstances?

—Answering a very complicated question—Adam said immediately. Given the situation, he didn't seem offended by the insult—For example, the steps to achieve resurrection.

—No, that's not so complicated as to not be able to save you...—David said, worried—The bookshelves can ignore their own rules, but they cannot oppose the will of a book. The book accepted that you read it, and it's because you fulfilled some condition. What are those conditions?

Adam quickly thought of possible solutions and hurriedly replied, trying not to waste any time:

—Karma? My karma is very good; the eyeless old man loves heroes.

—No, it's not that good: you only have silver eyes!—David responded while walking in circles on the sand—Maybe the bookshelf didn't tell you all the conditions, but you fulfilled them. What did you do that allowed the bookshelf to let you read this book? Think about the details when receiving your books!

*Tos*... *Tos*... Adam's mouth closed suddenly. The young man began to cough as if he had choked on something. Then, something began to crawl up Adam's throat, and his closed mouth struggled to keep his lips sealed, as if something inside him sought to escape, and he didn't want it to come out.

—Dust!—Adam shouted, opening his mouth wide as if a ball was coming out instead of words. Immediately, the young man started vomiting blood onto the sand.

—Dust? What does the dust mean, Adam?—David asked while the strange scene unfolded. He stopped circling and stood with both hands leaning on his staff.

Adam looked dazedly at the black ink-like blood on the sand and then thought about the word he had unconsciously said because of that strange ability. Still a bit dazed, he said:

—The eyeless old man didn't store this book on his bookshelf; I had forgotten, but now I remember that he told me it was because only the heroes who lived in his cave could read this book.

—How many heroes live in his cave?—David asked, concerned.

—Only me, no one else...—Adam replied quickly.

—What are the conditions for living with the bookshelf?—David asked immediately, interrupting Adam.

—Not reading magical books and being a good person—Adam replied, also in a hurry.

—Not reading magical books... in the gold and silver floors?... Damn...—David muttered, taking off his eagle mask and throwing it on the ground.

Adam looked at the ancient wizard's face: strangely, he was missing his nose, ears, and eyes. Instead, two decorative marbles had been placed in his eye sockets to pretend to be eyes, but his eyelids seemed real, closing and opening naturally over the marbles. The skin on his face looked red as if his real skin had been torn off, and his facial muscles could be seen with the naked eye.

The ancient wizard ignored Adam's gaze, massaged his forehead with a single finger for a while, and a hole began to form on David's forehead from the pressure of his finger, and some black ink-like blood oozed out from his wrinkled forehead. While this strange scene was unfolding, David asked calmly:

—The name of the book? Its appearance? Do you remember anything else that caught your attention?

—The book had the same appearance as the bookshelf—Adam said, looking disgusted at the black ink-like blood—Other than that, the book is called "Old Tree," and the bookshelf told me it was his first magical book, which he obtained from another hero who lived in his cave.

David didn't respond; he picked up the mask from the sand and put it back on. He walked over to the log, sat down comfortably, and said calmly:

—I suppose ignorance put your life at risk: the first magical book of all magical bookshelves is special, and its will is usually difficult to ignore. I doubt I can save your ass and solve the riddle at the same time...

—So, am I going to die?—Adam asked in a low voice.

—Technically, you already died in the future...—David replied with even more calmness. It seemed he no longer cared about Adam's safety—But don't worry so much; no matter how complicated the magical book is, it will only try to make you understand its riddle...

—Then...—Adam asked with some anger, because the wizard stood in the middle of his speech—If I already know that I will die in the future: how do I come out alive?

—That's the riddle of the book...—David replied calmly—The book killed you in the future because right now, I'm answering the riddle instead of you. Instead of you solving it. Understand the riddle, complete the challenge, learn its moral, and you will come out alive.