Adam was making his way back to the cave after a long day, enjoying the celebration of reaching 30 pages. The boy now knew of four more bookshelves he could visit if he ever wanted to. Moreover, Adam had also learned many curious things, like karma and how to safely communicate with the bookshelves.

At the moment, Adam was waiting on the stairs of hexagon 3, floor 4. It seemed they were occupied, so he had no other choice but to wait until the red stone stopped flashing.

Then, Adam heard a noise coming from one of the bookshelves near the stairs:

—A little book told me that you were cleaning one of the bookshelves on floor 4 out of 5, hexagon 2 out of 18, is that true, young man?

Adam turned around and saw that the voice came from a wooden bookshelf, from which the head of an old lady protruded. It was the same bookshelf that had given him the page with imbued characters on the first day of class.

Adam remembered that his father had forbidden him to go near this bookshelf, but since his father had abandoned him, his rules no longer mattered in the child's mind.

So Adam approached the bookshelf eagerly, ready to try the things he had learned in Professor Aquiles's class.

—Yes, we had a special class about bookshelves— Adam replied with a happy smile.

—How peculiar...— the granny responded with suspicion—In general, they don't teach those things at school. Did you have fun?

—Yes, it was quite enjoyable— Adam replied, impatient to try out his new tricks for dealing with bookshelves —Unfortunately, I couldn't answer the question correctly, and everyone had to clean up because of my mistake.

—Don't feel bad; these things happen...— the granny replied with a smile. —Once you gain more experience, understanding the riddles will become easier for you. Did you learn many things in the class about the bookshelves?

—Yes, quite a lot. Luckily!— Adam replied with his young librarian's mind, for whom satisfying curiosities is the most interesting thing in the world.

—Would you like to try out the things you learned with me?— the granny asked, looking at the young librarian with enthusiasm. —I'm sure you know how to read a few words by now to understand my books.

—Yes, of course— Adam replied with much anticipation.

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—Very well, go ahead, try reading one of my books— the granny said with a big smile on her wooden face—If you manage to read its first page, I'll tell you which one to take to find an even better treasure than the one I gave you last time, so you can buy lots of candies.

—Alright,— Adam accepted the deal joyfully, excited to get a mysterious treasure—But before I take a book: what are your rules?

After asking the question, Adam looked for his class notebook to jot down the answers and expectantly looked at the bookshelf to interview it.

—Handsome young man with a good heart, read my books— the bookshelf replied with a smile. But then her face changed, and she added—But you evil villain shall fall under my wrath.

Adam pondered for a moment and asked:

—What is your wrath?

—Cleaning my bookshelves— the granny said cheerfully.

Adam thought for a moment. It seemed the rule was to have good karma, and the consequence was simply to clean the bookshelves. Therefore, the boy should be able to safely take the book, and obtaining the treasure depended on whether or not he could read the first page.

After reaching that conclusion, a smile formed on Adam's face, and he proceeded to take a book from the bookshelf. But before he could take it, he was interrupted. Someone, with a very monotonous, almost robotic voice, as if they were an automaton, commented from behind:

—Excellent classic standards, but you still need to verify with your godfather.

Adam turned around and saw that only one person had come out of the stairs. However, for some reason, the red stone on the stairs was flashing when this person climbed them.

The person seemed very old, extremely thin to the point where all his bones were visible under his skin. He had no hair on his head, and his eyes were white, making him appear blind, but for some reason, they seemed to spark occasionally. The old man's face seemed to have lines coming out of his mouth as if he were a puppet.

But what caught Adam's attention the most were the man's clothes. The old man was dressed in tatters, wearing a torn white tunic, and he walked barefoot, revealing eerie feet with yellowed, very long toenails.

Upon noticing the toenails, Adam instinctively looked at the man's hands and discovered that his decrepit nails were just as dreadful. Some of his nails had pierced his skin, causing wounds filled with yellow pus.

Adam ignored the strange appearance of the other person and listened to his advice, which seemed quite good. Then, Adam took out the yellow book from one of the pockets of his tunic and searched for a pencil in another pocket.

The old man seemed curious, so he stood by the stairway's entrance for a while, watching as Adam gathered everything he needed to ask the question. Throughout the process, the granny remained silent, only looking at Adam, seemingly not noticing the old man in tatters.

Finally, Adam was able to ask his godfather for advice. When the boy finished explaining everything related to the wooden bookshelf, a short and simple answer appeared in the yellow book: 'How are the books on the bookshelf?'

Adam didn't understand what his godfather meant, but he took a glance at the bookshelf to see if he noticed anything unusual. The bookshelf was made of wood, like most bookshelves in that area, and the books on its shelves seemed quite orderly and well-preserved. In fact, they looked new because of how well they were taken care of.

Adam shared his discovery with his godfather, and the godfather responded again, writing haphazardly: 'If the conditions of that bookshelf are so easy and it's full of treasures, why does nobody read its books? The old lady is lying!'