Adam was making his way up the stairs to hexagon 3, headed for the cave to rest. But when he reached the stairs, the boy was surprised to find the entrance blocked by a giant head.

The head was made of marble and appeared to resemble an adult with a scar on the face. It had a cone hat and a party whistle in its mouth. The marble head looked at Adam, who stared back with fear, and spoke with a military-like voice:

—If you go out through my stairs, you're not allowed to come back until the next day!

—Why? Are there rules for using the stairs?— Adam asked with some trepidation.

—Everything has rules, kid!— The marble head bellowed with a military tone—On the day of an ascension, my rules are absolute: only people on this floor get to enjoy the ascension party!

—I've already enjoyed the party, can I go home now?— Adam asked cautiously, wanting explicit confirmation that nothing would happen if he went down.

—Yes, goodnight, young hero— replied the marble head, blowing the party whistle in its mouth.

With that, the whistle sank into the marble face, and the giant head opened its mouth, revealing a spiral staircase inside.

Adam stared at the spiral staircase for a while and decided to double-check with his godfather. The boy may be young, but going into the mouth of a giant head raised doubts for anyone. His godfather gave him the green light, and Adam proceeded to enter the mouth of the giant head.

Thankfully, nothing bad happened to Adam after entering the staircase, and he realized that all the entrances were blocked by the giant head. When he reached the first floor of the middle level, the young hero touched the marble wall, and the mouth that blocked the door opened again, showing the way out.

As he exited, Adam noticed the guards stationed at the door eyeing him suspiciously, but they didn't ask anything. So Adam continued his way until he reached the old wooden bookshelf covered in moss and fungi. When he arrived, Adam shouted impatiently:

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—Hey, it's me, open up!

The head of the sightless old man formed on the bookshelf, but he didn't open it and instead asked:

—Do you notice anything different?

Adam looked around the aisles, but he didn't see anything strange, and everything seemed the same as before. Seeing the red-haired boy searching the aisles, the sightless old man added proudly:

—Do you notice anything different on my bookshelves?

Adam scrutinized the sightless old man's bookshelves carefully. Since the sightless old man had magical books, it was easy to distinguish them from the rest, so it didn't take Adam long to notice that there was one more book on the shelves. Adam took the book and realized it was identical to the one he had been given.

—You duplicated it: can you duplicate books?— Adam asked with excitement.

—No, but if the cave's hero gets one, then I get one too— the sightless old man added with much pride.

Each book was like a child to the sightless old man, and now he had one more that would help him trap unwary librarians. The bookshelf was quite excited and shouted happily:

—Congratulations, hero, but remember not to read it until you decide not to come back to my cave!

—Is that why you let me live in the cave?— Adam asked, as he put the book back in its place.

—Initially, the cave was always a refuge, not a staircase...— The sightless old man responded—But since your father couldn't enter, you had no other choice but to live outside.

Adam said nothing and stood still, reminiscing about the past with his father. The boy remembered his father had told him he had read a magical book, which is why he could never accompany him to the upper floors.

But the sightless old man spoke again, interrupting the boy's thoughts:

—An ascension has occurred. You should be careful in the coming days...

—Why? Aren't ascensions good?— Adam asked with concern.

—Yes, it's good for everyone, both librarians and bookshelves— The sightless old man replied with envy.

The sightless old man looked seriously at the young red-haired boy and added:

—Whenever there's an ascension, bookshelves fight, librarians disappear, or they kill each other, and other creatures take advantage of the chaos. Be cautious of the creatures drawn by the greed of librarians and bookshelves!

Adam was frightened by the warning, but luckily, he didn't have to go to class tomorrow due to a special session. So he would have a little more time to see if there was anything unusual on the 4th floor of the middle level.