An invisible barrier barring him from entry to the third floor mocked Niwla. He looked around, searching for the entrance to the Library Challenge, which frankly felt like a waste of time. Knowledge shouldn't be gatekept by some arbitrary task. But what could he do?

He was just a lowly year-one coming to year-two student. Maybe Alwin's spur-of-the-moment desire to become a Minister might actually be a worthwhile goal to pursue. He'd be able to rework the system from the ground up, where every monster had equal access to potentially lifesaving knowledge.

Moving on from his strangely passionate view about knowledge for all, Niwla continued his search for the location of the Library Challenge to access the third floor. Previously, it was Winal who conquered the trial to reach the second floor. One that involved defeating a riddle-speaking stone book sculpture using Fire of all things. That was before Winal had been broken down by Uchronia and her disappointment. And the access to that challenge room was a secret door through a bookshelf.

Right now, both Winal and Alwin were still frozen, slowly thawing out. He'd have to quickly resolve this challenge before Alwin broke free and rested control out of his wings.

He resumed his search. Bordering the staircase to the third floor were bookshelves. Niwla, using Alwin's slimy body, hopped up to them, searching for any hints of a hidden doorknob or anything remotely in the same vein.

One of the shelves had a groove etched into it, a perfect fit for a finger. Suspicious and promising. Niwla angled himself downwards toward the floor. Scratch marks marred the otherwise polished wooden floor of this particular bookshelf. This was most likely the entrance to the challenge room.

However, he had his doubts. Right behind the bookshelf was another bookshelf, with a bit of walking space in between. Chances of the scratchmarks simply being poor handling of the shelf were more likely than his wild assumptions. Nevertheless, it was better to explore all options rather than limit himself based on what he knew—or thought he knew.

Niwla brought out a pair of Spirit Hands. Their fingers entered the small groove of the shelf and pushed sideways. The bookshelf grated across the floor, screeching and groaning against the wood. He winced.

That winced morphed into panic as the bookshelf shifted past the walkway, about to crash into a neighbouring bookshelf. For something so surprisingly easy to move, it was nearly impossible to stop. The Spirit Hand pushed back, but the bookshelf pulled it forward instead.

It crashed into the neighboring bookshelf. Except it didn't?

The bookshelf phased through its neighbour, merging into one another. How?

There was another pressing issue. The space that had been vacated by the bookshelf was now occupied by what looked to be a portal. How did they manage to hide a portal gate inside a seemingly physical bookshelf? Was the bookshelf even there, or was it just an illusion? An illusion that could be touched and interacted with. So many questions. Zero answers. This was why he was here at the library. To learn.

Niwla stepped through the portal. Behind him, the squiggly edges of the portal curled inward on each other, the exit disappearing. In front of him was another stone statue of a book, sitting on a pedestal. Surrounding him was another white empty void, similar to Lapis' white training room and the challenge realms whenever he had to be deemed worthy enough to access the knowledge imprinted into whatever book he wanted to read.

He approached the book, using the Spirit Hands to flip the intricately carved pages. They were heavy, but flowed like paper.

When they reached the final page of the stone book, the pages fluttered, a whirlwind of gravelly rustling. The book slammed shut, levitating into the air.

"Do you desire to enter the third floor of this great library?"

"Yes."

"Very well."

The book fluttered open once again. Stone pages were ripped out of their stems. They hovered right above the book, arranging into words.

'Knowledge is power. Power is knowledge."

Speaking again, it asked, "Do you have the knowledge to wield such power?"

"No," Niwla answered. "That's why I'm here. To learn."

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

"Do you have the power to defend such knowledge?"

Niwla paused. He was thinking. Sure, he was strong. But was he strong enough? Maybe that was why the library had these challenges in place. It was to ensure that only those powerful enough to prevent such knowledge from being interrogated out of their beings could possess such information. A terrible method for disseminating knowledge, but useful during these warring times against the humans.

"No—"

"Yes!"

Two voices, one slime.

Alwin had thawed out of his brain freeze. He overheard the stone book asking its question. Of course, he came up with his own answer. He was strong. Books were for wusses. That's why Niwla wanted them. There was no way he'd defend such lousy books. But there was also no way he'd claim to be weak.

"Alwin, what are you doing!" Niwla thought.

"Defending my honor! Also, libraries suck. We should be frolicking in the grass or whatever people do on vacation."

"Your answer has been noted," the book said. "However, it is not satisfactory. Prove that you are worthy to ascend to the third level. Prove you are worthy of such knowledge. Prove that you can safeguard the treasure trove of information."

The pages whooshed back into the book, and it slammed shut. The white void they stood on began to rumble, the slime's folds jiggling whether they wanted to or not. Alwin wanted to, Niwla did not. Winal remained rooted to the ground, unsure who to help. Help Alwin and potentially make things worse, or help Niwla and lose the trust of someone who believed in him.

Multiple portals opened overhead. Falling through them were even more copies of the stone book.

Sensing the approaching danger, Niwla began preparing a Spirit Barrier to defend themselves. Sensing the approaching danger to his dignity, Alwin began disrupting Niwla's Spirit Barrier to defend his honor.

Each time Niwla crafted that spherical barrier, Alwin would come running in, crashing into it and destroying whatever progress he had made.

"Winal!" Niwla shouted. "Restrain Alwin, or we'll all be crushed."

"Winal!" Alwin shouted. "Don't restrain Alwin, or our egos will be crushed."

Winal stood there once again, unsure who to help.

The avalanche of stone books crashed down onto them and the Spirit Hands, squishing their slimy body into a pancake and flattening the hands into magical paste. Niwla and Alwin, who were both fighting for control over the body, both groaned.

Darkness consumed their vision. Not because they had passed out, but because the stone books covered them like a heavy blanket. The literal weight of knowledge was too much for them to handle.

Niwla began to prepare a pair of Spirit Hands inside their Core. Without any limbs, they needed something to push the rubble off them. Instead of destroying his handiwork, Alwin assisted, sculpting out the other half of the Spirit Hand.

Finally, he was being sensible.

A pair of Spirit Hands materialized above the rubble of stone. Niwla controlled one hand, prying stone books, utilizing leverage to tip them over and allowing gravity to do the rest once it reached the halfway point. Alwin, controlling the other, ordered the hand to push the books out of the way using a series of punches. The hand repeatedly crashed into the book, moving it a smidge of an inch every time.

Together, they pulled and pushed away the rocky books, each one kicking up a mountain of stony dust.

Finally, a crack of light pierced the darkness. More crashes of books being moved echoed around them. The sliver of light expanded into a blinding shine as they were finally unearthed.

Niwla, in surprising tandem with Alwin, controlled the main body together. They hopped out of the hole, landing on a slanted stone book. One half of the main body jiggled in Alwin's signature victory dance; the other half was as still as… well, as still as a rock.

The stone book, the one on the pedestal, boomed.

"You have failed. But learning is all about making mistakes. For that, you will be given a second chance."

All of the stone books around them trembled and shook. One by one, they lifted up into the air, hovering high above them.

Niwla was debating a solution. A Spirit Barrier would solve all of their problems, but…

"No Spirit Barrier! Offense only! We pew pew them before they pew pew us!" Alwin screamed, dragging his face all over the controls, causing the main body to spasm out like they were having a seizure.

If that was the case, maybe their new and Essence improved Yin-Yang Blast could help them. It'd destroy the stone books before they could come crashing down on them.

Before he could deliberate any other action, the stone books fell.

Light and darkness condensed into two orbs, spiralling out of his Core. The stone books swerved out of the way just before the orbs detonated. A brilliant Yin-Yang Symbol forming in the air high above them.

Niwla was about to shoot out another Yin-Yang Blast when he noticed something.

"Why not!" Alwin complained. "Just shoot!"

Niwla shoved his wing into Alwin's face, shutting him up.

He observed the stone books. They didn't swerve out of the way to avoid their attack. It was a mere coincidence. They curved through the air, moving toward the original stone book on the pedestal.

Book by book, block by block, they formed around it. The result was a giant, squarish robot composed entirely of stone books. Hidden within its center was the original stone book, pedestal, and all.

"Knowledge is power. Power is knowledge."

Its stoned hand pointed at him.

"Do you have the knowledge to wield such power? Do you have the power to defend such knowledge?"

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