035

When he reached the railing he noticed that there were hundreds of people looking at him, it seemed that all the people on this floor had gathered. There were people in black robes, red ones, purple ones, and a few other colors Adam had never seen before.

Among the red robes was Cesar, as a school teacher it seemed that he had to go ask Adam about an important matter, for which he was the only one in the crowd who went forward to where the boy was.

—How far did the old man in rags go, Adam?—Cesar asked nervously.

The hundreds of people behind him were all silent waiting for Adam's answer, it seemed that the matter was highly relevant to these librarians.

—Even the black one—Adam replied with even more nerves; caused by the large crowd of hundreds of people surrounding him.

But when Adam said the answer, many murmurs began to be heard from the crowd. Some people tried to run to Adam to ask him something, but they were stopped by the guards. The situation was getting out of control and Adam started to freak out.

Adam even heard his teacher Achilles yelling at him from the crowd as if his life depended on it:

—He ascended, Adam?! Did he really ascend?!

But the boy did not understand what he was referring to, he only remembered the last question and the old man's movements, but not his words during the answers.

—Adam listened well and didn't make a mistake with the answer— Cesar asked, all the others fell silent to listen to the talk— Did the old man manage to jump into the void?

—Yes...— Adam replied, he was going to explain more, but when those words left their mouths, an old man with a violet robe opened a book that he had in his hand and thousands of fireworks shot into the sky and formed a great sentence in the air: 'Ascended!'

*Puff*...*Puff* As if on cue, all the people in the crowd started throwing fireworks into the empty hexagon 0 so that they explode in the middle.

What surprised Adam was that the people from the other main hexes surrounding hex 0 also started shooting fireworks into the middle of hex 0.

While this was happening, the same old man in purple robes opened another even larger book, then recited some words that flooded hexagon 3, while he recited them, all the heads on the shelves came out to look in the direction of hexagon 0.

When the old man finished reciting his words, all the decorations in hexagon 3 changed, it was filled with white streamers all over the aisles of the shelves. White paper stars are glued to the ceilings and walls. All the floors were replaced with a nice white carpet.

In the middle of the roof, above hexagon 3, a giant sign appeared that read:

—'5 promoted!'

Adam was amazed by the euphoria of the situation, it seemed that the librarians did not mind burning all their money to celebrate this moment, to the point that a big party was about to be organized around hexagon 0.

—Here, Adam, put this on— Cesar said, passing him a paper cone with the phrase 'we are 5', it seems that everyone was putting these cones on their heads— Go with Achilles and if they ask you too many questions, call the guards.

Adam nodded and went with his teacher, as César had said, the questions were not few, but the answers that Adam could give, but luckily for him the guards helped to maintain control and he was able to go with his teacher.

—That's impressive Adam, I'm really alive to see someone ascend,— Achilles said with a smile looking at the cheering crowd.

—Are promotions that rare?—Adam asked, still remembering the old man's confidence, no doubt in his sightless eyes.

—Yes, very rare—Achilles answered happily—To ascend, one has to dominate the floor. All the books, of all the shelves, must be known. All the secrets, and all the secrets of the secrets, have to be found, and then there is the impossible question.

—All the books?— Adam asked in surprise.

—Yes, all of them, that's why they are rare, in all history there were only 4 promotions on this floor,— Achilles answered, looking expectantly at hexagon 0—A single promotion every 50,000 years, that's how rare Adam is. And the rumors are not few, if he really did it, now the gifts should come.

—Are there presents? What are they?—Adam asked excitedly, now he understood why they were all crazy. Not only were they weird, but they also came with a surprise gift.

—They are rumors, so it is better to wait and see if it really happens— Achilles answered a little nervously; it seems that the gift was very good—What I assure you are not rumors are the gifts for the shelves, it seems that they are going crazy.

Adam looked at the shelves and his teacher was telling the truth, they all had their heads out talking to each other and seemed to be looking excitedly at hexagon 0.