Genius didn’t hesitate.

"Ah, that!" He grinned broadly. "It’s because my father sent me here on a special mission."

"Mission?" The guard asked suspiciously.

"Yes! Investigation about... about..." he thought quickly, "...about donations! Genials House wants to donate funds to the Cathedral but needs to verify the proper use of the resources!"

Haru almost laughed. "What a ridiculous lie..."

But the guard processed it.

"Donations...?"

"Exactly!" Genius continued confidently. "My father is very generous but also very careful. He wants to make sure the money goes to the right place. Books, renovations, charity... things like that..."

He pointed to the other guard.

"Did you receive a recent raise?"

"N-no..." the guard admitted.

"See? Exactly what my father suspected! Money doesn’t reach the employees! That’s why we’re in uniform so as not to raise suspicions... it’s a secret between the four of us now..."

The guards exchanged uncertain glances.

"And who is he?" They pointed at Haru.

"My assistant... Sushi!" Genius answered quickly. "Write everything down, I’ll check it."

Haru nodded, trying to appear professional.

Tense silence.

Then the guard returned the coin.

"...You can go through. But quickly. And no touching the rare books."

"Of course, of course!" Genius put the coin away. "Just visual observation!"

They passed through and entered the restricted wing.

When the door was behind them...

"What an improvisation!" Haru whispered, impressed.

"I learned from the best... on earth," Genius smiled. "Now let’s find this Tacty before..."

A female voice behind them:

"Haru, what are you doing here?"

They turned slowly.

It was Lilithine, there, a serious and surprised expression, hands crossed, looking directly at Haru.

"IT’S REALLY SCREWED..." Haru thought.

``` ◊ Tacty: Still unfound

◊ Time: Running out

```

"Who is she?" Genius whispered.

"She’s a friend of mine..."

"Friend, hmm!"

Lilithine came up to them. "What are you doing here!? Why are you dressed like a student from here!?"

"She’s losing her shyness, talking to me, she seems more at ease now, more confident," Haru thought.

Genius stepped in: "Nice to meet you!" he said, kissing Lilithine’s hand.

That gesture was supposed to be elegant, but they were in a Cathedral, surrounded by saints, that gesture was somewhat lustful.

The others who saw it found the act strange, looking disapprovingly.

Haru took Lilithine’s hand and pulled her aside, confessing, "We’re on a mission. Well, I’m on a mission with the Genials house. We’re kind of inspecting the Cathedral to donate funds..."

Lilithine looked Haru straight in the eyes.

"But you were here a while ago..."

"Eh! But I came to see you... not to work."

"Come to see me...?" she said softly, blushing.

"Eh, now I’m working." Haru took her hand.

```

[TOUCH OF GODDESS: ACTIVATED]

Processing contact...

Target: Lilithine

Compatibility: 97%

Spiritual signature: DUAL NATURE DETECTED

Progress: 23% > 31%

Status: INSUFFICIENT CONTACT

Requirement: Extended physical interaction needed

```

"Damn... I still can’t take it completely..." Haru thought.

"Can you tell me where I can find the books with Tacty?" she asked.

"Tacty?"

...

Moments later they were in a wing full of shelves with various books, covers decorated with Tacty rubies shining faintly.

All around, unconscious readers, people sat with open books, hands on them, eyes white, sort of reading in a trance. Others stood, not even the book open, but they were in that state.

"It’s as if the books took them..." Genius argued.

"I thought the same." Haru agreed. "Just pick it up and move on to the next mission."

His visionary eyes focused on which one to take, he picked up a random book with red Tacty on the cover.

Immediately everything went white.

"Hmmm!" Haru exclaimed, startled, looking around.

Empty space. No color. No form.

Letters began to appear, ancient runes, complex symbols, compressed knowledge.

When he wanted to read...

The spirits within him screamed loudly. Each of the 100 spirits wanted to read simultaneously. Cacophonous voices. Haru didn’t know where to focus.

```

*I WANT TO READ!*

*NO, ME!*

*LET ME SEE!*

*IT’S MINE!*

*KNOWLEDGE!*

```

His head began to ache, an absurd pressure, as if his skull were about to explode. He crouched down, inhaling deeply, returning to reality by taking steps back in fright, almost falling.

Genius didn’t understand; for him, it was an instant.

"What happened?"

Haru looked at his trembling hands. Then at the books. Then at the others in a trance.

He explained what he understood:

"It’s as if the book takes over your consciousness and takes you to it. It forces you to receive a lot of compressed knowledge. But I couldn’t understand anything..."

"The spirits..." he thought. "This time I’ll try to silence them... and focus."

Genius kept processing.

Before he could say anything, Haru went and picked it up again.

"This guy is crazy... doesn’t he feel pain?!" Genius thought.

This time Haru was violently repelled, almost hitting the bookshelves.

```

[REJECTION]

◊ Multiple consciousness layers detected

◊ Semantic instability: CRITICAL

◊ Access DENIED

```

"I’m not a single soul... is that it?" Haru thought on the floor. "Result: multiple voices, semantic conflict, ununified intention... collapse."

Genius stood there curious.

"Let me try..." Genius smiled, picking up a book.

He picked up the Tacty and his eyes turned white. His head lifted slightly and he stood still, his body rigid, his breathing slow, completely in a trance.

Haru observed. "Genius is the opposite. A single soul. Maybe he can do it... and if he does, we’ll all win."

He remembered Flavius. "He could have sent us to buy Tacty or mine... but he preferred to send us to the Cathedral to rummage through the books."

"That son of a bitch is clever..."

"If we see this as a game... he knows our level of insanity to commit acts like this is high. He also wants knowledge of the Cathedral. We win in every aspect."

"Whatever Genius is reading now..."

Haru looked at his partner in a trance.

"I want it too!"

Haru started bleeding from the nose, a thin trickle of blood running down. He wiped it away, going to him and waiting.

...Genius opened his eyes. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

A mountain of letters surrounded him, floating in the air visible only to him, knowledge being processed in real time.

Genius blinked several times, returning to reality.

"Damn it..." he murmured. "So this is what it’s like to be inside a Cathedral book..."

He began analyzing the letters floating around him, ancient symbols swirling, compressed knowledge waiting to be decoded.

"So I need to decode them..."

His eyes gleamed, irises turning pure gold.

```[GENIUS EYES: ACTIVATED]

Processing information... Decoding ancient symbols... Pattern recognition: ACTIVE

```

<FLASHBACK — SKILL SELECTION>

Neon void. Chronia seated on the broken throne.

"Go ahead, choose..." she said, smiling.

Around Marcell (not yet a Genius) swirled several floating skills, spheres of light with descriptions.

"As usual in the game..." Marcell thought, analyzing, "...the player must choose at least three initial skills that will be traits for the character."

He had already chosen two. The last one was missing.

He stopped in a bright golden sphere:

```

[GENIUS EYES]

Tier: Legendary (Slow burn)

Type: Perception Enhancement

Effect:

- Decode complex information instantly

- See patterns invisible to others

- Read/analyze magical formulas

- Accelerated learning (3x speed)

- Perfect memory retention Limitation: Mental fatigue increases with use

```

"And this is perfect for a genius like me..." he thought, taking the sphere.

It absorbed into his body, his eyes glowing gold for a second.

"Ready to transmigrate." He said confidently.*

Chronia smiled genuinely. "Good luck, Marcell... I mean, Genius."

She watched him disappear, turning into light.

<PRESENT>

Genius kept catching the floating letters, his golden eyes processing quickly, trying to piece them together and form words.

Symbols began to make sense, the history of the Cathedral, guarded secrets, and the location of artifacts.

"Almost there... just a little more..."

But then he began to hear a distant voice:

"Marcell... my son..."

He froze.

On the other side, in the real world, a hospital in France:

Marcell’s mother sat beside the bed where his body lay, intubated, machines beeping, bandages on his head. She held his hand, crying.

"Marcell... wake up... please..."

Her voice was broken from crying so much.

"You can’t leave me... you’re all I have... my genius... my boy..."

Tears fell onto his hand.

"I need you... don’t abandon me... please..."

Genius, inside the book, began to see memories, not from the book, but his own:

His mother smiling when he showed her his first invention. Mother working double shifts to pay for school.

Mother defending him when they called him crazy.

Mother... alone... crying... believing he was going to die.

"No... no..." Genius murmured, his concentration breaking.

The letters began to blur.

"I have to focus..."

He tried to ignore his mother’s voice, but memories kept coming, an emotional avalanche he couldn’t stop.

The book began to reject him, symbols receding, knowledge closing in.

```[EMOTIONAL INTERFERENCE DETECTED]

Subject mental state: UNSTABLE

Access: DEGRADING

Warning: Forced disconnection imminent

```

Haru watched Genius cry, tears streaming down his face while still in a trance, his body trembling.

"Is it a sad story he’s reading?"* he thought.

"Fuck it... I’m going in too. Maybe this time, because of the frequency of the Genius, the book won’t spit me out..."

He touched the Tacty stone from the same book.