My Talent's Name Is Generator Chapter 1154: Consequences

Nearly three hours slipped by without anyone finding an answer.

The initial confidence that had filled the library gradually disappeared, replaced by an oppressive silence broken only by the endless ticking of the enormous clock suspended high above us.

Tick...

Tock...

Every swing of the pendulum seemed louder than the last.

Most of us had already abandoned any hope of randomly discovering the correct book. Instead, everyone moved methodically through the endless shelves, carefully examining titles that constantly shifted depending on who observed them.

Then...

Movement caught everyone’s attention. One of the Noctari stepped confidently from between two towering bookshelves.

Unlike before, there wasn’t the slightest hesitation in his stride.

A satisfied smile rested upon his shadow-like face as he carried a thick black volume tucked beneath one arm.

Even Shade looked toward him.

"You’ve found it?"

"I have."

The Noctari’s voice carried absolute certainty.

"The answer was simpler than I expected."

He walked directly toward the reception desk where Macaco was quietly dusting a bookshelf with an absurdly small feather duster.

"Oh!"

The ape looked delighted.

"Our first participant."

He happily clapped his hands together.

"Marvelous!"

The Noctari placed the heavy book upon the polished wooden desk.

Its cover bore only four words.

The Perfect Nullification.

Macaco adjusted his spectacles before resting one hand upon the cover.

"Before we continue..."

His cheerful smile remained unchanged.

"I am required to ask one final question."

The Noctari folded his arms confidently.

"Go ahead."

"Is this your final answer?"

"It is."

Macaco looked at him for several long seconds. Almost as though giving him one final opportunity to reconsider.

"You are absolutely certain?"

"I’ve never been more certain."

The ape slowly nodded.

"I see."

He opened the book.

Silence followed. Only the gentle rustling of paper echoed through the vast library. After reading the first page, Macaco quietly closed the volume once more.

He looked back up.

His smile remained as warm as ever.

"I’m terribly sorry."

The Noctari frowned.

"I’m afraid..."

Macaco adjusted his glasses.

"...this isn’t your book."

A ripple of confusion spread through the gathered Saints.

The Noctari’s smile disappeared.

"What?"

"You selected the answer your mind desired."

Macaco gently pushed the book back across the desk.

"The trial asked for the answer your soul seeks."

He sighed softly.

"They’re rarely the same."

The Noctari immediately reached toward the book.

"Then I’ll simply—"

"You confirmed your answer."

Macaco’s tone remained perfectly polite.

"I’m afraid the trial has already reached its verdict."

The library...reacted.

The Noctari suddenly froze where he stood. For a brief moment nothing happened.

Then his body began shrinking. His limbs gradually folded inward as though an invisible force was carefully compressing every fragment of his existence. Flesh dissolved into parchment. Bones flattened into tightly bound pages. His flowing cloak unraveled into strips of leather that wrapped themselves around the growing stack of paper, while the silver glow within his eyes scattered across hundreds of tiny lines of ink.

There wasn’t a single scream.

Only shock.

Within seconds...

The Noctari was gone. Where he had stood rested a single black leather-bound book. It fell gently onto the marble floor.

Thump.

Only...A book.

Macaco looked genuinely saddened.

"Oh dear."

He bent down, picked up the volume with remarkable care, and gently brushed an imaginary speck of dust from its cover.

"Another unfortunate addition."

Still softly whistling to himself, he carried the book toward one of the nearby shelves. After searching for a moment, he found an empty space, slid the volume neatly into place between two ancient tomes, adjusted its position until it sat perfectly aligned with the others, and gave the shelf a satisfied nod.

"There we are."

He stepped back to admire his work.

"Everything should always be returned to its proper place."

A silence unlike anything we had experienced since entering the library settled over us.

Only now did everyone truly understand what Macaco had meant.

Failure...wasn’t punishment. It was permanence.

I remained standing exactly where I was, my eyes fixed upon the shelf where the Noctari had just become another silent volume among countless others.

No matter how many battles I had fought or how many impossible sights I had witnessed since arriving in the Null Realm, watching a living Saint quietly transform into a book was unlike anything I had ever experienced.

There had been no violence.

No desperate scream.

One wrong answer...and the library had simply rewritten his existence.

The realization sent an involuntary chill down my spine. This wasn’t a place where brute strength mattered.

It wasn’t even a place where intelligence guaranteed survival. It demanded something far more difficult.

Understanding yourself.

My gaze slowly drifted across the endless shelves stretching into the distance.

What did that even mean?

At first, the answer appeared obvious.

Power.

Wasn’t everything I had done ultimately driven by the desire to become stronger? But almost immediately I dismissed the thought.

No.

Power had never been the destination.

It had only ever been the means.

Then...

My parents.

Did my soul wish for a way to restore their lives? To free them completely from the fate they had suffered?

Again...

It didn’t feel right.

If such a possibility truly existed, I would seize it without hesitation, but it wasn’t the thought that accompanied me every waking moment.

North.

The name surfaced almost instinctively. Yet even that answer felt incomplete.

One possibility after another surfaced before quietly collapsing beneath scrutiny.

Freedom for the Prime Territory.

The destruction of the Eternals.

Protecting the Blue Spiral.

Learning the truth about the System.

Every answer carried importance.

Every answer represented a part of me.

Yet none of them felt...fundamental.

For the first time in a very long while, I found myself completely lost.

A bitter smile slowly appeared on my face.

"So even I don’t know my own soul."

I looked once more toward the endless library before a familiar thought surfaced. If there existed one ability capable of answering a question no ordinary method could...

It was the All-Knowing Eyes.

The thought itself made me hesitate.

Ever since arriving in the Null Realm, every use of the Eyes had become increasingly dangerous. More than once I had felt the unmistakable sensation that a single poorly worded question would simply kill me where I stood.

This library was no ordinary place either.

It had been created by the Ruler of the Null Realm himself.

Attempting to pry into its deepest secret might very well invite consequences I couldn’t predict.

Still...

Standing here guessing would accomplish nothing.

I slowly closed my eyes.

Soul Force gathered quietly behind my eyelids as the familiar silver pain began spreading through my consciousness.

This time...I chose every word with extreme care.