Although Rin tried to tell himself that this was nothing more than a dream, he failed to wake up or come out of it.

It was as if he was trapped. Indeed, he tried pinching himself and even slapped himself once or twice, but no, in the end, he was still surrounded by the dark mist and the darkness itself.

All he could hear was someone's voice which he wasn't familiar with.

"Now accept it already, you have come here with greed to get your hands on the Legendary Grimoire of my master!", the voice said.

"..."

This was bugging Rin even more. No matter how many times he denied it, the voice would just try to prove otherwise. It was saying the same thing again and again which was quite frustrating indeed.

"Sigh, just how many times should I repeat myself?"

"I didn't come here willingly!"

"I was just trying to get the book which the person asked for in return of which he would tell me about my parents and my missing brother!", Rin made himself clear again.

"..."

"Is that so?", the voice asked.

It seemed like it didn't have any more energy to argue on this topic.

"Yes, that is so!", Rin was quite infuriated because he was made to repeat himself at least ten times or even more.

"Okay fine, I understand, in the end, no matter what, you want this Grimoire right?", the voice asked.

"..."

Rin didn't want to argue anymore. He thought about it calmly and understood that the voice was really making sense now. That was because no matter to whom Rin would give this, he would be taking it first!

"Yes...", he nodded his head while saying this.

"..."

"You think it's that easy to take the book?"

"You need to first clear a trial and only then you will get your hands on the book!", the voice exclaimed.

"Trial?", Rin didn't know that there was something like that to do.

He had initially thought that bringing the book would be a pretty easy job, but it was only now that he realized that his thinking was wrong.

"Yes, don't worry, it's quite simple...", the voice said.

'Simple?', Rin thought about it for a bit and waited for the voice to give him further details.

"Yep, I will ask you three questions, if you can get all three correct..."

"Ahem, no let's keep it two..."

"If you can get two correct..."

The voice seemed confused and it was confusing Rin too.

'The last person who had come could get only one correct...', now this time the voice was thinking about the past a bit.

'...'

'I know that it's too less but...'

'I don't want to be alone anymore!', the voice seemed quite pitiful. It was all alone for a very long period of time and maybe that was why it was desperate to get some master who could inherit the book.

"Ahem, if you can get the answer to even one question, then you will be eligible for getting the book!", the voice finally decided and said this.

"Hmm, alright, I'll try!", Rin replied.

"Okay, here goes this first question - 'If you were granted the option to choose one among Money, Power, and Peace, then what would you choose?' - think carefully and answer.", the voice asked.

Rin wasn't the smartest in his class nor was he some damn genius. But that didn't matter at all since the question which the voice asked was to assess Rin's critical thinking.

"Uh, Money, Power, and Peace...?"

"If I don't have money, I will be poor and I won't get power nor will I have peace..."

"If I choose power, I might get money, but I would inevitably make tons of enemies and that would destroy the peace!"

"Hmm, if I choose peace, I will be satisfied with everything. I would be happy since I will have enough money and enough power and only then will I be able to have peace!"

Rin said all these things and the voice just kept listening to him.

'Hmm...'

''So inevitably I would like to choose Peace!'', Rin replied.

The voice didn't say anything. It seemed like it was rather sad for some reason.

'So this person too...?'

'What a shame...'

'Even after so many centuries...'

'Tsk, it's better to go to the next question.', the voice decided and was about to ask another question when suddenly Rin started to speak again.

"I take it back..."

"I take back everything that I said!"

"Huh", the voice was impatient now. He was surprised when Rin told about taking back whatever he said, but now he had no idea what his answer would be.

'Indeed, if the riddle was so easy, then everyone would have answered it...'

'I just stated the reasons, in the end, I chose peace over the others...'

Rin had started to force himself to think of something else. The riddle was indeed easy, but he just had to think from others' perspectives.

"..."

"Well, I'm tired thinking about it..."

"But what I believe is, until and unless my surrounding and the people near me are in peace, I will never be able to experience peace!"

"If someone is in need of money, then I should be eligible and capable enough to help them, and for that I require money..."

"If someone is in danger, I require power to protect them!"

"And only after that would I be able to provide them with peace..."

"If someone has both power and money but no peace, I would inevitably require peace and happiness so that I can share with them..."

"..."

"Ugh, my brain will explode! I have no idea what to choose! All of them are important!", Rin said.

He said all these things from his heart while picturing what his one and only elder brother would have said and done.

He imagined his parent's faces and the face of many other poor and helpless ones who lost their lives and family while thinking about it.

"..."

"...full!"

"Huh?", Rin thought that he heard something due to which he raised his head.

"Ha!?", but he was quite surprised when his gazes were directed towards his front.

He could see light flashing from a distant end as if it was calling him. It seemed spherical as if it was some orb. It was glowing with pure white light.

He slowly started walking towards it without even realizing it and even before he knew it, he reached the light orb and grabbed it.

The moment he did that, the light disappeared while leaving a mark on the palm of his right hand. The mark was looking like a star that was made with a white marker.

"Ahem, so here is the second question...", the voice continued.

"..."