Chaos flooded Daniel’s mind. It had been a very long time since the last time he had used his brain this intensely just to find the answer to a single question, so long that even he found it surprising.
It wasn’t that he had no answers. He did.
But he knew that none of those answers were what this Pagoda was looking for.
And yet, no other answer came to his mind. Any other answer would just be a lie.
For him, there was only one answer: power.
The only reason he wanted eternity was to become stronger.
It was as if the Pagoda sensed his confusion. The silence suddenly broke.
The white ground beneath his feet rippled, slowly turning into a transparent surface, like an endless mirror. Daniel saw his own reflection, but not as he was now. The image began to change. First, it became wounded. Then old. Then bent and fragile. And finally... it stopped.
It stood there and no longer changed. A face that was neither alive nor dead. Neither young nor old. Something fixed, unmoving, yet still "him."
Then everything froze again, as if the Pagoda was giving him time to analyze what he was seeing. Daniel was confused for a moment, but on second thought, he understood.
This was an aspect of eternity. It was showing him eternal existence, and also change within eternity. Eternity was endless, but change was still a part of eternity.
Eternity was not about being forever fixed and identical. It was about the fact that no matter how much you change, in the end, the result is the same.
But he still didn’t understand. What did this have to do with him?
At that moment, the voice came again. But this time, it was not familiar. It was a voice he did not recognize, one he had never heard before.
It came from everywhere, yet it felt like it was forming directly inside his mind.
"Eternity is not the continuation of life."
The space darkened. The sky vanished. Only Daniel and that unmoving image remained.
"Eternity is not the absence of an end. It is the absence of change."
The image in front of him cracked. The cracks spread, and different scenes appeared within them: civilizations rising, gods falling, worlds being born and dying. But one thing was the same in all of them.
Everything moved... except what had reached eternity.
That thing always remained there. A watcher. A witness. Neither involved, nor separated.
Daniel instinctively took a step back.
"You seek power that remains," the voice said calmly, without mercy.
"But do you know the price of remaining?"
Suddenly, a heavy weight fell on his soul. Not physical pressure. Not energy suppression. Something deeper. Daniel felt that if he stayed here, if he accepted this law without fully understanding it, something inside him would become fixed forever.
Eternity without movement.
Now he understood. If he accepted eternity, he would not instantly lose his emotions and desires. Instead, over time, slowly, they would change.
"So this is the real issue..." he sighed.
This wasn’t just about emotions and desires. It was about the power of eternity itself.
With the power of eternity, anything could be made eternal. But eternity had a price, and that price was "change." Even so, he himself did not fully understand what that truly meant.
The death energy inside his body calmed down. It did not erupt, nor did it surge. For the first time, Daniel forced it into silence. Even the thunder went quiet. No power was active.
"Eternity is not something you take," the voice said.
"It is something you either endure... or run from."
The unmoving image in front of him began to collapse. The cracks deepened, and finally, like glass shattered under pressure, it broke apart completely.
For the first time, the voice paused.
"So what is your answer?"
Daniel closed his eyes and reviewed everything he had understood about eternity. He now realized that every law had its own price.
Something he had never noticed before was how indifferent he had become toward death and life, his own and everyone else’s. Now that he thought about it, he realized it was because of the Law of Death.
The more he used the Law of Death, the more indifferent he became toward life and death.
And now, the same applied to eternity. What would be the price of using, or "enduring", it?
Based on his observations, this price applied only to supreme laws.
"True eternity is the ability to not change... but still choose to change," he murmured.
The ground became solid again. The sky returned, but this time it was dark and filled with stars. In front of Daniel, stone stairs formed out of thin air, rising upward.
"You did not accept the law. But you understood it. That is enough... for now," the voice said for the last time.
The weight on Daniel’s soul lifted. He took a breath and finally allowed his mind to relax, if only a little.
Daniel opened his eyes and looked at the stairs. It could be said that this was only permission to enter the Pagoda and its main floors.
Could he handle the rest of them?
He could only hope that in the next ones, he would be allowed to use his muscles instead of his mind.
It wasn’t that he had a problem with this kind of mental trial, but if possible, he would rather choose the easier options.
[ Your understanding of the Law of Eternity has increased by 2% ]
[ Your understanding of the Law of Eternity has increased by 1% ]
[ Your understanding of the Law of Eternity has increased by 7.5% ]
He also took a brief look at the notifications that had appeared during the trial. His understanding of the Law of Eternity had increased by a significant amount.
Maybe he could raise his understanding of the Law of Eternity to 100% inside this Pagoda.
He stepped onto the first stair.
And the first floor of the Pagoda of Eternity closed behind him.