Ten Lucky Draws: I Became OP

Chapter 418: Nothing Is Ever Simple

Ash reappeared within the vast Library of True Reality once more, and this time it was completely empty.

“With my Decree active, those two won’t be appearing anytime soon,” he said.

Before anything unusual happened, he spread his divinity outwards beyond the walls of the library… only to find it in an endless expanse of white.

His goal this time was not for any knowledge, as his time was far too short for that. He instead was planning to copy the existence level of beings.

As mentioned before, although the ranks were similar, he could feel that those from True Reality held far more weight than those inside the Organisms did.

And Ash wouldn’t be himself if he simply waited before trying to achieve this.

“The hell?” He muttered before he teleported outside.

The moment he did, he found himself in a sort of maze.

—-

Whenever Ancestor Seeker stepped away from her domain, it didn’t just vanish.

Instead, it triggered a protective measure.

Ash now stood in endless corridors of pale, flawless marble stretching in every direction. The walls climbed impossibly high, fading into a blank white void overhead.

There was no ceiling, no sky—just an infinite, suffocating whiteness pressing in from every side.

Beneath him, the same smooth marble lay cold and unyielding, mirroring his figure with perfect clarity.

Every corridor looked identical at first glance, yet subtle differences revealed themselves the longer he looked.

And with his eyes — Ash saw through it instantly.

“Someone only has this much protection if they are hiding something… or protecting something of immense value.” Elysia muttered.

“That’s the thing though… I should know virtually everything about her, no?” Ash said as he begun to walk.

He had previously scanned not just Ancestor Seeker, but Luna as well. Which revealed pretty much everything he needed to know.

Unlike the Eyes of First Dawn, his rank difference did not matter. Whatever he looked at would be revealed in all its clarity, yet in this moment it was clear something had been missed.

If not, how could he be unaware of the defense measures… or this maze?

As he walked, he instantly recognized it as a test of perception and will, crafted to ensnare lesser beings in endless loops of confusion and despair.

But for him, the right path shone like a golden thread stretched across the white marble. Every dead end, looping corridor, and deceptive turn stood exposed.

He moved forward without hesitation, hands in his pockets, following the invisible golden line only he could see.

The corridors twisted and turned, yet he moved with steady confidence, never hesitating or breaking pace.

After what felt like both minutes and hours, the path finally ended at a lone door.

“Why is it that every mythical place always has to end with a plain door?” Creara asked.

It stood alone in the middle of the white expanse — dark, aged wood, simple and unadorned, completely out of place in the sleek, futuristic maze.

“Master… this door is not s… safe,” Unara muttered, a chill running down her spine. Unlike the others, she wasn’t looking at the door itself, but beyond it…

And upon hearing this, Ash rose a brow, but he didn’t look past it. Instead, he stepped forward into it.

“We’re already here anyway… so fuck it.”

—-

The moment he crossed the threshold, reality folded in on itself.

There was no sensation of movement, no transition, no sound — only the abrupt, disorienting shift from the pristine white maze to something entirely otherworldly.

It was weird though…. because as strong as Ash was…. he couldn’t even tell if he truly even left the Maze at all.

But what he did know for sure, was whether it was his physical form or not… Currently he was standing in the center of a colossal coliseum.

It was empty and beyond massive — its scale defied comprehension.

The stands rose in endless tiers that seemed to stretch into infinity, each row carved from a material that shifted between animate then inanimate.

Beneath his feet stretched a flawless circle of smooth, black stone.

There was no sky—only an endless, starless darkness pressing in from above, pierced now and then by faint, far-off flickers that might have been dying galaxies or the watchful eyes of something ancient.

Around the central arena, eighteen distinct sections formed a flawless ring, standing quietly in the emptiness.

Each section held only a few dozen beings, but the strange part was that none were humanoid. Instead, they appeared as enormous symbols or abstract shapes brought to life.

One section held a coiled serpent formed from burning equations.

Another revealed a swirling vortex of threads, weaving and unweaving endlessly.

A third was a massive, floating book whose pages turned on their own, each inscribed with a different aspect of existence.

A fourth displayed enormous golden scales, tipping and balancing without any visible weight.

Others were even stranger — a living flame shaped like a crown, a shadow moving independently of light, a crystal singing forgotten melodies, and a hand of pure void reaching toward nothing.

Ash, however, saw through the symbolic forms almost instantly. In just a heartbeat, he began to glimpse their real faces beneath the abstractions.

What he saw made his eyes bleed and blur— these beings…. were the definition of ancient, powerful, and completely alien.

Some were vast minds shaped into perfect geometry.

Others were living proofs of mathematical truth.

A few were lost fragments of reality, somehow alive.

One formed itself into an endless, flawless fractal, each angle cradling whole collapsed verses.

They didn’t speak.

They didn’t move.

They only watched.

Ash stood alone at the center of the arena, hands in his pockets, meeting their collective gaze with calm curiosity—even as blood streamed from his eyes.

And yet, the coliseum stayed utterly silent.

That was until, one of the symbols moved — from the ninth section.

It was a simple, yet elegant sigil of a perfect circle.

It drifted forward from its section, stopping directly in front of Ash.

The sigil pulsed once.

And a calm, ancient, vaguely familiar voice echoed directly inside his mind.

“You are impressive…. But it is not yet time. You must complete the game first.”

Ash’s eyes narrowed as in eyes he could see beyond the ’simple’ circle. In front of him was a vastly more beautiful, yet even more simple version of the exact one he was trying to ’avoid’.

“…Ancestor Seeker?”

The sigil—the true form of Ancestor Seeker—flickered for just an instant, her brown eyes widening in surprise beneath the symbolic guise.

Before he could speak, she raised a single hand.

In an instant, Ash was carried off by a gentle yet irresistible force, the coliseum and its eighteen symbols disappearing without a trace.

He found himself back in the white maze, standing before the lone wooden door — now closed and silent once again.

The Library of True Reality hummed softly around him, as though nothing had happened.

Ash paused for a moment, taking it all in.

“Just what the fuck is my luck,” he muttered with a low chuckle.