Burning trees, charred soil, and the hot temperature— makes for a deadly bonfire, especially with this scale. If the forest is seen from high above, you would see a spreading crimson. The winds further proliferated the conflagration.

In no time at all, dark smoke started to rise like a Dragon’s tail reaching for the skies.

The figure of the masked person walked slowly in Matt’s direction. His steps were steady and doesn’t show any hostility. If he does, Matt would’ve acted already.

“Who are you? I have no quarrel with you…” Matt slightly bent his knees ready to act any second now.

At Matt’s words, the masked person halted his steps only to gaze at Matt in silence. Again, the masked person proved himself harmless as he raises his hands gesturing that he meant no harm.

What the masked person is thinking, Matt doesn’t know. He can only pray that this masked person can be reasoned with.

“I am… the Faceless Believer.” The masked person revealed his name, his true godly name— the Faceless Believer. In Matt’s ears, the moniker sounded menacing and even has a charm to it and nothing else, thus explaining his lack of reaction.

However, to the Faceless Believer’s eyes, this lack of reaction meant something else. He is the Faceless Believer!! One of the 13 Empyrean Gods! Even the lowliest commoner should’ve known him by name.

But the Faceless Believer could never imagine, that the person in front of him is actually thousands old and hasn’t seen anything of the current world. He silently cast a harmless spell called INFINITE WARDS.

“What did you do!?” Matt raised his voice aware of the sudden change in his surroundings.

“Impressive, you can detect Infinite Wards at the instant it was cast. Even an Archmage couldn’t possibly do that.” The Faceless Believer gave praise to Matt’s monstrous perception.

With his interest piqued, the Faceless Believer thought that it wouldn’t be so bad if he indulges the mortal in front of him. “There has been a breakthrough regarding wards the past 700 years.”

A cold sweat drenched Matt’s back recalling his mentor, and the warded cargo box.

The Faceless Believer continued in his kind explanation unaware of Matt’s inner turmoil. “Now, wards can be integrated to spell formulas. This spell, Infinite Wards, is a ninth (9th) tier spell composed of magic techniques mastered to the peak.” He proudly said as it was an accomplishment he achieved on his own.

“It was me who discovered it.” He boasted.

Matt showed an alert and wary attitude. At this point, any mage who would’ve heard the Faceless Believer’s words would have been worshipping him by now on their knees.

But contrary to the Faceless Believer’s expectations, instead of showing reverence, Matt displayed his hostility by putting his right hand on the pouch of magical reagents.

Matt stole the pouch from a certain dead mage just recently, and he doesn’t know what reagents are there. This is pretty much a gamble on Matt’s side.

“That’s a bit rash, don’t you think?” Faceless Believer cautioned Matt.

“I’ll take my chances,” Matt confidently replied, and maybe while at it, waste some time. “So, what’s a 9th-tier spell? Is it an archmage spell?” He curiously asked.

Faceless Believer was left speechless by Matt’s remark.

“Seriously? Are you really a mage? Do you live in a cave?” He scolded Matt harshly.

It has been a long time since he met someone from Trimystery. Faceless Believer can’t believe how far the organization has fallen to be actually not able to keep up with the times in magic breakthroughs.

“Why? Did Trimystery has gone into hiding to the point they broke contact with the world that even their elite mages’ knowledge of magic has stagnated this far? This is ridiculous.” He angrily spat, his magic coming to life!!

Matt felt his arm moving against its will. It removed itself from the pouch, and then slapped Matt in the face. Matt looked ludicrously to his own hand and muttered in a small voice. “Hand, are you betraying me?”

Then the hand clasped into a fist and started mercilessly beating the shit out of Matt. He tried to dodge, but his fist was relentless and accurate. The hand and the man came into a stalemate as Matt uses his other hand to take hold of the other.

Matt never imagined he would do hand-to-hand combat this way. The uncontrollable fist was only an inch before Matt as his other hand struggle to hold it off. But his fist was merciless, it suddenly flicked Matt’s nose causing him to recoil.

“Fuck,” Matt cursed. “That hurts! Stay, hand!! Stay!” In the end, Matt subdued the turncoat of a hand by seating over it.

“That serves you right, behave!” He reprimanded the hand peaking under his crotch. But the hand is really merciless in the truest sense as it gives Matt the middle finger.

“…” Matt doesn’t know what to say anymore. He looked at the Faceless Believer who was silent and emotionless the whole time.

“So, what’s a 9th-tier spell?” Matt persisted in wasting time.

The Faceless Believer approached Matt. He crouched, leveling his eyes to his. This is his little habit. Faceless believer likes to talk eye-to-eye… It allows him a sense of pleasure he can only get by seeing through a person, straight to their soul, baring them naked for all the world to see. Secrets, desires, hidden wounds… everything is revealed to him…

But to the Faceless Believer’s surprise, he can’t get a read from Matt. Nothing was revealed to him. No secrets, desires, hidden wounds. Nothing.

“Do you know, a person’s eyes are the gateways to their souls?” Out of the blue, Matt suddenly said words that sent chills down the Faceless Believer’s spine. Matt’s deep ebony eyes just stared right back at him in an unyielding manner.

“You are powerless, helpless, and burdened with guilt. The deaths in your hands will forever remind you of what you’ve lost. You forsook god, not because out of the fairness in your heart, but because you wanted to be one.” Matt’s words rang in his ears like thunder.

The Faceless Believer stumbled back, bloody tears pouring out from inside his mask.

“I see you.” By saying these provoking words, Matt took a leap of faith.

And he succeeded. Matt had a nightmare of the old world, and the Faceless Believer was in it. By referencing from it, Matt agitated the Faceless Believer’s mind in the hopes of buying just enough time.

As Matt prematurely cast his ancient magic formulated for teleportation, the now broken magic circles were activated. Both Matt and the Faceless Believer were caught in it, sending them to vastly two different random coordinates.

The last thing the Faceless Believer saw was Matt’s victorious smile.

…

In the blink of an eye, Matt found himself surrounded by a different scenery. The burning forest was no longer to be seen, in its place, are grassy plains. The sunrise just rose from the east, the first light enveloping Matt in warmth.

Seeing all of this, Matt deduced that he must’ve been sent quite far. Too far to the point that the time difference became this huge.

“Wasn’t it supposed to be past noon? Ah~ Why do I feel lightheaded?” Matt weakly asked himself as he blankly stares at his bloody left hand. “What now? I’ve become a ninja turtle?” He sarcastically added noticing the bloody stump where his middle finger and pinky are supposed to be.

Just beside his feet are the said missing fingers.

Slowly, the pain registers in Matt. Looking over his right shoulder, he realized that he was missing his right arm. “A-aa-aaa-aah— aaAAAHHH!!” He cried in pain.

Just a bit further to his right, Matt watched his severed right hand flopping like a fish. Matt cast CALM to himself squeezing as much mentality he can harness.

He has to assess his situation calmly. The subsiding pain returned his reason.

Looks like the space transference for the improv ancient magic made the space folds deadly problematic. Matt is lucky he only got amputated. If it were his head, Matt would’ve definitely met a dead end.

But Matt can’t really tell. Maybe, his current situation is also a dead end. He lost too much blood, and the pain is killing him. Matt can only hope for the best as he cauterizes his wounds with the magic technique, pyrogenesis.

Leaving it to fate, Matt chose a random direction and started his long arduous path. The warm sun soon became hot. The tall grasses became harsher as it scrapes Matt’s skin. It was itchy and painful, but Matt persevered.

Shortly, the hunger and thirst made Matt dizzy. With each step Matt takes, the next just becomes harder. He doesn’t know how long he has been traversing the path nor how far has he walked already.

Lacking any strength, night came. Its cold subsided the itch in his wounds, but that didn’t offer any comfort to him as he was closely nearing death’s door.

“Young man,” Someone called to Matt, but he didn’t turn around as he was in a daze. “Stop!! Or you will die at this rate.” The voice shouted. An old man barred Matt’s path carrying a familiar flopping hand.

But Matt neither can’t see nor hear the old man. Left with no choice, the old man casts a SLEEP spell at Matt. “For now, rest…” The old man amicably said.

It was a long rest. Matt didn’t dream nor had any nightmares. It was just a night of sleep, a rest, something that he deserves. When he opened his eyes, he was met with a ceiling made of nipa.

“I am alive…” Matt thanked his fortunes, he is alive! And he is thankful for it. Now that he has found Len and made a special connection with Kaira, Matt has so much to lose.

Crying a fountain of tears, Matt awfully wept like a child that lost his way in the amusement park. His snot covered his face, almost tasting it on his lips. He can’t suppress it, so just let it pour out. Sorrows, joy, gratitude…

The old man who heard the commotion from inside his hut hurriedly came to Matt’s side for the fear of his patient’s condition. When he saw the crying Matt, the old man just silently watched.

To the old man’s long life and experience, he realized what Matt’s crying meant. It was the tears of a man who survived tribulations, and a man’s tears are just as precious.

Matt wiped the tears off his eyes, his entire face was crumpled, but he tried to calm himself without using any magic. He was hyperventilating, but with some time, he was able to stabilize his emotional outburst.

“Thank you,” Matt softly said in gratitude to the old man that saved his life. It was blurry, but Matt recalls that he has a savior. “I won’t forget this debt of gratitude in my lifetime.”

Raising his left hand, Matt swore in a formal manner. The old man didn’t understand the gesture but his smile says it all. That is when Matt noticed that his left hand was fixed already. His pinky and middle finger are now intact.

The old man realized the surprise in Matt’s eyes so he explained. “I might not look like it, but I am actually a very impressive mage.” The old man boasted.

The old man continued “I was grazing my cow when I saw the bloody spectacle on the grasses. With a bit of searching, I found your fingers and your rude right hand.”

“Rude right hand?” Matt was flabbergasted.

“It tried to slap me! I used it to get a better direction as to where you are. For the meanwhile, I contained it in that box right there.” The old man pointed at a black box just beside Matt’s bed. Matt can subtly hear some pounding from the inside.

The old man transmuted a wooden chair from the hut’s basic materials. He sat, then continued with his story. “Using your fingers and right hand as a hex material, I was able to pinpoint where you at. The funny thing is you walked exactly opposite away from my hut. Judging from the blood you left at the scene, I thought that you might be on the verge of dying. In my good conscience, I tracked you.”

Matt was amazed by the old man’s methods. Hexes belong to the category of curses, something dreadful and wicked. But the old man used it differently. Matt heard something similar to tracking magic from his mentor, but not anything like the old man’s hexes.

“I don’t know, it must be fate playing tricks on you. Do you know? My hut was just two hundred meters away from you. The fact that you missed it is not your fault though, since I hid the hut quite well. But for a coincidence, it’s quite something else.” The old man added.

The two had an amiable conversation. The old man introduced himself as Felipe Corvun. He is bald, but traces of his youth still remains. Matt reckons that old Felipe must’ve been quite a lady killer in his younger days.

“But I must say, young man. Your right hand was jinxed with something very heinous.” Ominously, the old man's eyes were suddenly filled with dread.