A few hours passed until Adam finally managed to open his eyes. As he opened them, the young man realized he was floating on the lake's water, frightened by the memory of feeling his body split in half. The redhead checked his condition to see if he had fully healed.

Fortunately, he was completely healed, but unfortunately, Adam couldn't feel his new magical ability, and he wasn't sure how to activate the skill he obtained from his fifth magic book. However, the boy didn't panic; the magic book was nowhere to be found, and if the eyeless old man had taken it from him, it meant he already got his ability. Consequently, Adam only needed to discover the anomalies in his body to better understand his new magic trick.

But before he continued inspecting his body more seriously, the young man looked around the cave in astonishment: the cave was clean, and the eyeless old man must have cleaned all the blood. However, what caught the redhead's attention wasn't the cleanliness but the apparent change in the cave.

Adam noticed several fireflies moving around, blinking through the dimly lit cave. It was the first time in his life that Adam saw fireflies; he had read about them in books, but the descriptions in the books were inaccurate because the fireflies' blinking in the poorly lit cave was not beautiful but rather astonishing.

But his state of astonishment didn't last long as he now gazed bewildered at a wall of the cave, where there was a door he had never seen before. The door was made of heavily rotted tree bark, covered in fungi and moss, making it seem like it had been there for a very, very long time. Nevertheless, Adam had never noticed it before.

Adam slowly got up from the lake and approached the door to see what was inside. But when he placed his hand on the door, the eyeless old man materialized on the wall and shouted angrily:

—What are you doing touching that door, you little brat?!

Adam wanted to respond but was too busy staring at the eyeless old man's appearance: the old man was now wearing a pointed wizard hat, a long beard, and a monocle, although he still didn't have eyes, so the monocle was purely decorative and looked rather odd.

—You look... somewhat... different...—said Adam, looking at him in bewilderment.

—Do I look more magical?—asked the eyeless old man with a rather large smile.

—Uh, yeah...—Adam replied obligingly, a little stunned by how awkward the monocle looked on the old man—Did you buy this door with the collected mushrooms too?

A broad smile formed on the eyeless old man's face upon hearing the question, and he answered:

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

—No, this door has always been here; you just couldn't see it before.

—Why can I see it now?—Adam asked, looking at the door with curiosity.

The eyeless old man removed his eyes, looked Adam up and down, and finally said:

—Because you are a wizard, and I am a magical bookshelf. Naturally, now you can see my beautiful and precious magical door.

—Am I a wizard already?!—Adam responded incredulously. He knew quite a bit about religions, and it was impossible for only five magic books to be the ultimate goal of a librarian's entire life's journey.

Having noticed how difficult it was to accumulate positive karma, Adam realized that each religious objective was an impossibility, and that was also the point of mysticism.

One didn't follow a religion to achieve the goal but to enjoy the journey until death while trying to achieve it. Otherwise, it would merely be objectives and not a religion, or at least that's what Adam understood after studying the subject for many years.

—Yes, you are a wizard—said the eyeless old man, looking at him with pride and joy —Though you are only a novice on the magical path. I also follow this religion, so I'm glad you chose the right faith, kid. Not like in your past life, where you wasted 500 years pursuing fools.

—I didn't know bookshelves believed in librarians' religions...—murmured Adam, feeling stunned —Did I have faith in something in my past life?

The eyeless old man completely ignored the question and said happily:

—Many religions are shared among races. For example, the monk follows the religion of heroes, which is why he helps you so much. But our goals and objectives are very different. I don't need to read magical books. In essence, I only need to obtain the magic books and guard them.

Adam noticed that the old man was avoiding his question, and it annoyed him, but for some reason, he was giving away quite useful information that he didn't know about the magician's path, so he let him keep talking. From the other perspective, the eyeless old man, seeing that the boy wasn't asking further, said:

—Now you are an initiated wizard, Adam, and since you got me a magic book, I can tell you more about our religion if you have any questions on this topic and not about your past life. Although, to be honest, I could tell you about your past life, but I'm too lazy to do it.

Adam's annoyance reappeared after hearing that, but he restrained himself to not ruin the eyeless old man's happy mood. With some expectation, Adam asked:

—Are there any benefits or changes in the body upon becoming a wizard, as there are with karma? And do you know any place where I can learn more about the subject?

The eyeless old man shook his head from side to side and replied with regret:

—There's no place to learn, or at least nobody ever told me about such places. Generally, wizards have a master who teaches them, but those wizards are long gone, so you'll have to figure it out without a master. I don't know how you're going to manage to continue on the wizard's path on your own. I suppose you should keep reading magical books until you figure it out. As for your next question: yes, there are benefits. Now you can see the world as a wizard would. There are also changes in the body, but I'm not aware of them. For some reason, wizards never talk about them... To be honest, I thought you would grow a mask on top of your face after becoming a wizard.

—Seeing the world as a wizard...—murmured Adam with surprise, looking at the tree bark door and remembering what he had read in his fifth magic book —Can I go in and see what's inside?

—Yes, but don't expect to find anything useful—said the eyeless old man, sounding somewhat suspicious.