Days passed, and Adam found himself at his desk, currently playing with a small wooden box the size of his hand.

According to the eyeless old man, this strange box was a toy used by magicians to pass the time. It looked like a solid wooden block, but in the hands of a magician like Adam, it turned into a puzzle box.

Every time he solved the puzzle, the box would change shape and size, but the goal remained the same: to find another way to open it. Inside the box, there was nothing; its sole purpose was to entertain and challenge the solver with a simple riddle.

Adam obtained this box from the eyeless old man's storage in exchange for the biography of the Toy Maker. Although the book meant little to the eyeless old man, Adam managed to trade the copy for an old toy, which was better than leaving it abandoned in the cave.

—Aren't you going to read the next magic book? You've spent a whole month playing with that box— the eyeless old man said urgently —I think you've exaggerated a bit with my advice...

Adam looked at the eyeless old man and focused on the monocle resting on his face. Immediately, a mole with a mouth appeared inside Adam's ear and shouted in a shrill voice:

—He's impatient: he wants you to leave his cave!

Adam smiled happily, confirming that his new ability was working correctly: this was how he understood someone's emotions, and it only worked once a day per creature. All Adam had to do to activate the shrill voice was to concentrate on some flaw of the other person when they made a comment.

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The amount of information the mole provided was generally small, but if it was accurate, it was worth much more than a lot of information that could be incorrect. Adam tried to see how to increase the amount of information received, but it always seemed to be a short phrase. The most important thing was that it seemed the eyeless old man couldn't hear the mole, so only Adam could hear the information received.

During this month, Adam had also understood the ability to transform into a book. However, it seemed that using the ability required sheets of magical characters, or at least that's the conclusion his godfather reached after Adam tried to transform into a book.

Every time Adam tried to transform, he felt like he was stuck halfway, and if he continued to force his body, only his limbs would explode, and he wouldn't succeed. According to his godfather, that was a sign that he needed something to help him do it: in this case, it was most likely magical characters, but for now, he wasn't sure since there were no character sheets in the cave.

Other than that, the pricks on the young man's finger never stopped during the entire month, and his crotch was still absent: the good thing was that he truly didn't need to go to the bathroom for any reason, and the bad thing was precisely that his crotch was still missing. According to Adam's godfather, there should be some way to get his best friend back and not die a virgin. But for now, Adam didn't know how to do it and didn't understand why this particular change occurred and how it related to the path of the magicians.

The stunning silver eyes: they were a way to protect the heroes of good heart, and the fear caused by the shadowless villains' bodies: it was a way to make it easier for them to attack a large group of people.

It seemed that bodily changes always had some relationship or usefulness with the chosen religion and were not random. The eyeless old man also didn't seem to know the reason why, in the first bodily change of magicians, they would lose their crotch, but he said not to worry too much about the 'little' problem.

—You could bring the magic book, and I'll try to talk to it— Adam said, also somewhat impatient to finally reunite with his father—I didn't dare to speak with the Toy Maker's biography, so it would be good if you could guide me in the process.