Not much time passed, and Adam arrived at hexagon 9, where the middle-floor market was located. It was as crowded as always, with long lines forming at the entrances to the popular shops.

Adam walked for a while until he reached the tailor shop. Luckily, it wasn't very common for people to modify their tunics, so the line here was only a few people long. However, for some reason that Adam didn't entirely understand, the line of a few people was moving unusually slowly, and it seemed like the tailor took quite some time to attend to each customer.

It was Adam's first time in this tailor shop; he usually went to the tunic store run by the parents of his former classmate, Bianca. There, he used to buy white tunics that would fit him as he grew over the years.

However, the tunic store didn't take custom modifications, so he had to go to the only tailor shop in the middle-floor market that offered such services.

After waiting for almost an hour in the aisles, it was finally Adam's turn to enter the painting. Feeling a bit annoyed by the long wait, Adam quickly reached out his hand towards the painting, as if afraid someone would cut in line. However, since there were few customers coming to this shop, there was no one waiting behind him. The young man wasn't surprised since the tailor's slow service was making him reconsider the idea of modifying his tunic.

As he reached out his hand towards the painting, Adam was absorbed by it. Feeling a bit disoriented, he appeared at the entrance of the shop and waited for the tailor to come and attend to him.

The shop's floor was made of dark wood, and the walls were made of slightly lighter wood. To illuminate the shop, there were statues of cherubs holding oil lamps, similar to those found on the lower floors. Tunics of various colors were displayed on mannequins throughout the store, mostly black with a few white ones and only a few in other colors.

Several statues and paintings adorned the room, giving it an incredibly elegant look that surprised Adam; it was the first time he had seen a shop with such attention to decorations.

In addition to the elegant decor and the mannequins with tunics, there were two comfortable-looking wooden armchairs and an empty table between them. In front of the armchairs, there was a fireplace with a beautiful green fire, which warmed the room. However, the green fire brought back unpleasant memories for Adam of his encounter with the Toy Maker.

While the young man observed the shop, a teenager came out of a door in the shop's walls, probably leading to the tailoring area.

—Nice to meet you, would you like to sit down?— asked the teenager, who was probably around 16 or 18 years old. He had blond hair and green eyes, dressed in a white tunic adorned with gold embroidery forming patterns of sea waves all over it. On the sleeves, there were two embroidered curled-up foxes.

Adam sat down on one of the armchairs and waited for the teenager to do the same. Once seated, the teenager took a black notebook from one of his tunic pockets and asked in a monotonous tone, as if he had been repeating the question all day:

—Which religion do you follow, and where do you want the symbols placed?

Adam knew about the symbols on tunics from his former classmate, Franco. But not everyone wore them, so the young hero had ignored the matter. Franco had the symbol of the inquisitors, an open book with a candle in the middle. Before going to school, Franco had explored a lot about the inquisitors' religion with his father, so it was not uncommon for him to have their symbol engraved somewhere on his tunics.

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According to Franco, the bookshelves liked to see the engraved symbols and treated him with respect for having the inquisitors' symbol on his tunic. With some doubts, Adam replied:

—Actually, my main purpose was to add a hood to my black tunic. But since we're here, I follow the religion of the heroes and the wizards. However, I don't know their symbols, but I'd like to have them on my tunic's sleeves. I'd also like to follow the religion of the lost characters in the future, so it would be nice to have their symbol somewhere too, perhaps on the hood.

The young man prepared to write down the religions his customer requested and the locations for the symbols in his black notebook. However, when he heard Adam asking to add a hood to his tunic, he looked up from his notebook and observed Adam's red hair and freckles. With some doubts, the teenager asked:

—I know it may sound a bit odd to ask this: but by any chance, is your name Adam?

—Yes... In fact... my name is Adam...— replied the young man, somewhat taken aback that the other person knew his name. He had never crossed paths with this boy at school, so he didn't understand how he recognized him.

—Excuse me for a few minutes...— said the young man, getting up hurriedly from his chair.

With speed, the teenager went to the back of the shop and opened the door he had come from, shouting:

—Grandpa! The redhead who wanted a hood is here!

Adam, quite bewildered by the scene, remained waiting in the armchair. The first thought that came to his mind was that the other person knew him from his previous life and, for some reason, recognized him. But he didn't understand what adding a hood had to do with it.

After a while, a hunchbacked man appeared in the doorway. The man seemed very old, with white hair like snow on his head and skin wrinkled like a dried raisin. The old man leaned on a rather rough wooden cane with a fox-shaped handle with great difficulty.

The elderly man was dressed in a Hawaiian shirt, turquoise leggings with incredibly striking red flowers, and his feet were in somewhat worn-out flip-flops. All the fingers on the man's hands seemed to be wooden prosthetics, and his jaw also appeared to be made of a prosthesis.

But what was catching Adam's attention the most were not the wooden prosthetics, but the fox mask that covered half of the man's face. The only person the young hero had seen wearing a similar mask was the ancient wizard, so it was possible that this person was also a magician.

The old man approached one of the armchairs with the slowness of a turtle and sat down. As he settled into the chair, he said with a cheerful voice:

—Elías, bring coffee and something to eat.

—Are you a wizard?— Adam asked, trying to clear up his doubts about it.

The man didn't respond; he remained silent, looking at the green fire until the young man in white tunics brought a tray full of desserts and three cups.

Elías carefully placed the three cups on the table.

*Click*... Elías snapped his fingers, and another armchair appeared around the table. He sat down and invited Adam to serve himself some coffee. Once the three of them had poured their cups, the old man finally replied:

—Yes, I am a wizard, and I realized that you are one too. Congratulations for that, young man! However, it seems you seek to forge your own mask, which will be quite challenging...

—What does it mean to forge my own mask, and how do you know who I am?— Adam asked.

—Oh, it seems you are quite ignorant...— the old magician replied gruffly while eating some desserts, ignoring Adam's question. After a while, he continued— One must forge a mask when they don't have a master to guide them in the magician's religion. Without a master, no one will give you a mask, and you'll have to create it yourself. As for the other question, it should be obvious, given that I am a wizard, and it's not worth wasting time answering it.

—What the grandpa meant is that he uses a magical ability...— Elías interjected while eating the desserts from the table— According to grandpa, the day you would come to our shop, we would die. So, we have to escape from these floors to survive. That's why we know you, Adam.