Feyne stepped forward two paces, brushing the dust off her dress before speaking in a low voice, "Huh... luckily that group has already left. And that person, is he alright?" she asked while glancing at Albert from the side.

  Albert heard it and replied without turning his head even slightly. "It seems... that wasn't his real body."

  "Then where is the real body?" Luke suddenly asked, his tone filled with curiosity.

  Feyne and Moreira, who stood beside him, also turned their heads, intrigued by the discussion and momentarily forgetting the earlier conflict.

  Albert gave a brief shrug.

  'Magician? From a Sorcerer ability, or some other ability?' he thought for a moment.

  "Don't know," he said flatly, then continued, "Just ask the person over there." His index finger pointed toward Zavi.

  A few seconds later, Zavi approached the four of them while supporting Karl's body on his shoulder.

  "Do you want to give me another revolver?" Zavi raised the silver revolver in his hand, staring at it blankly.

  'But there's also an advantage in getting a free revolver. I won't have to spend money buying those bullets.' he complained inwardly.

  Albert chuckled softly.

  "Just take it. There are still plenty in the storage warehouse, and of course I can buy them whenever I want." He turned his head, looking at Feyne and Luke with a smile.

  Then the two of them returned the smile with friendly expressions, feeling grateful, knowing that without Albert their lives would feel terribly empty, and they were reminded of the incident that had once happened to them.

  "So, what do you want to do with the person over there, Mr. Albert?" Zavi asked curiously. He raised his index finger, pointing at Moreira who stood right beside Feyne.

  'It seems the pain down there is still lingering even now!'

  Zavi frowned, sweat beginning to dampen his face, followed by his vision suddenly turning blurry. For a brief moment, he saw the four of them moving back and forth.

  'Cih... damn it. My head is ringing again. Could it be because of the rain earlier?'

  While Zavi complained to himself, the three of them had already begun interrogating Moreira. But it was not as easy as they wanted, because he kept his mouth tightly shut, unwilling to answer their questions.

  Feeling relieved, Zavi immediately stepped forward two paces, still supporting Karl's body even though he knew it was only a replica, and he was not wearing his glasses.

  The corner of Zavi's lips twitched as he tapped Albert's shoulder with his index finger about three times, and instantly Albert turned around.

  "What is it?" he asked, his face slightly widening.

  For a moment, Zavi's gaze shifted toward Moreira, who looked at him with a friendly smile for several seconds.

  'Perfect timing, sir! Thanks! I can avoid that question.' Moreira thought in relief.

  Moreira looked to the right and left, slowly slipping his right hand into his trouser pocket. But that action was noticed by Feyne, who had been standing beside him the whole time.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  "What are you trying to do, huh?" Feyne asked with glaring eyes, grinding her teeth.

  Moreira immediately raised his hands.

  "It's nothing, ha-ha-ha." He smiled, thinking that escaping from here would be a terrible idea.

  And he also didn't know whether his friends could escape from here.

  Meanwhile, a strange question suddenly crossed Zavi's mind, making him want to ask that person directly.

  Zavi walked with trembling steps toward Moreira, then stood right beside him and whispered something.

  "Come with me. There's something I want to ask," Zavi whispered softly.

  Moreira's eyes widened, then he stared at Zavi's face as if he were hiding something important.

  Reflexively, he swallowed and replied in a voice that was almost inaudible.

  "Alright, if that's what you want..."

  Zavi immediately turned around, stepped forward, and stopped right beside Albert.

  "Alright, I'll be leaving. Thank you for the gift, and take care," he said kindly.

  Even though they had only met and known each other for a few days, he was certain that Albert was the only person in this world who understood his condition of knowing nothing about this world.

  Albert replied with a nod. A few seconds later, he and his two companions turned around, no longer caring about Moreira, leaving him to Zavi and immediately returning to the Tezny district.

  The three of them quickly said goodbye to Zavi and walked away, leaving the two of them in the middle of the quiet and silent night road.

  Tap...

  The atmosphere fell silent again. After they reached the roundabout of the town square, Moreira looked at the backs of the three people and then asked, "Are they all your friends, Sir?"

  Zavi stared blankly ahead and answered in a soft voice.

  "Maybe yes. Maybe not."

  Moreira was surprised.

  "I'm not sure whether I'm truly friends with them?" Zavi glanced to the right, seeing the confused expression on Moreira's face as he tried to understand what he meant.

  Unconsciously, Zavi laughed to himself after realizing his current situation.

  Then Zavi stepped forward without turning his head and said calmly, "Do you want to exchange information with me?"

  Moreira, who was walking behind him, reflexively stopped when his eyebrows furrowed, wondering what kind of information he wanted.

  "Information about what?" he asked to make sure, his hands already prepared to move behind his shirt and trousers, where his dagger was hidden.

  Zavi also stopped. He turned around, his gaze locking onto Moreira.

  "How do you obtain one of the fifteen abilities that exist?" he asked. He hoped Moreira knew—and more importantly, that he would answer honestly.

  Moreira's expression changed. The confusion on his face vanished, replaced by a flat and serious look.

  His jaw tightened, and his fingers trembled as he answered the question with a slightly shaking voice.

  "Ritual. And you can drink certain herbal potions to control that ability."

  'There are two ways—one is becoming a Receiver, and the other is becoming a Hollow who forms a contract with a horrifying creature to gain that ability.' Moreira added inwardly.

  He fell silent for a moment before adding more quietly, "I once tried it. But I failed... and for some reason, I'm still alive until this very moment."

  Zavi frowned.

  'Ritual? Does that mean something like making a request to obtain that ability?'

  He cleared his throat, tapping his forehead once and producing a faint sound.

  "How do you perform the ritual from beginning to end?" he asked while holding his breath. "And... is a sacrifice required for the ritual to succeed?"

  Moreira reflexively lowered his gaze. His eyes were fixed downward while his toes kept moving inside his shoes.

  He actually didn't want to talk about this with anyone. Not even with his three friends. He didn't want what he had experienced to happen to others, and he was trying to reclaim what should have been his.

  The reason he went out at night and came to the town square was not because of that robed group, but to search for someone, anyone—who could remove the influence of that nightmare, the same nightmare Zavi experienced.

  The difference was that Zavi could sleep and dream but couldn't wake up when the dream came. Meanwhile, Moreira couldn't sleep at night, though he could replace it with a few hours of sleep during the day.

  He hid his real purpose and replaced it with another excuse. He only wanted to bring his friends out of the orphanage. They were still teenagers, eighteen years old, except Mitsu who was already nineteen.

  "In my opinion," Moreira said, his tone mixed with worry, "it would be better if you didn't do that. I can't bear thinking about what has been happening to my body since then."

  Zavi was slightly surprised. Not because the answer was vague, but because he realized that both he and others had been manipulated by that robed group.

  "I know," Zavi replied softly. He stared at Moreira intently. "And... the sacrifice must be equivalent, right?" he asked once more to make sure.

  Moreira didn't answer. He simply nodded once.

  'So that's how it is... A sacrifice in exchange for power. But what are the exact steps?'

  Thinking about it made Zavi reflexively touch his chin.

  Moreira stared at him sharply, as if trying to pierce through his thoughts. "May I leave now?" he asked, his body already slightly turning away.

  Zavi nodded, still thinking about something that bothered his mind.

  Moreira shrugged briefly before leaving Zavi alone on the quiet street. He was given a scrap of paper with something written on it and told to open it somewhere else.

  'I hope you don't do that,' Moreira thought as he walked, occasionally glancing back. 'If you do it... don't regret the consequences.'

  Zavi glanced briefly at Moreira's back, confused, and finally turned around. He planned to place that Avatar somewhere safe, the café he had visited earlier—but before that, he truly did something he should not have done.

  He waited for the Avatar to regain consciousness and asked about the intricacies of the mysterious world, and about becoming a Receiver completely.

  And it all worked.

  He succeeded in doing it.

  He planted words that provoked the Avatar's mind, knowing that this action might be discovered by the real Karl, and said,

  "Do you want to live freely? Without being controlled by your real self? Or do you want to keep being used by him?"

  Hearing that, no one knew what went through Avatar Karl's mind at that moment. He remained silent for nearly half an hour, letting those words circle endlessly inside his head, not allowing the real Karl to access the memories he had just received.

  In the end, because he had once infiltrated the sect in disguise, he knew one of the rituals to obtain one of the fifteen abilities—Prisoner.

  He wrote down the method, from the first step to the last, on a single sheet of paper.

  After obtaining that information, and to be cautious in case the robed group would pursue him in the future, Zavi chose to go home and attempt the ritual at an empty time.