Joyce took Avery to rest in one of the unused rooms of the place, the warehouse.

Since there was no more space left, Sigor ordered Joyce to put the unconscious Avery in the warehouse.

Joyce nodded. Arriving at the warehouse, Joyce put Avery down, who was wearing simple clothes and pants, shabby but enough to at least cover Avery's body from being fully naked.

Avery still looked the same as before, helpless with a maroon vein sticking out as if it would soon explode and spurt blood all over the warehouse.

Hilda entered the place, both hands holding bowls of freshly mashed herbs.

Joyce's mother sat to Avery's right, facing Joyce, who sat to his left. The middle-aged woman was seen dipping the medicinal liquid powder from the mashed herbs into a warm cup.

"What is it?" asked Joyce, curious.

"Curcuma longa and black cumin are useful to prevent the spread of pain," Hilda replied.

Hilda's right hand tightly held the wooden spoon and stirred the herbal drink clockwise. Joyce continued to watch what his mother was doing; she didn't usually do things like that.

Sigor himself wasn't inside the house. He had gone back to the fields to reap the corn.

"Joyce!" called Sigor from outside the house.

Joyce's attention was distracted, reflexively turning sideways towards the open warehouse window —it had not been open for a while because the room was rarely used.

"Help me collect the corn," Sigor ordered.

"I'll leave," Joyce stated firmly.

Hilda smiled broadly, looking up at her son as she nodded slowly, her right hand still holding the wooden spoon and seemingly twirling it to allow the powdered herbs to blend with the warm water.

"Go on. Let me watch over him," Hilda replied, smiling kindly.

Joyce nodded. The young man began to make his way out of the room as his left hand picked up the wooden basket and wore it firmly on his back.

The two men were already outside the house, preparing to collect the corn they wanted to sell at the market or the town's noble house.

Now, Hilda was the only one left with the handsome stranger. She tried to lift the man's head to help get the medicinal drink into his body through his mouth.

Avery's heavy body caused Hilda some trouble, the result of which was that the medicinal drink seemed to wet the clothes Avery was wearing.

"Hell. I had to give him a few at a time," revealed Hilda.

Avery's shabby clothes became wet, automatically forming a young man's typical abs and chest muscles, which caused both of Hilda's cheeks to blush.

The muscles on Avery's body looked different, stronger, bigger and firmer, in contrast to those on Sigor's body, which began to loosen as he grew older.

Hilda swallowed her saliva deeply, then shook her head. She tried to take her thoughts away from the sensuality and focus on helping to revive the mysterious man.

She did so a second time, but it was all Avery could drink for now. Hilda was pleased to see that the woman now had to wait for the medicine to work.

"I'd better go make some more medicine," Hilda suggested.

Hilda stood up from her kneeling position, walking away carrying a tray with a bowl and herbs in it.

The warehouse door closed, leaving Avery alone on his back in a helpless faint with veins glowing maroon.

.

.

Deep in Avery's subconscious, the man finally woke up to find he was lying on the crimson sands, with no one and nothing around him as far as the skyline spread out.

Avery squinted, turned around and looked at his surroundings. The place felt so real to Avery, whether from the texture of the ground, the breeze, or the distinctive scent of the dark continent —a little fishy and smelling like burnt iron.

"What's going on?" Avery wondered, still wearing his white armour with gold stripes and Lerasil's sword sheathed at his waist.

"I'm giving you an insight into the current state of the Dark Continent," someone explained.

The voice came from behind Avery's back, and without any awareness, the young man turned his head and saw an old, white-haired man, walking hunched over with the help of a wooden staff, standing and looking forward.

His clothes were all black, from his slippers, pants, and shirt to his coat. Such a sight came as a shock to Avery.

"Who are you?" asked Avery.

"Who am I? You're right. No mortal knows my true form," affirmed the old man, his voice low and occasionally coughing.

The white-haired old man stepped slowly forward, pointing his right hand at Avery, a man taller than him, "I'm Jommon."

"What?!" Avery reflexively drew his sword, pulling it hard out of the sheath. Surprisingly, the sword had no blade, only a hand grip.

Avery widened his eyes, shocked to see the Lerasil sword's blade missing. The young man returned his gaze to the front, watching the grey-haired old man.

"What are you doing?" asked Avery.

"This is my reality. I control everything," Jommon replied.

The old man stomped his wooden stick on the ground, and instantly, the scene changed without Avery and Jommon being disturbed.

The scene changes rapidly and displays familiar figures to Avery, namely Beatrice, Mark, and himself. They were seen fighting together against Jommon and Inoth.

"Why are you showing this?" asked Avery.

An explosion occurred in the scene, a huge explosion caused by Lerasil's sword being stuck in Jommon's head. That's what sent Avery flying to the Geste Family's cornfield.

"You've been hit by my divine curse," Jommon replied.

"I was read a divine curse when I flew off your body. What does it mean?" asked Avery, curious.

The grey-haired old man before him, who was none other than Jommon, raised his head, and Avery did the same by looking up at the sky.

Avery's attention noticed something different about the objects that were flying out. Most of the body parts Jommon had seen were black, but somehow, one body part was silver-white in colour.

"Did you see it?" asked Jommon.

"What's the white thing?" asked Avery.

"It's a fragment of my body. I call it the Seven Fragments of Jommon," explained Jommon.

"Then what does the divine curse have to do with those seven fragments?" Avery lowered his gaze, bringing his eyes forward to look at Jommon intently. Jommon did the same, exchanging a momentary glance with Avery.

The old man smiled, turning the scene in the environment back into a scene of a place Avery didn't know. 

Avery's eyes looked behind him again, seeing an altar inside a round building with seven large pillars.

To get to the altar, one had to climb hundreds of stairs. "So, I must collect the Seven Jommon Fragments and place them on the altar?"

"That's right. Once all the fragments are collected, your curse will be removed," revealed Jommon.

Avery squinted, looking back to give Jommon another strong glance, "What if I fail to collect all the fragments?"

"You will be the worst threat to humanity, more than me," Jommon replied.

"Every day, you will suffer terribly, you will not be able to die, and even you always wish that you could die. The divine curse makes you temporarily immortal," revealed Jommon.

"Damn you! You planned all this, didn't you?" growled Avery.

The young man tried to grab the grey-haired grandfather with both hands, but he disappeared just as Avery was about to catch him. 

Avery looked around, trying to find Jommon's whereabouts.

BUGH!

Avery's body was crushed with his right leg holding his neck, the force of the impact making it difficult for Avery to break free. 

Now, Jommon's appearance was no longer that of a man but of a woman Avery recognized.

"Beatrice?" asked Avery.

"It's just transformation magic. Don't be fooled, dear Avery," Beatrice snapped, smiling with a grin.

"You must collect all the fragments immediately. I don't like to wait!" insisted Jommon.

Instantly, flames began to emerge from within the crimson lands, so scorching hot that they made Avery scream out loud in pain as the armour melted and burned his skin to the bone in Jommon's reality.

.

.

"AAAKH!" cried Avery, waking up from his stupor in the warehouse room of Geste's house in simple clothes.

 Hilda, who was still there, gasped and woke up quickly in shock, knocking over the bowl of herbs and scattering them.

"What the-"

"AAAAAKH!" Avery screamed again and convulsed violently as if he was being shocked by a powerful bolt of electricity.

Hilda turned pale with fear, especially when she saw the veins all over Avery's body begin to glow bright red like a raging fire.

Hilda reached forward again, trying to ease the pain in Avery's body. Avery responded with both eyes looking completely black like they had holes in them.

With a single swing of the hand to the side, a gust of wind was created, accompanied by a purple-black magic aura which threw Hilda away until she hit the wall of the room again. Hilda fell limp after her body was hit hard.

The pain, heat, and tingling in all parts of Avery's body finally subsided, the man no longer groaning in pain from the divine curse.

His eyes were normal, a beautiful sea-blue colour typical of nobility. What was most striking was that his veins were no longer burning bright maroon, normal as if he had not received the divine curse from Jommon.

Seeing Hilda affected by the swing of Avery's hand made Avery immediately rush over to the middle-aged woman, helping her to take a seat while trying to calm the fear in her heart.

"W-Who are you?" asked Hilda, softly.

"Don't you know? I'm Avery Romarich," Avery replied, introducing herself.

"I didn't know the name." Hilda still looked frightened, although she was glad the man named Avery was awake.

Avery squinted; it was impossible for someone not to recognize him. He looked around, trying to find something that could prove his identity.

"Where's my sword?" asked Avery.

Hilda squinted, still staring at Avery, "What sword?"

"Lerasil's sword. A two-handed sword with a white and blue blade. Did you see it?" asked Avery.

"I didn't see it."

Avery was distractedly staring at the warehouse window. He approached the window and saw himself in an unknown place, "Where am I?"