In the blink of an eye, a week had passed and now Nathan went back to the bar from the other day. But compared to before, he knew what he was up against now, so he would just go in, take his skin mask and his new fake identity, and leave.
Nathan entered the bar, which was emptier than the other day, mainly because he had come in the morning when most people were still asleep or out making a living.
Ignoring the few people inside, Nathan walked over to the bar and sat down again in silence. This time the bartender didn't ignore him and approached him as he cleaned a crystal glass.
"What can I get you?" The barman asked respectfully.
Nathan simply handed him the paper Mary had given him a week ago and the bartender took it before reading it. A second later the barman nodded as he tore the paper up.
"Right, follow me this way"
Nathan froze slightly.
'Do I really have to go?'
After a long sigh, Nathan stood up and followed the man to the back of the bar where he opened a door and gestured for him to enter.
Nathan reluctantly entered the room and was shocked to see what was inside.
'This looks like something out of a horror film…'
Inside the room, dozens of skin masks were nailed to the wall. The floor was littered with discarded materials, and most importantly, at the back of the room, the woman was sitting at a large table with many more materials, working on them.
The woman turned as she felt someone enter and looked at Nathan with a smile.
"Ohh, so you decided to come back?"
Nathan was surprised at the difference between the woman he had seen a week ago and the one in front of him. Mary was wearing a full body coverall with the zip halfway down, revealing part of her breasts, her hair was tied up in a bun, and she wore glasses.
"I've just come for my order"
Mary laughed softly and walked over to the wall.
"Too bad... I thought you were coming to finish up from the other night"
Nathan just sighed inwardly and waited for the woman to hand him the mask.
Moments later, Mary approached him with a mask in her hand and gave him a finger signal.
"Take the mask off"
A bit uncomfortable, he finally agreed and removed the mask, revealing his face to the woman.
"Good..." Mary said, licking her lips slightly, before reaching over and placing the skin mask over Nathan's face.
The slightly cool but sweet feel of the mask made him a little uncomfortable at first, then Mary began to massage lightly to make sure the mask was well placed over his face, then moved a few steps away when she was finished.
"Use essence on the mask"
Nathan obeyed and took the essence to the mask, feeling it accept it perfectly and from one moment to the next the feeling of displeasure disappeared completely.
He touched his face with fascination and was surprised to find that he could not distinguish the touch of the mask from his own skin.
"Look in the mirror" Mary pointed to the mirror behind Nathan.
Nathan looked at himself in the mirror and was even more surprised.
His new face was not very different from his own, but it was basically impossible to tell it apart from before, and it was absurdly realistic, as if it were a real face. The only problem was that the mask needed essence to work, so he couldn't wear it forever, and if he ran out of essence, the realistic effect would surely fade, and people would notice that he was wearing a skin mask.
Nathan couldn't help but be amazed at the woman's skills, it was practically perfect. He couldn't help but wonder if the woman's technique was related to the process of making masks... not only that, but since it was an object that used essence, it was technically an artificial relic.
Mary simply nodded in satisfaction at her work.
"To remove it, simply stop pouring essence into it"
Saying that, Mary walked over to her desk and picked up some papers and a card, then handed them to Nathan, who had already removed his skin mask.
"These are your new papers, your birth certificate and your identity card"
Nathan looked at the person on the card and the name.
"Robert Welkins" he whispered at his new false name.
The picture on the card was identical to the mask Mary had made for him, he couldn't help but wonder if Robert Welkins was a real person.
"Only those of third rank will be able to tell you're wearing a mask, or a few of second rank with a perfect control of essence"
Nathan nodded, it was logical to think that someone would be able to feel the essence flowing through the mask, but the mask was specifically designed to make the essence barely perceptible to the outside.
Nathan could feel the essence in the mask, but only because it was his own essence.
Suddenly the whole building shook and a huge explosion sounded in the distance, snapping him out of his thoughts.
"What's going on?" asked Nathan, looking at the door.
Mary frowned and left the room, Nathan quickly following.
Everyone in the bar was confused and scared. The outskirts were relatively dangerous if you went in without knowing the place. But otherwise, it was quite quiet, something like the explosion just now was quite strange, and it was quite big too.
Mary left the bar with the bartender and Nathan went out to see what was going on.
When they got out into the street, Mary bent her legs and jumped almost 10 meters to the building in front of the street. Nathan was surprised because jumping that high required great physical strength and, above all, great control of the essence.
He had to assume that Mary was a second rank... maybe third category. But he was even more surprised that the bartender also jumped almost 6 meters and climbed the rest to the roof.
'What kind of monsters were hiding here?'
Nathan simply entered an alleyway adjacent to the building and climbed up like a normal person. Once on the roof, he saw a huge fire several kilometer away, with smoke rising dozens of meters.
Mary had a worried look on her face, while Nathan was quite confused.
"What happened?"
The first thing that came to mind was that something had exploded, but the fire was too big to be a simple explosion.
Mary clicked her tongue and ran wordlessly in the direction of the explosion.
Nathan cursed inwardly as he watched her walk away without saying a word. He really had nothing to do with what was happening, he hadn't met the government agents all week and hadn't seen anything unusual.
Nothing compelled him to go over and see what was going on.
But as they say, curiosity killed the cat.