One-Eyed Monster

”The answer?” Igor was taken aback by the question.

”I’m running out of time and can’t explain it all to you two. You are the most foolish children I’ve ever met in my life, so foolish I can hardly describe it.” Lord Soron’s resentment hadn’t dissipated. He wanted to chide these two idiots as he would his apprentices, but he couldn’t find the right words at the moment.

After all, these two imbeciles weren’t his apprentices, so he couldn’t attack them with his usual vitriolic language. Lord Soron had a habit: he was unable to berate strangers; he only lashed out at his own apprentices.

When dealing with strangers, he could only ramble on...

And this rambling instantly eroded his original authority and momentum.

This caused Igor, who was already a bit dazed, to snap out of his stupor and revert to his brash state.

As Igor faced the rambling Lord Soron, his face was filled with disdain. ”How can you be so long-winded?”

”Hm?” Lord Soron hadn’t expected this reaction from Igor and was caught off-guard. All the while, time was silently ebbing away…

”What I mean is, if you weren’t so wordy, we could save a lot of time,” Igor responded earnestly to the startled Lord Soron. Using the Ant Connection Spell, he had already seen Lord Soron’s true face.

He’s just a thin, old man. If it weren’t for his Spirit Power State, he wouldn’t attract anyone’s attention on the street, okay? He looked no different from other elderly people with sparse beards, a face full of wrinkles, a slightly stooped posture, generally looking old and frail.

In Igor’s eyes, Lord Soron looked just as described—completely unremarkable.

Lord Soron couldn’t fathom these subtle psychological activities of Igor. He was only a Spirit Form, unable to do anything but speak to express his thoughts. What was strange was that nothing he had expected to happen actually occurred. The disparity was quite significant, so he was now completely flustered and didn’t know what to say. More precisely, he didn’t know what questions he should ask Igor.

Looking back on his regrets, just a short while ago, he had admired the unique traits of the child before him and had wanted to impart some of his own learnings. But these children seemed to be doing better than him. They ignored his renowned name, not to mention constantly sidelining him, preoccupied with something as incredibly simple as the Ant Connection Spell.

”That’s not the point! You know, child, you should be worshiping me. If you had prostrated yourselves before me, Lord Soron, from the beginning, begging me to take you as my apprentices, we wouldn’t be having this conversation now, would you agree, my child?” Lord Soron was indeed long-winded, spouting so many convoluted phrases without caring if Igor and Kadi could comprehend them.

”Ugh, and you still say you’re not long-winded? Didn’t you say you had a question? Why are you still dawdling?” Igor’s eyelids drooped.

”That’s right, you old man is definitely long-winded! I can’t stand listening anymore,” Kadi chimed in from the side, adding fuel to the fire.

The only one on Soron’s side was the Spirit Book, but unfortunately, it was currently savoring the lingering taste of the barbecue and simply didn’t have any spare Spirit Power to speak up for Lord Soron.

”My children, you still don’t get it!” Lord Soron felt that after all his earnest pleas, the two blockheads still showed no response. Once again, he felt that this life was full of failures, and his previous sense of superiority began to fade.

Hadn’t this child just manifested his spiritual nature? Why had he regressed to such a low level again? Could it be because the child had such a poor foundation, having never undergone any systematic training, that he couldn’t control his Spirit Power? Was that why it fluctuated so unpredictably, leading to this current situation?

”It’s alright, it’s alright,” Lord Soron said, as if reassuring himself. ”I, Lord Soron, the great Lord Soron, will always care for my children…”

”Regardless of whether there are blood ties or not…” Before Lord Soron could finish, Igor cut in, ”I told you, you’re as long-winded as that Spirit Book, and you still don’t believe it! Look, I can finish your sentences effortlessly. It just goes to show how many naive people you must have tricked back then!” Igor, much like Lord Soron, could ramble endlessly once he got started.

”If you’re so clever, why don’t you answer the question he hasn’t even asked yet? Wouldn’t that save time too?” Kadi quickly chimed in with his suggestion, afraid no one would notice him.

Now, what question was I planning to ask this child? Why can’t I recall it all of a sudden? This shouldn’t be. What on earth has made me so confused and at a loss in such a short time? Lord Soron began to doubt his own situation again.

”Maybe I really can answer the question he wants to ask,” Igor said. Perhaps having won some grand prize in the past, he was exceptionally confident in his knack for wild guessing.

”Why don’t you give it a try? I just saw him looking all troubled, like he’s really upset,” Kadi said.

”He definitely wants to know how I knew this whole area was a trap,” Igor replied to Kadi.

The two of them once again left Lord Soron ignored.

”Eh, this child’s Spirit Power doesn’t seem so simple and straightforward… I am indeed curious how you all discovered that everything around here is a massive trap, but that’s not what I particularly want to know.” Lord Soron started his lengthy speech again.

After all that talk, Igor still didn’t know what answer he was supposed to give. This Lord Soron really was something else.

But Igor’s style of wild guessing wouldn’t change so easily, especially since he was quite confident in it.

Kadi fanning the flames only boosted Igor’s confidence further.

”No need to think so hard. You just want to know how I saw through the trap you set, right?”

”Wrong. I’m not very interested in that answer. Don’t make wild guesses anymore, my child,” Lord Soron said.

”Ugh, then you must want to know how I managed to pull you out of this book, right?” Igor persisted, offering another guess.

”No. While the things you’ve mentioned are somewhat interesting, they aren’t what I care about. Others will ask you those questions, rest assured,” Lord Soron once again rejected Igor’s speculation.

After all this, not one of Igor’s guesses was correct...

”Ha! I remember now!” Lord Soron suddenly exclaimed, quite excited.

”What I wanted to ask was…” Unfortunately, though Lord Soron had found his question, his voice grew fainter and fainter, until it faded into nothing.

Soron, in his Spirit Form, had run out of time and vanished instantly!