One-Eyed Monster

Kevin had a busy day attending to the Mail Birds for the Great Mentor. The Mail Birds flew in from all directions, bringing up-to-the-minute messages from everywhere.

The Mail Bird System was originally created by the Great Mentor, but the Alchemy Workshop promoted it to the whole Empire and took all the credit. Although the Great Mentor never cared for these petty squabbles, Kevin always felt it was unfair.

The Mail Birds of Guru Mountain were the Great Mentor’s hawks. Some of these hawks were Exchange Beasts, while others were not. The Great Mentor, using his unique methods, had tamed several goshawks that were indistinguishable from Exchange Beasts. They tirelessly flew to every corner of Guru Mountain.

The number of these Mail Birds, or rather, the frequency of the hawks’ rounds, told Kevin just how terrible the situation on Guru Mountain had become. The guardians of various areas on the mountain kept reporting to the Great Mentor, and these reports were certainly not good news. Kevin knew the guardians well; they were always reporting bad news rather than good because they were always on edge about a looming crisis.

”Mentor, Joseph from Grey Eagle Peak has sent another message. Don’t you want to take a look?” Kevin reminded the Great Mentor from time to time.

”No need for now, you needn’t worry too much. What comes will come, what goes will go; we should go with the flow of nature now.” The Great Mentor seemed to be in a good mood, completely unaffected by the havoc wreaked on Guru Mountain. His focus seemed to be on Moonflow Stream, where he used a special World Setting Technique to keep track of everything that happened there.

”Do you have any news from Arnold? Isn’t he in charge of Moonflow Stream?” The Great Mentor asked Kevin. It seemed the Great Mentor was more interested in Kadi and the mysterious youth than anyone else.

”Yes, let me find it for you.”

The hawks had already flown away, leaving behind a variety of messages. Sorting these messages had become Kevin’s new task. Xiso used to do it, but now that Xiso had been assigned the duty of defending Guru Mountain, the task naturally fell to Kevin.

Not just the Great Mentor, Kevin himself was quite concerned about the situation in Moonflow Stream. That little fellow Kadi was still too young and unknowledgeable about many things. Whether he would pass the Great Mentor’s test was hard to say.

Deep down, Kevin hoped Kadi could break through and make it to this stone house, but with Kadi’s simple-mindedness, he doubted that would happen.

So every time Kevin saw a Mail Bird from Arnold, he paid special attention.

Judging by the time, Kadi had been on the edge of Moonflow Stream for almost a day and a night now…

If he didn’t find the exit through Moonflow Stream soon, the Great Mentor might give up on him.

That Arnold! Couldn’t he take care of this little guy a bit? Why did he have to increase the level of the traps?

”Mentor,” Kevin said respectfully, holding the message Arnold had sent. He had glanced at one of them earlier, and it seemed something was amiss.

”Has Arnold made any new discoveries? My World Setting Technique allows me to see some things via Shared Perspective, but I still don’t know exactly what’s happening. Those two little ones have been stationary for a long time.” The Great Mentor spoke lightly, gently stroking the bamboo slips placed in front of him without looking up.

”Arnold has sent three messages in total,” Kevin said. His way of addressing Arnold was different from the Great Mentor’s. While the Great Mentor always used a familiar form for ’Arnold’, Kevin typically used the full name, ’Arnold’, reserving the familiar address for when he spoke to him directly.

”Read them out in order, Kevin. It seems Kadi and his friend have caused quite a stir there.” The Great Mentor had spent most of the day contemplating, with a small portion dedicated to keeping an eye on Kadi and his friend. Now, checking the Mail Bird messages for the first time that day, he was also asking about Moonflow Stream. It seemed the Great Mentor was genuinely concerned about it.

Kevin opened and sorted Arnold’s three messages in chronological order, then read them aloud with expressive intonation.

The first message was the shortest and full of Arnold’s confidence: ”Kadi and his friend blundered their way into Moonflow Stream. That was quite unexpected, but everything is under my control. They won’t derail from their intended path, so the Mentor needn’t worry.”

”Haha, that child Arnold is still as presumptuous as ever.” The Great Mentor laughed after hearing the first message. Apparently, this message was already worthless, as he had gained some understanding of the situation through his World Setting Technique. The only reason he wanted to hear this message was to gain more details.

Kevin didn’t know what had actually happened. He read out the second message with anticipation.

”Mentor! This guy named Igor is unusual. He may look a little silly, but his sense of smell, hearing, and vision are all very sharp. He actually discovered the traps in Moonflow Stream, and he even has a tamed Spirit Book! What’s more, he actually discovered the passage of time! He discovered the trap implanted in Kadi! And he discovered all this in a very short period! We need to keep a close eye on this guy named Igor! I almost acted, but Mentor, you instructed me to observe in secret. This leaves me in a dilemma.”

”Oh! So, Kadi’s friend is named Igor! He managed to tame a Spirit Book, that’s interesting.”

Kevin felt a twinge of irritation. Two messages had passed, and most of the threats and unexpected events Arnold mentioned concerned this stranger, Igor. It seemed Kadi hadn’t done anything at all.

No matter what, he had to finish reading the messages. The final message was the one he had glanced at earlier, in which Arnold announced his decision to level up the traps.

”Mentor! The traps in Moonflow Stream have been discovered! Kadi trusts Igor implicitly and is even willing to take risks for him. The moment Igor discovered the sound trap, I had a sense that the situation would turn against us, so I prepared a backup plan. But before I could get everything in place, Igor had already pointed Kadi to the pathway. Now they are on the pathway and will probably reach the White Swamp before nightfall. So, I decided to level up the traps! Although it’s my first time trying traps of this level!”

After reading that, Kevin felt a mix of emotions. He was a little surprised that the seemingly dull Kadi had actually made it to the White Swamp by a stroke of luck. He was also a little annoyed; that little rascal hadn’t discovered anything himself, still living in a dream! Finally, he was a bit worried. This Igor fellow seemed a bit too capable, even seeing through Arnold’s traps.

”So, the little ones are almost at the White Swamp. No wonder my Spirit Power Shared Perspective couldn’t find them just now; they’ve gone into that blind spot.” The Great Mentor’s mood was visibly improving; he was apparently very pleased with Kadi and his companion’s performance.

”Mentor, should we check the messages from the other peaks...”

”No need, no need. I want to go outside and fish now. Come with me, Kevin.”

”Um…”

”Don’t worry, Kevin. I have a measure of what’s happening. What we need to be concerned about now is Kadi and his friend. We have to be careful about Arnold’s upgraded traps; we don’t want those two little ones to get cooked. So, let’s go fishing.”