One-Eyed Monster

The voice drifting down from mid-air caught Igor somewhat off guard. He looked around but failed to spot anything out of the ordinary...

Where had this voice come from? What had it told him not to confuse? Why did it speak just once and then vanish without a trace? What was it trying to achieve by being so elusive?!

Igor looked again at Kadi. Troubled, Kadi seemed clueless about the voice; he was still in a meditative state, apparently stuck on something and unable to move past it for the moment.

Igor understood that kind of pain. That entanglement was like a messy knot of rope you were trying to untangle. You couldn’t find the end of the rope, and the harder you tried to undo it, the more tangled your clumsy hands made it, until it was an utter, hopeless mess...

That feeling was far more agonizing than physical pain. With severe physical pain, you could at least cry out. But this? Hmph, even if you screamed your lungs out, you wouldn’t get a shred of sympathy. People would just stare at you blankly and call you crazy.

”Kadi!” Igor decided to break the silence. Without Kadi’s input, he always seemed to go astray without realizing it. Tasks that should have been completed quickly would suddenly become complex—unnecessarily so. Igor felt that with Kadi’s help, many things could be accomplished much more efficiently.

”Huh?” Kadi slowly returned to his senses, looking stunned. His recent bout of contemplation hadn’t yet plunged him into his own inner world. Once he slipped into that personal realm of imagination, even Igor’s call would be futile.

”Did you hear a voice? It was deep, but not particularly old. I don’t know what happened!” Igor directly shared his recent uncertainty with Kadi. The voice hadn’t sounded again, and he hoped Kadi could share some of the mental load, helping him analyze the situation and discover any new patterns.

”What voice?” Kadi’s eyes widened. It was as if he was seeing that scene again: Igor striding forward while he himself remained stationary, or even felt like he was constantly moving backward. It wasn’t a good feeling, but Kadi felt helpless. When he compared himself to Igor, the gap was just too wide.

”You really didn’t hear it?” Igor’s eyes widened too; he was astonished. Why would I be the one to hear that voice? Could it be... am I experiencing an Illusion?!

Inside this cave, besides them, there were only Joseph and Kuren, who were asleep and recuperating. There was absolutely nothing else. So, he had to wonder if he was experiencing an Illusion.

Experiencing an Illusion wasn’t a major concern in itself; if he found the cause, he could eliminate it. But Igor was worried about something else. He feared this Illusion wasn’t a product of his own mind. If he had fallen into someone else’s Illusion, that would be a far more serious matter.

”I didn’t hear any voices. I’ve been thinking about your problem. It has almost dragged me into a whirlpool I can’t escape!” Kadi said softly. At this moment, he didn’t hesitate to voice the doubts weighing on his mind.

Igor, still pondering whether he was caught in someone else’s Illusion, grew even more astonished at Kadi’s words. ”My problem?”

Igor didn’t understand what Kadi meant by ’his problem,’ but since Kadi had brought it up, he knew he had to think about it carefully.

Sharing with each other worked like that—it was a form of mutual trust and affirmation. In that moment, Kadi and Igor finally recaptured the synergy they had during their time in Ghost Wind Valley and Moonflow Stream, relying on their partnership to overcome these hurdles together.

”Yes, your problem! I’ve thought about it a lot. I can’t figure out how you face the unknown. I’m completely lost, unable to find a breakthrough. I’m just stuck, staring into space, making zero progress.” Kadi quickly voiced his concerns. He felt he and Igor had a tacit understanding, and Igor would comprehend his words. After all, they had journeyed together for some time and had developed a unique trust in each other.

Sure enough, Igor completely understood Kadi. So Kadi was dwelling on what he’d said earlier—that one could learn anything they set their mind to. Although Igor himself hadn’t yet determined if he was caught in someone else’s Illusion, since Kadi had raised this issue, he knew he had to answer it properly.

”There’s nothing particularly special about it. None of this is predetermined. Everything follows certain patterns. If you maintain a calm and ordinary state of mind, you can naturally discover those patterns. There’s really nothing special to it,” Igor replied, addressing Kadi’s doubts. These were words he had mulled over for a long time, and he wasn’t sure if Kadi would understand.

Easier said than done. That thought filled Kadi’s mind. Of course, he didn’t feel Igor was just brushing him off. He was more worried that his current agitation might affect him. If his emotions became unstable and he slipped into his own inner world, he wouldn’t be able to hear anything Igor said...

Igor worried if he had entered someone else’s Illusion, while Kadi worried if he would fall into his own inner world. Their concerns were of a similar nature, yet fundamentally, there was a significant difference between them—a difference difficult to articulate clearly in words.

Kadi and Igor shared their unease and agitation with each other, and without realizing it, they seemed to forget what they had originally intended to do.

This situation was hard to comprehend. Igor, who had been enthusiastic about learning the World Setting Technique, suddenly started complaining back and forth with Kadi. This was highly uncharacteristic of him.

Although Kadi often complained, Igor did not. He was generally an optimistic person, so complaining was very unusual for him. Therefore, something extraordinary must have happened.

”I can’t stand this! You two have gone astray again, complicating simple matters.”

Suddenly, the voice rang out once more. This time, it was still deep but not old, like the voice of a mature man.

And this time, Kadi and Igor both heard it.

”You heard it too, right?” Igor said, looking at the wide-eyed Kadi.

”Yes, indeed!”

Kadi, like Igor, looked around, trying to see where the voice was coming from.

”Stop looking. I’m on you. I’m one with you now, you fool!”

The tone was familiar to Igor. He quickly reached inside his clothes and took out the Spirit Book.

Indeed, the voice was coming from the Spirit Book.

”How did your voice change?” Not only Igor, but Kadi too was astonished. The Spirit Book’s previous voice hadn’t been nearly as mature as it was now. What on earth had happened?