One-Eyed Monster

Igor’s ”Oh” completely drained Kuren’s motivation. This motivation had originally supported his desire to verify Igor’s attributes, but now he couldn’t muster any strength.

That single ”Oh” seemed to dissipate all of Kuren’s passion. It was as if, while running at full steam, he had suddenly stepped into frigid, icy water. His body, initially steaming hot, was abruptly plunged into the cold, and the shock was too immense to describe with words.

Kuren felt as though his strength had nowhere to go. The powerful punch he had prepared felt like it had landed on cotton or into thin air, yielding no feedback whatsoever.

The sensation was indescribable. Kuren felt an unprecedented shock; it was as if his entire world was falling apart.

Why would such a person exist? He doesn’t seem to register anything being said to him. No, it wasn’t that he hadn’t heard; he simply hadn’t understood anything at all. I’ve been talking to a brick wall, completely wasting my time and mental effort!

Kuren was bewildered. In all his long experience, he had never encountered anyone like Igor, and he currently had no idea how to deal with such a person. He wanted to ascertain Igor’s true nature, but he quickly realized it was futile; Igor was incredibly difficult to define. There was no way to determine if he was an embodiment of evil or merely a naive child. Careful observation will surely reveal Igor’s flaws, right? Kuren thought. But no matter how hard he looked, he couldn’t find anything unusual about Igor. It wasn’t that Igor was flawless, with no inconsistencies to be found. Rather, Igor’s flaws were so numerous and so glaring that he was practically riddled with them. How could one even begin to patch up such a sieve? These ubiquitous flaws made it impossible for Kuren to make any systematic judgment. It was truly tragic.

Igor, however, acted as usual. Although a sliver of guilt pricked his conscience for putting Senior Kuren in such a predicament—it wasn’t something he had wanted—he was, after all, a simple-minded fellow. He had no idea how to offer comfort or how to face the situation. He blinked, like an innocent child.

One advantage of innocent children is that they never pretend to understand what they don’t and will always ask questions. Thus, Igor once again displayed that disarming quality of his. Truthfully, the expression he wore when he tilted his neck back forty-five degrees to gaze at the sky was like that of an adorable child. The sheer inanity of his questions made one unsure whether to kiss him or scold him. Often, when he adopted this expression, he exuded such an intense aura of simplicity and innocence that it was nearly impossible to resist.

This time was no exception for Igor. He lifted his head, his eyes bright, his entire being radiating sincerity. He didn’t understand what he should do next. Although he had grasped what Senior Kuren was trying to convey, he needed to know what actions to take to prevent Senior Kuren from sinking further into dejection.

”So, Senior,” Igor asked, ”what should I do? How can I act so as not to affect you? How can I ensure there are no traces of me in this Inner World?”

Although the question was filled with sincerity, it brought Kuren no comfort. Instead, it struck him like a heavy blow, leaving him breathless for a moment.

This is like rubbing salt into the wound, twisting the knife even deeper! Is Igor doing this on purpose? He clearly knows I have no control over the current situation, yet he still asks me what to do! This is mockery! No, this is blatant disdain!

”What’s wrong, Senior Kuren?” Igor panicked when he saw Kuren’s look of utter agony, unsure of what to do.

Igor saw Kuren’s face flush a deep crimson from suppressed emotion as he coughed violently, as if his body had suffered a grievous injury.

A wave of suppressed fury churned within Kuren, with no outlet. He felt increasingly worse, as if his body were about to explode. Resentment, regret, and indignation festered and swirled within him, unable to escape, building and building until his entire body felt on the verge of bursting.

All he could do was cough violently; nothing else could allow him to vent the frustration and resentment in his heart.

Could Igor really be doing this on purpose? If all of this is intentional, then this fellow is truly unbeatable.

Kuren was extremely tense. Despite his internal conflict and stifled frustration, he never forgot his mission. I must protect the Great Mentor! I absolutely must ensure the Great Mentor’s safety! Therefore, even if it takes everything I have, I must figure out what kind of person Igor truly is! But for the Great Mentor…

And so, Kuren’s coughing intensified. To an observer unaware of his mental turmoil, he might have seemed incurably ill. It was truly an unimaginable scene.

”Senior!” Igor suddenly exclaimed. ”I also decided to leave here for the sake of the Great Mentor! I definitely wasn’t overthinking things. Senior, you don’t need to be so wary of me.” From his words, one could probably infer what he had done just moments before. Indeed, leveraging his dominant position within the World Setting Technique, he had recklessly entered Kuren’s mind. He had seen Kuren’s thoughts and anxieties and understood the source of Kuren’s distress.

So, it all stemmed from my own actions, Igor realized.

After witnessing Kuren’s thoughts and feelings within the Inner World, Igor finally understood that he himself was the cause of all these problems. He had moved too quickly, leading to the misunderstanding. This misunderstanding had nearly driven Kuren to a mental breakdown and to fight Igor to the death.

”Senior, please calm down!” Igor pleaded. ”I won’t leave! I won’t leave, alright?”

The initial source of Kuren’s distress was Igor’s desire to leave the safe house. Now that Igor understood the root of the problem and wanted to pull Kuren back from the brink of collapse, he quickly changed his initial intention to help Kuren calm down.

But it wasn’t that easy. If a single word of retraction could restore an emotionally strained person to their original state, then all Wizards would be out of a job. One could simply hire a few eloquent orators to give speeches, rendering herbs and similar remedies obsolete. That was far too unrealistic.

Igor’s naivety was not the kind that could be feigned simply by wanting to. Anyone with even a shred of cunning wouldn’t make such a rudimentary mistake. But then again, one couldn’t be too sure. For instance, Kuren still assumed the worst and continued to cough.

”You need to go in and guide him,” a voice suddenly said beside Igor.

”Hmm?” Igor looked around, trying to see who had spoken.

”You need to go in and guide him, or else he’ll become blocked, confused, and go mad. Hurry now, don’t delay any longer! There’s no time left!”