One-Eyed Monster

Kuren and Joseph’s eyes widened in disbelief. With just a wave of Kadi’s hand, the Spirit Power gathered together and stayed without dispersing.

Unlike Kadi, they couldn’t see the colorful Spirit Power. In fact, they saw nothing at all but could only sense its fluctuations. As Kadi manipulated these powers, they clearly felt the incoming Spirit Power surging towards him. This surge of power grew stronger with each passing second.

Based on their previous experience, released Spirit Power would be absorbed by nature. This Spirit Power was initially perceived from nature itself. Under the Law of Equivalent Exchange, these powers would eventually return to nature—a normal and logical phenomenon.

However, this time, Kadi managed to make these Spirit Powers, which should have returned to nature, exert some residual energy. He kept them in a continuous circuit, effectively collecting the Spirit Power released by others.

No matter how Kadi managed to do it, at least his current method was successful and could be considered a new discovery. This new finding was earth-shattering. If it were presented in their professional field, it would certainly cause a stir.

Joseph and Kuren tried to mimic Kadi’s actions to guide and gather the Spirit Power, but they failed no matter how hard they tried.

Even Igor failed to replicate Kadi’s success.

”How did you manage to do it?” They were all curious. Why was Kadi the only one who could succeed?

”This…” Kadi was quite at a loss. He wasn’t good at articulating, especially when faced with such detailed questioning; it was like hitting a nerve. ”I don’t know either. I just waved my hands according to the way they were rolling, and then they automatically gathered towards my hands.”

By ’they,’ Kadi was obviously referring to the Spirit Power.

”You must be talking about the rhythm,” Kuren, being the veteran he was, quickly grasped the key. ”You understood the rhythm of how this Spirit Power moves in nature and guided it accordingly.”

”That should be it. Yes, my hand movements are almost identical to the way these Spirit Powers leap.” Kadi’s answer confirmed Kuren’s hypothesis, leaving everyone silent.

Perceiving the rhythm of the Spirit Power’s leaps was not something an ordinary person could do. For seasoned individuals like Kuren and Joseph, despite their long experience on battlefields and in the professional world, it remained an incredibly difficult task.

Perhaps this is talent! Kuren and Joseph sighed in unison. For them, surprising things were happening one after another, completely beyond their expectations. Moreover, these surprises were things they had never encountered before, enough to take them a very long time to digest.

Kadi is inherently different, Igor mused. So his current discoveries don’t necessarily prove much. Perhaps he’ll make even greater discoveries later on; these are just him testing the waters. Regardless, I have full confidence in his future, even if I sometimes think he’s a bit foolish—more childlike than an actual child.

Kadi’s demonstration brought Igor, Kuren, and Joseph shock and many delightful surprises. After the joy of discovery came relief. Now that the most challenging problem was solved, what remained was verification and finding a way out.

First, they had to verify Igor’s conjecture.

Honestly, with the discovery of this two-way Spirit Power channel, Igor had already proven more than half of his theory correct. Now, they just needed to prove that the channel could transfer information, and that would be enough.

Kuren was extremely familiar with methods of transferring information. His expertise in the World Setting Technique was one such method. As long as one painted using Spirit Power, the message could be transformed into a Spirit Painting and fully conveyed.

The only issue was, once the Spirit Painting is sent out, how would we receive feedback? they wondered. Furthermore, how can we ensure this channel leads where we want it to? And what if it’s controlled by an unknown enemy?

Clearly, upon detailed contemplation, numerous complex issues arose, catching them off guard.

Naturally, these difficult problems plagued Kuren and the others. Kuren shook his head, unable to think of a good solution at that moment.

”Igor, do you have a good method?” Joseph naturally pinned his hopes on Igor.

”Me?” Igor hadn’t expected so many issues and, consequently, didn’t have an effective solution either.

”Yes, you always manage to stay calm in a crisis, so I think your perspective might be different from ours. Sometimes, that difference could very well be the best solution to the problem!” Joseph said. What he said indeed had some truth to it, but this view couldn’t be considered a universal principle; it was only applicable in special circumstances.

”Speaking of different, I actually do have another kind of discovery right now,” Igor said, then quickly added, ”but this discovery isn’t closely related to the problem Joseph mentioned earlier.” He was anxious that Joseph and Kuren might misunderstand his discovery as the solution.

”Go on, tell us. You and Kadi are the most inventive ones here. You’re always discovering things that endlessly surprise us. Who knows? Maybe this discovery will, by a stroke of luck, indirectly help us solve the problem.” Joseph was already set on relying on Igor. No matter how Igor tried to explain, Joseph would determinedly connect it to solving the problem.

”Um...” Igor hesitated. Should I say it or not?

”Igor!” Suddenly Kadi exclaimed in shock, ”This—isn’t this Stan Sol!”

”Ah, you noticed it too!” Igor breathed a sigh of relief. So I wasn’t the only one who realized this! Among the incoming Spirit Power, there was a portion he recognized—the Spirit Power of people they had encountered before.

”Hm? Who is Stan Sol?” Kuren and Joseph were perplexed.

”It’s a long story. But since Kadi has already mentioned my discovery, let me repeat it. Among the incoming Spirit Power, some is familiar to us, and some isn’t. I wonder if you two can sense this difference?” Igor asked tentatively.

”We haven’t really paid attention to that,” Kuren admitted honestly.

”To be frank with you two,” Igor said, ”I can also sense the Great Mentor’s Spirit Power, as his is also familiar to me. Identifying these Spirit Powers is a bit vague, though. If we could differentiate them more clearly, we might be able to indirectly figure out where this channel ultimately leads.”

Igor’s vague identification was indeed intriguing, but whether this discovery could actually help them, no one could say for sure. Everyone fell silent, pondering what this discovery truly meant.