One-Eyed Monster

Exploration is limitless. The very existence of the adventurer profession stems, in a way, from such groups of fearless people.

These fearless people always manage to find a path through adversity, a pillar in the storm, a safe haven amidst danger...

Their fearlessness might leave them covered in scars, but it also brings unexpected rewards.

These rewards don’t always manifest immediately. In this world of Equivalent Exchange, rewards inherently require sacrifice.

Igor was searching for an exit from the cave. They had reached a bottleneck and were surviving solely on determination. Whether this perseverance would bring about a miracle was uncertain, but at the very least, Igor hadn’t given up.

Igor knew what this meant. His path of growth hadn’t been too arduous so far; it had been smooth sailing without significant difficulties. Now, their first true trial had appeared. Whether he could overcome it depended on his own mettle.

Whether he was qualified to be a competent adventurer would depend on what he discovered during this exploration.

If I can’t even overcome this hurdle, then I’m just a failure. I might as well give up on my dream of becoming an adventurer and go home to help Dad chop and sell firewood. Igor thought to himself.

So, Igor steeled his resolve. He was betting his entire adventuring career on this. His determination to overcome this difficulty was as unshakeable as an iron wall.

Exploration, ceaseless exploration.

Igor’s Spirit Power once again manifested as kittens and puppies. They sniffed and leaped, galloping continuously within the Two-way Channel. They were extensions of Igor, bounding and searching within the passage.

Igor knew his Spirit Power reserves were limited, but he had to go all out now. For some reason, he felt an increasing sense of urgency; he had to hurry.

Kuren and Joseph had no idea what Igor was doing. For them, being in this safe area felt like a waste. Their full capabilities couldn’t be utilized in this small cave, and they didn’t know how to help Igor. They were like two tigers trapped in a cage, able to do little more than roar.

Kadi was doing slightly better than Joseph and Kuren. He had always held expectations for Igor, so he had acted on Igor’s instructions early on and played a significant role.

Now that Igor had resumed his exploration, Kadi felt he should do his utmost to help. But how could he assist? He figured that as long as he dutifully did his part and didn’t cause trouble for Igor, that would be his greatest contribution.

Kadi’s assessment was astute. At this moment, Igor truly couldn’t afford any disturbances. His Spirit Power had dispersed, searching for anomalies or any further information.

His Spirit Power darted back and forth, but for now, there were no discoveries. This wasn’t the first time such a situation had occurred. It was incredibly taxing on his physical strength and Spirit Power, and even more so on his mind.

This kind of repetitive action, yielding no discoveries, would make even a mentally sound person agitated and restless if repeated just three or four times. Prolonged, it would lead to collapse. Even if one didn’t collapse, they wouldn’t be far from it, because such constant, fruitless repetition truly eroded one’s mental fortitude.

Igor endured this tedium, resisting the mind-numbing repetition. Though each attempt yielded nothing, he persisted.

If others saw this, they would surely think him an idiot, a fool, performing useless tasks over and over.

Even an old hand like Kuren thought Igor was being a bit stubborn.

If one method doesn’t work, try another. You can’t just hang yourself on one tree, Kuren wanted to advise Igor. But seeing Igor’s determined gaze, he ultimately refrained.

He felt that Igor must have his reasons for acting this way. Although this method seemed inflexible, they—these veterans, experienced as they were in battle—had failed to grasp the profound meaning within the World Setting Technique. Only Igor had comprehended it, and he had even led them to understand it too.

Though Igor’s current actions seemed peculiar, even foolish, who could say for sure that he wouldn’t make a new discovery?

One can’t rely on experience here, especially here. Kuren recalled how his precious experience had been smashed to pieces within the Inner World of the World Setting Technique, and he couldn’t help but chuckle. That’s right, experience is useless here. It’s completely useless. Kuren thought to himself.

Although Igor’s repeated attempts seemed to yield no results, he himself could perceive subtle changes.

These subtle changes originated from the Two-way Channel. Initially, one would only feel oneself moving in a single direction within it. But now, he could faintly sense that someone was ahead.

It was a tiny wisp of Spirit Power Feedback, very faint, but undeniably present.

Kadi was still collecting the streams of Spirit Power flowing towards their cave. Several waves had passed, but he still hadn’t received the message he hoped for. The people outside had said nothing beyond ’be careful,’ which was quite disheartening.

Though Kadi felt a twinge of disappointment, it wasn’t as intense as before. After all, the repeated failures had long since shattered his initial expectations. Now, he approached it with a much calmer heart.

And it was this calm heart that allowed him to finally receive an unexpected vocal message—no, it was more like a delightful surprise.

After an unknown number of Spirit Power waves, a message finally arrived, not betraying Kadi’s patient anticipation.

This message seemed to have come a little late. Kadi wanted to cry out, to tell Igor immediately. But Igor’s grim expression made him hold back. Kadi knew that since Igor was in the Two-way Channel, he couldn’t have missed the information carried by this Spirit Power flow. The fact that Igor hadn’t reacted probably meant the message wasn’t very useful.

Kadi overlooked another crucial factor: Igor didn’t understand the language of the monsters.

Although Igor sensed this message-carrying Spirit Power flow, he couldn’t understand its content. So, he didn’t act rashly, choosing instead to continue observing.

And his continued observation truly paid off. He heard a familiar voice—an utterly unexpected one.