One-Eyed Monster

Nonoa and Igor are still running on this barren land.

They can’t see the border, nor do they know the direction, but they can’t stop.

This barren land is just like the problem they are discussing now, without boundaries, going wherever it takes them.

Despite the chaos inside Igor’s heart, he still feels very excited. The faith formed by Sol’s arrival resonates with his values, making him feel that he is the same kind of person as Sol.

In this unfamiliar environment, finding something with commonality is indeed not easy, and Igor naturally cherishes this preciousness.

Here he met Nonoa and learned how to release the accumulated energy from his body.

Their running process helps them accumulate energy, and if a consciousness loses its energy, it might get targeted by other consciousnesses. Once caught by a Soul Devourer, it would be disastrous; once devoured, the body might be controlled by those Soul Devourers, and the actions taken then would be indefensible. Igor’s premise of recovering his body in the real world is to defeat those Soul Devourers and regain his body.

Such a situation is very real, and Igor must prepare for it.

He is now different from Nonoa; Nonoa no longer has a body to speak of, but he has been inspired by Tobin Sol and held onto his original intention, gradually forming a belief to protect his homeland, not degenerating into a Soul Devourer, which is a comforting thing.

However, not becoming a Soul Devourer doesn’t mean he won’t be attacked by them here. Although he doesn’t have a body anymore, he still holds many memories, which include energy, techniques, and many of Nonoa’s secrets.

As long as a Soul Devourer consumes him, they can enhance their strength…

Actually, Igor was quite puzzled at first as to why Soul Devourers are so keen on devouring wandering consciousnesses. Later, after discussions, he learned that each consciousness contains a hidden energy, these memories and skills are difficult to attain, but when a Soul Devourer consumes the consciousness of their owner, and returns to a taken body, they become very powerful. This kind of strength makes many wandering consciousnesses start to degenerate, willing to become a heinous demon just to return to that world.

In this Border Realm, a wandering consciousness has about a seventy-six percent chance of becoming a Soul Devourer, less than twenty percent chance of becoming a Resistor, and the remaining four or five percent are Lost Ones, or those about to be devoured by Soul Devourers.

The scope of the Soul Devourers is vast, so naturally among them are Soul Devourers responsible for scouting, fighting, and devouring…

Resistors are simpler; they have only one goal, which is to maintain their existence in this Border Realm and stop these Soul Devourers from occupying others’ bodies.

Therefore, during this time, it can be said that Nonoa is escorting Igor.

Although they don’t know where their endpoint lies.

”Is it really good to keep running like this?” Igor asked again.

”Neither good nor bad, but we are consciousnesses, we won’t feel tired, only produce a sense of fatigue, but this feeling can’t stop this body from continuing to run.”

Even though it’s convoluted, Igor understands a bit.

That is, although they are consciousnesses, their activities in the Border Realm are carried out by a carrier.

Though this body is an illusionary form, akin to creations from the Inner World that can be effective, it’s ultimately fictional.

Originally, this is merely a battle between consciousnesses!

Igor doesn’t want to think too much, he’s not a Resistor, completely a Lost One among the fifty-six percent, always facing danger.

”What’s the point of continuing to run like this? I know you’ll say to gather energy, but it’s not like that, you can collect energy even sitting still.”

”Gathering energy is only a part, our constant running is primarily for hiding.”

”Hiding?” Igor finds this amusing, running wildly over the world is for hiding? How do you hide when clearly exposed to the enemy?

Can’t enemies see you running on this land?

”Haha, they really can’t see us.” Nonoa guessed what Igor was thinking and directly answered, ”Moreover, even if they can see us, there’s nothing they can do.”

”Why is that?” Igor asked, still unable to understand.

Imagine, if the enemy could see you running, they would immediately send someone to catch you wherever you went, isn’t this a self-defeating scenario?

”I know what you’re thinking, but you need to know, Soul Devourers are not native here, essentially, they are similar to us, so they are unfamiliar with this place, and cannot appear at once even if called, they need to trace and find the target first.”

”I still don’t get it.”

… Nonoa is speechless, explaining so clearly, yet Igor doesn’t understand.

Because this Border Realm is too vast, Soul Devourers can’t fully expand their network, so it’s impossible for them to catch you as soon as you show up, usually waiting a long time, by then you’re already far gone.

So this is entirely a concealment method!

This method is very special but indeed a unique existence.

Rather than shrinking in some unseen corner, it’s better to appear openly and continuously confuse the enemy’s vision…

Although this theory looks unreliable, it is indeed the best hiding method currently in this Border Realm.

”This method looks unreliable, but when implemented, it turns out to be extremely reliable!” Nonoa couldn’t help but sigh.

”If I’m not mistaken, this method was taught to you by Tobin Sol.”

”How do you know?” Nonoa was surprised, but upon thinking it over, he wasn’t surprised anymore.

After all, this young man came to find Sol, so surely he has some connection to Sol, hence he must be familiar with Sol’s theory.

The best way to hide a leaf is to put it in a pile of leaves, everyone knows this saying, right?

”This is Sol’s theory, although I can’t see how it connects here.” Nonoa responds, feeling that at this moment Igor might be able to help him solve this confusion.