One-Eyed Monster

Igor’s lips curled up; he felt he was getting very close to his goal.

These Spirits were complaining to him, grumbling at him. If you don’t open your heart to a certain degree, would you complain and grumble to someone? Obviously, these Spirits were already being honest with him.

It was just that they didn’t really understand how to interact with each other. The Spirits didn’t understand Igor, and Igor hadn’t understood these Spirits either.

They’d been second-guessing one another, unable to face things sincerely. Now, speaking face to face, true feelings slowly began to show.

”The reason I’ve been staying here all this time and won’t go back to our world—I already told you before—I’m terrified of that world!” the old granny said.

”But you never admitted that you kept appearing to me in this granny guise just to win my respect.”

”Uh… hehe, that, I really had no choice!” The old granny’s voice suddenly sounded young, completely losing its elderly tone.

”Just now you said the way you use Energy is the same way you collect Energy in the Border Realm?”

”Yeah. When we see Energy, it’s like you picking fruit—we just take it straight down, then send it into your body. You think it’s hard; we think it’s easy.”

”This…”

”It’s like how you can walk upright. We think that’s hard; you think it’s easy.”

”Huh?” Igor couldn’t understand what they meant with this example.

”You mean why we’re using that example?”

”Yeah!” Igor found it very strange. These Spirits were formless and invisible, so why would they bother learning to walk?

”Because our world has changed a lot. For some reason more and more of our kind are being awakened, and after waking they don’t go back to sleep. They directly manifest your appearance in our world and start imitating your ways. But, you know, almost none of them has ever succeeded.”

”You mean walking?” Igor asked curiously.

”Anything, not just walking—everything ends in complete failure.” This time the granny’s voice grew a bit steadier.

But Igor didn’t plan to go too deep into that topic. Being able to talk this frankly was already more than enough for him. Now he needed to pick the key questions to ask.

Although the question of why they chose him had already been set aside, Igor had never really forgotten it, so he brought it up again.

”Hey, why do you keep clinging to that question? We can choose to guide you, or choose not to. The reason you were chosen by us was also just a coincidence. Other people are being guided by other Spirits of our kind too. That’s the most normal thing in the world.” The Spirit Book’s voice grew more and more agitated as it spoke, sounding on the verge of breaking down.

”What he meant was a bit obscure. Actually, what we want to say is: we guided you because your own choices made us do so. If you hadn’t made that decision back then, we would only have provided you with the Energy you asked for, nothing more.”

”Oh…” Igor fell into thought. So that’s how it was!

In other words, all of this was Igor’s own choice. His decisions had led these Spirits to guide him. If he’d chosen another path, these Spirits would’ve just ignored him.

That really was a strange thing.

But Igor didn’t dwell on it. After talking with these Spirits for a while, he’d managed to confirm a lot of his guesses.

He now knew that the invaders were from the Spirit World, and that ever since these Spirits gained emotions, they’d become much more complicated…

”I still want to know—there’s one more Spirit I awakened. Why hasn’t he shown himself?”

That question from Igor made the two manifested Spirits fall silent at once.

”What, you can’t talk about it?”

”It’s not that we can’t say, it’s just hard to explain. That guy’s always coming and going like a ghost. He doesn’t really count as an elder, but he’s not easy to communicate with either.”

”You even have ’elder’ generations?” Igor found it very strange. In theory these Spirits were all immortal, endlessly sleeping and awakening in Reincarnation, so how could there be such a thing as an older generation?

”Well, you see, our kind wake at different times, some earlier, some later. We weren’t all awakened at the same moment, so naturally the idea of an elder generation appeared. Of course, that only came about after emotions appeared in our world.”

The Spirit’s explanation cleared up a lot for Igor.

”Do you know who brought you this thing called emotion?” Igor felt it was odd. The powerful Soul Devourer Master had always taken pride in having no emotions, yet by all logic that Soul Devourer Master was also a Spirit. He should’ve found it novel to have emotions, so why would he reject them?

”We honestly don’t know about that!”

”Then can you go back to your world and try to find out?” Igor suggested.

”I’m not going back. I’m afraid that if I do, I’ll never come back again. I don’t mean I can’t cross over; I mean if I come over again, I won’t be myself anymore.”

”You saw what the Border Realm looks like. Our world now is probably not much different from a Border Realm.”

The meaning of these two Spirits was obvious: they didn’t want to go back because they were afraid.

”Then how can I summon that guy out?” Igor refused to give up.

”That might be very difficult, but think about it yourself. You’re the key, Igor. We can only help you in terms of Energy.”

In the end, everything still had to be resolved by Igor himself. These Spirits were always only assistants. They couldn’t decide anything, and they couldn’t act on their own.

”Honestly, by guiding you like this, we’re also gambling on you in a way.”

”Right. We think you’re different. You should be able to help us. Since you could send all those Little Black Hands back to their homeland, and let those devoured consciousnesses find rest, we believe you can also take us back to our own hometown. We still hope to be just the kind of Spirits that trade with you—provide you with power, and you provide us with sight and sensations. Everyone gets what they need. After you head to the Eternal Tranquility Realm, we return to sleep, and so on in cycles, endlessly.”

”I understand!” Igor smiled.

”What is it you understand?” The two Spirits were half dubious.

”You’re just like me. We all want to live by going with the flow, keeping it simple, right?” Igor gave a faint smile; he felt wonderfully at ease now.

”That does seem to be the case.” The two Spirits spoke in unison.

Igor laughed. He felt that he was about to set out on a new journey, and this time he was no longer lost.

”I’ll send you back, just like I’ll definitely be able to summon that other guy out. Believe in me.”

”We believe, of course we believe!”