One-Eyed Monster

”Yeah, when the time comes, should we act or not? All these villagers from Guru Village are innocent people!”

The crowd began discussing eagerly, as if the enemy’s actions made them deeply uncomfortable. They originally didn’t want to disturb the mountain people below; they would avoid them when they came up to gather, plant, or hunt. Sometimes, they even helped these mountain people. But now, this unseen enemy actually controls the mountain people, and if they attack using them as a meat shield, then the monsters on Guru Mountain would be in a real bind.

”These bastards truly are shameless, using innocent people as leverage!” Igor said through gritted teeth, now truly indignant with righteous anger.

”We need to come up with a solution; we can’t be this passive.” Kevin’s brow furrowed a bit further.

”Goodley, do you recognize this smiling face symbol?” Kuren asked, thinking that as a Scholar, Goodley would naturally know more.

”I’ve never seen it, but it looks like a clown from the Moon Circus.”

”There are only a few well-known circuses within the Three Great Empires; no wonder I thought this smiling face seemed familiar.” Kevin said, resting his chin in puzzlement. He was particularly confused by why so many things that shouldn’t appear here were showing up.

The Great Mentor looked around at the situation and couldn’t help but sigh.

”This note and this mountain person just confirm my previous speculation.”

Hearing the Great Mentor’s words, everyone turned to him, hoping he would provide further explanations.

”Now, it’s not just about Adventurers with Class and Non-Adventurers; everything is subtly changing!” The Great Mentor continued, full of emotion in his tone.

”This…” Igor was somewhat unclear, casting a puzzled glance at everyone.

”Our opponent should be Spirits from the Spirit World!” The Great Mentor continued, ”Presumably, everyone already has an answer to this in their hearts, right?”

”The mentor is right. Our understanding of the enemy seems to yield only this much,” the Sol Brothers added. The conclusion that the enemy came from the Alternate Realm was reached early on, because Igor’s Inner World enabled them to know that this unseen enemy came from the Spirit World.

The Spirit World is undergoing tremendous changes; Spirits, who originally lacked the concept of emotions, suddenly developed them. This caused some Spirits to never sleep again after awakening. With all the information the Great Mentors had gathered, they could only formulate one general conclusion, which is that the unseen enemy should be Spirits who have been awake in the Spirit World.

”And precisely because the opponent is such a Spirit, we are so passive. Most of the power we currently wield is provided by these Spirits; they know us inside out.”

The Great Mentor analyzed slowly; every word he said made the group feel sensible.

”These Spirits understand us so well that they can clearly recognize the blind spots in Spirit Sensing.”

”Do you mean they’re currently narrowing the gap between Adventurers with Class and Non-Adventurers?”

”That’s my hypothesis; they aren’t excluding the Non-Adventurers in our world but rather considering everyone as a resource.”

”Resource?” Everyone frowned, feeling extremely surprised by the Great Mentor’s hypothesis.

”In your previous battles in the Border Realm, the Soul Devourers were mentioned to devour others’ consciousness to take over their shells. Didn’t you think these enemies would do the same here?”

Hearing this, everyone gasped sharply; those Soul Devourers wouldn’t care whether someone is an Adventurer with Class…

”This way, the entire Non-Adventurers could suffer severely, becoming sacrifices and test subjects.”

”But the Great Mentor said this would shrink the gap between Adventurers with Class and Non-Adventurers. How should we understand that?” Igor curiously asked. He currently despised this unseen enemy so deeply that he wanted nothing more than to drag them out and give them a good beating.

”The reason for saying this is because these enemies won’t blatantly devour; they’ll find a way to attract Non-Adventurers to willingly join their ranks.” The Great Mentor continued.

These words reminded Igor of the Dark Force, a shortcut approach with similarities to what the Great Mentor just described.

Temptation is always as simple as a few sentences, and when there are living examples in front of them, the process becomes so simple. The Dark Force is just like this, providing shortcuts; although currently rampant only between Adventurers with Class, there’s no guarantee that it won’t extend its influence to Non-Adventurers as well.

”This is just speculation for now, but from the warning and the controlled mountain person, this speculation will soon be confirmed.”

Even though the Great Mentor wasn’t a Scholar or Wizard, his speculation was quite well-founded.

”Yuga, Goodley, and Arnold, you can predict and deduce the future, try to work on that,” the Great Mentor suggested to them.

”Non-Adventurers lack Spirit Power, making it impossible for me to sense and deduce.” Goodley was the first to voice.

”Indeed, without Spirit Sensing, I can’t perform Divination either.”

”Time Leap requires connection; I can’t connect with a Non-Adventurer.”

”You see, our weaknesses are fully exposed...” The Great Mentor sighed again after hearing what the three had to say.

”So, what should we do now?” Igor asked, feeling that they were utterly at a disadvantage.

”Right and wrong, we cannot say clearly. I also can’t articulate whether what we are doing is a blessing or a curse for the Non-Adventurers.” The Great Mentor mused.

”Our purpose in doing this is to protect them from harm,” Sol Brothers said.

”But are you sure we’re protecting rather than stopping? Why should Non-Adventurers have to dedicate everything for the benefit of Adventurers with Class? Is that distribution truly fair and reasonable?”

The Great Mentor’s inquiry left everyone feeling lost; indeed, many of these things were handed down by previous generations and had been executed without question.

Now, the upheaval in the Spirit World was also affecting their world. Everything that was once firmly grounded was now beginning to shift.

”In the end, it seems only time can decide. We can only act according to our beliefs.”