One-Eyed Monster

Igor sat on a great boulder atop Dawn Peak of Guru Mountain, his eyes fixed on the sun that was about to rise in the distance, his heart filled with countless emotions.

In the blink of an eye, two years had gone by; he had already stayed on Guru Mountain for two years. During these two years he had lived day and night with the monsters of Guru Mountain, and by now there was no distinction between ”us” and ”them.”

Those monsters were all his seniors, and also his friends; here, he had managed to learn quite a few new abilities.

Now he was sitting on the rock of Dawn Peak watching the sunrise because he would be going down the mountain tomorrow.

Just like every person who studies an art must eventually descend the mountain, it was time for Igor to leave as well. There were still many things waiting for him to do; he had to go and properly explore this world.

The last analysis by the Great Mentor had plunged them all into a kind of confusion, yet all of them still held fast to their belief, just as the Great Mentor had said. That belief was not complicated; it was something very simple. That belief was to let the people around them live a little more peacefully.

Igor watched as the sun slowly climbed up, the fiery-red orb shedding light and heat that was gradually waking the world from the darkness. Everything around began to be draped in the colors of sunlight, and the chill of the night was driven away by this blazing sphere…

Everything we are going to do must be like the sun as well, dispelling darkness and cold, bringing light and warmth to all under heaven.

Igor clenched his fists in his hands; there were many things for him to do. He could hardly wait—he was fully prepared.

The seniors had all grown old, and this mountain could not do without them. The secrets of Guru Mountain were no longer as simple as before; under their constant exploration the answers were gradually being revealed.

Over these two years, the events that had occurred were as numerous as cattle’s hair, and the development of many matters exceeded everyone’s expectations.

Guru Mountain had welcomed many inexplicable people. All of them came in pursuit of that power that transcends life and death, but Guru Mountain had long since lost that sealing power. These people slipped through Luona’s blockade, traveled thousands of miles to Guru Mountain, only to be toyed with by the monsters, ending up utterly dejected.

At first Igor and the others had not thought much of these people, assuming they were just fish that slipped through the net from small organizations; later they realized that was not the case.

It was very difficult for people from those small and medium groups to break through the defensive line laid out by Luona. It had to be said that Governor Rostov’s arrangements in this regard were very well done. In the face of the line of defense Luona had established, very few people could get close to this place.

The reason Rostov could set up such a line of defense was that he had promoted Rostellum to Administrative Assistant. Rostellum knew the road to Guru Mountain like the back of his hand; he was crystal clear on where checkpoints needed to be set up. More crucially, what he had brought to Luona was an endless stream of Gold coins, and the source of those Gold coins was Guru Mountain. With Gold coins, the Luona City Administrative Office received support from all sides; the Scholar Commons, the Wizard Alliance, and every power in Luona was willing to maintain and defend this Guru Mountain, for Guru Mountain was their mountain of gold! Thus, inspections at every checkpoint were extremely strict; unless they sprouted wings, Adventurers with Class found it very hard to reach Guru Mountain.

So those who could slip through the net were very, very few…

And yet people still came and went from Guru Mountain. Igor and the others naturally would not stop the local mountain folk, but unfamiliar scents kept drifting back and forth—there were always some people of unknown origin entering and leaving Guru Mountain. Although Igor and the others could quickly clean them up, it was only after they learned these people did not belong to those small and medium organizations that they came to a new understanding of yet another secret of Guru Mountain.

Back in the battle at the Border Realm Igor had repeatedly heard that Soul Devourer Master say that the Agent of Destruction carried a kind of power that could bring them into this world. Later, after talking with the Sol Brothers, Igor felt that power had to be Teleportation. And since Tobin Sol had always been able to sense Guru Mountain, Igor and the others inferred that Guru Mountain might be an entrance, a transfer station for Teleportation. The fact that those inexplicable people were always able to appear here out of nowhere more or less confirmed this conjecture.

Of course, there was still no definitive conclusion now; they could only keep observing.

Yet Igor had to go down the mountain, because the affairs here were ultimately too single-layered. To gain more information, he had to descend and explore.

What he needed to investigate were the Resistor, the Circus, and the Marginalist.

Many things were happening without anyone realizing it, just like how Guru Mountain had suddenly become a Teleportation point—without any sign at all, it simply happened.

Igor and the others had also received a warning. That arrow, shot by a mountain man who had been controlled and had seized upon a moment of their carelessness, was still lodged in the Great Mentor’s Stone House. This unknown power had told them not to meddle too much—yet they insisted on meddling…

Over these two years the Resistor had left no trace; the plan of the Sol Brothers and the Great Mentor had made no progress at all. No one claiming to be a Resistor came to Guru Mountain. As for those unfamiliar faces that did come, they all belonged to some new forces.

Igor still remembered the smiling face on that scrap of paper, a face in the shape of a Clown. The Great Mentor and the others said that was the visage of a Clown from the Moon Circus. But no one could tell whether that smiley face really had anything to do with the Moon Circus. The Sol Brothers kept investigating outside, but in the end gained very little. The Circus still toured the world as usual, yet that Clown smile emblem had appeared only that one time.

As for the other pattern, they had even less to go on. Yet the power behind that pattern was indeed growing ever stronger in the outside world, and its name was gradually becoming known. The emblem of a Double-headed Snake twined around a Thorny Flower now had a clear designation: this name was Marginalist.

But everything about the Marginalist—the nature of their faction, who their leader was, just how large their organization really was—seemed to be a complete mystery…

Igor looked at the rising sun; clearly, he had already been sitting here for a long time.

Whether it was the Resistor, that Circus, or that so-called Marginalist, he would have to probe them step by step.

Many times Igor understood that his own strength was still not enough to change the course of everything. The reason the Great Mentor wanted them to investigate these new forces was also to temper them. And with so many things having happened in these two years, the Great Mentor had grown somewhat haggard as well.

Igor knew they had to share some of the burden.

Choosing to descend the mountain was a new starting point, and this starting point might well be the prologue to their counterattack…

Nothing could be known in advance. Igor gazed into the distance; under the sunlight, the road ahead was filled with brightness…