One-Eyed Monster

”You’re the qualified ones, children. Why are you still standing there stunned?”

”Qualified? What qualified?” Igor looked at the multi-horned creature illuminated by the lights, utterly puzzled.

Unlike Igor’s confusion, Kadi was much calmer; he was all too familiar with this voice and appearance.

The one standing before the Stone House was none other than old Kevin.

”Being qualified means you have the privilege to meet our Great Mentor. You should feel incredibly honored.” The horn-like protrusions on Kevin’s head quivered as he enunciated each word distinctly, his voice booming.

”Mentor?” Igor was still bewildered, a stark contrast to his earlier sharpness.

This kid doesn’t have a shred of astuteness; he’s so far behind Kadi. I wonder what the Great Mentor sees in him. Kevin thought, looking at Kadi beside him with an indescribable feeling.

”Is this mentor you’re talking about the leader of the Guru Mountain Monsters, Guru Guru?” Igor stared intently at Kevin, the multi-horned creature, and asked loudly.

Kadi remained outwardly calm, but his emotions were complex.

A muscle twitched in Kevin’s face when he heard Igor’s question. He detested the term ”monster.” If Igor hadn’t been chosen by the Great Mentor, he would have slapped him already, followed by a sharp, ”Who are you calling a monster?”

Unfortunately, this young man named Igor was the Great Mentor’s choice, so Kevin had to accept it, however dissatisfied he felt. Besides, that fellow Xiso had also said this boy passed Arnold’s test, which was incredible.

Arnold’s Time Trap is a truly formidable technique. To have endured it, this boy is indeed rather remarkable.

”Hmph!” Kevin offered no response to Igor’s impolite question, merely letting out a grunt of dismissal.

Kadi understood the unspoken meaning in that grunt, yet a sliver of doubt lingered. He couldn’t tell whether what he was seeing was an illusion or reality.

Sometimes, when dreams are on the verge of coming true, the mind tends to drift, making it hard to tell east from west, or right from wrong.

Kadi could hardly believe what he was seeing. He suspected this scene might be another test. Thinking back to Xiso’s words and looking at the current situation, he genuinely couldn’t tell what was real and what was fake.

But Igor, who was usually so cautious, was now surprisingly preparing to stride forward.

Kadi hurriedly held Igor back.

”Hey, what are you doing? He said we’re qualified. We can go in now.” Igor, stopped from moving forward, turned around in surprise. Kadi’s tail had once again wrapped around him, preventing him from advancing.

”What if it’s another trap?” Kadi voiced his worries. He was extremely cautious now; the closer he got to his dream, the more impossible it felt.

”Trap?” Igor was surprised; he hadn’t considered that. But after looking at the scene before him, he grinned. ”It’s fine. Even if it’s a trap, we can get through it. Come on, let’s go see.”

That smile from Igor dispelled Kadi’s lingering doubts.

Perhaps this was another of Igor’s abilities; he seemed to possess a charisma that made people believe in him, willing to take risks alongside him.

”Let’s go.” With a smile, Igor stepped onto the special path paved by the Stone Monsters.

The luminous flowers around them seemed to nod, twinkling and sparkling brightly, as if performing a welcome ceremony.

Only then did Igor realize with a start that the place they’d been was merely a patch of solid ground in the heart of the swamp. Further ahead lay more of the gurgling, bubbling marshland.

The Stone House was also in the middle of the swamp. They had thought they’d crossed the swamp, but in reality, they had only journeyed from one edge to its center. They hadn’t escaped the swamp at all!

The rolling stones had now laid out a safe path for them, and around the stones grew miraculous vegetation. These plants could bloom even in the freezing winter, their flowers glowing like miniature suns.

”I wonder what Guru Guru looks like. Does he also have blue skin and a tail like you?” Igor turned back and smiled at Kadi. His anticipation for what lay ahead was no less keen than Kadi’s.

Kadi also wanted to know what Guru Guru looked like. He especially wanted to know what made Guru Guru so special that so many monsters from Guru Mountain willingly served him. In Kadi’s eyes, the monsters of Guru Mountain were all formidable—all except himself, of course.

I just hope Guru Guru is somewhat special and doesn’t disappoint my expectations.

As Igor walked past the Stone House, he smiled at Kevin. ”Thank you for your guidance.”

Kevin responded with another arrogant grunt.

When Kadi reached Kevin, he paused, his large eye widening. ”Hello, old man. I don’t have to go into the Slumber Room this time, right?”

Kevin’s arrogance vanished, and a kind smile gradually spread across his face. He bent down and tapped Kadi’s forehead. ”Well done, little one. No punishment for you this time.”

This was the first time Kadi had ever seen Kevin act like this. It felt so unreal; he immediately suspected it was another trap.

However, when he saw Igor stride confidently into the Stone House, he pushed aside his concerns, waved at Kevin, and said, ”Goodbye, old man. I’m going to see Guru Guru.”

”Good luck, little one.” Kevin’s voice gradually faded as Kadi walked into the Stone House, and soon it was inaudible.

”Hey, Igor, wait for me!” Not being able to see Igor made Kadi slightly frantic. This was undoubtedly an unsettling consequence of Kevin’s uncharacteristic behavior.

Upon entering the Stone House, Kadi saw Igor standing rooted to the spot, motionless.

The house was a bit odd; it was more like a cave than a house.

This strangeness wasn’t the main reason Igor stood frozen. Its interior, though peculiar, wasn’t bizarre enough to truly astound him.

Kadi, however, was even more shocked. His jaw had dropped, and he kept pinching himself with his claw, muttering, ”I’m not dreaming. I’m not in an Illusionary Realm.”

”Are you Guru Guru?” Igor was the first to break the silence, though his own shock hadn’t fully dissipated.

”I have used that name, yes.” Sitting opposite Igor and Kadi was a kindly-looking old man with a ruddy complexion and gentle eyes.

This old man was the source of their astonishment. Neither Igor nor Kadi had ever imagined that the leader of all the monsters in Guru Mountain would be a human elder!

Indeed, the elder sitting before them was human. He had no horn-like protrusions, no tail, and his skin wasn’t blue—a perfectly, unmistakably ordinary human!