One-Eyed Monster

”I’ve leveled up! Idiot!”

The Spirit Book suddenly became haughty, its previous obedience towards Igor evaporating instantly. The brief period of respect had surprisingly become history, leaving Igor and Kadi puzzled.

This was an unforeseen event for Igor and Kadi. It wasn’t that they were dissatisfied with the Spirit Book’s new attitude; they just never expected it to choose this moment to reappear.

Moreover, they had noticed a peculiar phenomenon: no matter how dire their situation or how chaotic their thoughts, this Spirit Book always seemed to be forgotten in some remote corner, completely out of their minds.

If it weren’t for the Spirit Book volunteering its services each time, they would never remember this tool book that could be of help. It’s really hard to explain why every time they thought of this, Igor and Kadi would exchange smiles, feeling it was only natural for them to be scolded by this Spirit Book for ignoring it.

Igor wasn’t angry, regardless of whether the Spirit Book called him an idiot or a fool. He felt he deserved such titles at that moment. To have a Spirit Book right beside him and still not know to use it—that truly was the behavior of an idiot or a fool.

”Are you done with the scolding?” Igor scratched his head, asking the Spirit Book seriously.

”I can’t be bothered to talk with you fools. Every word I utter feels like an insult to my dignity.” The Spirit Book’s tone was the same as before, full of arrogance.

”Why do you always feel compelled to interrupt our conversations then?” Unlike Igor, Kadi wouldn’t let the mockery and curses slide. He wasn’t the type to take whatever others imposed on him lightly.

”That’s because I can’t stand your stupidity! Your idiocy is so unbearable, it’s embarrassing for me.” The Spirit Book’s words were quite aggressive; it was practically pointing fingers and calling Igor and Kadi extremely stupid.

Kadi was indignant and retorted, ”If you’re so smart, why didn’t you appear earlier? Did it take you a long time to think?”

”No matter how long it took me to think, I’m way better than you lot! Apart from complaining, what else can you do?”

Kadi thought for a moment. It seemed he and Igor had indeed been complaining earlier. They had complained quite a lot then, but now he couldn’t remember any of it.

This showed that complaints came and went quickly. Such fleeting things brought nothing but displeasure; it was better not to dwell on things that yielded no good results.

”You’re right,” Igor said. ”But why have you changed like this?” Igor always thought differently from others. At this moment, anyone else would surely be arguing heatedly with the Spirit Book. After all, the Spirit Book had initiated the rudeness, and anyone would find its words utterly arrogant.

But Igor did not resent the Spirit Book’s arrogance, nor did he feel it was disrespectful to him. He was just surprised by the book’s transformation. Although there was no visible change in its appearance, Igor could sense that a fundamental change had occurred inside the book.

Not only had its voice changed, but its inner nature had also transformed. The most obvious change was in its Spirit Power.

Every Spirit Book possesses a certain amount of Spirit Power storage. Igor could clearly feel that this Spirit Book’s Spirit Power had become much more abundant, even a little more stable. This was a significant change from its previous, fluctuating Spirit Power state.

What Igor cared about was how the Spirit Book had changed; he wasn’t much bothered by its taunts and ridicule. After all, those things wouldn’t affect him; they were just illusory titles.

”I’ve leveled up! I’ve undergone a complete transformation and integrated with you, blockhead!” The Spirit Book spoke impatiently, as if it had accomplished something remarkable.

”Integrated?” Kadi was surprised. ”How are you integrated? You’re still you, and he’s still him. Where’s the integration?”

”You beast, are you this stupid too?” the Spirit Book snapped, its voice dripping with disdain. ”Does integration *have* to be physical? Isn’t the mutual merging of Spirit Power a perfectly normal thing? What’s there to even ask? Honestly! In such a vast place, with such profound arts, instead of observing and thinking, you’re just here chattering away. It’s really too much!”

Spirit Connection, to put it simply, meant that this Spirit Book had enhanced its abilities by drawing on Igor’s Spirit Power. As for how a Spirit Book actually leveled up, Kadi naturally wouldn’t know. He didn’t even have a clear understanding of what Spirit Power was, let alone fathom more profound matters.

But Kadi was still peeved by the Spirit Book’s relentless mockery. He smirked and said, ”After all that talk, you only leveled up by borrowing Igor’s power. I thought you were so amazing. Turns out, you just found a ladder to climb onto the roof, and then you keep criticizing the ladder after getting there.”

”Humph, what do you know.” The Spirit Book was clearly displeased by Kadi’s sarcasm. ”Sure, he’s a ladder. But this ladder became shorter after I climbed onto the roof, even shorter than before. What’s the worth of such a ladder now?”

The Spirit Book used Kadi’s metaphor to elaborate further on its advancement, implying that Igor was not progressing but regressing.

Kadi felt this was a baseless claim. Igor was clearly making great strides forward; how could he possibly regress as the Spirit Book claimed?

Kadi glanced at Igor, finding him nonchalant, as if preoccupied with something else.

”It’s not like this is the first time we’ve encountered a World Setting Technique! To be led into a gutter by it for no reason—what a joke!”

The Spirit Book acted like a stern Great Mentor, frustrated by their perceived failings and venting its dissatisfaction in no uncertain terms. These harsh words also made Kadi feel quite awkward, because he had encountered this World Setting Technique numerous times before.

”I’ve leveled up! You’re no longer in my league. Having a companion like you is a disgrace!”

”And I even warned you not to get confused, but you still uselessly blundered in, constantly heading into dead-end corners.”

The Spirit Book’s barrage of attacks made Kadi’s face flush then pale. Igor, however, just continued to scratch his head, showing no reaction.

Igor seemed to be thinking about other things. As for the Spirit Book’s tirade of criticisms, he probably absorbed about seventy to eighty percent of it, naturally filtering out the unimportant parts.

This situation continued, with the Spirit Book fussing, though it kept its voice relatively low, seemingly aware that others were resting in the cave.

”Ha, I’ve found it!” Igor’s sudden exclamation shattered the one-sided tirade.

His voice was loud, a stark contrast to his earlier quietness, clearly showing his excitement!

”Haha, so the secret lies here!”