One-Eyed Monster

Many things didn’t go as smoothly as Igor had imagined, nor were they as difficult. He realized that most things were beyond his expectations—or rather, to be precise, he hadn’t had any expectations to begin with. He was completely taking things one step at a time. The current situation was just that the steps had become a bit too large, and he was struggling to keep up with the pace.

Kadi’s performance as a disruptor genuinely surprised Igor. To Igor, the pace Kadi set seemed on the verge of a complete breakdown, but he couldn’t voice this directly. After all, he was the one falling behind, not anyone else. Therefore, he suspected his perspective might also be out of sync with the current developments.

The scale of things had grown, so the disruption needed to match this new pace. In Igor’s judgment, the current rhythm was already fast enough. However, according to Kadi, everything was just beginning, which meant the tempo was set to accelerate further...

Uncertain if his understanding was correct, Igor sought confirmation from Kadi.

”Disruption, you see, isn’t a battle,” Kadi said after hearing Igor’s thoughts, thinking him a bit foolish. ”I’m not supposed to match his rhythm; I’m supposed to break it! This disruption business isn’t a duel; why go head-to-head? Isn’t making the opponent feel disgusted enough?”

Kadi’s words made Igor feel a pang of shame. Their original plan was to make the mastermind behind it all feel disgusted and to slow everything down. Yet, he had somehow started thinking about confronting the opponent directly, which was completely counterproductive to their goal. It seems I’m really not suited for this kind of disruptive work, he thought.

”The moon’s power can definitely be experienced now, right? So the other side can definitely feel it too. But he can’t do anything about it, HAHA!” Kadi was smug; he felt his idea was truly inspired. Then he thought back to Kevin and the others—or rather, he recalled the stories and principles they had once told him. Those stories and principles were genuinely practical, allowing him, a guy who had never even seen the ocean, to understand it so profoundly.

”People living by the sea can always sense the timing of the tides’ rise and fall. They are like sages or prophets, yet they are Non-Adventurers. Many make a living by fishing, but their judgment of the tides is often more accurate than that of many Scholars and Wizards.” For some reason, Kadi also started to slowly explain these principles to Igor, just like Kevin used to.

”TSK. The stories are interesting, but I don’t think this is the time for storytelling! The waves seem to have adapted to the fishes’ movements; they no longer seem as flustered as before. They know exactly where to direct their force!” Igor suddenly realized that the opponent, the controller, had regained control of the current rhythm. Now, the surging waves were all precisely aimed; wherever a fish leaped, a wave would crash down...

”HEHEHE, it’s because these simple, honest fishermen know the moon’s phases!” Kadi completely ignored Igor’s warning and continued his story.

”Next...” Igor was actually very anxious, but seeing Kadi’s unhurried demeanor, he immediately knew Kadi must have a countermeasure ready. So he swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue. He had been about to ask what they should do next.

”Igor, you need to understand that the greatest characteristic of disruption is unpredictability. Constantly keeping him flustered won’t achieve the best effect. For example, let’s say you’re stacking a pile of wood, and I’m nearby constantly causing trouble. Would it be more disgusting for you if I kept preventing you from stacking the wood, or if I pushed over your woodpile just as you were getting into it?”

”Both are disgusting,” Igor replied, unsure if Kadi hadn’t phrased the question well or if his own understanding was off.

”...” Kadi was stunned. He hadn’t anticipated Igor would answer like that.

”But on second thought, I think I’d feel even more disgusted if you pushed it over when I was almost done,” Igor added after a moment’s thought. This was pretty much what Kadi had hoped to hear.

”AHEM. HMPH! That’s right. What we need to do now is make this sea even more disgusting for him.” Kadi tried to cover his embarrassment. He realized that storytelling wasn’t an easy task, especially retelling someone else’s story, because you never knew what the audience was thinking. This made him miss Kevin even more, because Kevin never seemed as awkward as he did now when telling stories. Kevin’s stories usually flowed very smoothly...

What Kadi didn’t realize was that Kevin’s storytelling flowed so smoothly primarily because he never interrupted...

Of course, that had nothing to do with the current situation.

”So, how do we make it more disgusting for him?” Igor’s ability to understand things was sometimes truly lacking. It was unclear why, but at moments like this, he could be incredibly dense.

”...” Kadi was stunned again. ”Isn’t it obvious? Does he think he has control of the rhythm now? If so, we just need to mess it up again.”

Kadi said it lightly. Of course, he was the commander, so naturally, it sounded easy for him.

”I mean, how am I supposed to mess it up? The moon only has so many variations!” Igor voiced the confusion deep in his heart. This was the main reason he had seemed so foolish recently: he and Stan Sol no longer knew how to alter the moon.

Only then did Kadi remember he hadn’t finished his earlier story—the one about the seaside fishermen.

”ER... that story about the seaside fishermen earlier... I was trying to talk about the moon’s distance...” Flustered by Igor, Kadi didn’t quite know how to continue his story.

”Distance?” Igor mused. Strangely, when faced with this kind of problem, Igor always managed to show his intelligent side.

”Yes, distance. Scholars and Wizards discovered this pattern through their interactions with the fishermen...”

”You mean pull the moon closer!” Without giving Kadi a chance to explain, Igor immediately pulled the moon a bit closer.

Then, Kadi saw a huge, perfectly round moon pop up right before his eyes.

And then, the waves that had been so precisely aimed suddenly seemed to lose their composure. With a WHOOSH, they weakened and receded...

RUSH! Suddenly, areas that had been dry were inundated with a large volume of seawater. The dark, sandy areas were also flooded with far too much seawater, and it seemed the ocean’s expanse had widened...

This isn’t disruption; this is clearly a boost for them... Igor murmured, watching the constantly rising, dark sea surface.

”Let it boil!” Kadi shouted excitedly from the side, completely oblivious to Igor’s astonished and confused muttering.