One-Eyed Monster

ACHOO—

At Moonflow Stream, Igor sneezed unexpectedly.

He didn’t know what caused the sneeze, so he could only rub his nose and shrug. Anyway, I don’t think anyone misses me, he mused. Even if they did, it wouldn’t be for long. Most people who might think of me are too busy struggling with their own lives; they spend far more time worrying than thinking about me.

Take his father, for instance. Every day, his father had to calculate how much firewood he needed to chop to feed the family. His father had been very supportive of him going to the Yonder Travel Academy. However, his father also felt a bit reluctant, as Igor was in his prime for chopping firewood. Without him, the entire burden of this labor fell upon his father. The whole family depended on the money his father earned from selling firewood to buy rice and oil, and his two younger sisters were still so small.

But since I chose the path of an Adventurer with Class, I have to see it through and not give up halfway, Igor resolved. I haven’t even completed my class selection yet. If I just went back like this, it wouldn’t be fair to Dad, who has toiled chopping wood for all these years. Even though he had left some gold coins for his father when he set off for Guru Mountain, his father had stuffed them back into his pocket.

His father had said, ”The outside world requires money.”

His father had also said, ”This money was borrowed from Teacher Hadi. When you become an Adventurer with Class, Igor, you must repay Teacher Hadi.”

Back then, Igor hadn’t realized how important gold coins were. It wasn’t until he arrived at Guru Mountain that he understood that without gold coins, even asking for directions was a problem.

Fortunately, my luck has been pretty good, he acknowledged to himself.

Now, he was on this mountain. He had met many extraordinary people and experienced many remarkable things. I’ve gradually learned many truths, he reflected, but I’ve also gradually forgotten my original purpose for coming here.

I remember, wasn’t my initial reason for coming here to capture ’me’...? he pondered. I came here seeking courage, but I still don’t know if I can obtain the Courage Medal. Even though my Spirit Book keeps saying that things like the Association of Adventurers don’t exist, I still feel it’s necessary to get the Courage Medal and join the Association of Adventurers at the Yonder Travel Academy...

Although the things I’ve encountered now are already surprising enough to tell stories about, the world of Adventurers is endless. There are still many things I need to prove. Whether I can become an Adventurer depends on passing this test. And to pass this test, I have to deal with these snowmen in front of me...

Igor twisted his neck and loosened his joints. Their current approach is just too slow, he thought.

Why do we have to wait until these snowmen stand up before attacking them? he wondered. Can’t we attack while they’re still forming?

Igor looked left and right. He saw that everyone around him was intently waiting for the snowmen...

”There’s something I don’t understand.” Igor always sounded a bit apprehensive when offering suggestions. It couldn’t be helped; most of the people around him were his seniors, so he had to speak cautiously.

”There’s something I don’t understand either,” Kadi chimed in, eager to join. He fully considered himself Igor’s follower and would do whatever Igor did.

”Now is not the time for questions.” Arnold had sparred with Igor before and knew he was a difficult fellow to deal with. I absolutely mustn’t get entangled with him, Arnold thought grimly. Once I do, it’ll be a prolonged ordeal. Because Igor truly never stops, and when he gets going, he’s so frustratingly logical and well-reasoned.

Although Arnold knew this, he had unfortunately been the first to speak. As soon as I spoke, I took his bait! he realized with dread. Now, Igor and Kadi are going to launch a relentless verbal assault on me!

”Sorry, I must concentrate!” Arnold, thinking quickly, pointed at the snowmen in front, hoping to divert Igor and Kadi.

Unfortunately for him, Igor and Kadi were there precisely to ask about this!

”No problem, we’re also watching them intently,” Igor said. ”These snowmen are really strange...”

”UGH...” Arnold deeply regretted saying what he had.

If no one had responded to Igor just then, he might have simply pouted and gone back to meditating for a while.

But now someone had spoken, so Igor felt compelled to chat with this person!

”I find it very strange,” Igor began, and once he started, it was hard for him to stop. He didn’t actually need others to speak; he just wanted someone to listen. ”Look at these snowmen, all jumping around so energetically, but I can’t sense any Spirit Power from them at all.”

Igor believed that anyone who responded to him was surely listening. Therefore, no matter what that person did afterward, they would definitely continue to hear him out.

One talks because one wants to be heard, naturally. If no one listens, speaking into the void feels very lonely.

This was Igor’s perspective. So, if no one picked up on his conversational cues, he absolutely wouldn’t say another word. But once someone did engage, he would become quite garrulous.

Actually, everyone knew these snowmen possessed no Spirit Power. They weren’t true Living Entities but merely Puppets controlled by a Dark Wizard. However, they didn’t know exactly how the Dark Wizard controlled these snowmen. The only thing they currently understood was that the snowmen’s heads were the point of connection to the Dark Wizard. Destroying the head would sever this link, causing the snowman to collapse into a pile of snow.

”Have you ever built a snowman?” Igor asked, sounding like a child. But it couldn’t be helped; although he was part of the defensive circle, his attack methods mostly consisted of close-quarters combat skills. He was completely clueless about this kind of long-range control technique and could only stand there, observing intently.

So, it wasn’t really Igor’s fault for becoming talkative; he genuinely felt a bit idle.

”When building a snowman, you usually start by rolling a snowball,” Igor continued. ”The snowball gets bigger and bigger as you roll it, and then it forms the body...”

The others exchanged glances. Everyone built snowmen as children, but these are completely different from the ones we used to make, they thought. This is a totally different matter, isn’t it? Why even bring it up?

No one knew what Igor was up to.

”I know the snowmen we make are different from these,” Igor said, ”but that doesn’t matter! Think about it: when we build snowmen, what do we fear most? It’s the sun!”

What does this have to do with the sun? the others wondered. Even if the sun were out now, so what? Could it possibly melt all the snow on this mountain? Everyone thought Igor was talking utter nonsense.

”Because the sun would melt all this snow!” Igor declared.