One-Eyed Monster

Hustace shrugged at everyone’s expectant gaze, ”Alright, I’ll give it a try. It might not be useful.”

”What are you all talking about?” Igor felt puzzled. He actually had many baffling questions now, like why Dean Hoffman always said the space wasn’t big enough for them to give explanations. But the cause and effect confused him the most.

”We’re answering your questions, Igor!” Hustace said.

”How do you answer?” Igor was very concerned.

”Look, haven’t you seen what Stim has organized?”

”Yes, so what? A pile of musings that have no real purpose, I could muse like that too.”

”In the book, he muses, but what if you look at them separately?” Hustace gently guided.

”A heap of meaningless words, like fear, like worry, all things of no real value.”

”This...” Hustace was momentarily at a loss for how to express it, for Igor said these words were meaningless, then to him, the sentences composed of those words were certainly meaningless too.

Yet these seemingly meaningless things in his eyes were precisely what Lord Soron concealed, essentially the start of something distinct.

To be honest, when Stim initially extracted these passages, they did seem abrupt, without significant connections. But through Stim’s analysis, the whole picture suddenly became clear.

Reflecting upon these sorted and picked out pieces now showed everyone that Lord Soron was truly painstaking.

However, this painstaking effort meant nothing to Igor, leaving everyone astonished.

While everyone was drunk, Igor seemed the only sober one, yet this was only how he believed himself to be; in everyone else’s eyes, he was the only drunk one amongst them...

Everyone could understand these extracted pieces, except Igor. Isn’t this Igor’s own issue?

Dean Hoffman shook his head, perhaps the way of engaging with Igor wasn’t right. This young man was always lively, quite different from ordinary people. It seemed only Russef Hadi could keep pace with this young man while others weren’t on the same wavelength at all.

”Why are you all looking at me so surprisingly?” Igor felt strange as everyone gave him such weird looks, as if they’d seen a ghost.

”Igor, can’t you really understand? These organized pieces are the secrets hidden within these books!”

”Yes, what you consider meaningless are precisely what Lord Soron intends to convey!”

”Fine, a bunch of musings only. How can these musings be of any help to us? It’s such a big deal, costing the scholars so much time. It’s simply shameless.” Igor calmly replied.

”What you mean seems to show you’re a bit dissatisfied with the outcome. Do you find the result too simple?” Stim asked.

”Yes, after all this, all he wants to convey is a bunch of musings, what’s the point then.”

”It’s not merely a bunch of musings!” Stim said, using spirit power to project these contents across the entire sky, finally understanding why Dean Hoffman insisted on having ample space for explanation...

”Besides musings, what else...” Igor was saying when he suddenly fell silent upon seeing what emerged in the sky.

This time, Stim used a scholarly approach to showcase the result.

Indeed, those were all musings.

But when these musings are combined together, they become warnings.

For this, I feel sad... A being as if in the wilderness, forgotten by people, leading only to sadness.

For this, I feel regret, a wilderness-like existence, utterly unasked for, ultimately becoming unnoticed, truly a major regret of exploration.

For this, I feel fear, should someone treat something as if treating wilderness requiring being forgotten is inevitable, leaving me fearful, for it never really existed in this world, can anyone not fear?

For this, I feel anxious, these things like wilderness, no care, no inquiry, eventually turning into true wilderness!

...

These were all musings from the books, mostly mentioning wilderness, making Igor increasingly feel something was off!

Didn’t notice earlier, but now paying attention, these musings seemed to all refer to wilderness. Stim wielded a knife, chopping here and there, gradually trimmed away much verbosity in these musings, which gradually formed several passages describing wilderness.

Only then did Igor notice that he had been entangled by those few books and didn’t look past them to see these musings.

Through Stim’s decisive trimming, he gradually saw the hidden message.

These things are so simple, he should have seen them early on, yet he saw them last. Everybody else understood the good meaning within these musings long ago...

Unasked wilderness, forgotten as inevitable, never existing in the world…

This statement, very concise, yet full of weight, these wildernesses never existed in the world! So what are these wildernesses indeed?

Sorrow, regret, fear, anxiety, emotions described by Lord Soron, now seem to be a genuine expression of sentiments.

Hidden for so long, just to say this, indeed, it’s a bit overly concise.

”Do you understand now?” Stim asked, sweating profusely, this series of operations consumed a lot of energy…

”Understand, but saying so evasively, it’s really puzzling!” Igor continued.

”One sentence, no, it’s more than one sentence!” Stim continued, ”This sentence is just the opening, the actual content is still in the Spirit Book!”

”And how do you know that!” Igor protested defiantly, still not understanding.

”Wait a moment, you’ll fully understand. Previously, I mentioned having found the connection, now what I want to say is your experiences might very well resemble those experienced by Lord Soron before.”

”What’s the basis for saying that?” Sol quickly questioned, no longer wishing to console Igor at this moment.

”Lord Soron’s descriptions of various continents are the results of many years of observation, bearing the footprints of predecessors and his own. No matter what, he is a great person.”

”Just speak straightforwardly, Stim. No need to beat around the bush.” Dean Hoffman said.