One-Eyed Monster

Igor and Kadi followed Kruz back to the circus’s resting place.

After the battle, the entire circus was in complete disarray.

Most of the apprentices were still in a daze; the previous battle had been too overwhelming for them.

As for the circus elites and the leader, they had long become a bunch of skeletons. Clearly, the resistance factor Igor awakened had succeeded in its backlash.

Some lingering spirits were silently waiting here, seemingly certain that Igor would return, so they continued to wait.

Kadi mistakenly thought these beings were enemies and was about to release a blue flame to burn them when Igor quickly stopped him.

"They are spirit entities that were devoured, now released, meaning no harm; soon, they will disperse."

"We were waiting for your return!" the group of spirits suddenly spoke, using up much of their energy. There was originally not much left of them, and now even less, with some unable to maintain a complete human form.

Igor was startled; he didn’t know why these spirits were waiting for his return.

"Thank you!"

"Once we express our gratitude, we can peacefully go to the Eternal Tranquility Realm."

"You made us whole again."

"Thank you for helping us finally achieve revenge!"

The spirits expressed their gratitude to Igor, and after their words, they dissipated like a cloud of powder, scattering with the wind.

Igor was stunned; he didn’t know what he had experienced.

The gratitude of these spirits left him at a loss.

"Hehe, you did a good deed, Igor!" Kadi nudged Igor with his shoulder.

Only then did Igor react, rubbing his temples: "I didn’t do anything, why are they thanking me!"

"Ha, you’re getting praised for nothing!" Kadi gave Igor a disdainful look, clearly scornful of his behavior.

However, before Kadi’s sarcasm could fully unfold, the clown Kruz also came over, bowing deeply to Kadi and Igor.

"Thank you both!"

Now it was Kadi’s turn to be dumbfounded; just moments ago, he was about to mock Igor, and now he found himself in the same situation.

"Uh, we didn’t do anything!" Kadi echoed what Igor had said before.

"No, you helped us completely find ourselves again, which is immensely important. Our strength is not yet enough to oppose them."

"But ultimately, it was you yourselves who found yourselves again; we didn’t do anything special," Igor softly said, feeling it incredible to be thanked for seemingly doing nothing.

"Some things only become clear when you experience them yourself. It’s not about how much you did for me, but how much you enabled me to do," Kruz said quietly.

Igor pondered, feeling there was truth in those words. They didn’t become inflated by Kruz’s gratitude, instead, they started reflecting on his words.

"Think about it; I feel like the seniors on Guru Mountain probably did similar things!"

"Yeah, they all supported us!"

"Like you, Kadi, who developed Simon’s eye power into an amazing skill!"

"Speaking of which, we didn’t even thank them when we left!"

"Yes, I miss Guru Mountain too!"

The two started chatting, reminiscing about Guru Mountain with genuine affection.

"Ah, once this is over, let’s go back to Guru Mountain to thank our mentors," Igor suggested.

"I feel like Guru Mountain is my true home now!" Kadi added directly.

After a burst of laughter, Igor and his companions noticed the chaos in front of them.

Igor, Kadi, and Kruz put great effort into organizing the circus’s belongings. The strangely-shaped beasts had turned to ashes; they had all been spirit entities Stanley had captured and forced into the beast bodies. After Igor awakened these spirits, they too were released and found peace.

So besides some props and luggage, the circus didn’t have anything particularly valuable left.

The poisoned apprentices remained in a coma; none of them were wizards, and couldn’t awaken them.

"Now the circus belongs to you, Kruz!" Kadi smiled, not hiding his one-eyed face.

"It’s everyone’s; I’m just a clown performer!" Kruz replied calmly, neither worried about the lack of personnel nor delighted to become the circus’s owner.

"By the way, what do you plan to do with these people?" Igor asked.

"Let them be. If they want to stay, they can help me manage the circus. If they wish to leave, they can go," Kruz said lightly.

"These people are timid, easily deceived. Now having seen the true nature of the elites, they will be greatly affected. But who knows how they’ll be when they wake up!" Igor continued, concerned about the apprentices since he felt Kruz might not be able to handle it alone.

"Let’s not worry about them for now, let’s talk about you two! What are your plans?" Kruz asked.

"Us? Haha, we were thinking of finding Lord Bern. Before then, we don’t have anything else to do. If you don’t mind, we could stay at this circus with you," Igor said with a smile, feeling that Kruz, as an artisan, needed care, and also not quite trusting the apprentices. Not that he worried they’d harm Kruz, but he feared they’d continue to blindly pursue the dark force without waking.

"The circus is now in the preparation stage, and we need to recruit more people. Speaking of Lord Bern, I really think it’s necessary to find him now!"

Igor shrugged: "Great, we can accompany each other, and we’re helping you rebuild this Star Circus."

As Igor and his friends were joyfully planning, a pigeon fluttered unsteadily onto Stanley’s caravan at the Star Circus.

This pigeon had an uneven body, looking somewhat strange, especially its eye, which was as flawless as a gemstone.

"What is this..." Igor stared at the pigeon uneasily, for it was clearly an exchange beast.

"This must be a letter from Lord Bern; we’ve seen this pigeon many times. It’s a mail bird used to find the previous circus leader," Kruz said, squinting. Having been with the circus for a long time, he was familiar with such things.