One-Eyed Monster

In a muddle, Igor felt he had gotten a clear answer, and that feeling suddenly made him think there was something he could actually do.

"Alright, I think that’s all my questions for now. After learning the traits of the Devouring Power, I’ve got some confidence." Igor said.

"That’s it?" The Spirit Books themselves couldn’t believe it. This matter just ended like that, it was a bit unbelievable!

"Yeah, if anything new comes up I’ll contact you again. Anyway, you’re all on me." Igor didn’t care much about the current situation; he felt he could just pull these Spirit Books out anytime and grill them for answers!

"Fine then, let’s leave it at that. Because you’re the one who broke Lord Soron’s regretful seal, we’ll keep assisting you!" Without realizing it, the Spirit Books had already spilled the reason they were treating Igor differently.

Normally, Spirit Books didn’t care who their owner was. After all, at the end of the day they were just books, meant to be spread around. Their lifespan was far longer than humans’. From the moment they were born, they would continue to be passed down; they wouldn’t perish, they would only exist forever. At most, they would just be forgotten by people...

But these few Spirit Books showed a kind of dependence when dealing with Igor. The feeling they gave was that if they left Igor, they would be forgotten by everyone. They had always been walking on eggshells, afraid of offending Igor too much. Back then Igor thought it was just some lingering side effect of Kadi’s fear. Only now did these Spirit Books finally reveal the real reason.

This reason was obviously special; even Igor found it a bit unbelievable.

After all, Igor had never felt like he’d broken any sort of seal; he had always just been doing things in a very normal way.

Yet since the Spirit Books said he’d broken it, then that meant he had. And now, because of the way Lord Soron had set up this seal, Igor had suddenly become a chosen person.

In other words, the Spirit Books had already decided that Igor was the one who would take Lord Soron’s place and continue searching for the Spirit Entity Maker.

This was extremely important to the Spirit Books. Only by finding the Spirit Entity Maker could they become "complete"; otherwise they would forever remain strange Spirit Books with no spells, no sorcery, just a pile of useless Travelogue notes.

They needed Igor to help them achieve that completeness, and in doing so help Lord Soron finish what he hadn’t been able to in life, resolving one of Lord Soron’s regrets.

Igor could, of course, say no to this whole thing, but for some reason he just couldn’t get the word out from the depths of his heart. Even pretending to say no didn’t work.

At this moment the Spirit Books had already been put away. If they hadn’t, and they knew Igor was thinking like this right now, they would definitely have scoffed at him.

They might even throw in a few snarky comments.

Like, "Who do you think you are? You think just saying no means it’s over? Maybe take a look at who set up that seal first."

Was this the kind of seal just anyone could break? Obviously not. You had to go through layer upon layer of trials to pass. You really couldn’t underestimate Lord Soron’s design!

Luckily Igor didn’t know the truth, or he’d be dying of embarrassment...

It was also at this moment that Kadi was jolted awake by the bumping of the carriage.

"You guys are done?" Seeing Igor propping his cheek and lost in thought, Kadi was a bit surprised.

Had Igor not resolved that matter during this whole nap of his?

Igor listlessly looked at Kadi without saying a word. His gaze hadn’t left Kadi the whole time, which made him look kind of vacant, because he was observing that mysterious power on Kadi’s body, and that was why he seemed so worn out now.

Supposedly that mysterious Devouring Power took the form of a Blue Flame, but up till now Igor hadn’t seen any sign of that Blue Flame flaring up on Kadi; it was completely calm.

"I’m talking to you, Igor." Seeing his question go unanswered, Kadi got a bit anxious. He felt that Igor might’ve been messed up by those Spirit Books.

"Oh, oh, for now it’s wrapped up." Igor snapped out of it, came back to himself, and his eyes instantly regained their energy, no longer as lifeless as before.

"So what’s the result? You don’t look too good!" Kadi was actually quite worried about Igor. Looking at him like this, he felt Igor must’ve suffered a lot.

"Don’t even bring it up. Those books themselves don’t really know what’s going on. We talked for half a day and got nothing about the Spirit Entity Maker."

This left Kadi very confused. "Then what were those books putting on an act for in front of you!"

"They’ve experienced it, but don’t really understand it. That’s pretty much it." Igor felt awkward even saying this bitter conclusion out loud.

"So basically you’ve got nothing so far!" Kadi was clearly very unhappy with this result.

"Not completely nothing, there’s still a tiny bit of gain." Igor scratched his head.

"Then what’s the gain?" Kadi couldn’t wait. He seemed to have a hunch that this gain had a lot to do with him.

"Heh, you’re pretty sharp. To be honest, this gain really does have something to do with you. At least I figured out why they’re afraid of you."

"Can you tell me why exactly?" Kadi was really looking forward to this answer; he was just short of pressing his face up against Igor’s.

"It’s because of that Blue Flame on you."

"Huh?" Kadi was once again totally confused by this answer. He found that no matter how much he looked forward to it, in the end a new question would wipe out his expectations. That Blue Flame was an unknown field to begin with. Using one unknown to explain another unknown of his was just a little too creepy.

"They’re afraid of the Devouring Power, and the Devouring Power is that Blue Flame on you." The Spirit Books’ ambiguous answer had been turned into an equal sign by Igor; he believed that the Blue Flame on Kadi was the Devouring Power.

"They’re... afraid... of fire?" Kadi simplified Igor’s understanding to its simplest form.

"Yeah. They’re books, being afraid of fire is normal. But think back to your fight with Clown Quinn. Didn’t your Blue Flame suppress him back then too? That’s Devouring, in my opinion!" Igor was quite confident in his own deduction.

"Uh, hearing you say that, I’ll have to really study this flame from now on. It does seem like it’s a pretty special presence on me." Kadi said.

"Don’t wait for ’from now on’, you can start trying it right now."

Igor’s suggestion stunned Kadi; he hadn’t expected this guy to be in such a rush...