The Ostines Kingdom was one of the three great nations of Arte.
But for years, it had one thing the others didn't—the Seer family of Yatin.
The Yatin family produced a Seer in every generation, though only one could exist at a time. A new Seer would only awaken after the current one vanished from Arte.
But for the past 400 years, the Yatin family had been forgotten.
The reason was simple: even though the last Seer disappeared, no new one ever emerged.
The family quietly upheld its traditions, but even the royal family of Ostines had stopped paying attention.
In Colt's past timeline, however, a Seer reappeared just before the game was launched, and the Yatin family rose again after the red beam vanished.
Still, no one ever connected the two events.
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Colt asked, "Sir, are you perhaps the Seer of this era?"
"Haha, you even know about that? I knew something was off with you. I am Juan Yatin, the Seer of the Yatin family."
Colt connected the events from the past timeline and started to piece things together.
The beam had been there for the last 200 years, and now he had found the Seer inside it.
So the Seer hadn't vanished—he'd been confined. That was why no new Seer had emerged for 400 years.
Which also meant that Juan Yatin had been here even before the beam appeared.
Still, Colt didn't know what the connection was between the beam and Juan Yatin.
Noticing the puzzled look on Colt's face, Juan made an offer.
"You seem just as mysterious to me, young man. How about this? I'll tell you my story, and you'll tell me yours.
You don't have to worry about anything slipping from my mouth. I will not see anyone else, at least not in this world, apart from you, since I am leaving in a few years."
Colt calculated in his mind. He wasn't planning to say anything about regressing to anyone.
But Juan Yatin said he would be leaving.
Colt knew that that was the truth since another Yatin would replace him as the Seer.
He also knew that he couldn't deceive the Seer with a fake story.
After a bit of back and forth of thinking, he accepted.
"Good. Here is my story. In short, I am ascending."
Colt gasped. Even though his level was high, he had never come in contact with anyone who had ascended before.
So, he didn't know what was needed for ascending. He knew almost nothing about the process. But he didn't interrupt the man.
"You are over level 300, so you probably know that we receive a test when we reach level 300.
No one knows who gives these tests or if we are even meant to complete them.
But I learned that everyone does their best to complete them, thinking this might be related to whether one can ascend or not. Did you also receive one?"
Colt answered, "Yes, mine was the test of revenge. I got my revenge from someone who killed someone really important to me. Twice, actually."
He paused, then added, "But I didn't do it because of the test. I would've done it anyway. Still, once I got my revenge, the voice in my head went silent."
When Colt reached level 300, a voice began urging him to take revenge.
That voice was how he'd learned about his test.
But aside from that, he'd been given no other information.
Juan continued with a smile, "You were lucky with a test like that. Mine was the test of patience.
I reached level 300 about 400 years ago. So I went into seclusion at the top of this mountain and waited.
It took 200 years to complete my test. Maybe there were better ways to pass it, but I didn't know them.
I wish I had. By the time it ended, I'd already reached level 400. Just a heads-up—there's a second test at level 400."
Colt gasped.
Another test? he thought. He'd never cared much about ascending. He had only one goal.
And even someone like Juan, a higher-level existence, didn't know whether the tests were truly necessary to ascend, or if they were even connected.
So Colt had no reason to waste time thinking about it. Almost nothing was known about ascension in the physical world.
Juan continued, "Unfortunately, my next test was the test of solitude. Since I was already on top of this mountain, it became my base.
I created this red beam as a way to deter anyone from coming here so that I could complete my test without interruption.
And, more than 40 years ago, I completed it. By that time, I was already level 499.
I will ascend when I become level 500. You are lucky, kid. Almost no one knows at which level you can ascend."
Colt was stunned by this sudden information.
He had seen people obsessed with ascending. They didn't care about anything else and searched for how to ascend.
And now, Colt found it this easily, even though he didn't care about it.
This was a lucky coincidence, so he thanked Juan.
"Don't worry about it," Juan said. "Anyway, even though my tests took ages, they weren't all bad. I leveled up fast thanks to them.
It took 200 years to finish the first one, but I gained a hundred levels. Not like you—you only got, what, less than fifty from that easy revenge test?
And I gained another ninety-nine from the second one, even though I didn't fight. I just trained."
Colt thought he was right. There was no way for an existence to gain 100 levels in 200 years without fighting, especially after level 300.
Every level took years of training at this level. Of course, it was unless one was fighting other existences and gaining life force, a.k.a experience points.
Colt's test didn't give him even one level, actually. After level 300, he had only received the level by fighting others and gaining experience points.
But, wasn't this another way the test helped him? Even though he didn't follow the test, if he did, he would gain experience to complete the test.
Juan continued once again, "So, I became level 499. But since the test was over, I have been trying to level up for almost 45 years.
I was even in trans and about to level up. I could become level 500 in 5 years or so. And the beam would vanish in 10 years.
That was until something woke me up yesterday. I am still the Seer. So I saw it. The future changed yesterday."