"How have you been, sir?" a young man, wearing an expensive set of armor, asked the older man in front of him.
The older man just looked to the side in melancholy for a while as his hands moved a cup of expensive wine to the side. "I don't think there's much left."
The younger man looked at the cup of wine before looking at the older man with a bit of empathy. "I presume you're not referring to the wine."
"Of course not," the older man said as he drank a bit of the wine. "I'm referring to this life."
The younger man became a bit nervous when he heard the older man's words.
"There's plenty to life," he said as he walked to the table and sat down in one of the luxurious chairs. "I've been gone for some months, but that doesn't mean that I haven't heard about you. Even our Guild has heard about your trading empire. We're even speculating that you might receive an invitation from the emperor soon."
"You're not at the end of your life. You can still keep growing your shop. You can buy medicine that makes you live longer."
The young man leaned in closer and whispered. "And maybe, you can finally get off your ass and find a good lady."
The older man looked at the younger man, remembering the angry teenager he had recruited.
Almost 30 years had passed since then, and the young teenager had reached the Late Second Realm. His Momentum was pretty good for his Realm, and if things continued like this, he even had a chance of becoming a Transcendent.
Sadly, he had been born in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Kyle's perception stretched into the distance, towards a chained beast below a mountain in the middle of nowhere. Its chains were still stable, but over the many years of imprisonment, it had quietly become a Level Four Transcending Beast. Within a couple years or decades, it would break through and reach the actual Fourth Realm.
The ancestors of this Empire had imprisoned the beast and used its body as a renewable resource for equipment and materials. The beast hated the Empire, and if it managed to break out, it would kill every human living here.
Over the years, Kyle had made quite a few business partners and friends in this Empire. Yet, if something didn't change soon, the Empire and all of these friends and business partners would be wiped out.
Kyle kept looking at the young man in front of him.
The young man was working pretty hard, but he was still reasonable. He had even married recently, and his wife was pregnant with their first child. The young man wanted to grow stronger to protect his family, but he also wanted to spend time with his family.
He was strong enough to properly protect his family from other humans, but he wasn't strong enough to protect them from the Transcending Beast.
"One or the other," Kyle thought. "If he fully throws himself into training, he might become strong enough to save everyone. However, he will be estranged from his family. His child will only see him ten, maybe twenty, times for its first ten years. His wife is loyal, but the pain of separation will slowly erode the love, leaving a lingering feeling of nostalgia."
"I don't see any Seeker who can grow strong enough in time. At most, this Empire has 50 years left."
Kyle kept looking at the young man. "By then, his wife will be in her twilight years, while he will be in the Third Realm. He will still be quite young. What is the right choice for him?"
"Should he abandon his family and become the hero that protects them and all of the Empire, or should he simply enjoy his remaining time in this world?"
"A Mortal's life is short, but it's filled with color. Is he someone who feels fulfilled while sitting in a cave for hundreds of years, just looking at different pieces of stone?"
Kyle looked to the side, while the young man just looked at him with a bit of worry.
He chose his current life, and he seems happy with it. He's not someone who commits to a side fully. He wants to keep growing while also having a family. He needs both.
Kyle's perception stretched to the Transcending Beast again. "I could just kill it. Nothing's stopping me."
Kyle sighed. "But it feels wrong, somehow. Pretty sure fate doesn't exist, but it still feels like it's not my fate to kill it."
His eyes went back to the young man, and several Karmic Connections appeared around him. Following Karmic Connections to their goal was impossible unless both ends were within one's perception. The young man had only been inside the Empire for his entire life, and Kyle's perception stretched across the Empire. He could see where all the Karmic Connections led.
One of the weaker Karmic Connections led to the Transcending Beast. The young man had recently bought a new spear, and part of it contained materials from the Transcending Beast's body. Without knowing, the young man had technically taken advantage of the Transcending Beast, establishing a Karmic Connection.
Kyle looked at his own Karmic Connections. Not a single one of them led to the Transcending Beast. He had avoided interacting with anything related to it.
"You've been quiet for a while," the young man said. "Is everything okay?"
"I have a question," Kyle said, looking at the young man. "A short life of happiness or a long life of monotony? Which would you prefer?"
The young man rubbed the back of his head as one of his brows rose. "This feels like a trick question."
Kyle didn't answer.
"Why does it have to be one of the two?" the young man asked. "I can live in monotony for a while, and when I grow bored, I can just change. Also, I don't know what you would call a happy life or a monotonous life. Things that are monotonous for you might be exciting for me and vice versa."
Kyle still didn't answer, and the young man sighed.
"I would really love to answer your question, but I would need to see both lives for myself. I'm not that rash youngster anymore. I can make my own choices. As long as I can see both sides, I believe that I can make the right decision."
Kyle sighed. "He's right. I can't make his choice for him because I'm not him."
"Sadly, he doesn't know what awaits him if he chooses power!"
The image of the young man wearing the grey uniform of the Shields appeared in Kyle's mind. Kyle imagined the young man fighting on the frontlines, and eventually, the young man would join the countless other corpses.
Fighting for one's life for a lifetime.
Going through hundreds of years of pain for the Refinement.
Having one's mind changed to fit the troops better.
This life would be very different from the young man's current life.
Of course, that would only be true if the young man joined the Shields. Sadly, over 99% of Sages ended up in the Shields. In order to join any of the other factions, one had to be special in some way. One had to have some talent.
This young man did not have a special talent.
Kyle could imagine the young man's future.
"It's not what I wish for him, but it's not my choice to make."
"Can you become the strongest person in the Empire within 40 to 60 years?" Kyle asked.
The young man blinked in surprise at the sudden topic change.
"I don't think so," he said. "The Imperial General is almost a God. I would need to become a God to become stronger."
"Can you?" Kyle asked.
The young man just shook his head.
"What if everything you love will die otherwise?" Kyle asked.
"That... would be bad," the young man said nervously.
Kyle looked deeply into the young man's eyes.
"Because that's your current situation."
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