A life as a shopkeeper.
A life as a mailman.
A life as a caretaker for horses.
A life as a wildlife hunter.
People came into Kyle's life and left again.
Karmic Connections were built and severed.
The next generation replaced the old.
Empires were destroyed and saved. Not every empire had a hero.
With every life lived, Kyle's connection to his life as a Seeker weakened. He forgot all the things a Seeker was supposed to know until his mortal life ended.
If he wanted to be a mortal, he could be one. Mortal life had become familiar to him.
As he became more mortal, the people around him rejected him less and less. Integrating into new communities came naturally, and people even approached him by themselves.
At some point, Kyle joined a Guild for warriors. Training his body and fighting beasts were fulfilling to him. He felt like he was supposed to do this.
Then, one day, during one of his many training sessions, he looked at his weapon for a moment.
A two-handed mace.
It felt right to swing the mace. He received some kind of primal satisfaction from swinging it and becoming better at it.
Memories returned to him, and he dropped his mace.
'I'm not supposed to do this,' he thought. 'This is the first life in which I have fully forgotten my old identity, and I ended up becoming a warrior again. If I keep going, I will end up as a Seeker again.'
Kyle chuckled a bit. 'I've lived over a hundred lives. I've seen almost all facets of a mortal's life. I'm familiar with the ups and downs.'
Kyle remembered the young man from his first mortal life. During his brief moments of recollection between lives, he sometimes thought of him.
He had forged much deeper bonds in his following lives, but for some reason, that one youngster always popped into his mind.
He remembered what the young man had said and how Kyle had answered.
'For the greater good,' Kyle thought. 'I didn't interfere because of the greater good. I could have stopped the calamity with ease, but I didn't. I did that for the greater good so that Humanity gains one more Transcendent.'
'But is that truly what I want? Ayuvar and the Laws of Karmic Luck might value a Transcendent more than millions of Mortals, but is that also true for me?'
The image of Swamp Dragon appeared in Kyle's mind. Despite their relationship being very cold, Kyle still admired his personality. Hating or disliking someone didn't necessarily mean that one also had to despise them. Horrible people could still have admirable qualities that were worthy of admiration.
'It's not,' Kyle thought. 'I had the power to change things, but I didn't. I wanted to change things, but I reasoned myself out of taking action.'
Kyle looked at the sky. 'I want to have agency. I want the ability to do whatever I want to do.'
'Nobody was stopping me from killing the Transcending Beast. I wanted to kill it, but I didn't.'
'I often blamed the world and more powerful Seekers for suppressing me, but this time, it wasn't them.'
'It was me. I suppressed myself.'
Kyle looked down at the two-handed mace.
A moment later, he smiled and picked the mace back up.
'I've seen all facets of a mortal life. At least, that's what I had thought.'
'In truth, there are facets I haven't dared to touch. Romance, children, and committing atrocities, for example. However, there is one more facet I haven't seen from my new viewpoint.'
'A mortal turning into a Seeker. I've done that myself before, but I was a player back then. Now, I'm just an experienced observer. It might be worth it to tread that path one last time.'
Kyle looked at his mace and started swinging it again. Moments later, all the memories of his life as a Seeker vanished again, and he turned into a warrior.
He went hunting and fighting with his team, barely avoiding death many times. He was not using his instincts as a true Seeker, but somehow, he always found a way out.
Whenever the most critical moment arrived, Kyle pulled through, growing past his limits.
He reached the Third Realm and joined the empire as an elite soldier. He grew stronger, and life seemed to get better and better.
And then, a powerful beast wandered into the empire. It gathered all the wild beasts under its command and ordered them to attack the empire.
Kyle fought on the frontlines. Many of his comrades died, but he kept living.
Finally, years later, the beast attacked the capital.
It was a Level Three Transcending Beast, and the elite soldiers of the empire fought back. Sadly, none of them were powerful enough to kill it.
Kyle joined the battle, and once more, he faced death.
Yet, just when he was about to die, he understood something.
His mace hit the beast, injuring it and driving it back.
Kyle's physical body grew to the same size as the beast and fought it evenly.
He was still in the Third Realm, but his physical power was almost as high as the beast's physical power.
That was because Kyle's mortal incarnation had comprehended the Minor Law of Body.
After a brutal battle, Kyle slayed the beast, saving the empire. He was declared a hero, and the empire handed him an Energy Stone.
Kyle consumed it and became a Transcendent.
He took on a couple of apprentices to strengthen the empire, but after 50 more years, he decided that he wanted to see more of the world.
He left the empire to travel the world.
He looked for worthy opponents to fight and found a couple of them. Apparently, almost all empires were facing some kind of crisis, and these crises were just the right opponents.
One day, a person with unfathomable power appeared in front of Kyle, telling him about the true danger.
The Demons.
Finally, he found something he could fight against, which would make him even stronger.
The unfathomably powerful person brought Kyle to a military base, but as soon as he entered, he was called over by the leader of the base, surprising him.
He went to the leader and looked at her in confusion.
She grimaced in annoyance and waved her hand.
BANG!
Kyle's body exploded, and the surroundings turned oppressive as he activated his Momentum.
The leader of the base grimaced in pain as she felt the sheer weight of Kyle's aura.
"Sir! Calm down!" she transmitted. "I merely woke you from your dream!"
Kyle's head shook, and his eyes widened as memories flooded back into his mind.
His Momentum vanished, and his True Sin Aura returned.
The unfathomable Seeker from earlier was a Primal, and the leader of the base was a New Sage, who was currently undergoing her Second Refinement.
Kyle rubbed the back of his head awkwardly as he realized what had just happened.
"Whoops, sorry," Kyle said with a laugh. "I totally forgot about my true self."
The leader sighed in relief. "You do not have to worry. The loss of your memories is a sign of how well you have adapted to the world. Not even I would have noticed your true identity, and I'm also a Sage."
The leader asked, "Speaking of, how did you notice? Kyle asked.
The leader pointed at Kyle's head. "I can feel your Emblem in your Soul Space."
"Ah, that explains things," Kyle said. "Anyway, thanks for waking me up. Here are some Merits as a little thank you."
Kyle transferred 100 Merits to the leader, reducing his total to 12,500.
"Anyway, thank you! I'm not supposed to be near any bases for now, so see you!"
Then, Kyle teleported away, leaving the leader to look at the one hundred Merits she had just received.
"This was a significant sum! This could buy her 400 years of spare time!"
She felt bad accepting them, but Kyle had already vanished.
He looked like a normal Transcendent, she thought. "I didn't even notice his True Sin Aura, and I'm also a Sage."
His insights into the Laws of Karmic Luck must be unfathomable.
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