Yale had no idea about how or when he would return to the real world, but since he had already discovered a lot about his past, he feared that would happen at any moment and would lose the chance of changing the fate of his friends.
"Alright."
When the kid said those words a white circle of light appeared beside him.
"This is a portal to a special trial created by a Timeless Sovereign. You need to clear it to toughen your will to the point I can't read your mind, or we are doomed to fail. This kind of trial is of only one use and requires a Timeless Sovereign to create it. This is a valuable chance that I have been saving for you, so don't waste it."
Yale felt the seriousness of the matter. Although he knew that a Timeless Sovereign had been collaborating with his past self because of unknown reasons, he guessed that obtaining a chance to clear that trial hadn't been easy.
"The trial is quite easy as it is based on the experience in the Timeless Border, but it is far crueler. There, you will find shadows of people related to your existence disregarding the time, but some of them would be fake shadows. You must discern among them. The fake shadows will disappear once you discovered them, but if you decide that a real shadow is fake..."
The kid stopped a bit before continuing the sentence.
"You will curse that person's fate in the real world. That person would suffer calamities, and if for some reason both of you met in the real world, one of you will die for sure, and maybe both."
Yale knew that his original self wasn't lying. At that moment, Yale felt that he couldn't allow himself to consider a real shadow as a fake, but in that case, he was wondering what would happen if he treated a fake one like real.
"That is a good question, and the answer is quite simple. You will lose any chance to return to your body and your current consciousness will disappear turning just into a shadow that won't be able to remember anything about that trial at all."
Yale could feel the pressure just from the explanation because he wouldn't be allowed to make a single mistake without severe consequences.
Of course, there was an easy method to succeed in that trial. As long one considered false all the shadows disregarding the fates of those affected by it and then decided to avoid having contact with anyone after leaving, succeeding wouldn't be hard.
However, that was an option that Yale couldn't even think as that wouldn't make him better than how he would end if the curse destroyed his emotions.
"In case you fail, the Timeless Sovereign will make your soul reincarnate and let a new consciousness appear, but at the same time, you should guess what will happen to those important to you."
If Yale didn't return, the fates of his friends would be just as he saw, and his next consciousness wouldn't even know about Yale's existence, just like Yale was unaware of the existence of the kid in front of him.
Failure was far worse than death; it was disappearing forever while letting someone else take his place. A decision that his original consciousness had made by his own will, but that Yale didn't want to happen.
"I will succeed."
After saying those words, Yale started to move towards the entrance of the trial.
"If he succeeds that trial, I feel that I will be able to tell him everything. What about you?"
Just after Yale disappeared after entering into the trial, the kid spoke to the air, and another figure appeared there.
"You can tell him whatever you want about yourself, but it is still too early for him to know more about me."
The Mysterious Expert replied seriously to the kid in front of him.
"You are too strict with that, but you helped me a lot, and you are on our side, so just do the things how do you think are better for Yale. However, I still feel that telling him that those screens were just fate has been too cruel."
The kid looked to the screens that were still showing the fates of those affected by the war that led Yale to the Timeless Border.
"If he knew from the start that those images for him weren't future, but past, he wouldn't have been able to endure it. However, it is true that it isn't impossible to change it, it is just that the difficulty is several million times higher."
The kid sighed when he heard those words because he knew that the Mysterious Expert was right and that it was also an important part to obtain the capability of getting rid of the soul curse.
"You are just saying so because I am here, for any of us alone, let alone several million times more difficult, it would be completely impossible."
The kid knew that he needed Yale to succeed in his plan, but even in that situation, the difficulty was extremely high. In fact, it was difficult to say if Yale would surpass the trial successfully or no.
"The plan had been created with that in consideration."
While those two were speaking about the hidden truth that Yale didn't know, Yale was moving in a place that seemed the complete opposite to the Timeless Border despite being part of it. After all, it was fully white instead of fully black like the usual Timeless Border.
Yale didn't need to advance a lot before finding the presence of someone. It was different from the usual Timeless Border as it was determined from the start who would Yale meet and the direction, he would move was completely irrelevant.
"You are finally here. I wanted to have a long speech with you for a long time."
Yale never imagined that the first person he would meet would be that man because he had already cut ties with him. That man was Yale's father from the Roanmad Clan.
"I think that there is nothing to speak between us."
The man seemed quite sad after hearing Yale's words.
"I had time to think, and I want all of us to become a family again. I don't care about you and Ange being reincarnated experts. I was a fool to think that you two being reincarnated experts was a problem. Please, forgive me!"
Yale frowned while hearing that man spoke like that with tears in his eyes.
"Disappear from my sight. You are fake."
The man immediately disappeared because he was really just an illusion and not a real shadow. After all, it wasn't that common entering in the Timeless Border, and Yale already guessed that the white space created fake shadows from his memories, so he guessed that there were far more fake ones than real ones. Moreover, Yale knew the truth about his decision after the illusion disappeared, so he confirmed that he guessed right.
"When I was a kid, I always wanted to have some of your attention, but now, I know very well that our paths have already crossed, and our fate together ended after we rescued Ange. You made me suffer, and I made you suffer. You won't beg something like that to me, and I won't accept it either. However, I don't hate you, and if for some reason our fates cross again, I wouldn't mind helping you a bit."
The relationship between the two of them had been twisted from the start because the circumstances and neither of them was to be blamed for that. Yale would never consider that man part of his family, but he didn't harbor any grudge towards him anymore.
Yale felt like if he had taken off a burden after speaking those words that no one heard.
After that, some more shadows appeared, but all of them were from Yale's childhood, and until that moment all of them had been fake.
Among those shadows were Blackor, the first person against who Yale battled, the greedy elder who wanted to kidnap Wyba, members of the Roanmad Clan and from the Nacesai Academy.
Some of them were already dead in Yale's time before entering the Timeless Border, but Yale still considered if they were real or not. Although Yale didn't know how their fates could be twisted if they were dead, he considered about reincarnations and effects to people related to them.
At some point, his old enemy who ended dying at Yale's hands, Heruk, appeared in front of him, but he was cut in half by Yale at the same instant and disappeared.
He was also fake, but even if he had been real, Yale would have done the same because although Yale could understand and forgive grudges like the ones with his father, he couldn't forgive those who tried to harm his friends.
Although he also hated the greedy elder, Yale had just ordered him to disappear with cold voice since there hadn't been too much interaction between them, and Swordmad was the one who ended that elder's life. However, Heruk had been his true enemy, and the degree of hatred couldn't even be compared.
The next person was also someone of his past, but at that moment, Yale had a weird feeling as if there was something different.
"Probably this one is real."