My Talent's Name Is Generator

Chapter 1310: I Am Here To Help

Hearing him admit that the zone was trying to control him, yet that he had managed to resist it, immediately gave me another thought. If he could resist its influence, perhaps he could also resist whatever force had brought him here and simply leave.

"If you can resist its control, then can you go back?" I asked, studying him carefully.

The future Billion’s expression became slightly thoughtful before he shook his head. "Oh, that. Before I came here, I did feel the summoning take hold of me. I could have resisted it, but I chose not to."

I frowned. "You chose not to?"

"Yeah." He shrugged casually. "The summoning was interesting, so I decided to see where it would take me."

His answer left me staring at him for several seconds.

"You mean to tell me that you willingly came to a completely unknown place because you thought it was interesting?"

"Pretty much."

I raised my voice in disbelief. "It was interesting? You came here because it was interesting? I didn’t think my future version would be this stupid."

The future Billion stared at me for a moment before his lips twitched upward.

"Hey, I am you."

Lyrate, who had been listening silently until then, covered her mouth as a small laugh escaped her. I turned toward her with an irritated expression, only for her eyes to betray the amusement she was desperately trying to hide.

"Don’t encourage him," I muttered.

I looked back at future me, but there was one question that had been nagging at me ever since I realized who he was. "Did we succeed in reaching the next realm?"

He tilted his head slightly, a faintly amused expression appearing on his face, but before he could answer, another thought struck me. "And if you really are a future version of me, then you must have already experienced this moment, right? Is that why you didn’t resist the summoning when it pulled you here?"

He shook his head.

"No. Time isn’t as simple as you’re making it out to be right now. The simplest answer is that this event never happened to me, so there was no way for me to predict that it would happen."

I frowned. "But how is that possible? If you’re me, then how could something that happened to me never happened to you?"

"That," he replied with a small smile, "is for you to figure out."

I stared at him for a moment, trying to make sense of his answer, but the more I thought about it, the more questions it created instead of answering. Eventually, I exhaled slowly and decided there was little point in chasing an explanation he clearly wasn’t going to give me.

"So, did I reach the next realm?" I asked again, unwilling to let him dodge the question a second time.

He scoffed. "If I had reached that level, do you honestly believe this zone would have been able to summon me here? Reaching that realm would put us on equal footing with Time itself, especially with our Time Origin and the strength of our Absolute Authority. At that point, even this place would have difficulty dragging us across timelines against our will."

"So you haven’t reached it yet?" I asked.

He shook his head. "Not yet, though I’m close." A confident smile returned to his face, and he even winked at me before continuing. "But being close doesn’t guarantee success." His expression gradually became more serious, and he glanced toward the distant palace. "Our enemy is much closer to achieving his goal than we are."

I frowned, studying his face. The uncertainty in his expression told me more than his words ever could. Even this future version of myself, who had clearly grown considerably stronger, wasn’t certain how things would end. Our chances of success were still balanced on a knife’s edge, and the slightest mistake could decide everything.

I exhaled and decided to focus on the immediate problem instead.

"So, do you want me to kick your ass back to your own time?"

He stared at me for a moment before shaking his head in disbelief. "Wow. You’re arrogant or should I say we are. You already know you beat me up, so why are you even suggesting that?"

"It’s worth asking."

I ignored his remark and waited for him to explain, and his expression finally turned serious.

"The only way forward is for you to go all out against me. Take Lyrate’s help if you need it, and then unleash your strongest attack to defend against my attack. I’ll control my strength so that you have a chance of succeeding."

I narrowed my eyes. "And why exactly would you help me?"

"Because I’m not under the zone’s control, at least not completely. However, the moment I was pulled back into this point in time, certain conditions were imposed on me. I have to fulfil them before I can return, and one of those conditions makes it difficult for you to proceed further."

He paused, his gaze settling on me.

"In other words, whether I like it or not, I’m standing between you and the palace. If you want to move forward, you’ll have to get past me."

"There’s still one thing I don’t understand," I said, studying my future self with narrowed eyes.

"You claimed you came here because this place seemed interesting, but I find that hard to believe. You know more about this place than you’re letting on, and you also said you could improve my chances of success. So, what exactly are you doing here?"

My future self rolled his eyes and let out a long, exaggerated sigh, as though I had just asked the most irritating question imaginable. "Yes, yes, I’m here to help you. Happy now?"

"Not particularly."

"Then you’ll have to settle for disappointed." He folded his arms, looking entirely too pleased with himself. "First, you need to prove that you can defend against me successfully. If you manage that, I’ll give you something that should improve your chances of surviving in the future."

I studied him for a moment, trying to determine whether he was deliberately withholding information or simply enjoying the opportunity to annoy me. Knowing myself, both possibilities seemed equally likely, and since he had already made it clear that I couldn’t force him to cooperate, there was little point in wasting more time arguing. Whatever he intended to give me, I would find out soon enough.