The Oracle Paths

The sun shone and the Kintharians dug. The pit became deeper and deeper and the temperature continued to rise as the days passed.

At sunset, the 100 nomads stopped digging by mutual agreement and used the excavated soil and rock to bury themselves in the same pit they had been digging all day long. This earth and rock, still warm from absorbing the concentrated sunlight, became the perfect vessel to invigorate and nourish their exhausted bodies.

Without realizing it, day after day these Kintharians began to dig faster and faster. They took fewer breaks, slept less, ate and drank less. At the same time, they were not aware of it, but the temperature had already exceeded what their former bodies could bear.

After about a month in the simulation, the lush jungle had withered around the pit, dehydration and an unexpected fire having taken its toll on its unquenchable vitality. About 30% of the Kintharians finally showed their limit, failing to keep up with their peers.

Jake had long since identified the potential and abilities of each, so he split his mind to create a second, less convergent giant magnifying glass and instructed these less talented Kintharians to begin digging the gallery system that would lead them to victory.

The second magnifying glass would accompany them, strengthening and invigorating their bodies at a bearable pace. The first group of diggers carried on digging deeper and deeper into the same pit, which had already reached a depth of several hundred meters.

Some of these Kintharians were almost as talented as Gerulf. The closer they got to the bowels of the earth, the more their bloodline showed signs of awakening. It wouldn't be long before their bloodline advanced to the next level.

One morning, Ruda rose from the ground after sleeping 500 meters below the surface. The familiar lava veins that Jake had grown to cherish burned brightly, forming a fiery network of captivating beauty running beneath her skin. The soil that had served as her sleeping place instantly liquefied, turning back into magma, but the tribal sage didn't seem to notice.

Awe and reverence spread among the other Kintharians, but the veterans of the same generation found themselves galvanized. They too could sense that their evolution was imminent.

Three months into the simulation, most of the Kintharians digging into the pit had seen their bloodlines advance at least once. Another divide of potential had already arisen in the last few days, forcing him to create a third magnifying glass.

The initial pit where the elites like Ruda and a dozen veteran warriors stayed had already reached a depth of 6 kilometers. The stronger their bloodlines and bodies became, the faster they dug. The temperature conditions at the bottom of the pit had already surpassed those artificially created by the giant magnifying glass at the beginning of the game.

The underground tunnel project leading secretly under the Eltarians' city was also well underway. Because this tunnel was drilled several dozen meters below the surface, neither Asfrid nor the Eltarians had noticed anything.

Still, this did not mean that Asfrid was unaware of anything. Her foreboding had only grown in the last few minutes. Her Village had become a City, the palisades had become high stone walls, and yet she felt more and more nervous.

Why was she nervous? She couldn't figure out the reason and it was driving her crazy. In the last few weeks (or minutes for Jake and Asfrid), she had tried to scan the enemy camp with her mental sense, but she had run into the impenetrable mental barrier erected by Jake.

Aware that he could not hide his schemes indefinitely, let alone the movements of his troops from Asfrid's senses, he had chosen a frontal confrontation, extending his consciousness to the whole territory he wanted to monopolize, forming a kind of Spirit Domain.

On B842, this would have been extremely dangerous. Stretching the Spirit Body too far would have diluted its power, like an army of 10,000 men dispatched to every corner of the Earth to keep an eye on everything. But here, it was the right way to go. This game had always been a clash of minds, whether it was head-on or roundabout.

Asfrid scowled at first as her senses were obstructed, but then she snorted dismissively and her Spirit Body shrank into a sort of drill. An overwhelming spiritual pressure rained down on Jake's Spirit Domain, but he braced himself and also fused his mental power into the clashing area to fend off the invasion.

The dense, almost solid Spirit Domain began to crack under the sheer brute force of the Spirit Drill, and Asfrid regretted that it had come to this. Spirit Body, Consciousness and Soul were by default intertwined. These fractures would cause lasting damage to Jake's Soul and mind.

'He must learn the hard way that there are stronger people than him. If he'd done this on a real battlefield, he'd already be senile.' Asfrid justified herself inwardly, trying to suppress her guilt.

However, despite the fractures, the Spirit Domain did not retreat or weaken one bit. As soon as the priestess stopped her breakthrough, a stream of mental power flowed out from within and mended the cracks. Jake remained silent, and she heard neither a cry of pain nor a lament.

'Is he just stubborn or does he really not feel anything?' Asfrid began to doubt herself.

She had far more lethal mental attacks in her arsenal, but she was afraid of turning him into a vegetable if she went all out. The point of this game was to test him, not kill him.

Of course, Jake wasn't as relaxed as he wanted her to believe on the other side. Xion Zolvhur's Soul Stone contained many ingenious and ready-to-use Soul Skills and tricks. As he digested its energy, what he once found impossible became as natural as breathing.

Uncoupling his consciousness from his Spirit Body had been possible since the day he created his first lasting Aether Spell, namely his Aether Sun Core. She could shatter his Spirit Body, as long as he took precautions and kept his Soul safe, he would be fine.

But the destruction of his Spirit Body came at a cost. It wasn't as easy to regenerate as a physical injury and the symptoms were mostly in the form of mental fatigue and headaches. The longer the confrontation went on, the closer he would come to defeat.

Jake was well aware of Asfrid's reluctance. His silence was his way of stalling for time. At this stage of the game, even a few minutes was equivalent to one to two weeks for his army.

Come on, faster, faster...' Jake anxiously pressed the tunnel builders.

For good measure, he dispatched several veteran Kintharians from the main pit as reinforcements. The work tripled in speed as the tunnel quickly neared completion.

BOOM!

A searing pain suddenly wracked his mind. Jake stifled a gasp of suffering and as he focused his attention on the Spirit Domain, he saw that a huge Soul Spear had split it in half, almost touching his consciousness in the back.

Asfrid had not bought his bluff. Jake's killing intent erupted forth and he abandoned his plan to play the pig to eat the tiger. His Spirit Body quickly changed shape, its spiritual energy forming a swirling maelstrom of elusive power. He shifted his consciousness within, becoming untraceable and dividing his attention he manipulated the winds to create the beginnings of a storm unprecedented on the map.

If she persisted in trying to breach his defenses to peek at his base, her own city would be wiped out by an unprecedented cataclysm.

"Don't you dare!" She roared with anger, her patience and benevolence entirely worn away by his earlier deceit.

The true soul battle had finally shifted into high gear.

Their focus on their own side became tenuous, as most of their attention was focused on their psychic duel. Jake's mental power was weaker and his versatility was nowhere near Asfrid's, but his hunger for victory was as blazing as ever.

Soul Spears, Drills and Arrows met Soul Shields, Walls and Fogs. Illusions and mirages clashed again and again, making their mental battle more and more chaotic and unreadable.

Jake was like a shipwrecked man who had fallen overboard and was tossed by the waves of a stormy ocean, but he held on. The mental battles he lost, he won by winning those of the weather. Asfrid not having the same modern knowledge as him, she was unable to create such intricate and unpredictable climatic catastrophes as his.

Their mental showdown dragged on and Jake's mind became weaker and weaker. It wasn't just because Asfrid had more mental power and experience than he did. In the midst of their clash, he began to feel his consciousness waver, as if something or someone was actively draining his soul energy.

"Do you like my Soul Steal?" Asfrid taunted him, her voice echoing in his mind from everywhere at once having lost all its nobility and kindness.

"Soul Steal?" Jake had never heard of this technique, but it had to be an Eltarian Bloodline Skill.

He wondered how the Eltarians could compete with the Myrmidians and Kintharians. Now he had his answer. A purebred Eltarian without any morals could become an unstoppable calamity. Their mental power would grow with each consumed victim, snowballing until they were invincible.

Minutes, became hours and several years had already passed beneath them. Jake's Spirit Body was now a tiny wisp of vapor, his consciousness nowhere to hide.

"Give up!" Asfrid said coldly, her aura devoid of any hint of mercy.

Jake, who was at the end of his rope, on the verge of fainting, suddenly burst into a loud hearty laugh. Asfrid, who was finally free to browse his base became livid.

"Too late. Victory is mine."