The Oracle Paths

Once invisible, Jake did not walk away, but flew off in the air instead. His first destination to find his bearings and not be pestered was the sky. He was not afraid of the harsh atmospheric conditions, nor of the sidereal void. Once he was high enough, he would have the bird's eye view he wanted.

This time Jake did not feel the horrible sensation of becoming weaker and dumber, as had been the case at the beginning of the previous Ordeals. The Aether density was indeed 1000, but over the past year B842's Aether density had been rising steadily. The Aether density of both worlds was now very close.

Because of this, despite his skyrocketing stats, his mental abilities had actually decreased slightly over the past year, delaying his acquisition of new Soul Glyphs.

Jake could see why an Aetherist like Cekt with very high Aether stats would choose to exile himself to a backwater like B842. With such high Aether stats and low Aether density, their mental and physical abilities were multiplied compared to their home world.

Perhaps on their native world, and this was just his theory, the Oracle Guardians were just ordinary people.

The commotion of the battlefield quickly faded as he soared until it became a distant memory. The giant trees in the woods where he had first appeared grew smaller and smaller until they formed a uniform dark green carpet.

Propelling himself higher and faster with his telekinesis, he shot up several dozen kilometers in less than two minutes, but a high-pitched bird's yelp suddenly sounded near him.

Jake narrowly avoided the bird by flipping through the air before resuming his run. The huge three-headed beast yelped angrily at him to express its displeasure, but soon lost interest in the tiny human and resumed its course.

Seeing that he had had a close call, Jake ignored the cold sweat dripping down his forehead and continued his ascent. This unexpected encounter was the wake-up call he needed.

'This place is dangerous.'

This was an Ordeal, not a game. The watchword of an Ordeal was that it would always be challenging for its players.

Greater strength, being able to fly, being smarter? It simply meant that the dangers they would face and the difficulty of the missions would be greater and the rewards less bountiful.

Indeed, Jake soon realized during his soaring flight that his plan would not work so easily. Since he had crossed the threshold of the strastosphere, a layer of dark clouds as dense as soaked cotton had decided to block his path.

The build-up of electrical energy was terrifying and he wasted several Oracle Shields just to get through a few lightning bolts. Ironically, he who wanted to have a global view of the planet, could not see beyond the tip of his nose at all.

He persisted a little longer, and eventually managed to make his way out of the storm clouds at the cost of a few more Oracle Shields. He decided to stop there when he saw what was waiting for him above.

Some kind of weird magical or electromagnetic storm was raging, forming an impassable insulating belt around the planet. Yes, it was a planet. At least ten times larger than Jupiter according to his first impression.

These cottony black clouds didn't cover the whole planet, mercifully, but they did cover several thousand kilometers in all directions from his position, draping the forest below like a huge curtain. There were a few areas of stable clearing, as if the curtain of clouds had holes in it and was too broken to be sewn back together.

'The creativity of this God of System, Aurae leaves much to be desired.' Jake didn't mince his words as he gazed at the work of this eccentric Ancient Designer.

Along with Xion Zholvur, whom he had met in his Second Ordeal, and Zeldon, whom Cekt had mentioned a few months earlier, this was the third Ancient Designer he had heard of. Actually, the fourth if one included the Ancient Designer Aas mentioned by the Digestor Verxes at the end of his Third Ordeal.

Unlike Xion, who was the ultimate mystery of his Second Ordeal and practically a pariah, Aurae was literally the creator of this world and his role was clear to all involved.

"Xi, do you know this Aurae?" Jake asked his beloved Oracle AI.

An hour earlier she had no recollection of it, but the veil covering her memories had lifted as soon as they arrived on Quanoth. She reorganized what she knew for a few seconds, then said contritely,

[Not much. I know he invented the Soul Class and Aether Encoding technology. The Oracle Status displayed today by all your Oracle Devices has a lot to do with him. It is even said that he programmed the Oracle System himself. His thing is to define the rules and see what happens next. If it weren't for the Oracle and the other Ancient Designers who refrain him, this guy would be a danger to the Mirror Universe.]

"Great! Another weirdo at the top of the Mirror Universe hierarchy." Jake quipped sardonically.

On Earth, they gave nuclear codes to megalomaniac dictators and presidents. Next to that, the Ancient Designers' psychological disorders were a joke... Or was it the other way around?

If Quanoth was a simulated world like that of Asfrid's Black Tablet, perhaps time passed so quickly for Aurae that each iteration of this world really did last a breath in his mind.

[If I were you, I'd take a look at your Oracle Status instead. This world has special rules and your body has been digitized, I recall. You should feel different...] Xi chided him with a slightly excited tone.

"Hmm?" From her thrumming voice, Xi must have been wanting to broach the subject for a while now.

Now that he had time to sit back and think, Jake admitted that he did feel different. His body felt "more real", more "in sync", strange as that may sound, but at the same time the whole world felt more fake.

A glance at his new Oracle Status made him understand why:

[Level: 28 (Digitized)]

[Species: Silver Myrtharian (sub-human species)]

[Class: Jobless]

[HP: 10000 (Regen: 182.7HP/min)]

[MP: 0]

[Strength : 960]

[Agility: 505]

[Constitution: 1000]

[Vitality: 775]

[Intelligence: 273]

[Perception: 571]

[Extrasensory Perception: 252]

[Luck: 34]

[Reference for an adult human jobless level 1: HP:10, stats: 1 .]

Jake was slack-jawed at the end of his reading. He reread it three times to make sure he wasn't hallucinating.

"So this is what it means to be digitized." Jake sighed with a comical expression. "On Quanoth, the body and mind are one, but it is the mind that determines the level and attributes of an individual. Everything that exists here is basically in a semi-soul state, straddling the line between reality and illusion. Because my Aether stats are restricted, I have no advantage on that side and I can't control them either. On the other hand, I can still control the Aether in the atmosphere, but there are dozens of other energy sources floating around. Presumably, that's what's powering these MPs. Mine are at 0. I guess because I'm missing a class or a specific organ like my Aether Soul Core, which is also gone."

He was tempted to stab himself to see how much the digitization reflected his old stats. What was certain was that he was recovering more slowly from his injuries here, but depending on their nature that could be an advantage.

BANG!

After punching himself in the face with enough force to smash a tank, his HP meter briefly dropped by one point, but rebounded a few seconds later, leaving no trace. More confident, he slashed his chest and scratched his heart with one of his long translucent claws.

[-10 HP]

[-1HP]

[-1HP]

[-1HP]

[-1HP]

Jake breathed a sigh of relief. As he had hoped, a heart injury was not considered fatal. It would have been a problem if it was.

If he had understood Digitization correctly, even a large hole in the head would not necessarily be fatal if the body's regenerative abilities were able to keep up. The extra 4 points lost were due to bleeding. This was also associated with a "weakened" status, but nothing too bad.

On the other hand, in this semi-Soul State, he also had the bad feeling that dying here would have much more severe consequences than in the previous Ordeals. Any physical injury would be reflected in his Spirit Body and perhaps even his Soul because of their high level of fusion.

"I need more information." Jake inhaled a large puff of local ozone to reground himself.

[If you want information, the battle downstairs should be about to end. You'd better hurry, if you want to interview someone.] Xi teased him sweetly, pointing to the thick layer of dark clouds obscuring the huge forest below them.

So Jake raced back to the planet, forcing his way through the thick curtain of clouds at the cost of a few more electrocutions intercepted by an Oracle Shield.

When he returned to the battlefield, the winner had been decided and it was not the humans. A motley crew of aliens, each more hideous than the last, were already scavenging the battlefield, even devouring the victims of both sides.

Upon seeing the 4 meter giant land, all the aliens and monsters still alive scattered, whimpering in fright, to his utmost dismay.

'Whatever... That suits me.' Inwardly, he was rather offended. Now even the monsters were afraid of him.

Miraculously, the boy Jake had spared was still alive. What he didn't know was that it wasn't a coincidence. By sparing him earlier, the other aliens had decided to ignore him too, refusing to touch his prey. It was engrained in their instincts to submit to the strong.

"Hey, what's up?"Jake crouched down in front of the traumatized boy, flashing his biggest smile, revealing his long, translucent 100% carnivorous fangs in the process.

At the sight of them, the child warrior fainted on the spot.