The Oracle Paths

[Selection of Aetherist as your Soul Class confirmed.]

[You already have a Soul Class, do you want to replace it with the new one or integrate it?]

Jake pondered the question for a moment, but after Xi's clarification, he selected the second option with confidence.

[Your Spirit Body and Soul are resilient enough to withstand integration. Request for integration accepted.]

[Integration in progress...]

[Integration complete. New Soul Class determined.]

[Soul Class: Beginner Rune Aetherist: 60% Intelligence, Perception, Extrasensory Perception, 50% Vitality and Constitution, 35% Strength and Agility per Spirit Body level.]

[Related Soul Class Skills:]

[ Rune Engraving: Easier understanding of any Rune. Any Rune that is drawn, engraved once correctly, can be instinctively reproduced the subsequent times].

[Deciphering/Coding: Rune Engravers are experts at deciphering languages using unknown alphabets or symbols and excel at creating any form of coherent code based on clear principles...]

[Word of Power Magic: By infusing enough willpower and Soul Energy into the written words and runes, these can come to fruition].

[Aether affinity: You are loved by the Dream Aether. The Dream Aether has become easier to perceive and control and tends to flow towards you. Epiphanies and other enlightenment moments are more likely to occur. Your Aether Spells are twice as powerful and the Aether consumed also recharges twice as fast.]

[Aether Compression/Expansion: With effort and patience you can change the size of your Aether Runes and Symbols.]

[Instant Casting: All previously mastered Aether Spells that are below a Grade 1 Bloodline can be cast instantly.]

BOOM!

As soon as Jake received the succession of notifications, he felt that sensation of having his Soul shattered, then rebuilt in a split second. For a moment, he really felt like he didn't exist anymore. When he felt himself again, he had become a different person.

The Aether whose very existence had been ruthlessly suppressed on Quanoth became clear in his mind once again. His Aether Stats which had been forcibly capped at 1000 pts instantly returned to their pre-Ordeal value, and then very quickly soared beyond it.

The Aether flow presence around him appeared so genuine and real to him, that he even felt a jarring sense of suffocation. It was as if he was sitting at the bottom of a pool filled with Aether and he could feel its influence on his movements, and all the Aetheric reactions occurring constantly within his body and mind.

Terrifying.

And at the same time, fascinating. After the initial surprise, Jake sank into a sort of compelling trance and the tumultuous, oppressive Aether flow seemed to clear, giving way to patterns, currents, and... Something else.

For the first time, Jake thought he sensed the influence of someone or something on this cluster of primordial energy. It was different from a presence, but for lack of better words he had to settle for that one. Especially since he didn't feel just one presence.

'The Oracle and Aurae? Other people?' Jake muttered in a state between dream and wakefulness.

[Jake wake up!]

Xi's urgent cries in his mind were not the ones that snapped him out of his trance, but rather a searing pain radiating throughout his Soul. Instantly regaining lucidity, Jake used the Spirit Link to check the state of his paralyzed body against the Stele, and an unpleasant surprise greeted him.

"Who are you?" Jake growled grimly as he turned his head 180 degrees to glare at the assailant who had just stabbed his body with a strange energy blade. It protruded from his torso, its tip disappearing inside the Stele.

The hilt of the sword was made of an ordinary wood and had no guard, as if the weapon was not finished. In contrast, the straight blade resembled a stormy sky, the deafening rumble of thunder and the numbing din of a hurricane erupting from it.

This blade was no ordinary blade. It had managed to touch his Soul inside the Prophetic Stele while his Oracle Shield was activated. The Oracle Shield wrapped tightly around his body, leaving no space, but he had not anticipated that this protection would not extend to the part of his Soul inside the Stele, let alone that it could be breached. Earlier, the Stele had easily withstood his flames, hence his surprise.

When his mind was in the Stele, it was as if he was cut off from the world and time seemed to tick by in slow motion. To have injured him in such a short time, this assassin had attacked him a few tenths of a second after he had placed his hand on the Stele.

Unluckily for his attacker... This assassination attempt was doomed to fail. The Oracle Shield had done its job and his Soul and Spirit Body were not the same as three months ago.

[Spirit Body level: 28>34 (Digitized)]

[Species: Silver Myrtharian]

[Class: Rune Aetherist]

[HP: 52000>212000 (Regen: 4940.2>29 093HP/min)]

[Strength: 960>12384]

[Agility: 505>6714.5]

[Constitution: 5200>21200]

[Vitality: 4030>15 950]

[Intelligence: 2184>6342]

[Perception: 4568>13251.4]

[Extrasensory Perception: 2016>6797]

[Luck: 43>51]

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

[Aether Stats: 3127.3> 3686.]

[Aether Core: 5620 points.]

[Reiga Core lvl 1.]

The current Jake... Was beyond recognition. His appearance hadn't changed due to the Miniaturization spell, but his stats... Six more Spirit Body levels wasn't anything to write home about, but combined with his Soul Class change and the intensive training he had just endured... It was only a short step to calling him a monster.

The formidable energy he felt rising from deep within himself was incomparable to that of the past, and all he had to do was inadvertently release control over his Bloodline to instantly transform into a gargantuan Myrtharian, an unstoppable and nearly indestructible war machine.

The assailant and her little junk blade were obviously no match for him. Jake was confident that if the Alpha Were-Eagle Lansho came back to life he would be able to crush it without having to resort to his Runes or Bloodline Ignition.

Removing his hand from the Stele, Jake slowly turned around, his body realigning properly with his head backwards and a glance later without resorting to the Oracle Scan he said,

"I remember you. You are the White Were-Hawk who did not participate in that battle before. You'd better give up... They've had it coming."

The reason Jake was so forgiving after almost being murdered was twofold. First, because he was not fully out of his trance, his mind still elsewhere, marveling at the currents of Aether dancing around him. The blade stuck in his chest and the one who wielded it was meaningless in comparison. Next, it wasn't a scary Were-Hawk standing in front of him, but a young woman not even sixteen years old.

Her long, braided hair with gold rings was white in the image of her transformed appearance, as were the feathers covering the backs of her arms that looked like proto-wings. She wasn't tall, a meter sixty at most, the top of her head not even reaching his shoulders in his miniaturized form (1 meter 90). She was certainly pretty, with curves in the right places, but she was still petite with pale skin and baby cheeks.

Her cuteness and immaturity would not have been enough to get his forgiveness, but the tears and distress on her face were enough to curb his killing intent. Well, there was one last reason. His cousin Kevin was also there and one look made him understand that killing this young woman would affect their relationship as well as being a huge mistake.

His gaze then swept over the rest of the place, landing briefly on Carmin, still in shock from that lightning ambush, and then the other Were-beings present. Rather than the young woman in tears and his cousin Kevin, it was the huge Were-Lion in armor in the background that caught his attention.

It was a huge humanoid beast of five meters in height, which in many ways shared a certain resemblance with Mufasa. The main difference between the two was that this creature was primarily human.

His mane was so dark that it was almost black, a sign of the dominant male in a pride of lions. The overwhelming aura and majesty emanating from this Were-Lion was unlike that of the Alpha Were-Eagle he had defeated in the past. They were in a whole different league.

[Lysander, Were-Lion lvl 89.]

'I see... So this is the first seat of the Were-beings. No wonder he wants me dead.' Jake finally realized as he consulted the Oracle Scan result.

Haynt had said that Kenway, the strongest of the Were-beings was a long time friend of his. The latter was also Lysander's older brother, but Jake wasn't counting on his help to get out of this mess. For the same reason, he couldn't kill his brother Lysander unless he gave up his support completely.

Withdrawing the miraculous blade from his chest without flinching, Jake continued to stare disdainfully at the Were-Lion the entire time, completely ignoring the young woman clutching her sword's hilt. Seeing the ease with which he had taken her attack, she could only be seized with an immense feeling of despair.

Was getting her revenge really a vain hope?