The Oracle Paths

"Flying off the planet is possible." Jake spoke up again. "I've done it before."

Lucia and the others who already knew about it weren't particularly shocked, but Wyatt and Seren who were attending the council reacted differently.

"You what? When?" The Vampire Progenitor questioned in disbelief.

"A few days ago." Jake revealed honestly. "My intention was not to find a way off this planet, but somehow it allowed me to gauge the difficulty of such a project.

"As you may know, the black clouds are gradually covering the planet. What you may not know is that Aurae itself is at the origin of this calamity. And I'm not talking about one of its clones or an avatar, but the real Aurae."

This time even an Archdemon like Xaverie couldn't help but tremble.

"You're saying it's Aurae who wants us dead?" She conjectured with a sallow face. "Then it's over. If he doesn't want us to escape then we won't escape."

"Who said he didn't want us to escape?" Hade scoffed, "You are not yet Players, but merely new Evolvers who have just received their Oracle Devices. Our primary mission varies from person to person, but it's directly related to survival. For the strongest of us getting on board the Celestial City is the bare minimum requirement, but for the less skilled Players being in the last million survivors of Quanoth is more than enough to pass their Ordeal.

"So for most Players this means that it doesn't matter how they survive, as long as they are alive and kicking at the end of this Ordeal."

Melion, the Alpha Shapeshifter who currently resembled a huge shapeless slime, immediately picked up on the inconsistency.

"You just said that the strongest Players have no choice but to fight for a place aboard the Celestial City. Wouldn't escaping the planet be like failing your main mission?"

Jake nodded approvingly,

" Bingo. What you say is absolutely true, but that's because you're implying that we can't do both at the same time. The Celestial City and its Divine Academy descended from the sky, so it's basically a spaceship. Sooner or later, the ship will leave. As long as you can get on it, whether it's on Quanoth or elsewhere is irrelevant.

" Still, this is all speculation." Jake shrugged. "That's not what my plan is based on. My main mission requires me to board the Celestial City, that's true, but it also makes it clear what the consequence will be if I fail, which is to suffer the Purge with the rest of the damned. We can deduce that as long as we survive the Purge or avoid it, the main mission will remain a success."

A look of realization dawned on the other Players' faces. They had not considered their Main Mission in this light, because it was worded in a way that gave the illusion that failing the first condition would result in their immediate demise.

"You may be able to leave the planet, but we can't." Hephais commented with Drastan concurring. Both men were unable to fly.

"Jake, that's all good and well, but you yourself know how tricky it is to leave the planet." Lucia expressed her skepticism. She knew how much Aether he had spent with his Oracle Shield to get through the Mana Storm. "Not to mention the Aether required, not everyone has the Oracle Shield skill and more importantly our amount of liquid alloy is limited, as are our Oracle Ranks. Your Oracle Device didn't overheat during the Mana Storm, but with a few exceptions our bracelets will fail us within minutes at best after we enter the storm. Unless..."

Her eyes suddenly widened.

"Unless we fish for bracelets!" Gerulf burst into a thunderous laugh.

Noticing that some people were still confused, Jake took the time to clarify for everyone. Inwardly, however, he had to admit that he was astounded that the Kintharian got it right on the first try.

"To leave the planet, there are two major obstacles: the clouds and the Mana Storm. With each passing day, these two entities spread and grow stronger, becoming more and more treacherous. The clouds were not a danger for me a few days ago, but within a month I will also need the Oracle Shield to get through them. As for the Mana Storm, it is impassable without the Oracle Shield. Its effects are too unpredictable and I won't risk it.

"So, as some people have already understood, to leave the planet we'll have to act quickly and put our hopes on the Oracle Shield. The longer we wait, the more the Oracle Shield will be solicited and the faster it will overheat. As Lucia so kindly reminded us, the Oracle Shield's duration is very dependent on our Oracle Device's performance. This is influenced by our Oracle Rank which determines its energy levels as well as the amount of liquid alloy it contains.

"The last important factor is the Oracle Shield level. Below level 3, it will be very difficult to transport people with us and I guess I don't need to give you the current prices for level 3 of this skill in the Oracle Store..."

Several Players like Jake who had the Portable Oracle Store skill checked the prices out of curiosity and winced when they saw that the cost was close to 5 billion Aether point. That might not seem like much to upstarts like Jake, but it was a sum beyond the reach of most Fourth-Ordeal Players.

Buying anything through the Lvl 1 Portable Oracle Store was 200 times more expensive than its actual price. That put the price of such a skill at 1 trillion Aether points...

"If I were to leave the planet with everyone, we would need a massive Oracle Shield, at least lvl 5, as well as a ship big enough to carry everyone." Jake explained wrily after regaining their attention. "It's just not feasible at all."

Then he pointed again to the black sphere in Hade's hands and it all made sense.

"Unless you have artifacts like this at your disposal."

"And how are we going to get those artifacts? It's going to take a lot more than one to get everyone inside." Haynt said in a barely audible voice. With his tiny size, his frown made him look cute and at Esya's eager gaze she was holding back from ruffling his hair.

Lucia chuckled when she heard the question. She and Jake had been pleasantly surprised to discover that the Fluid Grandmaster could easily manufacture all these artifacts. His performance exceeded that of most of Quanoth's Space Mages.

When Jake had asked him to make a Portable Fortress for him, he had been joking. He didn't expect Hade to actually make it for him in just a few days. When the artifact had been delivered to him as promised, that was when he had come up with the idea for this plan.

"Making these Artifacts is not an issue." Hade replied plainly. "A slight alteration will allow people to get inside."

"You heard him." Jake laughed.

The Myrtharian Nerds, Seren, Lysander, and Kenway nodded in agreement. If they could really get off the planet without tearing each other apart, then that was fine.

But not everyone shared that opinion.

"What about Carmin? Elduin? Bhammod? And what about Lost Divinities?!" Wyatt exclaimed angrily. "We let them die?! Forget everything?!"

Jake, Hade and the rest of the Myrtharian Nerds smirked.

"I've been waiting for that one." He chuckled grimly. "I said I had a plan to save everyone in Laudarkvik. That is my promise in exchange for the loyalty of these people and the guarantee that they will not become cheap cannon fodder.

"But did I say once that I would not fight? You're forgetting the crucial step in this plan."

"Fishing for bracelets." Wyatt finally understood.

"Fishing for bracelets." Jake repeated with a meaningful smile. "The population of Laudarkvik is over one million. Hade will need three to four months to make these artifacts and that's assuming he has all the materials he needs. The Oracle Shield at that point will have to be as powerful as possible to get through the atmosphere because I can't predict how dire the situation will be.

"That means we'll need three things for this plan to succeed. A lot of resources to make the Space Artifacts required for the crossing, a lot of Aether to power as many Oracle Shields as necessary, and as much liquid alloy as we can get."

At this point, Jake dropped his pedagogical pleasantries and flashed a devilish grin,

"And for that, we'll have to kill many, many, many Players."

"How many exactly are we talking about?" Wyatt asked with a bad feeling.

"As many as it takes." Jake replied ominously.

Not just Lost Divinities, but all the Players scattered across the continent would now become their prey. It was no longer a matter of morality, enmity or revenge, but simply doing what was necessary to survive.

Whatever it took.