The Oracle Paths

[Blacksmith Soul Glyph(Silver>Gold): Increases the attributes of any tool, weapon or armor forged by the bearer of this Glyph by 200%(100>200%). There is no such thing as failure in blacksmithing. Anything the smith forges can become an Aether Artifact.]

Under the influence of his enhanced cognitive abilities, Jake had not only completed his Blacksmithing training in the Inner Purgatory Dream, but had also combed through a good quarter of the knowledge and technology introduced in the data provided by Hade. It was like a rebirth.

Before today, he had never realized how ignorant he was and how this ignorance was a hindrance to his development. He could become the smartest, most gifted person in the Mirror Universe, but if it wasn't paired with diligent hard work he would never be more than one of many talented guys squandering their potential.

Since his arrival on B842, Jake had never considered himself lazy, especially considering his past history. But the repeated provocations of Lost Divinities and the sense of urgency and inadequacy had pushed him over the edge and he realized that he had always been far from doing his best.

Maybe he still wasn't.

His progress as a blacksmith and engineer was not the only noticeable change in him. He felt stronger, sharper than before and the Aether Sun Cores, though less than a meter away from him, struggled to scorch his skin and Spirit Body.

While consulting his Oracle Status, he noticed several things. First, his Aether and Body stats had all increased by about 15-20%. This increase was consistent and Jake began to realize that the balancing of his various stats was becoming a norm.

He didn't know if he should be happy about it or not. On the one hand he had no weaknesses, but on the other hand he had no strong points either.

Of course, if his friends could read his thoughts, they would probably call him a lot of names.

'What the hell dude? You're already much stronger than us and you're complaining about having ALL your stats too high?!'

Yeah... That was the kind of reaction he would have received, but Jake didn't care what others thought. As long as there were people stronger than him out there, he would never be satisfied.

His Spirit Body level had also risen from lvl38 to 41 and his True Will had virtually doubled. Given the excruciating torture he had just subjected himself to, plus the inhuman mental effort he had just exerted to memorize and understand everything, it was... disappointing.

Raising his Spirit Body level seemed destined to be a lengthy process, unless he could find a way to improve the Eltarian part of his Bloodline. Now that he was an Aetherist, he knew it wasn't enough to just add an extra bit of Aether Code. He had to make room for that code first and that required a Bloodline compression, or in simpler terms increasing its Grade.

However, the most interesting changes were not in his stats, but in his skills:

[Magnetism Manipulation lvl1>2 : Derived from Metal Manipulation, you can control the magnetic fields around you with ease]

[Lightning Manipulation lvl 1>2 : Derived from Magnetism and Heat manipulation, you can now control lightning with ease]

[Lightning Tolerance lvl 1>2: Strongly increased tolerance to electricity. Ordinary electric shocks can no longer disrupt your nervous system and instead give you a boost in speed and reaction time]

This was the first time his Bloodline skills were upgraded without changing his Bloodline level. The slight lightning attribute of his Myrtharian Soul had also been raised to intermediate.

There was only one possible explanation. When his Bloodline gained these new affinities, his Aether Code and cells had begun to voraciously absorb these elements to strengthen themselves. Being behind in comparison to his other affinities and his body being much more resilient than before, it was normal that such a deficit would be caught up quickly.

In less than a year, his Lightning Manipulation would be on par with the rest. Instead of resting or stepping up his training, Jake closed his eyes and let himself drift into the plasma that had replaced the mountain top, which was continually battered by lightning and radiation.

A few hours later, he awoke from his nap with a sharp glint of determination in his eye. He held out his half-opened fist and the glistening Adamantium bead he had refined began to rise into the air, attracting like a magnet the other ingots discarded in the past few days.

The various ingots merged together, magically liquefying and quickly taking the form of a small, extremely dense hammer. Simultaneously, a steady stream of Aether Symbols and Words of Power crystallized in the air, all merging without exception with the emerging hammer.

When the hammer was still nothing but molten white-hot metal, Jake manipulated his own blood and let a drop of Blood Essence seep from his fingertip. The crimson drop floated up like a dandelion caught in a breeze and disintegrated into the blazing hammer.

With a thought, Jake removed the heat from the metal and an inconspicuous steel hammer landed in his hand.

[Advanced Aether Artifact: Myrtharian Blacksmith Hammer(bound to Jake): A sledgehammer of ordinary design but complemented by the numerous enchantments of a Rank 1 Rune Aetherist and Advanced Blacksmith.

Attributes : All stats +40%. Passive skill 1: Heavy: The hammer weighs virtually nothing to the wielder, but currently weighs 500 tons. Passive skill 2 : Adjustable size and mass within the limits of the compressed steel it is made of. Passive skill 3 : Collects part of the soul and Aether of the defeated, heat, lightning, earth, steel and radiation from its environment or the owner to repair itself, evolve, attack or accelerate the refinement of materials, but also to infuse these properties into forged objects. Passive skill 4 : Amplifies all techniques used through the hammer by 200%]

Jake chuckled jubilantly as he inspected the weapon's stats. He had intended to make a simple hammer to more efficiently forge future artifacts, but instead he had crafted a terrifying weapon with twice the attributes of his latest creation, the God-Slayer Myrtharian Katana.

He weighed the weapon, which seemed as light as a feather, but he was not fooled by this deceptive impression. As soon as he had grabbed the hammer, he had literally "sunk" into the mountain he was standing on. His fall had only stopped when he mobilized his telekinesis.

Jake raised his new hammer and then began to hammer once again at all the failed ingots he had produced in the previous days. In less than six hours, the whole thing had been raised to the standard of his finest Adamantium bead. These highly compressed ingots, stripped of all impurities, were referred to as Adamantium Essence by the Oracle System.

"Now all I need to do is forge myself some new equipment."

The first thing he did was to reforge his God Slayer Myrtharian Katana. He added so much Adamantium Essence into it that the end result was simply an abomination, a weapon of mass destruction. Even the Oracle System found the previous name inadequate and decided to rename it.

[Myrtharian God Slayer Broadsword (bound to Jake): A disturbingly heavy weapon forged at the cost of exorbitant amounts of Adamantium Essence and other precious magic metals. It has only three redeeming qualities: hard, heavy and sharp. However, the Blood Essence, Words of Power, and Aether Symbols added during its crafting have elevated this sword to a whole new level.

Attributes: All stats + 40%. Passive Skill 1: 200% more damage on Divinities and disrupts their faith energy gathering. Passive Skill 2: Amplifies all techniques used through the broadsword by 200%. Passive Skill 3: Collects part of the soul and Aether of the defeated, heat, lightning, earth, steel, and radiation from its environment to repair itself and evolve. Passive Skill 4: Its length and mass can be modified at will depending on the amount of metal available in the weapon's space storage. Passive skill 5: Heavy: The broadsword weighs virtually nothing to the wielder, but currently weighs 720 tons]

After his creation, Jake swung his new sword fiercely and a blade of superheated wind rent the black clouds for several kilometers, compressing the air so sharply that the stormy clouds briefly changed direction, altering the weather locally in unpredictable ways.

"I finally have a proper weapon." Jake grinned, exposing his translucent canines.

Over the next two days, he refashioned his entire suit of armor, from helmet to boots, and even found the leisure to forge several futuristic gadgets and accessories he could never have imagined a few weeks earlier.

The end result... turned out to be beyond his wildest expectations:

[Advanced Aether Artifact: Myrtharian Adamantium Armor Set (bound to Jake): An exquisite armor forged by a talented Rank 1 Aetherist and Advanced Blacksmith using astronomical amounts of Adamantium Essence and other magical metals. Each piece of the set is separately an Advanced Artifact, but the whole set nears the performance of some Bronze Artifacts. The set includes 15 pieces, namely the breastplate, leggings, boots, helmet, gauntlets, shoulder pads, belt, two earrings, a necklace, and 5 enchanted rings.

Total attributes: All stats +600%. Passive Skill 1: Heavy. The armor set weighs virtually nothing to the wearer, but currently weighs 1900 tons. Passive Skill 2: The wearer's affinity and absorption rate for Aether, spiritual energy, lightning, heat, plasma, Reiga, magnetism, metal, and earth are increased by 3000%. Passive Skill 3: Collects part of the soul and Aether of the defeated, heat, lightning, earth, steel and radiation from its environment to repair itself and evolve. Active Skill 1: Gravity Domain. The wearer can spend the energy accumulated in the Artifact to invoke a gravity domain that can reach up to 500 meters in radius. Inside, the gravity perceived by those deemed hostile by the wearer is multiplied up to 100 times. Active Skill 2: Myrtharian Ignition. By draining the energy of the Artifact, the wearer's bloodline is temporarily upgraded by one level (only works with Myrtharians). This skill puts a heavy strain on the wearer's body and should not exceed 5 minutes per day]