The Oracle Paths

The luckiest man in Myrtharian Nerds waved at them from the top of a broad staircase and walked dignifiedly towards them, hands in pockets. The panicked student who was still muttering apologies trembled at the sight of the new arrival and began to wish he had stayed in bed this morning.

At that moment, he remembered the word the chandelier victim had just yelled, and his face turned pale.

"U-Ulfar, I can assure you that's not what you think. I checked the condition of the chandelier this morning, and it was in perfect condition."

"I know, I know." The King of Beskyr rolled his eyes, patting the student's shoulder. "Don't worry, they won't say anything. Right, son?"

Skorgeld just let out a deep sigh. He never intended to press charges against anyone. The only culprit was his bad luck. After assuring the maintenance student multiple times that they wouldn't say anything, they finally managed to get rid of him.

Once the anxious student was gone, Ulfar exclaimed, "I'm glad to see you guys again. This Divine Academy without you has been a real hell."

"Don't tell me you're responsible for cleaning or maintaining some of the rooms, like this student?" Lucia teased him with a mocking look.

The warrior's radiant face darkened thunderously upon receiving the princess's question. With a grunt, he grudgingly admitted, "At first, yes. Taking care of the maintenance of a hall like this can earn us one or two Contribution Points per day. It's not much, but we had to start somewhere."

One Contribution Point could be exchanged for 100 million Aether points. So even though it seemed small, it was actually an impressive amount for ordinary players. Too bad all the remaining winners were extraordinary players.

If it were the Jake from the beginning of the Ordeal, he could earn 10 Contribution Points a day just by sitting still, thanks to the passive Aether production of his bracelet and Purgatory. If it were the Jake of now... One point could probably be earned every one or two seconds... Maybe less. Actually, he had no idea.

"How many Contribution Points do you usually earn per task? And what do you spend them on?" Will inquired with a very scholarly expression.

Ulfar pretended to think and then said, "Most manual chores like this earn between one and four points per day, but we can choose as many as we want depending on availability and provided we do our job correctly. In case of any incident, we can lose up to 100 times the Contribution Points we could have earned."

"Ah, that explains the panic of that student," Skorgeld growled, lying crosswise on the floor. "I should have extorted a point or two from him in exchange for my silence."

"Hehe, you're a chip off the old block, but forget about it," Ulfar flicked his forehead, chuckling. "The principal is a Rank 4 Oracle Overseer. If the failure is malicious in origin, Grigori will certainly find out. Even an intangible resource like luck won't fool his senses. Another solitary player named Viscardi who arrived on the same day as me wanted to use something called Karma to get one of the students responsible for the Contribution Store to give up his position. For your information, it's one of the most prestigious jobs at the Academy. In addition to getting 10 Contribution Points a day by just standing behind a counter, it allows you to interact with all sorts of students and teachers in a position of power. Only ancient students who have long proven themselves and gained Grigori's trust can fulfill this function.

"The process was extremely convoluted. Viscardi was kind and considerate to this student for weeks, offering all kinds of gifts, then politely asked him to let him take over his position. The student obviously refused. The next day, he made a serious registry mistake and was fired from his job. Viscardi thought his chance had finally come, but the next day, the student was reinstated in his position, and Viscardi was nowhere to be found. Later, I learned that he had been penalized with a 1000 Contribution Points penalty, which is equivalent to a 100 billion Aether points fine. He didn't have enough to pay the penalty, so he was expelled from the school. I don't know what happened to him after that, but since he's not among the winners, we can conclude that he probably died on Quanoth at some point."

Jake and Will, for whom the term Karma was not unfamiliar, couldn't help but feel sorry for poor Viscardi. He had spent weeks making all kinds of useless efforts, including offering expensive gifts, to make his victim indebted to him, only to have it backfire on him. Apparently, this kind of esoteric concept was not a very reliable power. Or maybe Grigori was just on a level beyond their reach.

"So, if I understand correctly, Father, if I had tried to extort him, I probably would have succeeded, but the next day I would have paid the price, and he would have been compensated. Is that right?" Skorgeld summarized, turning his head left and right to make sure no other chandelier was about to fall on him.

"That's right," Ulfar smiled. Turning to Will, he explained with the vacant look of a traumatized man, "Regarding your question about the use of these Contribution Points, they serve for everything. By default, we receive ten Contribution Points on the day of our arrival. That's 1 billion Aether points. This amount is enough to dazzle most Players without a faction, but not those of this school. For each day of schooling at the Divine Academy, one point is debited. For each meal in the cafeteria, between one and five points are also debited depending on the chosen menu. Sleeping in a dormitory with other students debits one point per night, but it can go up to ten points if you want your own suite. Finally, attending classes, fortunately not mandatory, costs 1 to 10,000 points depending on the lesson chosen. Other school facilities also cost points such as the Cultivation Rooms, the Contribution Store, etc..."

Jake and the others suddenly gave him a sympathetic look. He must have suffered alone here. Still, no one pitied him.

If the most prestigious task at the school rewarded only 10 Contribution Points per day, no wonder a player like Viscordi was willing to stoop to any lows to get it. Otherwise, who knew how many halls and corridors they would have to clean every day just to earn enough points not to be expelled.

Ulfar could guess what they were thinking and he clarified with a little laugh, "There are three other ways to get points that are much more reliable. Betting, especially through fights in the campus arena, moving up the school ranking, and deals between students. As long as the rules of the Divine Academy are not violated, anything goes. I thought I could make it big like Viscardi by relying on bets and my luck, but it almost backfired on me too. Let me tell you something. Except for the Divine Academy natives who have been around for ages, all the players who arrived like me have extraordinary esoteric powers. Luck, destiny, karma, clairvoyance, divination, hyper instinct and so on... I was also almost expelled from the first day when I found out at my own expense. Fortunately, I had gambled conservatively."

Blank silence.

Jake commented, "In that case, I guess we're lucky that the Divine Academy facilities are free for the Ordeal winners. On the other hand, we've earned it..."

Ulfar could only agree with him. "That goes for students like me too. We also had our missions and goals to fulfill. Since we weren't expelled we too can use the facilities of the Divine Academy as we please for a year. After that, the natives will be able to stay as students under the previous conditions or they can become Players like us and join a planet in the Mirror Universe."

"After spending so much time in this school, you must know the place like the back of your hand, am I right?" Ashun gave him a charming wink as she clasped his hands.

The King of Beskyr suddenly blushed and withdrew his hands as if he had just touched a hot plate.

"W-who is this?" Ulfar growled alertly. He was definitely not fond of the stirring and irrational flustering he had just experienced.

"Ashun." Will laughed. "A member of Lost Divinities. Our enemy. However, you can answer her. For now, we are no longer at war."

Ulfar had been following their conversations in the Faction Chat and nodded with an enlightened look. "Hmmph, I see. To answer the question, yes I know the Divine Academy inside and out. Now that it's all free... Yes, there's a place I can take you to."

An excited expression lit up his face. He had been wanting to go there for a long time but was short on points.

"The Stele."