The Oracle Paths

The deathly silence in the conference room was entirely predictable. Every time Aslael had repeated this speech, his audience had been struck by the same solemn muteness. There had never been any exceptions, and today would be no different.

"Any questions?" The Instructor asked mockingly, still wearing that same faintly provocative smirk.

The alien's condescending tone caused their hearts to rend, but there was nothing these Players could do to put him in his place. As arrogant as they were, all it took was one glance at the aura of this monster to understand that it would be suicide.

After a moment, a Player calmly raised their hand. When Aslael and the crowd of "students" gave their attention to Will, he readjusted the position of his glasses on his nose (which had served only a cosmetic role for some time) and spoke up very seriously.

"Earlier, you mentioned that the death rate was 99.8%. However, a little later, you claimed that by counting only the victories, this death rate dropped to 72%. You also said that we have lost more than 90% of the Fifth Ordeals over the past 1,000 years."

"That's correct." Aslael acquiesced with a playful glint in his silver eyes.

He already knew what this brainy Player was going to ask him. After all, even an ordinary human with middle-school or even elementary-level math knowledge could spot what was wrong. And indeed, as expected, Will asked him precisely the question he had predicted.

"If I base myself on these figures, then by doing a quick mental calculation, I come to the result that we have in fact won only about 0.71% of our Fifth Ordeals." Will explained calmly before pausing and saying, "Should I conclude that you lied deliberately, or do over 90% of defeats and 99.29% of defeats mean the same thing to you?"

Aslael chuckled but feeling no guilt, he replied promptly, his obvious good mood plastered on his face.

"You'll note that I technically didn't lie." The Instructor protested at first, rolling his eyes. "More than 90% of defeats and 99.29% of defeats don't invalidate each other. However, now that the syntactic aspect has been clarified, I must honestly answer the point you just raised. There are indeed things to say about it.

"You see, I was quite honest earlier. Our Mirror Universe has indeed performed disgracefully over the past 1000 years, but not to the extent of winning less than one Fifth Ordeal out of 100. If that were the case, I dare not imagine the Oracle's wrath that would have befallen us, lowly officials of His Cosmic Holiness. Since you want the exact numbers, our defeat rate is only around 93.6%."

"Then where do the other deaths that inflate these numbers come from?" Another Player interjected impolitely.

Aslael remained unperturbed and shrugged, "Can't you guess? Haven't you yourselves recruited many natives on Quanoth to swell your ranks?"

When the Instructor reminded them of this detail, those who had actually used their excess liquid alloy to recruit natives finally saw through these numbers.

"Exactly." Aslael did not mock them and confirmed blankly. "This war you will not fight alone. It remains an Ordeal after all. If the two Oracles were just throwing one army of Players against another, we wouldn't need an Ordeal for that. They could just teleport you to one of the borders of the Mirror Universe where our borders intersect, and you could have fought to your heart's content without any restrictions.

"Simply put, just like here in Quanoth or all your previous Ordeals, you will join an Ordeal World with its own history, its own people, and its own laws. Even though the way this Ordeal unfolds is more straightforward, it is still an Ordeal. You can influence the course of events and seek your own opportunities as you wish. No one will stop you. The only difference is that for the purposes of this Ordeal, the two Oracles will ensure that you join the camps of two nations at war with each other. You will be but a grain of sand in a desert compared to these two nations. The Ordeal rules defined by the two Oracles will make it so that you cannot easily decide the outcome of this war, no matter your power compared to other participants. In this context, you will naturally be free to recruit all the natives who capture your attention. What better way to forge strong friendships than in a deadly war and with brave brothers in arms? I almost envy you... The memories of my fifth Ordeal are so distant..."

*****

A few moments later, Jake and the other Players left Room 203 with their heads filled with thoughts and concerns. After answering their questions, Aslael made no effort to conclude his lecture. Without bidding farewell or good luck, he simply teleported silently, leaving no trace.

Hadn't the Instructor complained that he was in a rush and still had 2816 Divine Academies to visit before the end of the morning? Seen in this light, the Instructor was indeed pitiful and deserving of their sympathy.

Once outside the academy grounds, Jake and his friends returned to their respective Buildings. Before parting ways, they stared at each other broodingly, their worried eyes often returning to their leader as if hoping for a speech or reassuring words from him. In the case of the Myrtharian Nerds, it was obviously Jake who bore that responsibility, but in the case of Pureblood... it was also Jake.

"... " Wyatt didn't know how to describe what he felt when he saw Carmin and Seren eagerly eyeing the leader of another faction, but his heart definitely felt stifled.

Ryne and Ashun said nothing, but they too were waiting for Jake to speak. They wanted to see what he had to say after learning all of these grim news.

Aware that he couldn't avoid it, Jake cleared his throat and simply muttered, "Train hard."

Without another word, Jake teleported to his building, leaving them behind. His companions looked stunned for a moment, but quickly relaxed. As expected of their leader.

What more was there to say? If they wanted to survive, they simply had to ensure that they were much stronger than their future adversaries. If they were as strong as Jake, would they be as worried? Probably not.

That meant that every second they spent hesitating, standing around like posts, was a second wasted and as much time during which their power stagnated.

"See you in a year," Lucia said, walking nobly towards her building.

Several, like Gerulf, Rogen, or Hephais, had already left without a word. These proud warriors were the ones for whom their leader's laconic encouragement echoed the most.

Will elegantly removed his glasses, tucking them into his Space Storag. The emerald crystal embedded in the middle of his forehead suddenly glowed. The merchant had rarely been more determined.

"See you next year." Will waved goodbye without turning back and silently walked away, enveloped in the spectral shadow of Charizard that transported him directly to his Building.

Soon after, the rest of the Myrtharian Nerds dispersed and a long year of seclusion consisting of intense training, study, and introspection began. In this regard, the Myrtharian Nerds were cut from the same cloth. As long as their leader set the example, none of them would accept falling behind.

Ashun and Ryne were soon left alone in the Celestial City, and the Goddess of Love found herself without her toys. Boredom quickly caught up with her, and with a frustrated pout, she kicked a stone and returned to her own Building.

Normally, she would have gone to bother Deimos, and the Spartan would have given her a hard time to get her to train, but strangely this time, she found herself in her Building before realizing it.

"No big deal... I'll shut Ael and the others up when they see my power at our reunion."

As for Ryne, even if Jake had never spoken those words, she would have done the same. As a factionless Player, her survival had always depended on her own strength.

While everyone was returning to their Buildings, Jake had already cut himself off from the outside world. Even if he seemed isolated, he was never alone. Xi was always with him.

"Here we are alone again." He joked contemplatively.

[And I will be by your side as long as I exist.] Xi completed with a clichéd response, her soft, emotion-laden voice sending shivers down Jake's spine.

"Please, don't ever say that again."

[Hehe~]