The Oracle Paths

Thanks to his new Lumyst Breath ability, Jake could now clearly sense that what he thought was vital energy wasn't. No amount of lifeforce could cause such profound rearrangements, let alone enable him to transcend his limits with a mere 50% success rate.

From what he gathered from his Breath of Living Elements ability, it was also a form of Lumyst, but with life and some kind of holy light dual attributes. If his perception was correct, pure Lumyst was attributeless.

This, however, explained why those Light Warriors and Lifemancers all developed similar powers. If it was the main resource for their cultivation, it made a lot of sense.

In fact, Jake could also infer that the spectral energy of the Duskwight Lands was another form of Lumyst. And if surviving three baptisms was required to deeply remodel one's organism internally through a Lumyst Breath Grace, no wonder Lifemancers and Soulmancers needed to endure at least that many enchantments to be recognized as such.

Without that +3, they could have the most dazzling Lumyst Aura, but their bodies and spirits would never really adapt to all the accumulated Lumyst. At best, they would inactively gain some control over it as their bodies and minds were constantly washed over and nourished by contact with Lumyst.

In the end, these natives weren't similar to the other Players and him. Regular exposure to fire wouldn't immunize you, let alone tame it. At best, you would just end up getting burned.

Of course, unlike fire, Lumyst Water had a nutritive component, either for the flesh or the spirit. In the very long term, and if they persevered long enough for luck to smile upon them, an ordinary native could still obtain abilities and strength comparable to cultivating their Lumyst Aura with Lumyst Breath.

For all that, they didn't start from zero either. The Underworld Barbarian race, for example, was living proof of such adaptive evolution over a very long time. They could cultivate their Spirit Lumyst Aura, although it was not without challenges.

It was just much more difficult. Like embarking on a world tour on foot to reach a destination that was just 5 meters behind us. He was barely exaggerating.

As Jake inferred all sorts of theories and assumptions based on his feedback and observations, he continued swimming up the Lumyst River without deviating from his course, the immense tree of light and the roaring cascade becoming his beacon of Alexandria to navigate the darkness. Concurrently, the purity of the water continued to grow, subjecting him to increasingly perilous forced enchantment attempts on his organism in case of failure.

+10, +11, +12, +13... At the fourteenth baptism, Jake suddenly froze, a cloud of blood exploding from his body. The bloody cloud expanded rapidly, completely shrouding Jake inside, his condition unknown.

Just when it seemed he had perished, the chaotically expanding blood cloud stopped diluting and suddenly began to condense. A whirlwind of crimson liquid ablaze with an inner fire then erupted out of nowhere at the bottom of the river, crackling upon contact with the highly purified surrounding Lumyst Water.

Most disintegrated upon contact with the water, having failed to withstand the failure of this fourteenth enchantment, but half of it started glowing a deeper red, reminiscent of a scarlet sun. Then the whirlwind contracted as suddenly as it had appeared, revealing Jake's naked but intact silhouette a moment later.

His face had an even healthier glow than before, if that was possible, but his expression couldn't have been uglier.

'Haha, even knowing what to expect, I almost died,' Jake grimaced wryly. 'That was a close call. The next one could very well kill me if I fail.'

He had enough biomass to try again several times, but considering his difficulties accessing his Inner Space with an intact body, he preferred not to risk it. A fifty-fifty chance of success seemed reasonable, but he wasn't desperate enough to take the plunge yet.

He initially thought his high luck would suffice to cheat, but while it had worked wonders during his first baptisms, he now realized its impact was becoming increasingly minimal on the later ones. Not that it didn't exist, but clearly his luck wasn't supernatural enough to twist fate when such complex Aether laws and amounts of energy were involved.

Perhaps only Ulfar and a few other Players able of intentionally manipulating their luck could still guarantee the success of a fifteenth baptism.

"Then, I need to find a way to collect the water to study it," Jake decided resignedly.

Coincidence or not, he had come to the same conclusion as the three Rank 17 Players fighting for the Lustra Plains. Only the method differed.

Shadrex had relied on his Shadow Guide and his own gifts of foresight to locate and steal the Chalice of Nethershade they would need, while Jake had just decided to procure an substitute artifact after experiencing firsthand that he couldn't do without.

Just thinking about it, his eyes widened in realization. Their enemies had a functioning Oracle System, so it was clear they must have come to the same conclusion long before him. Heck, they didn't even have to reach the same conclusion, just trust their Oracle Paths!

Once more in a few minutes, Jake hesitated to turn back to capture an enemy Player to force them to use their bracelet to get the information he wanted.

[… There's still the Mirror World option. Whatever the state of our Aether Network, or whatever's happening here, it should work.] Xi suggested, breaking her silence. She just couldn't stay mad at him for long. That was just the kind of person she was.

Jake instinctively rejected this solution before finally reconsidering it more seriously. Of course, he had thought about it, but it wasn't without risks. Unlike the Oracle System, the Mirror World was a higher-level virtual world that could only be accessed in person, at least psychically.

The main downside was obviously being vulnerable during the process, which was not without danger. Even Jake wasn't keen on the idea in such an environment.

The other snag was that in the context of an Ordeal involving several Mirror Universes, there were inevitably agreements negotiated between their respective Oracles and the High Oracle that inevitably applied to Players with access to the Mirror World for fairness' sake.

Jake had confirmed the existence of these limitations during his brief occasional connections since the start of the Ordeal when he deemed himself in a safe place. In its current state, the Mirror World was almost useless. At least when it concerned their Ordeal.

For instance, the concept of Oracle Paths existed in the Mirror World, but it wasn't a free service. In fact, it was so fucking costly that formulating a single wish would probably leave him bankrupt.

But make no mistakes, it did have its benefits. First, it worked!

Another advantage was that only a handful of Oracle Knights could use it. Since he now knew for sure that the enemy camp had 3 in their ranks, that made 6 Players in total with access.

If Jake played his cards right, he could easily contact these Oracle Knights through the Mirror World, although that implied they were also connected at that time. On the other hand, leaving them a message shouldn't be a problem, not that he had any intention of contacting anyone.

Since seeking information related to the Ordeal was apparently prohibited, it was obviously not what Xi was referring to. Jake stumbled for a moment before grasping what she was suggesting.

'Ah, you want me to broaden the search?' He finally understood.

[Bingo.]

Seeking information related to Twyluxia, Lumyst, and anything closely or remotely related was obviously impossible. But if those search criteria became even vaguer, and the method of accessing the desired information even more indirect, then maybe they could get something.

For example, the description of the Chalice of Nethershade replica mentioned an order of cosmic monks who had mastered the duality of life and spirit. There might be some info to scrape from that angle.

They could also broaden the search on the theme of enchantment in all its forms, including artifacts and techniques able of containing/manipulating a resource with such properties affecting the container itself.

'It's going to cost me dearly again, I feel it,' Jake sighed bitterly.

Any transaction was made in Aether Stones in the Mirror World, meaning at least Grade 6 Aether Crystals. If he wanted to bypass the rules applying to the Ordeal, he would probably have to visit one of these cosmic monks in person; or someone that might know about them. Don't forget that the Mirror World was an exact copy of the real world, but fortunately, moving around it was much easier, though not cheap either.

But Xi had a good point. To find out what was wrong with their Oracle System, Jake would have no choice but to visit someone able of answering him. Without thinking, at least two names came to mind: Xion Zolvhur and Vexa.