The Oracle Paths

An unknown number of hours later, the Fluid and Aether intake suddenly slowed down before coming to a complete standstill a few minutes later. His cells had finally reached saturation point.

However, they did not stop vibrating and grinding against each other. In time, and if Jake wished, the surrounding Fluid and Aether would continue to seep into his cells and feed them, converted into usable energy by some cryptic process.

When Jake opened his eyes, the first thing he did was check the date, then his Oracle Status. Two days had passed since his seclusion began.

He immediately realized the profound changes that had taken place within him. His body felt as light as a feather and his mind was so clear that he literally wondered if he had not spent his entire existence on morphine. His Spirit Body's alertness and responsiveness, and many of his powers such as his Heat and Earth Control, had improved significantly.

Contrary to what Jake had imagined, he was baffled to learn that his Aether and Body stats hadn't improved all that much, although their values were slowly but surely increasing without him having to do anything.

This was attributable to the immense energy stored in his cells that had not yet been fully processed.

Right now, his body was the reservoir of several million Fluid units. His Fluid Master Core alone contained nearly 5M units, while these cells held an additional million. Most surprisingly, his cells also seemed capable of storing Aether. He now had another option for spending all his Aether points.

His cells were unable to metabolize all that energy in a short period of time, but thanks to the epiphany he had just experienced, he knew exactly how to make use of that excess energy.

By channeling this Fluid with the help of his Fluid Master Core, he was able to increase his physical, spiritual, and Bloodline abilities to an unprecedented level of precision and creativity. However, with no way to absorb the Fluid and corrupted Aether externally, he had no choice but to deplete his own reserves to accomplish these feats.

Charging his Fluid Master Core and cells to full capacity had taken him over two days. Once in combat, he would have no opportunity to replenish himself and would have to use these boosted Skills sparingly.

However, there was something far more extraordinary that had changed in him: His Silver Myrtharian Bloodline had evolved once again. He estimated that it would have taken him at least another year of training in a high temperature environment, but the breakthrough when he was promoted to Fluid Master had changed all that.

According to him, this had to do with the new autonomous behavior of his cells. If he had followed the normal path, making his cells breathe, vibrate and rub together would have required outstanding Body Control and Perception stats.

Probably in the order of 10 to 100 times greater and it would have required a lot of training to control them in unison. The insight contained within the Fluid had turned the tables, allowing him to take a phenomenal shortcut.

When Jake read his new Bloodline's characteristics, he froze in place:

[Grade 9 Silver Myrtharian Bloodline: Level 3]

[-Silver Myrtharian Body lvl3: The robustness of a Kintharian, combined with the intellect of an Eltarian, the fighting instinct of a Myrmidian and something more. The physical and brain abilities are eight times (four time at lvl2) as good as a normal human, but without the limitations. Your digestive abilities allow you to digest almost anything in a short time. Your cells can now passively store, purify and absorb ambient energy (including heat, radiation and Aether) to gradually strengthen themselves or reuse it later. (New !) At each additional level, the physical and mental abilities will be doubled as well as the speed of progression, tolerance to heat, pressure and radiation.]

[-Silver Myrtharian Spirit Body lvl3: The Eltarian Spirit Body solidifies the Spirit Body and strengthens the Kintharian Aether Skills by adding telekinesis. The Spirit Body of a Myrtharian is twelve times greater(six times at lvl2) than that of a normal human and has a natural instinct conferring a form of precognition. The Spirit Body can also passively absorb a small amount of ambient energy (including heat, radiation and Aether) to strengthen itself.(New!)These faculties double at every level.]

[-Silver Myrtharian Soul lvl3: Fire, earth, metal, and light(radiation) attribute (slight fire, earth and light attribute at lvl2). Able to feed on the Aether contained in heat, earth, metal or radiation to survive and strengthen itself.]

[Aether Bloodline Skills:]

[-Accelerated Silver Myrtharian lvl3 growth: Closely related to positivity, determination, pride, fighting and anger. The effect doubles with each level.]

[-Accelerated Silver Myrtharian lvl1 decline(lvl2 at lvl2): Closely related to negativity, shame, weakness of mind, fear, and feelings of defeat and failure. The effect doubles with each level.]

[-Self-Encoding: There are no longer any limits to the Aether Stats, as the Aether is constantly being compressed to make room. However, the cost in Aether required to increase stats will quickly become exponential. Using the Aether encoded by the Oracle Device to increase the Aether stats is no longer recommended if the Encoding level doesn't match.]

[-Aether and Soul Tribute: A defeated enemy will surrender a fraction of his Aether and soul to the bloodline holder (It is no longer proportional to the threat level).]

[-Warrior Silver Myrtharian Trance lvl3: As a result of the above-mentioned emotions and the will to vanquish in battle, the body stats will be temporarily increased by 200-400% (100-200% at lvl2). The effect doubles with each level.]

[-Spiritual Silver Myrtharian Trance lvl3: By calming the mind through meditation, it is possible to amplify the mental stats as well as the quality of the Spirit Body from 200-400% (100-200% at lvl2). The effect doubles on every level.]

[-Spiritual Silver Myrtharian Eyes lvl3: It becomes possible upon activation to analyze one's opponents to understand their physical, mental and Aetheric weaknesses. Passively, it is possible to see Aether and other supernatural elements at a certain distance without going through the Extrasensory Perception of the Spirit Body. The eye is now able to harness and channel the power of Spirit Body and Soul Spells, as well as weak Aether Skills. (New !) With each additional level, it will be possible to obtain more information.]

[- Silver Stone Skin lvl3: The body can withstand high temperatures and radiation, including high pressure and friction. The skin can alternate between a rocky or metallic state as desired and its thickness can also be modulated to form different appendages or weapons. (New !) ]

[-Heat and radiation tolerance lvl3: The body temperature is no longer fixed at 37°C and can withstand a much higher internal temperature without shutting down.]

[-Earth and Steel Manipulation lvl3: Including all the minerals, metals, atoms and inorganic traces found in the soil of Kinthar's home planet, which is a small volcanic telluric planet very close to its sun. At lvl3 you can now bend rocks, boulders and steel to your will. The delicacy of control and perception doubles at every level.]

[-Heat and Radiation Control lvl3: It becomes possible to thermally and energetically excite any object, including one's own body. At lvl3, you can now perform intermediate heat and radiation manipulation. The finesse of control and perception doubles at every level.]

[-Telekinesis lvl3: It becomes possible to control objects remotely via the Spirit Body. At Spirit Body and Physical Body equivalent, it is only possible to exert 200% (100% at lvl2) of the Physical Body's strength. Control is not limited to simple actions anymore. The effect doubles at each level.]

[-Accelerated Healing lvl3: It is possible to heal even the most lethal and disabling wounds by burying oneself underground in a warm space. At lvl 3, the Passive Regeneration ability operates without any need to bury oneself. This passive recovery can now regenerate limbs and is no longer discounted. Dependent on the environment, the body's tolerance to heat, radiation and the quality of the soil.]

[Spirit of Revenge: After a defeat, and if the host's will has not wavered, the bloodline will be greatly stimulated.]

First, his Grade 8 Bloodline had finally ranked up to Grade 9. Jake still didn't know what defined the Grade of a Bloodline, but he hadn't yet encountered any Bloodline above Grade 8, the only exception being Tim's Beskyrian Bloodline which was already at Grade 8 despite being only 20% pure.

In addition to earth, his powers now also extended to metals. It was an ability he had longed for. His physical and mental faculties had doubled, which explained his feeling of lightness and mental clarity.

But what justified Grade 9 in his opinion was the drastic changes in the Bloodline Skills: Aether and Soul Tribute as well as Accelerated Silver Myrtharian decline.

For starters, all of his Myrtharian Skills were now stamped with " Silver ", which was not the case before. But most importantly, getting a fixed fraction of any enemy's Aether and Soul meant that he could now slaughter absolutely anything to raise his Aether stats. He no longer had to limit himself to worthy opponents.

As for "decline", it was even more shocking that the skill had actually regressed. He was now less penalized by his negative emotions, while the benefit of a positive mindset had been doubled again.

This time though, Jake also felt that his Bloodline had almost reached its limit. It was an instinct that stemmed from his gut and he was pretty sure that the cap on his Silver Myrtharian Bloodline was level 4.

After familiarizing himself with the changes, Jake tested all his skills one by one to gauge the difference. The results proved to be beyond satisfying. By the time he finished running his tests, the room he was in had completely melted.

Just as Jake was about to rebuild everything to challenge his brand new Earth Control, someone knocked on his door. Scanning the intruder with his mind, he recognized Carmin.