The Oracle Paths

Jake first met Lucia's worried gaze staring alternately at them, while she stood with her hands clasped as if praying to the heavens for a miracle. He didn't know if she was fretting over him or Asfrid, though.

"W-who won?" Lucia urged them nervously.

Gerulf ruffled her hair, which soothed her markedly.

"Look at their eyes. The winner is obvious." The former gladiator grunted matter-of-factly.

Ulfar, patiently waiting his turn, had lost his condescension. He hadn't taken his eyes off Jake and Asfrid since the end of their game. As the King of Beskyr, he knew what this tablet was capable of. He himself had no pretensions of being able to defeat this uptight priestess on her favorite playground. As he feared, Asfrid admitted defeat a few seconds later.

"I lost. You passed my test, or rather I failed yours." She confessed publicly without showing the slightest emotion.

If Jake hadn't seen her lashing out at him like a raving lunatic in that tablet, he might have fallen for it. Asfrid obviously knew what was going through her opponent's mind and she hastened to proclaim, more humbly this time,

"If you still agree, the Eltarians will join the Myrtharian Nerds."

Jake may have been resentful, but he had benefited greatly from this "test" in this tablet. Whether it was Lucia or Will, convincing the Eltarians to join them had always been their intention. Lucia treated this priestess as a sort of aunt, so he couldn't be too adamant.

"Request accepted. Welcome aboard." He smiled amiably.

When Asfrid saw his gaze lingering on the black tablet, she guessed his intentions and took the initiative to offer it to him. Putting it firmly in his hands, she said with a flat tone,

"Take it."

Jake was eager to study the black tablet and verify whether or not it was an Aether Artifact, but he had to keep up appearances first.

"You don't have to. This tablet is probably extremely valuable to your people." He put on a pained countenance as he pretended to refuse to accept such a gift.

His acting was as fake as it gets, but few in the audience were able to notice the rare flaws in his micro expressions. Of course, this did not include Asfrid and Ulfar.

"I never take back a gift that has already been given." Asfrid played along with a twitching face. "Besides, this tablet is not the only one in my possession. I have another one left."

She did not inform him, however, that the remaining tablets owned by her people were much more ordinary. It was possible to game with them, but the simulated map size, the AI of the NPCs inside, and the time flow were much more limited.

This black tablet also had other much more important functions. She hadn't lied when she said it was just a duplicate of the original, but what she hadn't said was that their ancestor Eltar had made this tablet himself.

At her heartbroken reaction, Jake didn't insist and stowed away the tablet. He would have plenty of time to study it later. He wasn't a selfish monster either.

"Let's just say I'm borrowing it for now. If any of you need it, you are free to come to me. I'll place it in the Faction Vault. Asfrid, make me a list of people allowed access when you can.

The priestess visibly relaxed after hearing his proposal. This tablet was really important to her and the other Eltarians.

"I hope to get my revenge on you one of these days. She joked in a much better mood. "That game, to say the least, was enlightening..."

"Sure." Jake accepted the challenge. "But it'll have to wait for a while."

At that moment, his cold eyes focused on Ulfar, who hadn't spoken a word since Asfrid's official defeat.

"So, how does the King of Beskyr plan to test me? A game? I'm not sure that's your style. If it's a gambling game, I refuse."

Ulfar spread his arms casually and chuckled valiantly.

"I'm not like those intellectual Eltarians. It's a mistake to think that because we are lucky we indulge in gambling and wagering. We love to bet, it's true, but we especially love to win. Luck is only a means to guarantee the fulfillment of our ambitions.

"So, how do we go about it?" Jake frowned.

"Let's fight." Ulfar spat out icily. "You born warriors are making another mistake. You think we depend too much on our luck and are unable to fight brutes like you head on. Let me show you how wrong you are."

Jake's frown deepened. Tim could indeed curse to death a Player far superior to him, but that feat had come at the expense of his life. Ulfar was the elite of the elite of his people, but could his luck affect reality that much?

There was only one way to find out.

"I accept the challenge." Jake declared slowly. "Where will the fight take place?"

"The arena isn't over, so let's fight here in front of everyone, okay?" Ulfar suggested neutrally, but Jake smelled a trick. Nevertheless, he accepted the proposal anyway.

"Fine, no killing allowed." Jake clarified the rules. "The winner pays for the loser's medical treatment. The fight stops as soon as one of us gives up or passes out."

The idea about paying for the loser's care was a stroke of genius he'd just had. If Ulfar was evil enough to leave him with just a spark of life in him, the astronomical healing cost would make him regret it.

Ulfar couldn't refuse these rules anyway. They were on Jake's island and the energy shield covered the entire island. This space was treated as an Oracle City, with Jake as the Oracle. He could set the rules here as he pleased.

The King of Beskyr had never intended to kill or cripple him for life, so he accepted the rules straight away. Gerulf clapped his hands and the audience backed away, while a group of Kintharians and Eltarians erected a temporary elevated arena with the materials at hand.

The process took only a few minutes and a circular rock base about 25 meters in diameter and raised about 2 meters appeared in the center of the crowd. They then proceeded to build some makeshift bleachers for the spectators. For a brief moment, the past glory of their world's coliseum seemed to come back to life.

Jake set up his island to isolate the arena behind another layer of energy shielding and jumped in. Ulfar silently followed him inside. By unspoken agreement, they each walked to the edge of the arena and equipped themselves for battle.

Ulfar was already wearing his skin-tight armor of leather, chain mail and dark armor plate, but this time he donned a golden-winged helmet that clashed with his long ashen gray hair and dark, drab armor. Only his deep orange eyes matched perfectly.

An unadorned longsword was planted in the rock beside him, while the white longbow he wore on his back was firmly clutched in his right fist. Several vials emitting dubious colored vapors when uncorked were then materialized in turn, their contents sliding down the Beskyrian's gullet as he chugged them.

Having no qualms, Jake scanned the empty vials and more than a few uncanny descriptions popped up in his mind.

[Wight Decoction: Makes you temporarily immortal and immune to pain. Drastically increases physical strength. Side effects : High probability of ending up infected and becoming undead, if an antidote is not consumed in time. Long term intoxication if consumed too frequently.]

[Leshen Decoction: Low probability that the damage suffered is reflected back to the attacker. Long term intoxication if consumed too frequently.]

[Greywraith Decoction: Low probability of being immune to the Knockdown, Hypnosis, Stun and Blindness effects. Long term intoxication if consumed too frequently.]

The dozens of potions Ulfar ingested next were in the same vein, conferring abilities more broken than the last, but conditioned to a low probability. Any of these beverages would have been treated as a lethal poison to be used as a last resort, but the King of Beskyr downed them as if they were fruit juice.

The problem was that the notion of probability meant nothing to a Beskyrian. His luck was probably so high that a low likelihood of benefit meant a 100% chance of success, while a high likelihood of side effects meant none.

Jake had never underestimated Ulfar, but as the drastic effects of these potions began to compound, he began to sweat profusely. Some boosted his reflexes, others his vitality, strength, or speed. Others made him invulnerable to the elements, heck there was even one that made him even luckier. Some of these samples were even mutagens comparable to the essence of a potent bloodline.

Ulfar's appearance showed marked signs of intoxication and his skin had taken on the rocky texture of a golem, while his orange irises had turned red like those of a vampire. His body had doubled in size, but his armor had followed the growth spurt, proving that this was no normal artifact. His hands had doubled in size and were covered in blue fur, while his fingernails had become long eagle-like talons. An aura of pure evil gushed forth from his being, threatening to engulf his consciousness should his luck run out.

"Let's have a good fight, Jake." Ulfar chuckled evilly.