The Oracle Paths

Asleep, the young woman's soft face was a wonder of nature, her pale, albeit faintly grayish complexion glistening like diamond dust in the dimness of the man-made cavern. Her curves were hidden by her natural chitin armor and she was still just over four meters tall, but Jake could already make out the two silver protrusions growing behind her back.

"Only two wings..." He murmured with slight relief.

That meant she hadn't had time to digest much Blood Essence from that mysterious Digestor. A Digestor could digest anything and assimilate its essence, whether it was its DNA or its Aether Code.

The great strength of these beings was not that they could digest everything, but that they could decide what to do with it. The genetic and Aetheric material extracted from their victims formed a subconscious database that they could instinctively recombine to achieve various evolutions. Only when their mind was set would the mutation finally take place.

Low Rank Digestors were too stupid in the brain to make these choices consciously, and the result was usually random, depending on what they had consumed most often or what was predominant in their environment. Digestors with intelligence were different, able to intentionally choose the combination of bloodlines that best suited them.

Ruby, as a Digestor Trojan, did not have the advanced and omnipotent digestion abilities of the Digestors, but on a subconscious level she could already choose what to keep from the bloodlines she consumed. By devouring this strange Digestor, she had not become an angelic monster, retaining her original human appearance except for a few subtleties.

In addition to her budding wings, he also noticed a dim white gleam in her pupils when he opened her eyelids. The joints of her knees, ankles, elbows, phalanges, neck and shoulders were covered with a strange grayish padding with the hard, rubbery texture of a tire.

Her body also seemed to be more robust than before while being more slender than the Throsgenian influence of her bloodline would suggest. Her body temperature had also risen, her cells constantly emitting a warm radiance as the ground beneath her slowly froze.

Even without his intervention, Jake could already tell that when Ruby woke up she would be much stronger. However, compared to his meteoric progress he was not at all worried.

'Now we just have to hope that Caphriel's blood will make a difference.'

Taking advantage of her unconsciousness, Jake opened up her mouth and poured in a drop of Blood Essence from the Virtue of Aurae. Nothing happened, but Jake was in no hurry. Monitoring her changes, he waited patiently cross-legged for the digestion to take place.

He couldn't access her status when she was in this Digestor guise, but he could always scan her manually with his Oracle Scan. With his Myrtharian Eyes he could also easily see what was going on inside her organs and track her Aether flow.

With his eyes riveted on her stomach, he watched the digestion process with great fascination, comparing it to his own. The walls of her stomach gave off an extreme cold, accompanied by a viscous stomach acid that was a bit special because it was able to maintain its liquid state at a temperature close to absolute zero. Caphriel's blood drop was immediately frozen.

Minutes passed and soon the Blood Essence was sucked dry of all its thermal heat. Five minutes later, it began to disintegrate, emitting a bright energy that was absorbed by Ruby's small intestine. The digestion was complete.

The nutrients and Aether particles entered her cells and then vanished without a trace. Even when he tried to scan her cells more thoroughly, he got a blurry and confusing result.

[The Digestor Bloodline protects itself from intrusion. Even if we understand theoretically how it works, we can't observe it. At least not with an Oracle Scan this weak]. Xi explained placidly, sensing his discontent.

"It would be handy if I could digest more Blood Essence in the same way." Jake confessed enviously.

He was confident that he could digest Blood Essence even faster, but he would only get a temporary power boost. Even if he could find a way to digest it perfectly, he would have no control over the changes it would trigger in his current bloodline. The result might not be to his liking.

'Better wait for the Ordeal to be over and check it all out with Cekt.' He repeated to himself for solace with little conviction.

About an hour later, a second pair of wings began to sprout on Ruby's back. Unlike the first pair, which was a dark metallic gray, the second pair was slightly golden. The grayish pallor of her skin had also turned a little pink, regaining a healthy glow.

The chitin covering her body turned golden little by little, while taking the shape of an exquisite and tight armor much more refined. Her long silky hair, which had always been white, ironically took on the same color as Jake's, with golden streaks dotting her silver hair. If it weren't for the fact that his skin was much more tanned, you'd think they were brother and sister.

"Looks like Caphriel's Blood Essence worked." Jake's face twitched as he saw how much they looked alike.

[You can risk waking her up, but if you suspect anything use the Spirit Shell.] Xi reminded him carefully.

"Don't worry, I wasn't going to forget." Jake smiled.

He was supposed to make her drink the potion provided by Vexa every three hours, but this time he waited for the effect to wear off instead of dosing her again. He still had a few drops of the sedative potion left and considering its formidable potency he decided to store it carefully for later use.

Who knows? It might get them out of a dire predicament in the future.

Soon Ruby's eyelids began to twitch and Jake became alert, wiring his mind to the Spirit Shell to prepare to subdue her at the first sign of any threat. A few seconds later, the young woman opened her eyes and met his gaze.

They stared at each other for a long while without either moving, then Ruby said,

"Thank you. I haven't felt this calm in a long time."

Jake nodded but did not let his guard down. Although there was no hatred or killing intent in her eyes, her current appearance was still that of a Digestor.

"I am in control." The corner of her lip curved upward at the sight of his wariness.

"Forgive me for doubting you, but it wouldn't be the first time a smart Digestor tried to fool a Player." Jake retorted flatly without letting himself be swayed. "Maybe the Digestor inside you used those two new angelic bloodlines to become more calculating, learning to masquerade as a harmless sheep."

The innocent smile dropped at once and she glared at him. Jake detected a trace of killing intent, but compared to before it was definitely weaker. But at least this time he could determine that the Digestor was still there. It was much stronger than before, but its killing intent had certainly weakened.

Now, it was not too much to hope for. Although Caphriel was a deeply benevolent angel willing to do good, she was not incorruptible either. Before she gave him her Blood Essence, she had warned him that an angel was influenced by the entity from which it derived its divine powers.

If Aurae didn't recognize her, the higher Digestor that provided her second angelic bloodline would undoubtedly have the upper hand. That was why Jake immediately gave the following instruction,

"You're still my slave, so let me check your Oracle Status while repressing your Digestor part."

Ruby flinched, but after a short reflection she complied with a reproachful pout. Jake carefully read her Oracle Status and found new Bloodline Abilities at the bottom.

[Servant of Aurae lvl1: You serve the will of Aurae and therefore cannot betray its interests. In exchange, you can access a fraction of its power and even summon it directly by making an appropriate offering.]

[System Alteration lvl1 : Aurae's gift allows you to easily alter the parameters of the world around you, from the algorithm of a machine to the physical laws of the universe, provided you are able to fully understand them.]

[System Deciphering lvl1 : Aurae's gift grants you an innate ease to understand and decipher the laws and parameters of the universe around you. Everything that can be encompassed by a system is now accessible to your understanding.]

[Electromagnetic Control lvl1]

[Lightning Control lvl 1]

Jake drew a sharp breath as he finished reading. Being an Angel of Aurae didn't provide many abilities, but except for the first one which was more of a drawback, the next two were almost like a cheat code.

As for the last two skills, he guessed it had to do with the fact that Aurae was most likely an android. He hadn't reacted at the time, but Ruby's Metal Manipulation had also been significantly enhanced.

He then looked for skills related to her Digestor Bloodline, but as usual they were omitted from the list. Whatever powers this Digestor entity conferred, he had no way of discovering them until Ruby used them in front of him.

In the meantime, with Aurae's support, Jake concluded that he could now trust her again. That is, until her Digestor self became strong enough to completely corrupt her angelic nature...