The Oracle Paths

By far the most shocking change was regarding his species. After his appearance changed so drastically and the Myrtharian Body Passive disappeared from the Myrtharian Nerds' Faction Skill list, he expected the changes to be pretty substantial on that side, but not so much that the name would sound so alien and foreign to the ear.

And what the hell was that D in the middle of the species name? Didn't Cosmic Starfeyrves sound awkward enough?

He didn't really mean it. Xi and Jake immediately came to the conclusion that it simply referred to the D in Digestor. What else could it mean? It just seemed that the Oracle System needed to censor itself for some reason.

As for his body, his height had really decreased this time. This was not the result of a Miniaturization or Body Compression Skill. The implications of this were not to be underestimated.

Especially combined with the more than 4-fold increase in his pre-mutation weight. Right now, his body was so dense and compact that not a single ore from Quanoth was able to scratch his skin, or rather his chitin scales.

After skimming over the rest of his new Status, his gaze roamed a second time over his stats, leaving him puzzled. Some of his stats, like his Strength had dropped, while others like his Intelligence had been multiplied by a factor of over 20.

At first glance, it looked like his physical strength had decreased, but the reference point of his stats had changed again. This was no longer a level 1 jobless human adult native of Quanoth but an average Fourth Ordeal Player.

Seeing this, Jake didn't know whether to laugh or cry. What the hell did "average" Fourth Ordeal Player mean? If he didn't know what the average Fourth Ordeal Player was worth, what was the point of this new metric? And more importantly, had he even asked for it? The Oracle System seemed to arbitrarily decide such details without asking the main person.

"Xi, is it possible to find out more about the average level of a Fourth Ordeal Player?" Jake asked his Oracle AI, hoping that the Oracle System would not make it difficult for him.

[Mmm... Let me see...] Xi replied, beginning to comb through the Archives at her disposal. Now that her connection to the Oracle System was restored, she could consult them freely again.

After a few seconds, she sent him a packet of data. Opening it, Jake understood why the reference system had changed. It was normal. After the fourth Ordeal, the Oracle would use the current Ordeal's Players to compare the participants. Because he had "completed" the Main Mission of his Fourth Ordeal, the Oracle System treated him as a Player who had graduated from his tutorial, even though he had not yet left the world of the current Ordeal.

"Still, an average Fourth Ordeal Player is just too weak." Jake was speechless after reading the data transmitted by Xi.

Using the old stats system that Jake used in his early days, the average Fourth Ordeal Player had average Aether Stats of only 227, and stats (Body Stats*Soul Class Coefficient* Spirit Body level) of 96, which was 9.6 times higher than that of an adult human from Earth.

Considering that a Tier 1 Soul Class combined with a lvl 10 Spirit Body was enough to double or triple one or several Body Stats, it was really not much. This meant that not only did the average Fourth-Ordal Player have a body quality barely above that of an Earth Athlete, but their Aether Stats were well below the minimum Aether density (1000) of the current Ordeal. Their Spirit Body was also subpar.

This made Jake realize that the Ordeal on Quanoth they had just experienced was not at all representative of what the average Player was going through. Jake and his companions had long since surpassed the norm and it was completely pointless to compare themselves to these cannon fodder.

"Xi, adjust my stats using a Fifth Ordeal Player as a reference." He ordered calmly.

[No problem. Wait a minute... It's done.]

Jake inspected his Status again, but found that his stats were still high even after he changed the reference. The average Fifth-Ordeal Player had stats 5.6 times higher than a Fourth-Ordeal Player and Aether stats of 5238 points.

The difference between a non-lethal tutorial Ordeal and a life-threatening Ordeal was clearly visible. The average Fourth-Ordeal Player didn't care if his Aether stats were lower than the Aether density of the current Ordeal because he knew it wouldn't penalize him.

In contrast, the average Fifth-Ordeal Player had Aether stats that were higher than the Aether density of a Fifth-Ordeal World. Furthermore, their stats were at least 5 times higher while the average Fourth-Ordeal Player's body was only 2-3 times stronger than a First-Ordeal Player's.

"Use a Sixth-Ordeal Player as a reference." Jake asked next, his curiosity having gotten the better of him. He wanted to know where his authority ended.

[I can't.] Xi's negative answer disappointed him very much.

He stood silent for a minute to think, and then after some thought attempted another, more specific request,

"In that case, use a Fourth-Ordeal Player in the top 0.01% of Quanoth as your reference."

This was the conclusion Jake had just come to. In an Ordeal, there were usually several million participants. More than 9.8 million in Quanoth alone, which only had elite Players.

Using the top 0.01% as a benchmark, he only had to worry about 1000 players. It made things a lot easier.

[Right away.] Xi confirmed that this was possible.

This time Jake saw a noticeable drop in his own adjusted stats. Unsurprisingly, a Player in the top 0.01% was nothing like the average Player. Looking at his own Ordeal, minutes before the final battle began there were still tens of thousands of survivors. The number of winners being 578, the top 0.01% could be considered the elite of the elite.

[Spirit Body level: 50>73]

[Species: Cosmic D Starfeyrves]

[ Physique: Cosmic D Starfeyrves Body lvl1]

[ Height: 2.00 meters]

[ Weight: 18689kg> 78658kg]

[Soul Class: Rune Aetherist]

[Strength: 376.04]

[Agility: 619.78]

[Constitution: 1 310]

[Vitality: 990]

[Intelligence: 6 000]

[Perception: 800]

[Extrasensory Perception: 425]

[Luck: 1.75]

[Aether Stats: 128 900]

[Energy: Grade 10]

[Reference for a top 0.01% Fourth Ordeal Player: Stats= 1 point. Aether stats=5,289 points, Spirit Body level= 43]

Now Jake found his status much more readable. His interest was piqued and he immediately tried to request an even more elitist benchmark such as the top 0.0001% or 0.00001% but was met with failure.

[Authorization denied.] Xi announced. [Your Oracle Rank is insufficient.]

Jake thought about what she had just said and realized that it made sense. In Lost Divinities alone, there were quite a few Players with an Oracle Rank higher than his. If he could get information about them through this indirect means, wouldn't that be a form of cheating?

Anyway, his curiosity was sated. Now he wanted to know about his new bloodline. The report about it left him breathless.

[Grade ??? Cosmic D Starfeyrves Bloodline: Level 1]

[Cosmic D Starfeyrves Body lvl1: A highly morphable body combining multiple bloodlines and able to adapt to any environment. Your digestive abilities allow you to digest anything in a short time and store all genetic and energetic information about the objects consumed. Your cells can now passively store, purify and absorb anything with sufficient time and together possess the drawing power of a Grade 10 Energy Core. Even without doing anything, the body will continue to grow stronger without limit]

[Cosmic D Starfeyrves Spirit Body lvl1: The Spirit Body can absorb any type of energy and as the physical body this ability equals that of a Grade 10 Energy Core. As a result, any spiritual injury recovers almost instantly as long as this ability is not compromised. Without doing anything, the Spirit Body continuously strengthens (currently 123 times stronger than that of a normal human).]

[Cosmic D Starveyrves Soul lvl1: Very strong Energy, Cosmic, Life and Space Attribute. Able to feed on any Energy to continuously strengthen and regenerate.]

[Bloodline Skills:]

[Accelerated Cosmic D Starfeyrves Growth lvl1: As soon as the body finds itself in a situation where it must adapt, its growth rate increases markedly. 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]

[Energy and Soul Tribute: A defeated enemy will surrender all his energy and soul to the bloodline holder]

[Cosmic D Starfeyrves Trance lvl1: The stronger the desire to adapt, defeat an enemy, the stronger the body, mind and abilities of a Cosmic D Starfeyrves become once this ability is activated]