The Oracle Paths

"Thaaaaanks, master!" The two clowns shrieked half-heartedly in unison, landing with an audible splash in a mud puddle about fifty meters below.

The passing wave had drenched the entire region, turning the ground into pure sludge, although right now it looked more like diarrhea. To illustrate, the tree on which he perched was slowly sinking into the ground, which had become too soft to support its weight despite its widespread roots. As for the fact that it was leaning dangerously, its trunk might have been damaged by the wave...

Temporarily ignoring the two idiots, Jake moved from one spot to another with supersonic steps in the air, collecting all the residual Water Lumyst. It turned out to be a substantial amount. From just a few seconds of Lumyst accumulation, he had gathered the equivalent of several weeks of cultivation in an instant.

However, Jake soon discovered that converting Water Lumyst into the far superior Cosmic Lumyst left something to be desired. At a guess, the tsunami had contained hundreds of years' worth of Water Lumyst, against the few weeks of Cosmic Lumyst at the end.

Moreover, converting one type of Lumyst into another wasn't instantaneous either. The Water Lumyst easily integrated with Cosmic Lumyst, serving as fuel to amplify its performance, but the actual fusion took much longer. A bit like water and oil struggling to mix.

That was, among other reasons, why his current Lumyst was composed of several colors. When he had urgently experimented with Breath Of Living Elements, he had produced various types of Lumyst quickly, hence the result.

All these different Lumysts now had to coexist in his body. Each time they were concentrated at the end of a circulation cycle in his heart to be filtered by his Lumyst Core, Jake felt a slight discomfort in his chest.

Nothing to worry about at the moment, but enough to understand that all these different types of Lumyst in the same body did not make good bedfellows. In the end, Lumyst was not also the ultimate energy source without drawbacks he had dreamed of.

'Fortunately, Cosmic Lumyst can assimilate most elemental Lumysts.' Jake rationalized, deciding to rethink this problem later when the time was more appropriate.

Added to this was the default Life Attribute with which all Lumyst was partly impregnated, giving the sense of vigorous lifeforce in the natives of the Lustra Plains. The term 'Living Elements' in Breath of Living Elements wasn't there for decoration.

Despite his advances, Jake had a hunch that he had only skimmed the surface of the potential that Lumyst offered, as well as its possible drawbacks. At least for now, there were two significant drawbacks confirmed, or advantages depending on the viewpoint, of which he had already seen the effects on the battlefield.

A hybrid Lumyst containing all sorts of properties like his Cosmic Lumyst, could not be used to conjure specific spells and elements for which its nature theoretically made it capable. To produce fire or light, he would be better off generating Fire or Light Lumyst directly.

That was why his Lumyst sword had caused such unpredictable impacts on the environment. It contained so many elemental and magical properties, ranging from traditional elements, to the rarer elements of life, space, time, and energy. At some point, he had even subconsciously mixed into it a trace of what he thought to be Destruction Lumyst.

Which led him to the second unpractical point: Lumyst of a given attribute could physically produce the element corresponding to it. Water Lumyst essentially released its energy in the form of water, but in what form did Jake's hybrid Cosmic Lumyst release its own?

They had seen the outcome a little earlier: A spatial rift affecting local time and space, followed by a lethal explosion reminiscent of the creation of the big bang.

If Jake based his first result on this, certainly satisfying at the moment, he would have a hard time using this Lumyst for anything other than annihilating his enemies, or mass destruction.

Nevertheless curious about the result, Jake, having verified that Crunch and Lord Phenix were no longer in danger, flew towards the epicenter of the explosion to examine in detail the aftermath of his fight against River's Bane. Apart from a smooth crater two kilometers in diameter where the rock seemed to have been completely vitrified by a very high heat, everything seemed okay. He noted, however, the alarming levels of radiation saturating the area.

[The vast amount of liquid conjured by this Titan before its death served as a buffer for your attack.] Xi expressed on his behalf, taking the words out of his mouth. [The tsunami that hit us was much lighter than expected.]

If Anthace, the protective tree of Lustris that had sacrificed many of its roots facing this tsunami, had heard his comment, he would have undoubtedly unleashed a tirade of curses and venomous words against the impudent woman.

There were also two aghast Soulmancers up there in the sky, witness to the whole scene, still trying to cope and make sense of what they had just witnessed...

*****

"Ahem... Meribelle... I think we have our answer... Right?!" Giso swallowed anxiously, trying to maintain a forced smile, his voice so hoarse one might think he hadn't spoken in several years.

The young woman floating concealed high in the clouds had stopped reacting a long time ago, not even registering her companion's words. It was only after he repeated his phrase several times, shaking her violently, that she emerged from her stunned bewilderment with great difficulty.

Pale as a ghost, she recovered her bearings as best she could, then whispered in an unstable voice,

"He's..."

"W-what? I didn't hear what you just said. Speak up." Giso had heard very well regardless the barely audible whisper of the young woman, but honestly? He would have preferred to be deaf.

A trace of resigned anger flashed in the haggard eyes of Meribelle, the blood flow bringing a little color back to her ashen face, then she snapped icily,

"Cut it out! You heard very well. Jake is stronger than the Soulmancer King!"

Giso's stiff smile collapsed at once upon receiving this admission from his usually stoic and composed comrade. If this fake Soulmancer King was stronger than the Soulmancer King himself, then knowing who among this guy or the other outsider deserved their support was no longer relevant...

Their plan had backfired!

"Are you sure about that?" Giso's voice almost broke as he made her reconfirm, his black hair drenched and whipped by the frozen wind of high altitudes making him look miserable.

The Soulmancer specialized in infiltration and tracking had long since lost his cloak during the explosion. Their stealth depending on this artifact, the pair had become visible a long time ago, but neither of them cared.

Meribelle remained silent for a short time, lost in her thoughts, then nodded with extreme solemnity,

"More sure than I've ever been. You saw like me what just happened. If my eyes do not deceive me, he just killed River's Bane. Even for the Celestial it was a thorn in the foot that he had been carrying in vain for several thousand years. This man-eating squid was part of the scenery like the sun and the moon and no one dared to question his impunity regardless all its crimes."

"I feel like the Soulmancer King and the Celestial are still stronger..." Giso contested hesitantly, more for not giving in to despair than real conviction.

Meribelle gave him a sidelong look without saying a word.

"What?! " The assassin was vexed, realizing the stupidity of his remark.

Not taking offense at his lack of respect, the young woman projected her gaze where a Jake still measuring over 25 meters high was carefully inspecting his 'work' with a black cat and orange turkey waiting patiently for him to finish. Her gaze then drifted to the vitrified crater, then the rest of the region devastated by the passage of the tsunami and its blast, and declared with glum resignation,

"Even if you were right, it will no longer be the case in a few days or weeks. These foreigners progress too fast. And that one is an anomaly even among them. Unless we can assert with 100% guarantee that we can eliminate him here and now, we must face the facts. His rise... is unstoppable."

"So what do we do now?" Giso asked gloomily, suppressing his deep despair. "We continue to observe him?"

"... We go back. All we have to do now is faithfully report to the Soulmancer King everything we have just witnessed. H..e will decide the rest."