The Oracle Paths

Neither Jake nor anyone else tried to console her. Not even the two sisters she got along with. They were also upset, Esya clearly holding back from crying and hugging her, but they both understood that this would only complicate things.

Kyle, who had known her the longest and even had an affair with her, was perhaps the most cold-hearted of all. Deep down, he'd always thought that her bitchiness would eventually bring her bad luck. It had just happened sooner than expected.

"Where are you going to go?" Jake asked in a slightly concerned tone. He still had some manners.

With no Faction and no Floating Island, she would have ended up on the street if she hadn't amassed a tidy sum of Aether. Sarah gave it some thought for a bit before answering determinedly,

"I'm going to join New Earth and enlist in the army. Obeying orders will keep me from thinking and at least I'll be closer to my family."

Jake nodded, also realizing that he didn't know much about her. All this time, he had never bothered to ask her if she had lost anyone close to her since the advent of the Oracle Devices and the trip to B842.

In truth, he hadn't really been paying attention to his comrades. If Kyle hadn't told him about his sister's precarious situation, he never would have known, let alone sought it out. Enya and Esya still had their parents and even a bunch of soldiers who could theoretically do their bidding, but no emissaries from the Velsyos Empire had visited them until now. He didn't know what their families thought of their actions.

As for Will, he knew even less about the businessman. He was clearly a career-minded, hardened bachelor, but he had never mentioned his family or friends. With the Mirror Universe, silence often meant bad news. Not bothering them with awkward questions was a tactful thing for him to do, but now he realized that sometimes those questions might be necessary.

He was the Faction's leader after all. He needed to know how his subordinates and friends felt to avoid repeating this kind of situation. Because Will had been handling all this very well, he had let him do so, but history had shown that the businessman was far from infallible.

From now on, he would get more personally involved in the management of his Faction and would make his presence more noticeable. But to do that, he first had to make an apology.

"I'm sorry Kevin for killing you." Jake calmly apologized without trying to exonerate himself or mope around in fake tears.

With his body control he was definitely capable of it, but he despised that kind of lowliness. Besides, his cousin was rather the type to favor straightforwardness.

"And I'm sorry I ate Svara." Kevin chuckled awkwardly with no hard feelings. If anything, he was relieved. Cannibalism was not an act so easily forgiven and it would take time for him to accept this part of himself.

Hearing his Slave's name, Jake suddenly remembered where he had left her, and hastily inspected his Purgatory without finding anyone inside. The Servant Contracts he had established during the Ordeal were all gone by virtue of the clause terminating them upon the Ordeal's conclusion.

He also did not detect the Old Fluid Ghost that had taken refuge within his body. It was a pity, but he had indeed not signed any contract with the ghost. Jake had appreciated his undercover skills, though, and would regret his absence.

If he had more Ordeal Credits he would have likely purchased an Aether Skill or a special dimension to store his summonses and other servant spirits, but that didn't mean he couldn't buy one directly from the Oracle Store at full price. He would ask Will about it later.

The awkwardness between the two cousins resolved, there remained their second cousin Vincent who hadn't said a word since their return. Jake blinked in wonder as he realized he had no idea when exactly they had lost track of him.

"I survived to the end by flying to one of the abandoned Rivaean ships from previous expeditions." Vincent replied with a sudden blush after the others raised the question.

"Say you got lost instead!" Kevin guffawed as he patted his shoulder heavily.

The Water Elf glared at him but refrained from commenting. Meanwhile, Sarah took the opportunity to slip away. With a flash of light, she disappeared inside the Yellow Cube, leaving a trail of tears in her wake. She had not said a word, but clearly it had not been easy.

After she left, a chill settled over the group, but Will quickly regained his composure and invited them to recount their Ordeal. Accepting the suggestion wholeheartedly, everyone began to tell the story of their previous Ordeal from the time they separated to the crucial moment of their rewards.

"Tim?"

Feeling the stares of the others, the teenager winked at Lily and bragged with a show-off,

"790 rating points. I am now a respectable Command Sergeant Major."

"Oracle Rank 11... Not bad." Jake nodded approvingly. "If you hadn't died, you might have earned one more Rank. Any special reward?"

"Just an Aether Soul Core and some extra Aether Skills to round out my Bloodline." Tim explained with a contrite smile. "Speaking of which, I'd like to talk to you about my solution later..."

"Okay."

Jake knew very well why he was grimming. His Beskyrian Bloodline was incomplete, but the Ordeal Store didn't seem willing to help him solve that problem. The Aether Skills and Encodings he'd gotten were just tinkering until he could find something better.

After Tim, it was Lily and her father's turn to announce their results. Lily had unfortunately been eliminated too early, but she had still achieved several milestones. With a rating of just under 300, she was very close to Oracle Rank 9.

Daniel had survived almost to the end but was initially one Rank lower than his daughter due to his death in the middle of the Second Ordeal. His performance was much better, though low-key before the grand finale, and he had successfully reached Oracle Rank 9. Thanks to his masterful sacrifice, he had saved his comrades and avenged his daughter by seriously injuring Tootega. No one knew how he did it, but it didn't stop him from being killed by the Inuit woman.

"I hurt her with this." Daniel stoically revealed as he emptied the barrel of a long silver revolver with a majestic rose painted on it.

The gun wasn't the most important thing, although a strange energy did seem to flow inside. The bullets in it were far more interesting.

No two were alike, each with a different Aetheric signature. Curious, each of them took one of these bullets to analyze and an express scan told Jake that what he was holding was a Holy Bullet.

[Holy Bullet: A pure Oranium bullet soaked in a tear from the River God Eridan which has been enhanced by the Aether Spells: Liquefaction, Bleed and Tumult. These bullets work on supernatural entities Reusable 3 times.]

As he compared with the results of the other Holy Bullets, he discovered that they were all forged from pure Oranium, but the rest of the process was different each time. Sometimes it was simply an Aether Spell or two added, but two other bullets had also been dipped in a god's tears.

Jake frowned as he picked up the word "god" several times. There was a minor river god named Eridan in Greek mythology, but that could also be a coincidence or a nickname a Player had chosen for himself. On the scale of the Mirror Universe even the improbable became possible.

'Xi, is it possible that there is some truth to the various religions and mythologies on Earth?' He couldn't help but philosophize.

Sharing his mind, she knew full well what was bothering him.

[If you were to return to Earth in the past as you are today, you would surely be perceived as a God. It's not impossible that some Evolvers or Players have strayed to Earth in the past, but if so, the Oracle has surely sanctioned them since. A simple coincidence is more likely. With the vastness of the Mirror Universe, you can be sure that everything imaginable probably exists somewhere. Just like the Fluid web that links individuals together, the Dream Aether also contains a lot of information. It's not impossible that some enlightened people from that time had some kind of enlightenment.]

At this point, Xi hesitated for a second as she carefully considered a possibility before shaking her head.

'What were you thinking?'

[Never mind I don't remember. Some kind of veil prevents me from accessing those memories. Your Oracle Rank is still too low. Just know that the term God has a very serious connotation in the Mirror Universe. A true god would not sell his tears to make cheap Holy Bullets. This Eridan is surely a promising Evolver, but certainly not as strong as his title claims.]

After this mental chat, Jake then listened to the results of Kyle, Kevin, Vincent and the two sisters.

Miraculously, Kyle had survived to the end and even managed to hit Nylreg with the futuristic bazooka he had swiped from Yotai Shien 3. Because his Oracle Rank was the lowest, his Ordeal Missions were much easier and his feats much better rewarded. Just hitting Nylreg and surviving to the end had earned him a bonus of 400 rating points alone. In total, he had earned 730 credits. Enough to reach Rank 10.

Kevin had performed well despite his loss of control and came out with 710 rating points. Vincent had been more discreet, but had survived until the very end and participated in the fight against the Inquisitors Croyorn and Oxium. With 730 points, his performance was also top tier. Both had reached Oracle Rank 11.

As for Enya and Esya, they had excelled in this Ordeal and participated in all the key stages of the Ordeal. Their pink flame at the end had allowed Jake to recover enough to injure Nylreg once again, creating a fatal opportunity for the Minerva-Ostrexora combo.

Will had an intermediate performance. Because of his limited fighting potential and being deprived of his dragon for most of the Ordeal had not really helped him to shine. Getting killed by Sarah at the end had also greatly penalized him.

Hence, with only 455 Rating points, he had barely reached Oracle Rank 10. Next to his excellent performance in the previous Ordeal this was a somewhat mediocre result.

Then came the time for him to announce his own results and unsurprisingly an incredulous dead silence replaced the friendly atmosphere they had struggled to create. A few seconds later, Tim couldn't help but grumble grumpily,

"Why do I get the feeling you're luckier than me?"