The Oracle Paths

"The Stele?" Jake and the other Myrtharian Nerds stared at him without showing any semblance of excitement.

If this was the same Prophetic Stele they had visited during the Ordeal, then it was definitely an amazing place they should definitely revisit. However, it had never bothered them too much.

Simply because until now, touching a Stele had always been free and Steles were not rare on the continent. In fact, they were everywhere, in every town and village and even in the wildest and most reclusive parts of the Wilderness.

"Yes the Stele of Aurae near the fountain!" Ulfar beamed as he looked at them with a big grin. "You may not know what it is, but it's an incredible monument that grants a Soul Class. It can significantly boost your stats based on your Spirit Body level while giving you new abilities in the process. It really blows your mind, doesn't it?"

Lucia, Enya, Will, and Hephais judged him with their eyes as if he were a dimwit. Ryne, who was new to the group, didn't dare offend him and modestly cleared her throat to remind the lucky warrior,

"Far be it from me to disappoint you, but there are, or rather were millions of Steles scattered all over Quanoth. Unrestricted access and... free."

A breeze blew during the silence, giving Ulfar an overwhelming feeling of loneliness. His despondent face was a shadow of its former self, his joy long gone.

"Free?"

"Hmm." The other Myrtharian Nerds and even Wyatt, Carmin, Ashun and Ryne nodded in unison as they all looked at him with pity.

The King of Beskyr froze in place with his mouth agape for a moment, then exploded with rage,

"By the balls of Beskyr! Are you fucking kidding me?! Do you have any idea how many Contribution Points I had to collect to be able to touch that damn Stele?! I'll tell you! 100 points! 100 ! That's 10 billion Aether points. And that was only the first time! The second time, it cost me 1,000! A thousand, damn it!"

Ulfar's voice broke and his eyes welled up with tears in front of his flabbergasted audience. Seeing such an old and hardened chap having an existential crisis in front of them was not pleasant at all. If anything, it made them uneasy, making them want to get the hell out of here.

"Dad... Are you okay?" Skorgeld coyly tried to talk to his father but all he garnered was a pissed-off glare from his father.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Jake and the others looked at each other looking for someone to blame, but the truth was that it was nobody's fault. They had mentioned their Soul Classes in the Faction Chat. Or at least some of the Players liked to chat and catch up on each other's accomplishments and adventures. Most, like Jake, preferred to lurk in the shadow, always online but hardly ever showing up.

Since touching the Stele was free and easy, no Player had ever mentioned this fact for the simple reason that it was something normal for them. They had never conceived the idea that it might not be the case everywhere.

Ulfar wasn't born yesterday either. When he saw their constipated expressions he realized that he could only blame his bad luck. Such irony...

"A-anyway. It's free now. Do you want to head over there with me?" The King of Beskyr dried his tears and forced himself to return to his usual cheerfulness, but no one was fooled.

"Ah, Ulfar, there you are! We couldn't find you." A soft female voice rang out from the top of the stairs the King of Beskyr had come down.

Looking in the direction of the voice, Jake and the others caught sight of two beautiful brunette twins who combined sensuality and cuteness but weren't overly vulgar. As soon as they saw Ulfar, they charged at him and threw themselves into his arms.

An elated glint flickered behind Ashun's pupils, who gleefully applauded their arrival while hopping in place.

"True love! This is beautiful!" She exclaimed, clasping her hands together near her heart as if she was deeply moved by this reunion scene.

" ... "

In contrast, Jake and the others winced as if they had just swallowed a fly. Yeah... For a minute, they had almost believed that Ulfar had spent a tough year participating in a cruel and humiliating survival game, sacrificing his happiness and pride for some Contribution Points.

Yet, it seemed that despite all the hardships he had to go through, it didn't stop him from fooling around and chasing skirts. He had even hooked up with two gorgeous twins that any man with two functional eyes would have rated 10 out of 10 in a heartbeat.

"Eleonore and Valia are looking for you too." One of the twins pinched Ulfar's cheek with a vengeful pout, while the other sister scolded him relentlessly while remaining snuggled up against his chest.

Jake and the others, now filler characters, listened with an increasingly gloomy face to the trio's admonitions and lovesick cooing and soon learned that these two lovely twins were not the only victims of the King of Beskyr. He had game and his harem included a good dozen students, including 4 female Players who had arrived at the same time as him.

"Impressive..." Will secretly gave a thumbs up.

As for the women present, with the exception of Ashun who had hearts in her eyes, they were secretly dreaming of thrashing him.

After several long minutes of hugs, smooches and sweet talk that would make the most hardcore rom-com drama aficionados throw up, Ulfar finally deigned to put an end to this outpouring of affection and made the introductions.

These two twins were named Nyx and Eris respectively and were, like Ulfar, Players who had arrived at the Divine Academy on the same day as him.

They were vague about their abilities, but with their permission, Ulfar revealed that their current Soul Classes were Fate Bender and Providence Controller. Their powers seemed to be related to the concept of destiny.

Jake saw them in a whole new light as he learned what they were capable of. Without that kind of mysterious ability of the same caliber as Ulfar's it was almost impossible to make it straight into the Divine Academy.

And the good news was that they were factionless! Well done, Ulfar! Jake was even prepared to encourage him to seduce even more female players waiting to meet their prince charming.

At that moment, the Don Juan in question was suddenly overcome by a foreboding feeling. He didn't know why, but he had a strange nagging thought that hard days were ahead. A Beskyrian's instincts could not be underestimated.

'Impossible. I just finished my Ordeal.' The King shook his head and pushed that sense of impending danger back into a corner of his head.

" Whenever you want to take us to the Stele." Will reminded him politely once the introductions were over.

Ulfar remembered why he was there and without wasting any more time led his friends to the notorious Stele that had cost him so many Contribution Points. The Divine Academy was much larger and more maze-like than what the outside view would suggest. According to the twins there was space magic at work.

They meandered through more than five kilometers of corridors, stairways and halls of all kinds before finally arriving at a vast open-air patio with a fake sky. Here, lush, fairy-tale-like gardens grew in perfect harmony and all sorts of aliens could be seen chatting, studying or picnicking in small groups.

In the center of the patio was a massive blue marble fountain depicting a fratricidal battle between two celestial beings of an unknown alien species. One of them looked a bit like Aurae, the other one had two more eyes.

A few meters in front of the fountain stood the Prophetic Stele they were used to.

"The legendary fight between Aurae and his hypothetical brother." Ulfar explained as he saw them gawking at the fountain's statues. He too had reacted the same way when he first saw them.

"His brother?" Jake raised a questioning eyebrow. Wasn't Aurae some kind of android?

"Actually, nobody knows." Ulfar admitted. "Maybe they're from the same model series, or maybe one is the prototype of the other. Or maybe beings like Aurae were much more common at one time and after a long war he ended up being the ultimate survivor. I think that unless we reach their level and ask him directly it will be difficult to get to the bottom of this."

For once, Jake agreed with him. The weak were doomed to remain in the dark. Only by moving forward and striving to improve themselves could they tear away the veil of ignorance that kept them from contemplating the truth.

" Let's touch that Stele, shall we?" Jake smiled determinedly. Even without his Oracle System he was confident in his ability to choose the Soul Class that best suited him.

If it was truly impossible, he could leave it to fate. Ulfar, Nyx and Eris had used such powers to get here before them and so in a way it was proof to him that such concepts could exist in a concrete form. He just had to hope that his would live up to his expectations.