The Oracle Paths

As Jake was at the height of his motivation, ready to test his new Aetherdream World ability, someone tried to communicate with him through his bracelet. With a dissatisfied lip twitch, he begrudgingly accepted the call.

"Will? What is it? If it's not urgent, call me back later," He spoke in a tone filled with a hint of reproach.

The merchant on the other end of the line cringed, dumbfounded. "What did I do wrong this time?"

"Why are you calling me?" Jake grumbled again impatiently.

Remembering why he had contacted his friend in the first place, Will quickly mentioned, "Remember the debriefing in room 207 that Grigori strongly encouraged us to attend? It's about to start. The room is full, but we saved you a seat. Hurry if you want to come."

Jake thought a bit and recalled that the academy principal had indeed mentioned such a debriefing. It was supposed to reveal crucial information about their next Ordeal. As the Fifth Ordeal was the first one where they could actually die, he absolutely had to attend.

His annoyance dissipating, Jake said flatly, "I'm on my way."

The silver glow in his pupils intensified once again and his vision changed. With a step forward, he entered the Aetherdream, and his body dispersed into a stream of data and energy in the form of Dream Aether.

The Divine Academy had been forged from an extremely rare material, then reinforced and enhanced by all sorts of futuristic technologies, formations, and enchantments. However, in the face of a Lucid Aetherdreamer, most of these defensive measures were full of flaws.

Only the principal's tower where Grigori resided was impenetrable. Probably because he had personally modified it while the Divine Academy was one of the many artifact duplicates that Aurae had mass-manufactured for its countless Quanoth iterations.

In truth, even if there were no gaps in the academy's defenses, Jake was not completely powerless if he chose to use brute force. As long as the Aether Runes and Symbols were not compressed beyond Grade 2 or 3, he could easily interfere. Even when the runes and symbols were too small for him to see clearly, his Aetherdream Traveler ability seemed capable of bypassing them.

Almost simultaneously, Jake appeared as silently as a ghost on the empty seat between Lucia and Will, almost giving them a heart attack. Lucia even drew her sword out of reflex.

"..."

The merchant sighed and closed his eyes, letting the back of his head rest against the backrest to calm his racing heart. Lucia was more outgoing and exclaimed while sheathing her sword,

"By Myrmid... That was creepy."

"Sorry. I was testing a new ability." Jake apologized with a small chuckle devoid of any guilt.

Hephais, who was more observant, asked directly, "How did you teleport straight into the Divine Academy? Even when I try to move through shadows, something prevents me. It's like I'm diving into tar."

Jake wanted to give him a detailed answer, but it would take far too long. Furthermore, he didn't know exactly how his Soul Class ability worked. He had just taken his first steps.

"It's just a skill from my new Soul Class." He finally explained, staying as vague and succinct as possible. "It allows me to teleport anywhere without any distance limit."

Ryne, Ashun, and Wyatt, who sat in the row above them, were eavesdropping on their conversation and couldn't help but blurt out,

"Seriously?!"

"What kind of distance are we talking about?" Carmin asked passionately, much to Wyatt's chagrin.

Jake turned to them with a confused look, finally realizing how packed the room was. It resembled the typical amphitheater-style lecture hall found in most universities, but it was massive, with plush seats that extended beyond the ground level.

Circular platforms floated in the air, taking up every available space without wasting an inch. Like the senate out of a certain globally renowned science fiction series, these platforms were occupied by groups of Players and natives of different races and origins.

Jake and several Myrtharian Nerds were hovering on one of these platforms, 12 meters above the ground, while Wyatt, Carmin, Ryne, Ashun, and Seren were on another platform floating one meter above and behind them. Further away, Jake could see larger creatures like the Aristocats, Immyr, and Jinrong in their black and gold dragon forms.

To accommodate such massive beasts in this lecture hall, their platforms seemed to have been enchanted with complex formations that compressed the space, forcing those standing on them to be smaller. Or perhaps, the inside space had been expanded? Jake couldn't say for sure.

"To answer your question, I just experimented with it a moment ago and managed to teleport 18 billion kilometers away. Not too impressive," Jake said, shrugging with faux disappointment.

'Not impressive my ass...' Wyatt and the other Myrtharian Nerds nearby had to make a huge effort to hold back from insulting him.

Eighteen billion kilometers? That ability was even more useful than their Oracle Teleport lvl1. Even Ryne's Oracle Teleport lvl4, a must-have for a factionless Player, was greatly inferior.

As they wanted to ask him more about this ability, an alien who looked like a human, about 2.40 meters tall, entered the room with an atypical gait. He was hopping around, slapping the inside of his ankles together with each step. He didn't seem to care about them.

Jake and the other Players in the room were intrigued by the clacking sounds and looked up to gaze at their presumed instructor's arrival. When Jake, Will, and several other Players, including Hazzom (the Demiurges leader), laid their eyes on him, their eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

They had met him before. For Jake and Will, he had even been their first encounter with an alien, if one ignored their near-death experiences with Digestors.

"Aslael!" Someone shouted, dumbstruck.

After the first cry, others also uttered his name with a delayed reaction. Apparently, several dozen Players in the room had already met him.

His appearance had changed little.

The humanoid alien still looked inhuman. Well, Jake realized he had to adjust his way of thinking. If the Jake of the past had met his present self, perhaps he would have thought the same thing.

Aslael's hair was still silvery, as were his eyes. A white-blue incandescent light still pulsed from his silvery eyes. His golden skin was iridescent with an array of white light representing a pattern similar to the integrated circuit of a computer.

His ears were pointed like those of fictional elves, and he still wore one of those clownish king outfits, except it was no longer silver but candy red: a puffy epaulet stitch, half-long trousers, moccasins, and a pair of mismatched tights.

His style was still clownish, but as during their first meeting, no one was brave enough to dare make fun of him. That would be seeking death.

Reveling in his grand entrance, the now-red jester smacked his lips and greeted them with his customary curtsy, practiced countless times.

"Greetings, my friends. My name is Aslael, but around here the Players call me the Instructor," he introduced himself in a twangy voice that Jake found horribly unpleasant.

Even his introductory sentence had not changed... He had to repeat the same spiel every time he taught new Players, whether it was their first or tenth time meeting him.

Taking the time to sweep the room with his gaze, the mischievous alien narrowed his eyes as he recognized several familiar faces. 'Hmmm... This guy is still alive. Her too.'

At that moment, Jake felt an unpleasant sensation of being spied on against his will, as if his soul had been laid bare. He shuddered involuntarily, and from the corner of his eye he saw that Ruby, as well as the leader of Demiurges and some other Players, seemed to be experiencing the same symptoms.

The feeling of being watched against his will disappeared as quickly as it had come, and Aslael clapped his hands to get their attention.

"Alright, I don't have time to waste and neither do you, so I'll get straight to the point," The alien declared in a rushed tone. Then, with an afflicted grimace, he suddenly lost his cool. "Fuck...I still have 2816 Divine Academies to visit before the end of the morning. Oracle, Aurae?! Hey, I need a break, okay?! Even if you try to stop me, I'm taking a week off. What are you gonna do then, huh? Ha! That shut you up, didn't it?"

The other Players in the room remained silent.

Realizing that his behavior was inappropriate, Aslael cleared his throat and muttered more dignifiedly, "Cough, where was I... Oh yes, the briefing for your Fifth Ordeal."

His expression suddenly became extremely serious, his clownish demeanor replaced by a most ominous spiritual pressure. In a tone devoid of emotion, he slowly declared, "The first thing you need to know is that for the majority of you, this ordeal will be your tomb."