The Oracle Paths

Of course, he had no intention of creating exactly the same Aether Sun Cores. The one Cekt had modified was set up to replace and eventually grow a real sun. This was far too advanced for an Aetherist apprentice like Jake.

He could guess roughly what the various symbols did, but some of them were just too intricate to understand. Given enough time, and his ability to instantly replicate the Aether Runes and Symbols cast at least once, he was confident he could do it.

Except it would take years.

Even assuming he had an eidetic memory and thousands of times the observational and comprehension skills of a normal person, the amount of data was just too great. Even a supercomputer had its limit, let alone a human, nearly human... not really human like him.

After many experiments and observations, Jake had already determined that the simplest Aether Spells were often the most awesome and destructive. Because they touched directly on the fundamental physics forces and energies: gravity, radiation, magnetism, heat, etc...

They were the simplest spells to draw and their Aether Symbols were relatively simple too. Ironically, it was easier for an Aetherist to produce a powerful laser beam than to fill a glass of water. In the former case, any Aetherist apprentice could do it, while in the latter it would be difficult to find even a Rank 2 Aetherist who could comfortably accomplish this feat, let alone in combat.

With time, it was possible for even an apprentice Aetherist to weave complex spells, but these were time-consuming projects that could not be cast in combat nor used in everyday life, which limited their usefulness.

From the Aether Sun Core modified by Cekt, Jake intended to keep the two Aether Symbols responsible for heat and light, the one responsible for converting matter and energy into Aether, but not the part capable of doing the reverse.

Since all things were originally Aether, deconstructing matter and energy into Aether was like burning a tree to retrieve the ashes, while using those same ashes to recreate an identical tree would be incomparably more complex.

That is, Jake would give up making mini suns, but instead he would have thousands of Aether Sun Cores giving off the same shine, but only taking up the space of a small dot in his Space Storage.

"Hahaha, I'm finally going to be rich." Jake raved as he imagined the result.

No sooner said than done. He stretched his mental sense to its maximum range, which was much greater than before, and began siphoning off all the Aether inside his domain. Within seconds, a massive stream of Aether converged into one point, compressed mercilessly by Jake's overwhelming mental force.

This feat was due not only to the explosive growth of his stats and Spirit Body levels, but also to his new Soul Class. The Aether Affinity passive gave him increased Aether awareness and control, while also increasing the power and decreasing the cooldown of his Aether Spells.

In less than twenty seconds, a new Aether Core was born. Compared to his first Aether Core which took him days to complete, there was much to celebrate. He then took a few hours to draft the required Aether Symbols, 98% of the time spent on this Energy and Matter Conversion Spell.

After casting each spell once, his Soul Class Instant Casting passive came into play, allowing him to instantly cast all spells with a compression no greater than a Grade 1 Bloodline.

The first Aether Sun Core was completed a few seconds later.

[Aether Sun Core: 1 point]

At this point, the Aether Sun Core had such a low density that it was of no use. The Aether Core had only just been created and the effectiveness of the Aether Symbols was limited to the little Aether they could passively draw in from their surroundings. This was enough for some light, but nowhere near what Jake required.

Jake then repeated the procedure as many times as necessary, and about 36 hours later he had over 4000 Aether Sun Cores ready for the next step. He had also created an additional 2000 Aether Cores, to which he had just added the Energy Conversion Symbol. He intended to turn them into his Aether plants for years to come.

Plop, plop, plop!

Jake could almost hear the thousands of Aether Cores dropping into the star's plasma, but he knew it was only happening in his head. These Aether Cores were made of nothing but Aether, so they had no substance. He hadn't really dropped them either, but was controlling them from a safe distance with his telekinesis after leaving his mental imprint on them.

" Now all we have to do is wait."

[It should be quicker than you think, you might be surprised.] Xi giggled as she was reminded of an anecdote. [In the Mirror Universe, you're by no means the only Aetherist to have come up with this idea. In fact, anyone who can get as close to a star as you can has probably thought of it. However, the greed of some has pushed them too far down this path to the point where they have consumed stars and then entire galaxies to grow their Aether Cores. At some point, the lack of stars began to threaten the very survival of the species on many planets and the Oracle had to intervene. Today this is highly regulated and the Oracle heavily condemns this practice when it is carried out without consideration for nearby habitable or inhabited planets. You need a permit to harvest a referenced star... and you should know that as long as you wear your bracelet the Oracle System sees the same thing as you do. This means that even if you discover a new star, it will be referenced in the database at the same time.]

"Fuck me... Should I expect to see the police on my island when I come out of the Red Cube by the end of the Ordeal?"

[Hehe, who knows...]

" ... "

A few minutes later.

[Your Aether Sun Cores should be ready. Pull them up.] Xi reminded him out of the blue.

"Hmm? Isn't it a little early yet? It's only been a few minutes." A perplexed frown formed on Jake's face.

[Remember what happened when you dipped your Aether Sun Core into that mini sun. It only took a few moments. If you want to be able to control these Aether Sun Cores without standing thousands of kilometers apart, you better not pull them out too late. The regular Aether Cores, on the other hand, you can let them soak in the plasma a little longer.]

"Fine. It won't hurt to take a look at them." Jake conceded half-heartedly.

With a thought, he recalled the thousands of submerged Aether Sun Cores and was immediately battered by a wave of radiation. He had underestimated the power of all those Sun Cores gathered together. He stowed them all in his Space Storage, then kept one to inspect.

"It's pretty hot and bright, but I can still touch it without much effort." Jake concluded a few seconds later. Then he added to Xi, " See, in the end we took them out too soon."

[Tche, a little caution never harmed anyone.] Xi sucked her teeth, or at least that was how he imagined her hologram would react if she stood before him.

Jake proceeded to soak the Aether Sun Cores again, and a few minutes later he was finally satisfied with the results. For his training over the next few months, this would do the trick. Meanwhile, he let the Aether Cores continue to absorb the heat from the star.

Bored to death from waiting, he began making Aether Cores again, dropping them in the "ocean" immediately after completion.

A few days later...

"Is it just me or is it getting a little colder?" Jake said suddenly as he opened his eyes with a bad feeling.

When he saw the dim luster of the star below him, his face went blank in horror, his whole body breaking out in a cold sweat.

"Th-This... What have I done?! Xi, why didn't you warn me?!" Jake asked in a panic.

[Because you didn't tell me. You are now the proud owner of 11,638 level 5 Aether Cores. That means their Aether density is somewhere between 100,000 and 1M. With this, you will be able to spam as many Aether Spell as you want, but only after you got your body and soul used to the density. This will be good training for you. You can also use it to upgrade your Purgatory or as a power source for all sorts of high tech Mirror Universe stuff. You should thank me.]

"But this sun..."

[That's not our concern. This star will be fine... Maybe. But because of the Mana cage erected by Aurae around Quanoth, the planet's temperature won't decrease any time soon. The process will take a few years. Aurae didn't stop you, so consider that you had his blessing.]

"But still..."

The once dazzling sun was now just a dull, cold rock, at least on the surface. According to Xi, the core where thermonuclear fusion was taking place was still going strong. After a few months or years, the star would be bright again. In the meantime, Quanoth's natives would just have to cover up.