The Oracle Paths

Her skin... It was the same skin of the princess he had met during his first Ordeal. Her wavy hair was of a Venetian blond with golden streaks as when they first met, but it was not an unusual color in this vast universe.

Thinking of something, he suddenly opened one of her eyes with two fingers and an amber iris flashed. Then, Jake turned to Will and gave him a thorough examination.

"You no longer have the Myrtharian Body." He stated, struck by the realization.

Will froze, but after looking at his hands and closing his eyes to explore his own sensations, he confirmed with concern,

"The Myrtharian Body Passive is indeed gone. The Faction Skill involved still exists, but it is vacant. The leader, that is you, is supposed to select a new one."

Jake mulled over what this might imply and came to a possible conclusion. He was no longer considered a Myrtharian by the Oracle System and the Myrtharian Body naturally no longer existed. In that case, did calling themselves the Myrtharian Nerds still make sense?

"I will deal with this matter later." He finally replied after the shock of the discovery had passed.

In the meantime, it would make it harder for his comrades to recover as it impacted their Vitality and Constitution. He still had to try something.

Not having regained access to his Status, he could only intuitively feel his new abilities and after a short pause he pressed his palm against Lucia's heart. An overwhelming impulse of hunger urged him to devour what was left of her body and soul, but he immediately pushed this improper thought from his mind.

'I want to heal her, not eat her.' He repeated as if to convince himself.

At this thought, the chitin scales covering his skin began to glow with a tantalizing emerald glow, then began to multiply exponentially. It looked like the Gold Stone Skin, but soon the excreted chitin diverged from his first expectations by coating Lucia's unconscious body.

In the blink of an eye, Lucia was sealed in an emerald chitin sarcophagus. The excretion of chitin did not stop there and growth continued to build up on the sarcophagus, quickly unifying into a perfect Green Cube.

With a thought, the arm trapped inside the Cube emitted a terrifying amount of spiritual energy with the intent to heal his friend and a blinding green light burst through the room.

After a few minutes, Jake withdrew his arm from the emerald chitin cube and said, "She will heal. Let her sleep, she'll join us when she feels better."

Will had joined them late, but Ryne who was well informed about super factions jokingly said, "This ability... Is it Ancient Designer Aas' Cube Magic? I thought only Vexa was capable of that in this Ordeal..."

Jake squinted his eyes. That was what he thought too. Putting together all the information he had, he came up with a certain hypothesis.

'Digestor Ruby devoured Vexa and you... devoured Ruby.' Xi summarized. 'It seems that the perks of devouring Ruby also extend to her prey. We can infer that she had finished digesting Vexa's Aetheric material by the time you defeated her.'

Jake was becoming increasingly confused. How powerful was he to so easily devour a Digestor that had completed its evolution after devouring Vexa and who knows how many other Players?

And more importantly, what about the abilities of these other victims. Had he assimilated them as well?

As this thought crossed his mind, a flash of understanding struck him. Lines of Aether Code and DNA flashed before his eyes at a breathtaking rate and the shocking thing was that he understood it all. There was a huge genetic and Aetheric database somewhere in his mind and he could access it with a single thought.

To do what? He wasn't sure yet, but it sounded suspiciously like a Digestor talent. What exactly had he become? He was starting to get scared.

'Genetic, spiritual and Aetheric recombination.' Xi clarified solemnly in his head. "The fundamental ability of Digestors that allows them to evolve unrestrictedly by selecting the abilities they want to keep, then recombining them to create a superior bloodline. I'm afraid, you didn't come out of that fight unscathed either. For the moment, let's try not to rush to any conclusions until we know more. If you had become a real Digestor, the Oracle or Aurae would surely have taken action.'

'Assuming they took action on Ruby and the other Digestor Trojans. Did you get that impression?' Jake retorted dryly.

Xi remained silent. "How do you feel?"

"For now, great." Jake shrugged, knowing she was just asking him to defuse the tension. With their minds connected, she obviously knew everything he was feeling.

The telepathic conversation between Jake and his Oracle AI lasted only an infinitesimal amount of time, but Ryne and Will noticed the barely perceptible pause in his movements.

The alien woman was staring at him uncannily and by the way she didn't blink Jake could tell that she too was engaged in an animated conversation with her Oracle AI. A conversation in which he was probably the central topic.

"Let's go heal the others." Jake decreed as he left the building without waiting for them. Ryne, Will and Jinlong exchanged knowing looks, then walked after him.

Moving on to the buildings of the other Players he had saved, Jake failed in most cases to use the same technique to heal Enya, Aisling, Hephais, Xaverie, Aurum, Hasta, Carmine, Wyatt, and his other victims from when he was possessed by the Psykow spell. Only their physical injuries were not an issue.

Their souls were severely damaged and unlike Lucia, not all of them had found parries to the Dhox's psychic magic. Aisling and Xaverie were natives with a Spirit Body level above 80, but the same could not be said of Enya and the other Myrtharian Nerds. Their spirits could not be saved, not even with a Green Cube.

Hephais was the only exception. When Jake and the others entered he was already awake. He had used his Shadows to isolate himself from Psykow's psychic magic as soon as he sensed something was wrong. He hadn't been completely unaffected, but he was stable.

Getting back to the other Myrtharian Nerds, Jake still didn't clearly understand his new powers, but currently Enya's mind was separated into 816 parts, each with its own personality. If he used the power of the Green Cube to help her mind heal, these soul fragments would all simultaneously grow stronger, leading to a situation similar to the one that led to the splitting of the two Rubies. Except that here, there was only one soul to begin with. Splitting her soul into 816 parts would be like killing the original Enya, each soul fragment probably so amnesiac and difunctional that it was too cruel to let them exist.

"Should I just choose one and let it devour the other ones?" He muttered in a low voice, stroking his chin.

"Choose who?" Will asked out of curiosity as he listened off to the side.

"It may work, but this woman's personality may have been devoured by her alternate personality." Ryne added her two cents. "In which case, choosing the wrong fragment would be like giving the reins to an Enya you don't want to meet. The real Enya as you know her could disappear forever. Are you sure you want to take that risk?"

Jake's face turned gloomy as he heard her warnings. He temporarily gave up trying to heal her. Apparently there was still a big difference between his Green Cube and the Oracle Heal from his bracelet.

This last mental note made him come up with another idea and he asked Will to touch Enya's bracelet with his own and check if she still had an Oracle Heal left.

"She's already used it." The merchant grimaced.

"At least I tried. Let's go check on the others."

They had no better luck with the other Myrtharian Nerds, but Aurum brought them some hope.

Not only did he have an Oracle Heal left, but the Myrmidian had used his Midas Touch on his own bracelet before he lost consciousness. As if he knew his friends would need it to save him later.

His power of wealth was extremely mysterious and miraculous, but its effects were the real deal. When Will connected his bracelet to his, he couldn't help but gasp in disbelief.