The Oracle Paths

Choosing his Intent for his First Aura Form was indeed a step forward, but it was far from enough. He had chosen his path, but of all possible paths, he hadn't picked the easiest...

Closing his eyes to focus on his evolving Lumyst Aura, Jake quickly hit his first snag.

"Fate Slayer Intent... Which one is it among all these entangled Soul Power signatures?" His forehead immediately broke out in sweat at the magnitude of the task.

It might have seemed easy at first, but such an Intent, potentially a gateway to True Will of Self, naturally encompassed many others. For example, while he had no trouble detecting the traces of Killing Intent in his Aura, he struggled to find the faint glimmer of Soul Power unique to Fate Slayer Intent among these various conflicting Intents.

This Intent was the binder that could unite these diverse Intents, but as a logical consequence, it was tightly mingled with these different Soul Powers to the point of being almost indistinguishable. Thankfully, the laws of Twyluxia had not usurped their reputation, and even an Intent as specialized as this one could only reveal itself obediently to his senses during this very special moment.

It was only because this was Jake. Another Player lacking his perception or mental strength would have detected only the most obvious Intents at the iceberg's tip. A native would have seen nothing at all.

"Found it." Jake smirked as his mental sense finally managed to hook a different strand of Soul Power.

The murderous and relentless Intent ready to defy the impossible momentarily petrified him, then with a determined and focused expression, he began to move again. His stunned mental sense started to vibrate and began to suppress other forms of Soul Power as it merged with this diffused spark of Fate Slayer Intent.

In the end, all these different types of Soul Powers and Intents were part of his soul. After a brief instinctive resistance, the rebellious Soul Power strands soon submitted.

As if the invisible barrier preventing his progress had been lifted, the fusion of his Lumyst Aura, spectral energy, lifeforce, and Soul Power, which had been at a standstill, then resumed with the force of an avalanche.

From inside his tent, the Lumyst Aura, previously invisible to those without supernatural senses, began to condense, transitioning from a chaotic, misty cluster to a thin sheen of light covering Jake's skin. Influenced by his hybrid Cosmic Lumyst, this unified aura gradually began to emit a dark blue radiance, continuously streaked with fine rays, lightning, and dazzling flames ranging from stellar white to the deepest black.

At that precise moment, Jake, seated cross-legged in the middle of his tent, truly had the presence of a demi-god with the sinister, psychedelic blue-black halo silently radiating from his body. When the advancement of his Aura finally completed after what seemed like an interminable time but was in fact ridiculously short, Jake's eyes snapped open.

A galactic glow flashed transiently in his irises, followed by a strange sound of breaking chains in his mind. Upon hearing this sound audible only to himself, the sensation of an invisible vise weighing on each of his cells and his mind substantially lessened, drawing a contented grunt from his throat.

His connection, almost stifled to the Aether and his own bloodline, was now able to breathe again. Not fully, but he estimated he had regained 5 to 10% of his full power.

For an ordinary Player, that wouldn't make much of a difference, but for the natives and Players of the Lustra Plains, it marked the advent of a demon. When that chain-breaking sound that no one else could hear echoed, many enemy Players endowed with prescience or a sharp instinct shivered with an ominous foreboding.

*****

At that moment, Shadrex, who was calmly calculating his divinations while fighting on a front as far away from Jake as possible, stiffened, followed by a stunned furrowing of his brow. Weiss, who was floating at his side while issuing orders to her lackeys, also changed her expression.

"The future has changed again. I fear we may need to accelerate our plans," Shadrex announced with a grim face.

The silvery-blue woman known as the Mind Weaver stared at him intensely without a word, then sighed.

"You didn't need to tell me that. The moment you stopped speaking in riddles, I knew it was bad. In case you hadn't noticed, it's been a while since you last spoke any rhyme."

The Bipolar Seer grimaced bitterly at her last jab. He hadn't even realized it.

Refusing to humiliate himself further, he suddenly condensed a double-edged sword of light and darkness with his new Lumyst Cores and began walking toward the battlefield to Weiss's great surprise.

As he threw himself into the fray, leaving a silent black flash in his wake, his latest prophecy echoed in the alien woman's ears like a death warning.

"We no longer have the luxury of pulling strings in the shadows. My latest divination predicts that only my own strength will make a difference now. I advise you to do the same."

Weiss's heart sank. Shadrex's reputedly infallible divinations no longer even spoke of victory…

Drawing an odd whip resembling a long jellyfish tendril, she hesitated for a brief moment before joining the battlefield for the first time since the beginning of the Ordeal.

Merely accumulating and manipulating her puppets in the shadows was no longer enough…

*****

These two Rank 17 Players from the enemy camp were not the only ones to feel the wind turning, but among the natives, there was only one who displayed his turmoil: The Celestial.

Contemplating the white city of Lustris from his private floor carved into the upper third of the Anthace trunk, the sovereign in a white robe with slate-gray eyes suddenly started to shake. Lifting his arm to observe it, his eyes widened in confusion before narrowing menacingly.

"Something gives me the chills? Interesting."

Far from being discomforted by this sensation of fear, his fighting spirit reacted by burning even fiercer. After all, he had lived far too long with fear in his belly…

His impassive face refusing to reveal any weakness, he strove to calm his heart before setting his gaze on the canopy of Anthace casting half the city into shadow.

'Soon... It will all be over.'

*****

The advancement process complete, Jake calmly retracted his Aura under his skin and inspected his status.

[Aura of Lumyst lvl2, First Form: Fate Slayer. Passive Abilities (new): Aura Skin, Weak Lumyst Affinity. Stat Boost: 200%]

It was just as he had imagined. The Pulsars and Vitalists he had faced could use their Lumyst Aura to absorb enemy blows, and to some extent control it to amplify their attacks or boost their regeneration. Vitalists could even project their Aura a few meters out of their bodies and influence the vitality and Lumyst of their companions.

Aura Skin explained the passive defense, while the Weak Lumyst Affinity explained their increased mastery over their Aura and Lumyst. It was implicit, but this affinity seemed limited to their Aura's attributes. For these Light Warriors, it was Light and Life.

After a very brief examination of the interaction of his upgraded Aura with his own body, Jake immediately reconfirmed that this weak affinity was insignificant compared to a true Lumyst Cultivator who had cultivated a Lumyst Core. For a native, it was not enough to compensate for their lack of innate talent or courage to endure further baptisms to obtain the missing Graces.

However, if these soldiers continued to risk their lives to advance their Aura, Jake could indeed envision a point where their affinity for Lumyst would become substantial enough for them to sense and effectively manipulate it. At that stage, forming a Lumyst Core even without the appropriate Graces might not be a dream.

But none of this concerned him. With his current power and ambition, he was destined to follow another path... An even bloodier one.

And this time, Jake had no intention of keeping a low profile. While he was busy upgrading his Aura, Ceythie's shift of allegiance to the second Soulmancer King and her readiness to announce it to all the legions of her Ironsoul Berserker army had already begun to stir up a cataclysmic uproar.

It didn't take much for the news to reach the ears of a certain replacement Soulmancer King, aka Cho Min Ho. Needless to say, he was furious when he found out.