The Oracle Paths

As Jake set out on his long swim to Sarah, the humanoid creature in pursuit of Tim was seething with rage inside, barely holding back from howling its wrath to the entire jungle.

This feeble and unimpressive prey had been driving it crazy for almost half a day, forcing it to waste an astronomical amount of ammunition and a significant amount of Aether. Although this was only a drop in the ocean for its unparalleled Krish body, the same could not be said of its spirit.

Using such Aether Skills repeatedly had severely impacted its mental state, to the point of making its mood unstable leading to a painful headache. It could have meant giving up chasing this tiny human, as its Krish comrades had done several hours earlier, but that would have been tantamount to admitting that it was inferior to its own prey, whose physical stats were only a fraction of its own.

As a member of one of the most feared species in its native Universe, to be bullied in this way was nothing more than an unbearable humiliation, which its proud and arrogant personality was unable to tolerate.

To carry their weapons inside the Second Ordeal, including the Sanctuary Bubble, most of the Krishs had used their rewards from the first Ordeal to purchase a storage space attached to their Oracle Device, and it was no exception. The space available was limited, in the order of one cubic meter, but it was more than enough to hold the food, armor, and weapons they needed.

This optional feature occupied one of the free slots of its bracelet, but it gave it a property comparable to the space ring so popular in the cultivation novels. In addition to being able to hold a significant amount of items, its real interest was that this equipment could be taken with them to an Ordeal World.

This Oracle Device ability was called Dimensional Storage Space, but was only the most primitive and least expensive form of this functionality. However, getting this reward had cost it almost all of its points from the First Ordeal, and knowing that its score was quite decent among the other Krishs, it was an amount that even it was reluctant to spend.

It was, however, a worthwhile investment. Even though their race did not fear survival-type Ordeals in hostile environments like this one, being able to conserve food, water, and futuristic firearms like theirs gave them a definite advantage.

If it wished, it could simply hide somewhere and survive for several months by rationing its food. Even better, it had several valuable artifacts protecting the integrity of its Spirit Body. In other words, the second trial was no challenge for their species at all.

To get through the night, it had simply slept on the beach under the stars and when it had woken up, it had received the congratulations of the artificial voice and was then dispatched to the island. The artifact it was carrying, which looked like an ordinary black pearl, had changed color several times during the night, its deep black being slightly discolored by the next sunrise, but nothing that the pearl could not withstand.

It had three more just like these, and that was more than enough to withstand the harmful spiritual influences on this island for several months. It was the guarantee that he could pass this third trial without exerting the slightest effort.

Tim, for example, had to take inconsiderate risks every day to ensure his next meal or find a place to sleep. It was precisely because of this that he had finally come across the three Krish aliens. If he had had these supplies and pearls when he first arrived on the island, he would definitely never have ended up in such a precarious situation.

However, it was unrealistic to think that everyone could have drawn such an advantage from this storage space. For the majority of species, compromising the growth of their power or knowledge for such an accessory was extremely risky. Moreover, Ordeals were not intended that way.

Using objects that were not authorized through the normal entry route could be treated as a form of cheating and even if the Oracle System turned a blind eye, it certainly went against its original intent.

Some extremely wealthy Krishs at the head of large factions had been able to amass colossal amounts of Aether long before their First Ordeal through subordinates or their own force and therefore had already the equivalent of a space ring long before their First Ordeal.

If Jake had been able to take his assault rifle with him during his First Ordeal, it could have changed many things. It was then easy to imagine what impact futuristic Krish weapons with such a destructive potential could have.

Naturally, many Krishs had attempted it and the final verdict was that it did not always work. Every Ordeal World was protected by a mysterious entity, a kind of Will that nothing could defy.

Some Krishs thought it was the Oracle System itself, while others firmly believed that it was the Gods of these worlds, or to go even further, another Oracle, which would reject any object, individual, or technology that had no relevance there.

Hence, the reason why Jake's appearance and genome had, for example, been temporarily converted into Throsgenian during the time of the Ordeal. A gun appearing in a world still in the Bronze Age could only be rejected by the Oracle or the Gods of this world following this logic.

Obviously, all this was pure speculation. It could also simply be a form of protection for the participants. In the Ordeal World to which Jake had been sent, it should not be forgotten that Heroes like Myrmid, Kinthar, Throsgen or Eltar existed. The appearance of such weapons or an unknown species would undoubtedly have attracted their attention, which could have had dire consequences.

The conclusion of all these experiments was that in the end not all the weapons and objects contained within the bracelet could pass through the "customs" embodied by the Red Cube. At best there were restrictions, or at worst the object could not be retrieved from the bracelet during the Ordeal.

A restriction could, for example, change the appearance of a 20th century machine gun to that of a musket or bow of equivalent quality to respect the theme of an Ordeal. The power of the weapon might be severely affected by these changes, but it was always better than nothing. Above all, food and water were never denied and clothing would always be converted to the fashionable attire of these worlds.

It was therefore unscrupulously that the Krishs cheated in this way by taking advantage of their technology. For if the Oracle was really against their method, it was perfectly capable of stopping them from using it.

Luckily, this Sanctuary Bubble had not refused the contents of its bracelet. In addition to accepting its electromagnetic rifle, equipped with a plasma cannon that could be recharged directly with its Aether, its armor was also accepted as well as all its other accessories.

This second Ordeal seemed to have no interest whatsoever in their preparation, considering it as part of their own strength.

Back to the subject, in its frantic pursuit of Tim, the Krish had exhausted all its ammunition and to reload its weapon several times, it had wasted a good portion of its energy.

It was for this reason that when suddenly the call for help rang out from miles around, the Krish almost cried with joy, its mandibles, stuck to his lower jaw, clicking excitedly.

" JAAAKE!.... Jaaake!... aaake!... aaake!... ake!"

Suddenly raising its head straight in front of it, a predatory smile appeared on the Krish's mouth full of teeth. Its mouth resembled a bottomless well, lined with multiple rows of teeth and its smile gave the illusion that its jaw was dislocated. The mandibles glued to its mouth opened fully at the same time, giving the impression that its smile had spread its wings and was about to fly away.

"He's over there! "The Krish roared with jubilation.

Grabbing its plasma rifle, which it had reloaded with great difficulty, it fired without hesitation two high-energy bursts to vaporize the vegetation in front of it. The trees remaining near the beach were no longer tall enough or leafy enough to obstruct its path.

Rushing like a lunatic, the Krish's vision grew narrower as if it had just entered a tunnel under the effect of the excitement. All it could think of was the image of its prey roasted and impaled from mouth to anus on a homemade spit. Just thinking about it, its mouth was already watering.

In this state of mind, the roars and cries of other local predators were only an insignificant background noise and it did not occur to him that a fearsome predator had also been provoked by the child's call for help.

Thus, as it was about to leap out of the jungle to find its target, the earth began to shake, pulling it out of its trance. A split second later, a huge explosion blasted it away, followed by agonizing pain in its crotch.

A piece of palm trunk weighing several hundred kilos, blown away by the explosion, had just hit it in the balls. And yes... This it whas a he.