The Oracle Paths

Several important representatives among the Myrmidians, Kintharians and Throsgenians were there as well. There were also a few refugees and Players currently residing on Will's island. It was rare to see such a gathering at his place.

In addition to these ordinary people, Gerulf, the two sisters and even Drastan and Hephais were present.

Drastan was the great black warrior with the Versings Troll bloodline, while Hephais was the Egaean assassin versed in the shadow element. Both had joined the Myrtharian Nerds during the third Ordeal, but Drastan had hesitated until the last moment before making his decision. His loyalty was more than a little shaky.

Even more puzzling, Jake also recognized the Egaeans Mihangyl and Ralnor standing slightly back at Hephais' side. The Wood Archmage was already in charge of his own faction and had no apparent reason to visit him.

Ulfar and Asfrid, the two key people involved were nowhere in sight.

"Am I missing something?" Jake frowned with bafflement.

Lucia grinned as she saw him tense up.

"This is Ulfar's doing. He announced to everyone his intention to test you and Will passed the information along in an effort to get you some publicity."

"And why am I the last to know?" Jake inquired in a bad mood.

"I don't know, but Will shared the announcement in the public chat room as soon as he heard about his project..."

Pursing his lips, Jake silently scanned the chat backwards, scrolling back to the older messages and indeed found Will's ad a little higher up. The message had even been pinned and dated from the day before.

"So much for being his leader and friend..." Jake lampooned with a twitching face.

Rather than get bored waiting for the two event organizers to arrive, he took the initiative to greet Drastan, Hephais, and the other Players from the last Ordeal he hadn't seen in a few days. The Myrtharian Nerds now boasted 46 Floating Islands and the new islands filling the black void in the vicinity must belong to some of them.

"How's it going since the Third Ordeal?" Jake reached out to the news. It was only out of courtesy. From the looks of their new weapons and armor, they weren't to be pitied.

"Everything's fine." Hephais replied lamely, with a blank face. It was his trademark way of behaving when he was in a "festive" mood.

"Hmmph." Drastan grunted with a falsely displeased look. "I hadn't intended to come by and visit you so soon, but your call for a donation wiped out my savings. I had to check in person to see if my Aether was properly invested."

Jake was speechless. 'Who forced you to give away all your Aether? Are you dumb?'

"Hmm, so, are you happy with the result?"

"Very."

"Well at least I can sleep with a clear conscience. I'm not going to get murdered in my sleep by a troll hunter and a shadow assassin gone wild." Jake joked while patting their shoulder pad noisily.

Hephais flinched, barely restraining himself from drawing his dagger, but Drastan didn't seem particularly bothered by his outgoing attitude.

Just as Jake was about to annoy Mihangyl and Ralnor, while openly inquiring about the rank and number of members of their faction, he heard footsteps approaching from behind him.

One of the footsteps was vigorous and clanking because of his metal armor, while the footsteps of the second person were muffled, barely audible. Without even turning around, Jake immediately identified the two newcomers: Ulfar and Asfrid.

Wearing his most natural smile, Jake turned and calmly looked at the two individuals from head to toe. A flash of understanding crossed his eyes.

"I see." He said with detachment. "So that's where your overconfidence comes from.

Three days earlier when Jake had rescued him, the King of Beskyr was just a middle-aged man of average height. His long, braided hair and shaggy beard were reminiscent of a Viking, but his skin was tanned and burned from years of unprotected sunlight, and the last two years of fighting the Digestors had taken their toll on his glory.

Besides their good fortune, Beskyrians had no distinctive physical attributes. They lived self-sufficiently in remote mountains and valleys, but their people were mixed, with all skin colors represented. If Jake had to give a nationality to Ulfar, their leader, he would have had a hard time deciding. His eyes were slightly slanted like an Asian, but his irises were a sparkling ocean blue. His bone structure and certain facial features such as his nose and lips were more of a Caucasian, if not African descent. It was an unusual appearance, but it did not take away from his natural charisma. When he was younger, he must have been handsome.

The King of Beskyr who stood before him right now was somewhat different. He was clean-shaven, he had traded in his axe for a long white wooden bow, and his new steel armor was gleaming. It was only the surface changes.

His shaggy brown hair had turned ashen gray and his ocean blue eyes had turned orange, his round pupils replaced by vertical slits. His skin was also noticeably paler than before, almost giving him a sickly look, but given his Aether fluctuations he was clearly in great shape. Notably, despite his gray hair, he had clearly gotten younger, now looking like a man in his mid-20s.

Clearly, Ulfar had completed a few Ordeals in the last few days. Most likely, three. The gains he had made from them were not small.

Asfrid showed a similar transformation. A few days earlier, she had been a stern, exhausted woman in her late 40s, her water-clear eyes the only outward distinguishing feature of her species.

Now she too had regained most of her former youth and beauty. Her long salt and pepper hair had turned dark blue and was now silky. Their texture and consistency was now closer to that of seaweed. She still wore a loose, unadorned white dress, but two red coral-like growths formed like deer antlers on the top of her head.

Her aura hadn't changed as drastically as Ulfar's, but it had obviously become much stronger.

"Jake, I promised you that I would make my decision quickly and the day has come to render my verdict." Ulfar got straight to the point, wasting neither time greeting him nor blabbering unnecessarily.

Asfrid maintained the etiquette and elegance of her people, but her answer was as emphatic as that of the King of Beskyr.

"I was ignorant a few days ago. I'm not now." She declared, giving him a sharp look. "Your power is nothing special. I won't let you fool Lucia with your bluster."

"Asfrid!" Lucia snapped immediately upon hearing her criticize her friend, but Gerulf stopped her with a stare.

"Trust him." He growled serenely. "Look at him, he's not worried at all."

Listening to the giant, the young woman studied Jake's face meticulously and noticed that indeed, apart from his deep annoyance, there was not the slightest nervousness in his eyes. It was as if he was contemplating two clowns making a fool of themselves in front of him.

"So, what's the verdict?" Jake asked politely, deciding to play along.

"My answer is no." Ulfar stated coldly. "We will not be joining the Myrtharian Nerds."

" I-"

"No problem... And you, Asfrid, I suppose you mean the same thing? Fine, you can leave. Bye." Jake cut her off dismissively.

So what if they didn't want to join his faction? He couldn't care less.

"Don't you want to be tested?" Asfrid frowned slightly, remaining relatively calm despite her displeasure. It was the first time in ages that a stranger had shown her so little respect.

"I don't care about your test." Jake sneered. "Let's say I do your test. Then what happens? If I win, will you become good obedient lapdogs? With your temperament, I highly doubt that. And if I lose, what does it change? Absolutely nothing."

"But, you don't even know how I want to test you." Alfrid retorted with admirable self-control. Her experience as a high priestess all these years had not been in vain.

"Peeh. You're just afraid." Ulfar openly humiliated him.

A murderous glint flashed briefly in Jake's eyes, but he stifled it immediately. Turning his attention to the arrogant king of Beskyr, he scoffed with a hint of pity,

"I can understand about Asfrid actually intending to test me, but why are you still here? You gave me your answer, now get out. The Beskyrians who want to accompany you are free to follow you."

A toothy grin stretched Ulfar's face.

"Damn brat. I've changed my mind. I'm willing to test my luck against a smug pipsqueak like you."

Jake glanced at Asfrid and found the same righteous defiance. She too was dying to give him a good beating.

"So if I understand correctly, I'm not the one who's anxious about this test. It's you." Jake burst out laughing. "Come on! I'm in a generous mood today. Let me test you. If I'm satisfied, maybe I'll let you stay here."

The audience's mouths almost dropped to the floor. In just a few sentences, Jake had managed to gain the upper hand in the conversation by reversing right and wrong, becoming the one to test them.

"So, who do I test first?"