The Oracle Paths

[Horizon Hardstone: A rare ore, occasionally spat out from the event horizon of a black hole nestled in a world where the average Aether density surpasses five million units. Terrifyingly dense, this ore withstands the extreme physical stresses existing beyond the threshold. An excellent Aether absorber, it can fortify its internal cohesion by increasing its own Aether density, contradicting the foundational rule that excessive Aether destabilizes matter unless it has been sufficiently tempered beforehand. To manipulate it, one needs only to extract the contained Aether, rendering it malleable and even sliceable without atom destruction. Once the atoms are separated, they can assemble with other elements and materials to forge a broad array of alloys with unique properties highly sought after and appreciated across all Mirror Universes. This material has a high demand but no market, rendering its price per gram rather tricky to determine. Average selling price: 70-1000 Grade 15 White Aether Crystals/g.]

"Holy shit!" Jake's eyes stretched wide at the estimated price per gram of the mysterious material. One Grade 15 White Aether Crystal converted into Aether Points was worth one nonillion.

Jake was skeptical that a world with such Aether density existed. The asteroid of System AO from his Second Ordeal, the oldest fallen system of their Mirror Universe, only had an Aether density in the mere millions.

In other words, someone with a terrifying mastery of Aether was needed to produce such currency. Finding someone capable of utilizing it without squandering this high-grade Aether was even more challenging. If Jake tried to absorb even a filament of Grade 15 Aether, any part of his Spirit Body or flesh making contact would have its existence erased without a trace.

If he diluted it first, he might as well directly purchase lower Grade Aether crystals, more accessible and cheaper. The fact that this material was directly traded with these Grade 15 White Aether Crystals spoke volumes about its worth.

It was a late-game metal that Jake should never have possessed so early. If word got out, it could cause him considerable trouble.

And Oros had managed to acquire it to construct this invaluable Magnetic Resonator, which surely wasn't the only one. One could only wonder whether this was typical among Evolvers of his rank or if the small Oracle Overseer was resourcefully talented.

"And I can't digest it at all," Jake sighed, concealing none of his frustration. Saros, who was on the other side of the barrier, couldn't hear him anyway, nor read his lips since he had his back turned.

A gnawing yearning to study and experiment with this material chewed at him from the inside out, yet regrettably, it was neither the time nor place. With a reluctant act of surrender, he stowed away the Horizon Hardstone grain into his Space Storage. After a final wave to Saros, he shot downward, bullet-like, into the murky depths of the Magnetic Resonator.

The Oracle Guardian, trapped on the other side of the barrier, was left gritting his teeth with an expression even more frustrated than the one he was supposed to keep an eye on. Disillusioned, the alien regarded the Voidsteel ground with a troubled countenance, questioning his bravery to damage the Resonator.

Unlike the Evolvers, who enjoyed a great degree of freedom, he sadly couldn't say the same. Damaging a Magnetic Resonator without a compelling excuse would require him to reimburse the costs from his own pocket. The presence of Digestors and a peculiarly behaving barrier did not constitute an excuse...

As for keeping an eye on Jake? The mission didn't specify the lengths he could go to fulfill his duty. Faced with this dilemma, he was left with no choice but to swiftly connect to the Mirror World to contact his superior. However, by the time he received the authorization he sought, Jake had long disappeared.

Turning back to Jake, when flying at his maximum speed, he was as elusive as a ghost. Alternating between an ethereal data state and a solid one, he moved in and out of the Aetherdream with a single thought, teleporting hundreds of kilometers with each leap.

Within a few accelerations and teleportations, he touched the bottom of the funnel. The distance of several thousand kilometers had taken him no more than a few tenths of a second to cross. Had he not been afraid of teleporting into a Voidsteel wall, he could have transported himself directly there.

In hindsight, he could probably have tried this method before charging into the barrier like a mad bull...

The first thing he did upon landing was to survey his environment. The pitch blackness, the smooth steel ground devoid of grooves extending the adjacent walls, blocked access to the heart of the Magnetic Resonator. If this was some sort of protective door isolating the Magnetic Field Disruptor after each activation, it was a clever design.

He then attempted to deploy his mental sense again, but the Faraday cage interfered with his spiritual energy even more atrociously here.

"Shit... I'm as good as blind in this fucking place." Jake cursed, stomping the ground once or twice before giving up.

Just from the sound, he had anticipated that breaking this ground, the last barrier separating him from the core, wouldn't be easy. Persisting here was a waste of time.

"Let's find another way out." He encouraged himself, lifting off once more to explore his surroundings.

The bottom of the funnel was pitch black, but rather spacious. Without mental sense, orienting himself was troublesome, but Jake had more than just his eyes to make sense of his surroundings.

His skin pores dilated and an invisible gas sprang forth, filling the bottom of the funnel with a simple telekinetic flick. The next instant, Jake took a big gulp of oxygen.

He had just recreated the air.

A year earlier, this feat would have been impossible for him, the materials he could produce were strictly limited to the minerals and metals he had consumed. It was challenging for him to bypass this limitation, but by cheating a little, he had managed to ingest solid hydrogen.

With his new bloodline, playing with the elements had become even easier. To produce air the first time, he had simply consumed some metal oxides like iron oxide, copper oxide, and so on to indirectly produce oxygen.

For nitrogen, lithium nitride, titanium nitride, iron nitride, and many others did the trick. For carbon, it was even simpler, graphite, and diamond being entirely composed of it.

For the rest, once he had all the ingredients, it was extremely easy to manufacture breathable air as long as the energy required for the chemical reactions was sufficient. And energy was the one thing he was not likely to run out of.

Air also meant sound. Opening his mouth, his vocal cords emitted an inaudible sound and waited for the feedback. Using this echolocation method, Jake quickly formed a perfect mental representation of the inside of the funnel.

"Gotcha." Jake chuckled, finding not one but several well-hidden exits. They were, in fact, more of vents than exits intended for maintenance personnel, but they were enough for him.

Sniffing the air, he detected the scent of Lucia and the others at the entrance of one of them and understood that they had chosen to explore this one. Maybe not by choice. Unless one of the other disciples had a similar method to his for mapping the area, they must have groped around for a long time before finally finding an exit.

However... Teleporting in front of this discreet entrance, Jake frowned as he discovered that this opening should not have been so easily breached. The corroded and melted metal lining the vent's entrance indicated that someone had forced their way through well before the arrival of his companions.

"Digestors." Jake spat, recognizing the stigmas of Destruction True Will.

Over the past year, his familiarity with this oppressive form of energy had considerably increased. Not necessarily by choice.

Now that he didn't have Saros around, he could rely on it without fear.

Fearless, he dashed into the corridor extending the vent, just wide enough for an adult man. He even had to lower his head a bit.

Running at a superhuman speed, a blurry shadow zigzagged and charged through the maze of corridors serving as ventilation, turning and retracing his steps numerous times before finally finding another exit. The lid and filter of this ventilation entry and exit were intact, so it wasn't the one his companions had taken.

Anyway, he had lost their scent for a while. Their odor faded after a few kilometers as if they had been teleported elsewhere. Perhaps they had, but Jake had found no sign of such technology.

This ventilation exit, the first he came across, was his second best choice.

Free from Saros' judging gaze, Jake didn't bother and black laser beams shot from his pupils, silently erasing the thick Voidsteel obstruction. Compared to his previous method, this was ineffably more efficient.

When Jake finally set foot inside the structure, a predator's smile slightly raised the corners of his lips.

The fox was in the henhouse.