The Oracle Paths

The key, it seemed, hinged on the concept of compression. When Jake rallied his True Will of Grabbing, the truth was it felt more akin to a True Will of Crushing. To date, he had never employed his telekinetic grip, turbocharged by his Soul Power, to grasp anything.

Not because he couldn't, but because he had honed this move with the specific goal of gaining a decisive strike, a trump card capable of defeating any foe, provided he struck true. He held no regrets for having done so, for this technique had saved his life time and again, proving as valuable in attack as in defense.

Indeed, his telekinetic grip, amplified by his True Will, was so overpowering it could locally collapse the space targeted. Now, what Cekt was proposing was to learn to modulate his True Will, not to grind his enemies into oblivion, but to compress his other techniques to ramp up their lethality.

When his master had mooted this idea, a new world brimming with possibilities unfurled before him. Jake had previously contemplated practice in this direction, but the confirmation from his master cemented his resolve to reach this goal. So, in his second month with the Wendok, Jake strove to control the flow of his True Will better, and to better distribute the forces of his telekinetic grip to avoid total destruction in its use. Despite his high mental stats, this proved far more challenging than he imagined, as Soul Power was inherently difficult to consciously manipulate.

The struggle was akin to a man trying to will himself into an erection. It wasn't impossible to pull off this feat, though. One merely needed to outsmart both body and mind. For instance, a man could visualize an erotic scene sufficiently arousing to elicit a natural physical response. Actors used similar tricks to cry on cue.

By the end of the month, when Cekt decided to return to the surface to join his other disciples, Jake had made considerable progress, yet he was far from crafting the Original Spell his master envisioned.

Before leaving, Cekt bequeathed another gift: a copy of the complete collection of Aether manipulation manuals, novice to master level. The master level equated to the expertise of a Rank 3 Aetherist, and even Cekt didn't claim to grasp all its subtleties.

These weren't paper books, of course. The volume of information they contained was simply too vast. If you printed one, particularly the master level, the book would span several football fields, stand three or four stories tall, and the characters would be so tiny a microscope would be required to read them.

Jake, who had long coveted these, knew their value in the Oracle Store before the Aether Network went offline. He accepted this gift from his master with trembling hands. If before he had harbored doubts about the old alien, now there was no cause for suspicion.

Once Cekt had left, Jake realized three months of his seclusion had elapsed, leaving him around fifteen months to accomplish his objectives. There were numerous things he needed to finish during this period, and he was determined to do so.

Throughout these fifteen months, Jake never ceased producing Aether Cores or Cubes or subjecting his body to ever-increasing Aether thresholds. However, he temporarily halted the development of his Original Spell to read the manuals his master had entrusted to him. He was firmly convinced that once his understanding was up to par, progress in all other areas would become significantly easier.

Reading consumed the next three months, but like his master, he had to admit that understanding all the nuances would likely take a lifetime. Nevertheless, during this period, his understanding and understanding of the Aether undeniably skyrocketed. It wasn't so much the knowledge as the elevation of his perspective that was a game changer.

To start with, the master manual extensively covered the Aetherdream, no longer a secret. By the end of his reading, Jake had a much clearer idea of how to "drill this well" in the Aetherdream.

Knowing how and being capable of it, though, were two very different things. Beyond perception, it required advanced Aether mastery, a powerful mind, and an understanding and affinity for most physical and Aetheric laws. This currently an understanding and affinity for most physical and Aetheric laws. This currently hindered 99.9% of Rank 3 Aetherists and above from achieving this feat.

So, the first thing Jake did after his reading was to resume the development of his Original Spell, and importantly, devote a significant portion of his schedule to sharpening his Perception and Extrasensory Perception.

Thanks to these manuals, Jake learned plenty of tricks to optimize his training and knew he had already reached a level where mere perseverance and talent were not enough.

If pushing the limits of his Aether and Body stats were as simple as slathering on more Aether, then these semi-eternal entities aged several trillion years would have long become invincible. Factually, since their stats and bloodlines were so high, they would also be uncatchable.

But this wasn't the case. The delusion of indestructibility was nothing more than that - an illusion. Both body and spirit were crafted from Aether, and they could gradually endure higher densities after a period of acclimation, but even this method had its limits.

Sooner or later, Evolvers hit a wall, typically when their Aether needed to advance to Grade 6 or 7, equating to Aether statistics between one and nearly a hundred million points. It made sense, considering even the oldest System A0 had an Aether density of 186M and was virtually deserted.

Only a select few Oracle Guardians could venture there, and upon reflection, these Oracle Guardians were worlds apart from Khaanul warriors like Saros. These aliens manned the deadliest outposts, their gear in a league of its own. So how did these gifted Evolvers push past this Aetheric wall? Aside from having a high-potential bloodline like Jake, it was crucial to remember that the complete designation of Aether was preceded by the word 'Dream.'

Anything was possible with Aether, as long as one believed strongly enough. Still, merely wanting to become invincible wasn't enough. It was a notion too vague, too scattered to trigger the necessary Aether transformations to alter vague, too scattered to trigger the necessary Aether transformations to alter one's destiny.

This is where the understanding and control of Aether came into play. Coupled with complex Aether Spells, a good bloodline, focused attention, assistance from artifacts, enchantments, medicine, spirit enhancements, and nurturing of the True Will of Growth, transcending existence was, perhaps, possible.

True Will of Growth was inherent in every living being and Aether thrived on it. Except for cases of severe depression, everyone wanted to stay alive and improve, to become a better version of themselves. The Life Element Jake had acquired, which was an artificial element, also encompassed this concept of growth, vitality, and multiplication.

Thus, Jake spent the next six months focusing on his mindset, Original Spells, basic stats, affinities, and stimulating his bloodline by exposing himself to all sorts of inhuman environments, as well as combat practice in the inner world of his Purgatory.

During these six months, his Original Spell also achieved satisfactory performance levels, and Jake renamed it: Morphic Grasp. It was, by far, the most terrifying and versatile technique he owned. Even he was freaked out testing its capabilities in Purgatory for the first time.

Several times, he was tempted to devour the remainder of the Voidshifter's arm, but fear of unnecessarily increasing his Corruption held him back. The grain of Horizon Hardstone in his stomach was still resistant, and Jake had entirely given up hope of digesting it during his seclusion. It was simply too hard.

When there was only a month left until the end of the year and a half that Cekt had assured him, Jake stopped everything, deciding it was time to focus on his equipment. One month wasn't enough to make up for what a good artifact could provide, and the Oracle Store was currently out of reach due to exorbitant delivery fees.

He would have to rely on himself before entering his Fifth Ordeal and then make use of his generously financed Portable Oracle Store Skill by Aaas to finally go on a shopping spree

For his new equipment, Jake already knew which main material he would use: Horizon Hardstone.

Failing to digest it, Jake had realized his stomach was also a great way to extract it from the Voidsteel alloy it was embedded in.

Thus, he spent two of the remaining weeks disassembling the walls of the Conversion Chamber and the funnel to harvest as much Horizon Hardstone-enriched Voidsteel as possible. It was grueling, even for him, as he regularly had to make himself vomit once his stomach was full, and spewing out indestructible metallic dust was far from enjoyable.

After obtaining enough for two or three sets of armor, Jake set up an Aether Extraction Array to drain the Horizon Hardstone of its Aether to make it malleable, then got to work.

Forging a weapon from this material proved to be a true test of endurance, but a few hours before the end of his seclusion, Jake emerged from his workshop with a weary but content expression.

Judging that he had no time for anything else, he resolutely returned to the surface after stowing the Nexus in his Space Storage. The Magnetic Resonator could finally resume its normal function.

It was a shame he couldn't take it with him...