The Oracle Paths

Gerulf had not changed. If Jake were to describe his transformation... He would simply say that Gerulf was even more like Gerulf than before. His face with its intimidating, bestial features was unchanged, but his lower canines had grown, as had his claws.

He also wore heavy hoplite armor with a gladius at his belt, and held a rectangular shield and spear that made him look anachronistic among the crowd.

His musculature and growth spurt, on the other hand, had exceeded the bounds of reasonableness. In the past, the giant towered over him by two heads, and it was still the case today.

To his dismay, he still had to lift his head to look him in the eye, but it made him smile instead. Time flew, the world changed perpetually, but there were also things that remained the same. Strangely, this brought him some solace he didn't even know he was craving.

But that didn't mean that Gerulf was stronger than he was. Jake had never been a pure Kintharian. In fact, he wasn't even a pure Myrtharian anymore since the Silver prefix was added to it. He was a hybrid among hybrids.

Even without scanning the Kintharian, Jake could tell at a glance that Gerulf was physically at least as strong as he was. While at the time Jake was far too weak to gauge the extent of the Heliodas champion's abilities, he could now clearly estimate his level.

Alas, it was only in terms of Body Stats, and only in terms of Strength, Constitution and Vitality. As for Agility, Intelligence and Perception, it was crystal clear that Gerulf was no match for him.

Besides, his Aether stats were drastically lower than his own. No matter the hardships endured to stand before him today, his world where the Myrmid Empire ruled only had an Aether Density of 8 back then.

For the record, the Kintharians did not have the Self-Aether Encoding Skill. Their potential was limitless, but only as far as their Body Stats were concerned. Without external aids, these born warriors were constrained by the Aether density of the world they lived in.

Jake could see the Oracle Device on Gerulf's wrist, and it was the only reason his Aether signature matched those of other refugees who also had Aether stats slightly above 100 points.

In contrast, Lucia's Aether aura standing next to the giant blazed like a supernova blowing up in the middle of a moonless night. Shockingly, her Aether fluctuations surpassed his!

Jake couldn't help but be impressed when he saw this.

It wasn't just her Aether stats that had improved. Lucia was no longer the emaciated young princess with the bloody, sickly face he had met in the infirmary of Servius Cassius' ludus.

She was now a gorgeous and resplendent woman from whom emanated a coldly determined and imperturbable aura. She was also wearing a hoplite armor characteristic of the Myrmidian army, but of better quality and on the light side.

The barely drawn blade of her gladius was blood-red like Sarah's sword. It was a Myrmidian weapon forged with her own blood and able to grow alongside her in battle. The Aether contained in this sword was aligned with her own aura.

Like Gerulf, she had to go through hell to stand in front of him at this very moment.

It was less obvious with Gerulf, who was already an over-trained adult when they first met, but Lucia had aged. Not that she had grown wrinkled, or that she was uglier than before, quite the contrary. But Jake could safely assume that she was at least two years older than when they last met.

She was no longer an immature, desperate princess, but a mature, experienced young woman whose character had been forged in the flames of war. The scar running down her face from her right forehead to the corner of her left jaw and down to her right eye and the underside of her nose left no doubt about it...

Jake could almost visualize the Digestor scythe plowing into her face after Lucia failed to avoid it completely. Outstanding Aether Vitality did not make one superhuman. If that injury had closed up during a fight, there was nothing strange about a permanent scar like this.

Not everyone was like him and Gerulf, with an inhuman body capable of recovering perfectly from any injury with a little fertilizer and light.

Gazing quickly over the rest of her body, he spotted similar scars on her forearms, with a particularly nasty one splitting her throat from left to right. She had barely survived a beheading strike.

Despite her war wounds, Jake found her no less beautiful. After his own Ordeals, he had become numb to the laughable aesthetic standards of a peaceful society.

Moreover, without exaggerating, Lucia remained as beautiful as the photoshopped supermodels of the Earth before their forced transfer on B842. Her smooth olive skin, even slightly glistening, her long silky hair tied up carelessly so as not to disturb her during battle and her golden irises shimmering like cat's eyes in the dark gave her a charm and a natural charisma that Will definitely couldn't match.

Combined with her temperament, her scars were almost invisible to Jake and other Evolvers who had been through similar dramas. Especially since removing those scars was a breeze once on B842.

"Are you... Jake?"

A melodious, yet hesitant voice interrupted his thoughts. While Jake was sizing up his two old friends, they were also watching him.

They weren't the only ones who had changed. If their changes were already shocking, his own were just mind-blowing.

Gerulf had recognized Jake straight away thanks to his overdeveloped animal instincts, but Lucia had the greatest difficulty superimposing the image of the brave young slave who had made such an impression on her with that of the killing machine standing stoically before her.

Almost a meter taller than before, his musculature was compact and daunting, but not grotesque and cumbersome as Gerulf's could be. His pale bronze skin, silver mid-length mane sprinkled with golden streaks matched his galactic irises elegantly.

Although his translucent claws and fangs resembled those of the Kintharian, they were nowhere near as disproportionate and didn't make him look as fearsome. If a woman had a kink for ridiculously beefy guys, Jake could even be called handsome.

But compared to his appearance, it was mostly the murderous, savage aura that naturally rose from him, coupled with the metallic smell of dried blood permeating his armor that made him unrecognizable.

The hesitation in the voice of Lucia was thus quite natural.

More moved than he would have thought, Jake nodded with a tired smile,

"It's me. I told you I'd survive."

His killing intent faded, and Lucia could finally confirm that the fierce giant before her was indeed her old gladiator friend. Her eyes became moist, the corners of her eyes involuntarily filling with tears.

Sticking her spear in the ground, she ran to him and threw herself into his arms, momentarily taking his breath away. It was also a good excuse to hide her tears.

"I'm so happy to know you're alive!" She yelled, trying to hide the tremor in her voice. "When the Digestors were exposed and started slaughtering everyone, I thought for a long time that we were doomed. It was your last words that convinced me to hang on for dear life and take up arms."

Jake let himself be hugged dumbly, trying to remember his exact words. With his current intelligence, remembering a few sentences was no challenge, but it wasn't the case back then. Fortunately, his Aether Intelligence had already reached 100 points at the time and this moment was particularly heartbreaking. As he rummaged through his memory, they eventually came back to him.

"Listen to me carefully. I'm from another world, I'm going to disappear in a few seconds so you don't have to worry about me, I'll survive. The creatures in that vat that controlled your mother and the other Templars are called Digestors. Soon, like mine, your world will be absorbed into the Mirror Universe to fight them. Heliodas is doomed, the only thing you must do now is run as far away as you can. If fate allows, we will meet again."

Refusing to listen to him, Gerulf had then knocked out the young woman, leaving her no chance to answer him. To hold on, she had clung to this one promise all this time.

Now Jake was even more stunned and bewildered than Lucia. How could he have imagined that it would be these few words spoken in a hurry that would galvanize her in all her future battles, pushing her to persevere to meet him again.

He had no idea how many times she had repeated these words to herself after losing her family. When Jake had killed her mother before her very eyes, her world had fallen apart. When she had woken up far from Heliodas, she had learned that the capital of the empire had fallen and that the Imperator was dead, defeated by the holy priestess of Throsgen.

The empire was ablaze, facing the double threat of the Throsgenian, Eltarian and Kintharian rebels, as well as the internal endemic caused by the proliferation of Digestors. Her older sister Livia had not escaped either.

Everything she had known seemed destined to disappear.

Jake could feel just how fragile her candle of hope was. Subconsciously, he returned the hug.

Gerulf was not as expressive and emotional as Lucia, but as he walked up with heavy steps, Jake lifted his head and a gruff grin greeted him.

"I'm glad to see you again." The giant declared in a deep voice that resonated like an earthquake. You've grown strong, but to me you'll always be the little champion of Heliodas."