The Oracle Paths

Like many top Players, Jake had learned to protect his spirit as he just did by discarding his doomed body at the last moment, just as he had learned to infuse Spirit or Elemental energy like lightning or fire into his attacks to ensure his enemies wouldn't resurrect to stab him in the back.

Jake waited patiently for the upper half of his body to regenerate, his expression growing increasingly grim, until it fell into utter despondency as he realized his cells were desperately struggling to divide. Normally, they would have possessed enough energy gathered in their Aether Code to support over 16 instant regenerations without deleterious side effects.

Finally grasping the full extent of his grave predicament, Jake, in his Spirit Body state, meticulously scanned what remained of his pelvis and legs for the cause. A searing pain jolted him out of his body instantly, an invasive energy 'drowning' and 'diluting' his mental sense like a flood or tsunami.

Startled and recognizing the grave danger, Jake quickly severed the link with his projected mental sense and let his surviving cells carefully purge the Water Lumyst that was swelling what remained of his body from within. Observing this water-attributed energy brimming with lifeforce, light, and other murkier concepts, while sacrificing another copious amount of Spirit Power, he eventually figured out how it worked.

[This kraken has also enchanted its body until it was profoundly transformed from within by the Breath Of Living Elements Grace,] Xi commented, arriving at the same conclusion. [Nine enchantments were your limit, but that doesn't mean this kraken couldn't have been luckier. With enough time and other methods, I think it's possible to go further in enchanting one's body with relative safety. Even if this Titan started as a mere squid, I wouldn't be surprised if after a certain number of enchantments, it transformed into a creature capable of manipulating and conjuring water.]

'I think the same,' Jake nodded grimly. 'Except I need a lot more Lumyst Water than most natives and Players to reap the benefits of a baptism. I wouldn't be surprised if it took this monster well over 9 baptisms to unlock this mutation. Either way, thanks to the Lumyst Breath Grace altering its physiology and judging by its size and lifeforce, it must have cultivated Lumyst in its body over a very long period. Much longer than any Light Warriors we've encountered. Since Lumyst seems to be generated largely from the conversion of our cells' lifeforce, it must have gathered a formidable amount. Enough to render my already weakened spells ineffective.'

[And that's not to mention that by making the Lumyst River its territory, it could cultivate faster by having all this Lumyst Water already imbued with its own attributes,] Xi added with extreme gravity. [Lumyst Water contains, besides its enchanting properties, fabulous amounts of vital energy and, to a lesser extent, light energy. With the Breath of Living Element Grace and its own aptitude for water control, it must have succeeded in infusing this attribute into its Lumyst, giving it the troublesome properties we're currently facing. By the way, the Lumyst Aura derived from the Child of Lumyst Grace is also an aura that grows and evolves according to its user's actions. After a long life as an aquatic predator so close to the Heaven Cascade, it's no wonder its Water Lumyst Aura is so special.]

Changing the subject abruptly, she then asked, [Did you see earlier how its Lumyst was stored? It matches the different stages of Light Warriors referenced in the minds of the natives and Players we've soulsearched.]

Shimmer, Pulsar, Vitalist, Light Paladin, Corebearers, Radiant Lords, Saints, and the mysterious Celestial. Ordinary Light Warriors rarely surpassed the stage of Light Paladin, with Corebearers and above being the purview of Lifemancers. The condition to aspire to this status was to survive three or four baptisms, depending on the individual.

In other words, obtaining the Lumyst Breath Grace, remolding their organism to produce, cultivate, accumulate, and manipulate Lumyst. The term Corebearer was key here, or rather Core.

Without the body's innate ability to condense this unique Lumyst Core, which was a physical organ in its own right, exceeding the Light Paladin stage was impossible. Regular Light Warriors, regardless of the density of their Lumyst Aura and quality of their lifeforce, had far too shallow control over their Lumyst to cause such a miracle.

And unlike an Aether or Reiga Core, not without drawbacks, the Lumyst Core was a slightly less versatile but more effective organ existing in the physical world, in the sense that it also nourished the cells and spirit of its host like Elemental Mana does.

The Lumyst Breath Grace hadn't done things by halves, and Jake could clearly feel that his body now possessed microscopic channels connecting each of his cells to one another. His cells themselves were also slightly different.

Sadly, he couldn't help but notice that these meridians were currently closed. They converged somewhere in his heart, where an atrophied core impossible to detect without his superhuman senses slept in silence, waiting to be finally irrigated. His cells, supposed to be now capable of converting their lifeforce into Lumyst, weren't producing any yet, making him doubt the usefulness of this Grace for the moment.

What Jake was sure of, though, was that he had to be capable of it, or the ability wouldn't be listed in his Oracle Status. Like any innate ability, it might require a bit of practice, but it was definitely within his capabilities, like learning to walk or chew.

And if it was a technique that could be learned, he could undoubtedly nail it faster than snapping one's fingers. Seeing the terrible damage this Water Lumyst was causing to his organism, Jake suddenly felt enlightened.

'Since my other sources of energy are basically sealed, I might as well start this Lumyst cultivation,' he concluded with cold determination.

'[I agree,]' Xi concurred.

Worried about the fate of his cat, Jake waited impatiently for the adaptive energy emitted by his cells to finish consuming the enemy's Water Lumyst, and when it was done, he urgently returned to his body, which had immediately regenerated as soon as the foreign energy had been purged from his system.

Despite his joy at regaining the use of his limbs, Jake's expression quickly fell as he perceived a faint, strange weakness seeming to come from the very depths of his DNA. A sensation of fatigue and regression as insidious, he had already experienced it several times in extracting his own Blood Essence and immediately identified it as the damage to his Aether Code.

"Fuck. This healing cost me the equivalent of 20 regenerations." He could only weep as he realized he had already lost almost all the benefits of having devoured Lord Ooom in a matter of seconds.

Water Lumyst was dangerous! The next lethal injury of this caliber would probably cause his bloodline to regress a level in addition to taking much longer to recover from.

"I could die for real," Jake realized somberly.

[Then make sure it doesn't touch you again,]' Xi admonished him sternly.

'Hmm, it won't.'

As if to prove his point, Jake sank his consciousness inward and manually took control of each of his cells. Listening to their signals and monitoring every metabolic and Aetheric reaction occurring within each one, he soon found what he was looking for.

Out of nowhere, his cells, emitting only a fraction of the Aether they were supposed to provide, suddenly erupted with pure Life Lumyst, all their cellular activity from whatever source being magically converted into this similar but superior quality energy source.

In any case, Jake felt the difference right away. Unlike Aether, Reiga, Mana, Life Energy, or any other element, this source of power was not rejected by Twyluxia.

'Hahahaha! That's it! This is the kind of power I'm used to!' Jake laughed as he felt the strength of his muscles multiply as the freshly produced Life Lumyst spread throughout his organism, irrigating every part.

[Crunch and Lord Phenix,] Xi reminded him impassively.

Jake's jubilation abruptly ended, his face darkening again.

"Let's teach this fucking squid a lesson," Jake declared sinisterly.

The vitality of his cells, combined with the Aether produced by his Grade 10.6 Energy, even nerfed, was something unimaginable. The amount of Lumyst produced in a few seconds had already surpassed the cultivation of the average Vitalist.

But this was just the beginning. As soon as the Life Lumyst finally reached the atrophied organ nestled in the middle of his heart, the Lumyst Core came to life, and the speed at which it attracted Lumyst was immediately amplified. Like a second heart, the small Lumyst Core began to pulsate, and the filtered Life Lumyst was sent back into his system, nourishing the emitting cells in return, forming a virtuous circle.

In the blink of an eye, Jake regained physical capabilities close to when he infused all his Red, Orange, Yellow, and Green Aether into his muscles to their limit.

He had finally found a way to bypass Twyluxia's restriction. The kraken could sit still and wash its neck for him. Jake was coming for its head!

Or at least its stomach...