The Oracle Paths

His first reaction after touching the stele was to shudder as he muttered to himself,

"How cold!"

The next moment, his consciousness was sucked into the stele before he even had time to process what was happening to him. If he had been in a hostile environment, this inexplicable phenomenon could have cost him his life.

Luckily for him, they were safe in Lodunvals, but with his wary nature he preferred not to dilly-dally here. The sooner he received his Soul Class, the sooner he could integrate with the natives of this world to get information.

As he tried to make sense of the strange feedback his mind was sending him, the force pulling his soul abruptly disappeared, giving his consciousness the illusion of being in an elevator that had just stopped at its destination.

He attempted to open his eyes subconsciously, but soon realized that he was unable to do so. Only his mind was inside that stele. In this world, he had no body, only his consciousness. Even his Spirit Body, which usually allowed him to perceive and affect his surroundings, seemed to be suppressed here.

Even without eyes to see though, this place seemed brighter and more wonderful than ever. His soul floated in a sort of endless sidereal void, but paradoxically he had the peculiar sensation of knowing every corner of it.

Inside, replacing the stars, there were millions, billions of luminous spots, linking to each other to form a network of shining filaments forming incomprehensible patterns and structures. Light impulses were propagating at an unimaginable speed through this network, generating an exponential tree of new signals that constantly enlarged and complexified this universe without clear boundaries.

Looking more closely at one of the patterns formed by this network, Jake recognized one of the countless "constellations" populating this mysterious universe. It, too, was connected to the entire network, its light impulses causing strange chain reactions whenever the constellation was activated or stimulated.

What troubled him deeply was that this was one of the many Soul Glyphs he had gained over the past year. Now that he recognized one of them, Jake didn't have to rack his brain to figure out where he was.

[We're inside your soul, Jake.] Xi gently confirmed his theory. [At least, this is the projection of your inner soul as the Prophetic Stele sees it. It's not perfect, but it far surpasses what a Rank 3 Aetherist like your master can do. Something this incredible, I'm afraid, is only the prerogative of Ancient Designers and top-tier Aetherists.]

Jake felt humbled as he peered into his own soul. He had felt this way before, observing the neuron activity of his own brain, but this was on a whole new level. It wasn't every day that one had the opportunity to study the workings of one's psyche on such a scale.

If someone had the nerve to tell him one day that he had a simple and predictable character, he would invite them here to compare their respective Soul World. Then they would know for sure who had the blankest mind.

Suddenly, while Jake was still amazed by the fantasy sight captured by his mental sense, a long stream of information was downloaded directly into his head. It wasn't text, let alone images, but he instantly knew all of its contents.

Soul Classes! These were all the Soul Classes available at his current level. And the first thing Jake had to admit when he read the list was that there were a lot of them. Like, a lot!

[List of available Soul Classes:]

[Tier 1: Sprinter, Swimmer, Flyer, Puncher, Kicker, Headbutter, Screamer, Grunter, Eater ...]

Trash and Jeanie had already told him about this tier of Soul Class on the way. They were the easiest to unlock from the perspective of the Prophetic Stele, but much harder to awaken naturally.

Indeed, as long as an action had been performed with enough fervor or enough times, the corresponding Soul Class had a good chance of appearing in this list. However, in order to naturally awaken a Soul Class like Sprinter, the person's mind had to be completely obsessed with the idea. Unless one was a sprinter athlete preparing for the Olympics and thinking of nothing else, this was probably impossible.

Most of these classes were generally weak and usually affected the personality of their wearer. A Headbutter, in addition to losing all versatility in combat, would often have an irrational and violent tendency to solve all these problems with a headbutt.

Nevertheless, according to Jeanie, there could be exceptions. When a Soul Class was naturally awakened, its potential for evolution was freer and the emotional investment greater, which affected its growth coefficient. In this way, a Puncher could very well outperform a Boxer, even though it was a higher Tier.

Jake didn't completely ignore the options on this list, but it was ridiculously long and the Stele had much better things to offer him anyway.

[Tier 2: Carpenter, Warden, Miner, Farmer, Hunter, Technician, Ranger, Acrobat, Barkeeper, Herbalist, Torturer, Tamer, Psychologist, Actor, Astronomist, Moneylender, Butcher, Tailor, Tanner, Brawler, Engineer ect...]

The Tier 2 choices already spoke more to him. Most of these Soul Classes were names of Glyphs he had won in the previous year, but not all. "Moneylender" and "Torturer" were obviously not jobs he had deliberately tried to pursue.

Jake winced bitterly as he saw these two professions. Moneylender? He could roughly guess where that came from. On numerous occasions, he had given Will Aether to let him manage the Myrtharian Nerds. As for Torturer? Well... Shaktilar would probably have said that this Soul Class fit him like a glove...

Again, there were some interesting choices, as some of the Soul Classes didn't seem to be the kind that would influence the character of their wearer too deeply, but for Jake it still lacked ambition. The list was also quite long, and in his heart of hearts he thought that too many options were rarely a good thing.

Xi warned him, though, that for most Civilians and weak Evolvers, acquiring a Soul Class without going through the special circumstances of an Ordeal would probably be limited to Tier 1 and 2. On top of that the cost would be exorbitant. Unless they awakened their Soul Class naturally, many were destined to remain Classless, reinforcing the social discrimination between weak and strong Evolvers.

[Tier 3: Gladiator, Blacksmith, Barbarian, Swordman, Marksman, Assassin, Spy, Monster Hunter, Pyrotechnician, Enslaver, Artist, Soul Torturer, Fire Mage, Light Mage, Earth Mage, Spirit Mage, Slayer, Destroyer, Mentalist, Illusionist, ect...]

'Now, we're talking!' Jake smiled with delight.

To begin with, this list was much shorter than the two previous ones. He could see the end of it. But more importantly, these Soul Class names sounded much more badass!

Gladiator, Monster Hunter, Destroyer, Elemental Mage ect... It was starting to sound cool and more like him. Gladiator? He had literally lived as one of them for three months! Destroyer? In what Ordeal had he not destroyed something?

His good mood was quickly dampened, however, when his attention was drawn to the two surviving Soul Classes: Soul Torturer and Enslaver.

'Damn it! Does this Stele think I'm crazy or what?' Jake cursed loudly, but no one heard him except Xi, who started to giggle uncontrollably.

"What are you laughing at?!" He barked curtly.

[Nothing. I just think it's really funny to see you act like you're so innocent when you forced Kewanee and Svara to become your slaves during the last Ordeal without a second thought, just to be on the safe side... And as far as dear Shaktilar is concerned, there's no doubt that you're the devil himself]

Jake was stumped when he heard her reply. What could he possibly respond to that? Yeah, he was an enslaver and a soul torturer. Actually, since he despised physical torture, which left scars and blood everywhere, he much preferred psychological torture to get his way.

It was by far the most gruesome in terms of suffering inflicted, but it gave him a clear conscience in the sense that it didn't last long (for him), that he didn't have to get his hands dirty, and that there were no lasting consequences for the victim except for the exorbitant costs of a very long psychotherapy.

Refocusing on the list, he noticed that some of the Soul Classes had names that were too ordinary compared to others, such as Soul Torturer or Spirit Mage. Blacksmith seemed to belong in Tier 2, but according to Xi that was because his talent far surpassed that of an ordinary smith. After all, he could forge Aether Artifacts.

Tier 3 was already full of good options, but the list wasn't finished yet so he continued reading.

[Tier 4: Body Enhancer, Designer, Alchemist, Berserker, Terraformer, Survivor, Geneticist, Savior, Hero, Challenger, Inventor, Master of Arms, Monster Slayer, Mage, Beast Master, Curse Breaker ect...]

Here Jake started to show surprise. These Soul Classes had more unusual names, sometimes even ordinary ones like Savior or Survivor, but their potential was even greater. The list was rather short this time and he quickly got to the end of it.

His curiosity aroused, he hurried to read the rest of the list, until he ended up transfixed by the last Tier.

[Tier 5: Spellcaster, Rune Engraver, Warmage, Elementalist, Clone Slayer, Arcanist, Ruler, Sunlord, Paragon, Chameleon, Ordeal Player, Myrtharian, Myrmidian, Kintharian, Eltarian].

[Tier 6: Harbinger of Chaos, Plot Armor Wearer, Ordeal Ace, Immortal].

As he read the last line, even Xi's consciousness began to fluctuate with shock.

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