The Oracle Paths

Chapter 1079 Why Would It Bother Me?

As they stepped out of the building, they immediately ran into Soulmancer Meribelle. She was leaning against a wall with her arms crossed, a look of sheer boredom etched on her face. Hearing their footsteps, she turned her head toward them and nodded approvingly.

"Now, you finally look like a proper squad," she commented, her faint smile not reaching her eyes.

"You've been waiting long?" Jake frowned. "Why didn't you come inside?"

"I just got here," she tersely replied, then ominously ordered the group, "Follow me. The situation has shifted quite a bit during my absence. This isn't the place to discuss it."

Jake and Hephais exchanged a solemn glance, then agreed to follow her in silence. The rest of the recruits fell in line without a word.

In a matter of minutes, they had left the Soulmancer Enclave and entered an empty barrack that had been designated for them. It seemed the rest of the building was vacant, waiting to be filled by the next wave of recruits queuing for their equipment.

Once inside, away from prying ears, Meribelle activated an artifact that looked like a pebble, erecting a soundproof barrier. Addressing them, she announced, "I have one piece of good news and two pieces of bad news. Which do you want first? The bad is closely tied to the good."

"The good," Jake replied, unfazed. It made no difference to him.

"As you wish." She nodded, her expression gloomy. Gathering her thoughts, she cleared her throat and began, "The positive news is that no one has figured out your identity—neither your status as a foreigner nor as a stand-in Soulmancer King."

"Who said I'm a stand-in?" Jake corrected her with a weird grin. "I'm serious."

"... Erm, whatever," Meribelle ignored the goosebumps that crept up her arms and acted like she'd heard nothing. "The point is, no one except perhaps Abyssal Revenant Ledger knows what you're capable of."

"Ledger?" Sank-Uk perked up, thinking he'd heard the name before.

"That's right," she confirmed darkly. "It's somewhat confidential within our Soulmancer circle, but Ledger is the Abyssal Revenant that tallies your Contribution Points. Originally, Ledger was just a ledger, an accounting book for a small tribe living at the base of the Underworld Cascade. Thrown into the Lumyst River to cover up some fraud, it came back... different. All I know beyond that is, it generates the rings that monitor our actions on the battlefield."

Jake turned pensive, realizing that Ledger had started out as a mere accounting book. From a disposable paper ledger to a monitoring network akin to a supercomputer capable of generating its own components, that was a hell of a leap.

Bones had been just a pile of bones, hosting the soul of a soldier consumed by vengeance, while Chillmire seemed like a wandering soul from the start. Only Ledger appeared to have been a completely inert object initially, which explained the sheer number of enchantments it had required to attain its current form.

When he shared his thoughts with Meribelle, she immediately corrected him,

"According to some rumors, Chillmire might actually be a snowflake that fell into the Lumyst River on a blizzardy day. It's really hard to know the truth. There are many spirits affiliated with cold, wind, or water like him, but none as evolved. Statistically, considering the number of snowflakes falling into the river each year, there should be a few Chillmires. But in practice, there aren't. That's because Chillmire devours any like itself before they pose a threat to him or his supremacy. It's one reason many think he was an opportunistic wandering soul to begin with rather than an inert snowflake. Bones and Ledger each have their own personalities and distinct ambitions."

"Ah, I see," Jake nodded, finally grasping the difference between Ledger and the others.

Ledger's mind, as advanced as it was, remained at its core a no-nonsense military ledger. It aspired to be little more than what it was designed for. This perhaps was the most glaring distinction between spiritually enchanting an existing mind and awakening the spirituality of an object from scratch. If he recalled correctly, the manuals on Spirit Enchantment he'd just read went into great detail on this theme.

"He can also relay the orders you give it," Meribelle chimed in, unasked. "You should receive your assignment for the next regiment any moment now."

And indeed, as if Ledger had been eavesdropping on their conversation, their rings began to blink. When Jake probed the artifact with his mind, he received the following notification,

[Ironsoul Berserkers Army Quarters, Ground 3. Please report tomorrow morning an hour before dawn to receive your final assignment.]

"At least we'll get some beauty sleep," Jake quipped. "Well, not me. Tonight, I'm going on a riverside hike."

[I hope there won't be any nasty surprises there.] Xi sighed. [I have a feeling we won't be the only Players thinking of visiting the river tonight. Not necessarily allies...]

'Well, I'm looking forward to it,' Jake shot back in his head, barely suppressing a wicked grin.

The other recruits were also thrilled to have the rest of the day free. Unfortunately, Meribelle wasn't done with her spiel. But before that, a question nagged them,

"If this ring can transmit messages, then why did those Vorzhul Riders communicate with us by delivering written messages?" Ekho pointed out a glaring inconsistency.

Meribelle seemed prepared for this comment as she immediately explained, "Our enemies have their own methods of communication. They carry either a twig from Anthace, the Tree of Life, or a parasitic worm produced by the Dreadnought Nematode. It doesn't stop your rings from recording and filming, but it does jam the signal, especially when in the presence of a large number of enemies. It's better to communicate old-school."

It was kind of lame that their monitoring network was so faulty, but not entirely surprising either.

"So, what's the negative news?" Hephais abruptly asked, ready to scout ahead if the answer didn't sit well with him.

The young woman immediately dropped her discussion about Ledger and turned somber.

"The first bad news involves Jake and is closely tied to the good, as mentioned earlier. Someone has taken credit for your exploits in the last battle. A foreigner like you two, no doubt. His appearance also closely matches the Soulmancer King's, so Emlet, Giso, and the others approached him to assume that role. He accepted his new persona surprisingly quickly and has made no effort to hide it. In fact, he's been publicizing his existence to all the important generals. Right now, most of them seem to recognize his authority."

She paused briefly to gauge Jake's reaction, expecting to see cold anger, but there was none. Instead, he wore an indifferent, almost pleased smile.

"Doesn't it bother you that someone is stealing your credit?" She questioned with transparent skepticism.

Jake flashed his most radiant smile. "Why would it bother me? Let him lead if he wants to. Who is it? Cho-Min Ho? Or someone else?"

"Cho-Min-- Wait! How do you know his name?" Meribelle exclaimed in shock.

"Pure luck," Jake waved his hand nonchalantly. "He's the only Player of the same Oracle Rank as me that I know of here. And the only one whose appearance would fit. Believe it or not, he was quite the star back on our home planet."

"Planet?" Claire chimed in.

"A world built on the surface of a sphere rather than a flat plane like yours," Hephais clarified succinctly.

"That makes no sense," Jashuzen scoffed mockingly. "If the world were round, those upside down would fall into the void."

Jake was taken aback by the flat-Earther level argument but was too jaded to correct him. Judging by Hephais' resigned silence, he felt the same way.

"Ahem. Where was I?" Meribelle broke the awkward silence with a polite throat-clearing, then continued, "That brings us to the second negative news. Or the first? Since you apparently don't mind Cho-Min Ho taking your credit... Anyway!"

This time turning very solemn, she declared, "It seems our triumph in Havoscpire was for naught. While we were reclaiming Havoscpire, our enemies launched massive assaults on all our other battlefields.

"Jake, Hephais, it looks like you're not the only foreigners giving us a hard time. While you were reclaiming Havoscpire, those fighting for our enemies wreaked havoc in our ranks... and in yours.

"If this trend continues, we might very well lose this war."