The Oracle Paths

Jake's heart skipped a beat when he heard Xi's confirmation. The thought had crossed his mind as well, but it was different when an AI connected to a near omniscient Oracle System corroborated his thought.

"Then what do I do now? Do I bury myself in the ground like before? Or do I eat rocks until I'm full?" Jake suggested with a pensive frown.

He wasn't kidding. Covering himself in dirt was how his body had absorbed all those minerals so far. Although he could chew and digest stone, it had never crossed his mind. After testing it once to make sure he could do it, he never tried it again.

After all, eating rocks was no fun, even if one enjoyed crunchy food.

His consumption of radioactive elements such as plutonium or enriched uranium was the exception, but these were wholly different in that he only needed a very small amount to derive very long-term benefits.

The downside, and Jake had only just realized it, was that it had undoubtedly contributed to the imbalance between his attributes in favor of radiation.

Seeing his face distort from the pain with the coming of the next seizure, Xi didn't dare dither any longer and offered him a serious solution right away.

[Both of the methods you proposed are viable, but to speed up the process you'll still need heat and light.] She reminded him first that like a plant, his Myrtharian Bloodline needed soil and sunlight, and that if he lacked either, his progress would be greatly reduced.

[I'll be honest with you.] She went on to say in a solemn voice. [I don't think ordinary soil like the one under your feet will do the trick. At least not if you want to go beyond your limits and advance the Grade of your bloodline again. If you just ingest tons of common stones and metal, you will recover the lost biomass and your bloodline imbalance will be rectified sooner or later, but once you reach level 4 you will reach your limits. To put it mildly, if you make this choice you will become like those Space Digestors that look like garbage because they have only gathered Aether to evolve due to the lack of available prey.]

Jake nodded with a serious face. His bloodline's Grade could evolve by assimilating rare materials like Silver Soul Alloy, but there was a good reason why it was categorized as Grade 9 and not Grade 10. It was not an innate ability.

In System A16, from where the Kintharians originated, these aliens were born, lived and died on the same planet. Their evolutionary potential was determined by the composition of their planet's soil and the proximity and properties of their solar system's star.

This constraint actually applied to the vast majority of species. This was true for Vampires who could only metabolize the blood of their own pre-vampire species, but also for humans who could only eat very specific organic foods such as vegetables and meat, and only those that their digestive system was adapted to.

Nonetheless, if an ordinary Vampire drank the blood of an exceptional human with godlike power but with perfectly neutral and readily assimilable attributes, then he could undoubtedly transcend his limitations. If such an improbable situation occurred, an ordinary Vampire could very well surpass the Vampire Progenitor who bit him in the first place.

In fact, this applied to humans as well. An ordinary human with a Grade 0 bloodline could very well by fluke or twist of fate taste the meat of a billion year old divine bull and suddenly gain the strength of a near god.

To put it plainly, what Xi was trying to convey to him was that his bloodline was limited by his Grade. The only difference from humans and Vampires was that his diet was much more varied and lenient.

To maximize the chances of breaking his Bloodline's shackles, Jake would have to consume unique items that fit into his diet. It could be food, drink, a special rock or some type of flame. The possibilities were almost endless and he was spoilt for choice.

"I know what I need to do now, but it won't be easy to find what I need." Jake exhaled breathlessly on all fours, his muscles shaking with fatigue and dripping with sweat after the seizure ended.

Jake took a look at his Space Storage, then the Faction Vault, and immediately regretted not buying or storing special materials when he had the chance. In retrospect, Elduin and Bhammod's mithril armor and weapons might have been appropriate for a first test.

"Quanoth has rare metals like mithril, adamantium, and orichalcum." Jake listed as he stood up. "Most of the A-rank and above adventurers we came across had at least one piece of mithril equipment. It should be possible to get our hands on it legally."

[Too bad Laudarkvik is practically under Lost Divinities' control. They have pawns in every faction of the city, and the Shapeshifters and Demons are all under their control. Only Xaverie, Aisling's mother, remains a question mark, but with her demonic nature I doubt she is unaware of her daughter's capture. The fact that she was not tortured, unlike the other prisoners, is the most compelling evidence of this.]

"How do you know the other prisoners were tortured?" Jake raised his eyebrows in suspicion.

Xi didn't see any point in keeping the truth from him.

[Wyatt didn't tell you everything so you wouldn't be discouraged, but his Oracle AI is much more talkative.]

Jake's eyes narrowed slightly in wonder.

"Doesn't that go against his host's interests?" He asked warily. "Does this mean you can defy my orders at any time if you think I'm wrong?

[...]

"No need to answer. I'm not accusing you." Jake reassured her, massaging his temples to help himself think.

Their consciences were linked and if she really tried such trickery he would soon realize it. Instead of worrying about what she might be doing behind his back, he would rather focus on the benefits he could reap from this Oracle AI's loquacity.

"What else did Wyatt's Oracle AI say?"

Sensing that he wasn't angry, Xi hurriedly spilled out everything with as much exactitude as possible, leaving out no detail,

[Carmin is probably fine, but Wyatt and Grimwald found several badly tortured but still alive Mutants in those dungeons. In order not to push Aisling into doing something stupid, like committing suicide, the guards were ordered to keep the Mutant captives alive to serve as hostages. Now that Aisling has been set free again, they might choose to sacrifice them.]

"That means we won't be able to count on many people in Laudarkvik. Are there any decent Mutants left willing to fight with us?" Jake inquired pessimistically.

[I don't know, but it's best to assume not.]

"In that case, let's take a trip to Laudarkvik. It will be a good opportunity to find out what the situation is like there and see if we can buy rare materials.

[If we can't find anything, Jake, you can also create these magic metals yourself. You are an Aetherist now. Your only sky is your imagination."

Jake felt his heart grow warm as he heard this rare encouragement. Smiling, he said,

"If nothing works, I'll try this solution."

Having decided on their plan for the next few hours, Jake then forced himself to gobble down as many rocks and metal as he could for the first time in his life. As they watched him listlessly chew and swallow rocks and iron nuggets as big as his head, Jeanie and Aisling's eyes nearly rolled out of their sockets.

Jake was tempted to give up several times, but the prospect of another bout of pain gave him the motivation he needed to finish his meal. When his belly was so bloated he could barely breathe, and almost three tons heavier, Jake finally stopped eating.

With all the stones in his stomach, Jake would be lying if he said he felt good. He felt like a python after eating a sheep whole. Sure, his digestive system could melt and purify these materials by generating an extreme temperature, but without a push it would take many hours.

Looking at his Aether Sun Core's dim glow, Jake sighed in defeat, but fortunately there was still the magma chamber where he stood. Without worrying about the stares of the two dumbstruck women, he dove into the lava.

Alas, he soon realized that the effectiveness of this bath was too limited. A year ago, this lava would surely have been enough to stimulate his bloodline, but today this magma felt barely warmer than a turned-off radiator. It wasn't totally useless, but compared to the amount of earth and metal he had just ingested it was negligible.

The lava itself held enough energy. If the temperature was inadequate, he could simply extract the thermal energy from more magma. The limiting factor this time, and it was more obvious now that he was aware of the problem, was the lack of radiation. To solve the issue, he cast an Aether Spell to produce sunlight and swallowed another plutonium pill and the charm finally worked.

With his meal digested, Jake felt instantly better and he understood that the looming crisis had been temporarily averted.

He also knew now, however, that he needed a new Aether Sun Core as well.