The Oracle Paths

Chapter 1196  Beneath the Surface, They Stir

Naive Esya, still caught in the whirlwind of emotion, glanced back and forth between Jake and her sister, confusion etched on her face. Neither of them bothered to explain themselves. Before she could find another excuse to throw herself into their leader's arms, Will cleared his throat loudly and fixed Jake with an intense stare.

"Jake... Can I assume this is all part of the plan?"

"Will," Jake greeted, meeting his gaze with a look heavy with unspoken meaning. "This is very much part of the plan. To both our allies and enemies, I'm a hot potato nobody wants to handle, but on the flip side, they can't just bury their heads in the sand about me unless they're willing to give up control over their own fate. By showing up here openly, I'm not only revealing my location but also giving them the freedom to react to my presence on the front lines however they see fit. Pretty fair play on my part, wouldn't you say?"

"... As long as it doesn't turn into overconfidence," the dragon rider grumbled reluctantly, feeling torn about this strategy that put them in a passive position.

Everything would hinge on how well 'Jake' could react and anticipate the enemy's countermeasures.

"And Cho Min Ho?" Jake prompted casually.

"His army and what's left of his faction arrived a few hours before you. The Wargod Raiders, the remnants of the Protectors, and many Soulmancers loyal to Grandmaster Lorentz are following him... To them, he is the Soulmancer King." Will reported gloomily. He projected his mental sense around them to ensure no prying ears were listening in. Once certain they were alone, he murmured telepathically, "Be careful. Something's off with them. Asfrid confirmed it too."

Jake's eyes narrowed at the warning, but a moment later, he returned to his usual indifference. Discreetly, he scanned the area where the King's Idol Alliance troops and Players were camped, using his body as a conduit for the Oracle Scan. The Oracle System and their bracelets were compromised, but with his bloodline ability, Artifact Incarnation, he was the exception.

It didn't take him long to find what was wrong with them.

[Fenr'ol]

[Age: 23 years]

[Race/Bloodline: Underworld Barbarian]

[Faction: King's Idol Alliance / Dusken Throne]

[Cultivation: Spirit Shimmers (no Lumyst Core)]

[Spirit Body (+1): Level 27]

[Overall Evaluation: Mid Grade 3 Aether, Peak Grade 2 Physique, Composite Evaluation: Mid Grade 5] Nôv(el)B\\jnn

[Notable Trait: Traces of foreign spiritual energies detected in the subject's body. Indicators of possession. The subject is under the influence of unknown magic of Contract or Subjugation type.]

All the warriors in his army had similar profiles. Their cultivation and the enchantment level of their Spirit Bodies spoke volumes. The Grades describing their combat strength were an intuitive way to express an individual's threat level without diving into a bunch of stats.

Just like his own status, this Mid Grade 5 reflected the real stats, accounting for body stats as well as Aether stats, which for these natives defaulted at 5,000 points.

To break it down further, an Aether density of 5,000 was considered Mid Grade 3 Aether (between 1,000 and 9,999), boosting the locals' physical prowess by about 500 times. Each of these natives, even the most ordinary, also had a body at least 80 times stronger than that of a human from Earth. In body stats, that's around 800 points, matching the strength of an ordinary human with Peak Grade 2 Aether stats—hence the designation of Peak Grade 2 Physique. Together, these two parameters allowed the natives to withstand Twyluxia's inhospitable gravity, which reached 40,000 times that of Earth.

Thus, this Mid Grade 5 evaluation was a fairly representative summary of this soldier's effective combat strength, identifying him as a recently conscripted recruit with physical abilities barely above the civilians of this world. Of course, on Earth with its pathetic Aether density of 10, this average barbarian would have been like a god.

In fact, since physique was much harder to increase than Aether stats, this mediocre native was leagues above the average Fifth Ordeal Player, although most of those cannon fodder had long since been crushed by the continent's gravity upon their arrival in this world. After all, the weakest participating Players were literally Mid Grade 3. With nothing special about their physiques, their Aether levels barely meeting the participation threshold represented their actual combat strength.

Each of these natives had joined Cho Min Ho's faction, replenishing his ranks with interest after his significant losses in previous days. Most were just low-ranking soldiers like this one, but their numbers were staggering—hundreds of millions of barbarians.

Considering they surpassed the level of the average participant, King's Idol Alliance hadn't come out on the losing end. A faction's strength wasn't just about its elites. A massive influx of recruits like these could cause drastic shifts.

Jake, whose faction was level 12 and had selected the Mega Faction skill—boosting their population limit—could recruit only a bit over 400 million Players. King's Idol Alliance was practically at full capacity.

Oh, by the way, if Jake applied this same simplified evaluation system to his own status, his combat strength would be at least Mid Grade 7, with some of his stats like Extrasensory Perception reaching Low Grade 8. This didn't even take into account all his other augmenting skills, such as Bloodline Ignition, his Lumyst Aura, his Energy Body, or Lucid Aetherdreamer. If all of that were factored in, he would be in a league of his own.

But it wasn't the mind-blowing number of new recruits or their strength that set off alarms in his head. He was far more interested in the traces of foreign spiritual energies that had stealthily infiltrated their bodies. Were they even aware of it? His gut told him the answer was probably no.

[At least two different spirit energy signatures... One of them is identical to the one found on Amy and Lee Yoon,] Xi suddenly reacted. [Assuming one belongs to Cho Min Ho, who does the other belong to?]

It was something she and Jake had noticed since reuniting with Amy, but they'd kept it to themselves. The Korean seemed to have an infallible method to locate his members and keep tabs on them.

If they had doubts before, thanks to the Soulmancers acting as double agents with the idol, they had a good grasp of all the public and private decisions concerning them. Since Cho Min Ho was clearly abnormally well-informed about their actions, it was enough for them to test him by dangling some bait.

At every chance he had to interact with Amy or Lee Yoon, Jake, with Xi's approval, had dropped all sorts of seemingly harmless information about himself and his companions, but which could significantly impact the smooth execution of the Korean's plans. By mixing lies and half-truths, he made sure to feed him false information as credibly as possible.

Jake didn't know if Cho Min Ho was gullible enough to fall for it, but one thing was certain: the colorful stream of insults he'd aimed at him during these discussions when he had Amy's ear would have provoked an emotional reaction even in the most stoic Buddhist monk.

It didn't miss the mark. Meribelle had confirmed from a reliable source that several times a day, the self-proclaimed substitute Soulmancer King had displayed odd behavior during the previous day's military meetings.

Nothing major—a few eyelid twitches, a clenched jaw, or a muted killing intent. Those who didn't know him well wouldn't have seen anything suspicious, but Meribelle's double agents allowed to attend these meetings were on the lookout for such reactions.

The verdict was clear. These shifts in demeanor coincided with his tirades of insults.

Once this confirmation was in hand, Jake had, logically, kept Amy and all members of King's Idol Alliance away from his plans. Players from other factions and natives infested with foreign spirit energy or unidentified magic as well.

This last point was crucial, and it was mainly why he was on high alert. All the Players of King's Idol Alliance brought by Cho Min Ho were infected by foreign spiritual energies—plural—but they weren't the only ones.

All the barbarians in the Wargod Raiders and Protectors' armies were affected by the same anomalies. In total, several billion soldiers, all loyal to the Korean—or at least supposed to be.

Even if he'd been a thousand times dumber, Jake would have realized something was off with them. These anomalies weren't easy to detect. Amy, for instance, was unaware of being under the influence of some unknown magic or that Cho Min Ho's spiritual signature was present within her.

Of all the Myrtharian Nerds, Asfrid was the only one who had noticed, but only because her psychic powers were outstanding. Her Oracle Scan hadn't picked up anything, despite her Rank 15. Hephais, who was Rank 16, hadn't noticed anything either.

As a reminder, the Oracle System had been hacked, but the basic functions of their bracelets were still there. Their Rank no longer allowed them to access more detailed information archived in the network, but that didn't mean that their bracelets, enhanced by their promotions, no longer worked at all.

From all these observations, they could deduce they were dealing with a deep scheme involving at least two people, each at least Rank 17, or a being capable of fooling their Oracle Scans. Jake, being an anomaly himself in this area, could only approach these revelations with the utmost caution.

"It's time to pay a visit to my dear colleague—and those disloyal subjects of mine," Jake finally declared with a resigned sigh.

He was eager for this war to be over.