The Oracle Paths

1186  The Weight of a Star

"I guess that explains everything..." Jake heaved a deep sigh, teetering on the edge of exasperation but with a hint of pity for the two spirits who'd wasted their time guiding this simpleton.

Then he reconsidered. No! Those other two spirits are probably just as problematic.

It was one thing for the Sun Spirit to be an immature, carefree child, but the other two Spirits should've been able to supervise him from time to time over such a long period. That meant Moon and Twyluxia most likely had an equally shaky perception of time...

No surprise coming from such massive Spirits.

A fly perceives time four times faster than a human; elephants perceive time more slowly than we do, and the same logic applies to whales. Sure, there are exceptions—like turtles perceiving time more slowly or dolphins processing information faster—but with similar brain capacities, it generally holds true.

Ray's body was a star several hundred thousand kilometers in radius, meaning even light took one to two seconds to travel from one end to the other. His information processing speed could only be painstakingly slow.

That's why Ray had bothered to appear before him as an avatar; only by miniaturizing his body to a human scale could communication between them be possible. Since it was his first time using such a method, the Sun Spirit was naturally uncomfortable.

By grilling the traumatized Sun Spirit for a good fifteen minutes, Jake learned that he communicated with the other World Spirits only once or twice every two or three centuries, and that sentences often took years to articulate. To be honest, the poor Sun Spirit had never talked to a human like this and was already nearing his breaking point.

For him, it was like watching a movie at 1000x speed. Sure, he could handle it, but it was far from a natural way to communicate or listen. Considering they had nothing to do except exist, they had every reason to sleep rather than struggle to stay conscious and die of boredom.

"I get the situation," Jake nodded. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

The situation was what it was, but at least his initial plan wasn't affected. No, it was even better!

If he'd had to convince an old, stubborn Sun Spirit with a massive ego, it would've been a real pain. But if they were simple and naive Spirits, it was easy as pie. All that remained was deciding how to pitch it.

"Hey, how about you come have some fun with me? I promise you won't regret it," Jake finally proposed with the creepy grin of a predator offering candy to a school kid.

Ray might've been limited intellectually, but he wasn't completely stupid. Without this human spelling it out, he'd had millennia to notice the looming darkness of the World Eater or the unstoppable expansion of Blady gnawing away at Grandpa Twyluxia's body.

He also realized after talking with Jake that he'd totally failed his mission and was largely responsible for the current situation. The concept of guilt was new to a young star, but that meant he didn't have the maturity or perspective to brush it off.

According to this human, this world couldn't be saved anymore. Even if they managed to get rid of Blady and his minions, Twyluxia's territory lost to the Blade Spirit was like a limb forever gangrenous. Only amputation would solve the problem for good.

And even if by some miracle they managed to completely purge the corrupted limb, they'd still have to face the World Eater in a few hundred years. Simple-minded or not, Ray knew from the visceral fear flooding his being that this world-plane was doomed.

Jake's plan was the only solution. So, after just a brief hesitation, the cute Sun Spirit made his decision and said in a small voice, "I'm coming with you!"

"In that case, let's get moving. No time to waste," Jake said, suddenly feeling a twinge of apprehension.

Although the Soulmancer King had briefed him that he needed to convince the two Spirits, she hadn't told him how they'd accompany him afterward. Would Ray follow with his avatar? Or bring his entire body?

In the first case, Twyluxia would be reduced to a sea of lava within a few days. In the second case... better not to think about it.

Turns out he was worrying for nothing. It was the first time the Sun Spirit faced this scenario, but he did have a solution.

Warily, Jake watched every move the solar boy made next. First, he saw his avatar slip back into his star. A second later, he sensed—more than saw—the star emptying from within. The process was unbelievably fast; the majestic sun became nothing more than an empty shell in less than three seconds.

The sun still shone, but Jake knew with his senses that it would collapse from lack of fuel within a few days. Just enough time to finish their ordeal and get the hell out of here.

"How did you do that?" Jake asked curiously as the little flaming boy reappeared in front of him.

Ray blinked with a genuinely confused expression. "Oh, you mean where the rest of my body went?" he realized after a beat.

"That's right."

"Um... here?" The Sun Spirit replied, pointing to his lower abdomen. "Or here? Or maybe here?"

Seeing him point to different parts of his body, Jake understood he was referring to his main Lumyst Core. By asking more questions, he learned that World Spirits and Abyssal Revenants like them could convert their bodies into Lumyst anytime. The perk of Lumyst was that it could easily switch from its physical form to an energetic one.

To pull this off, though, there were two conditions: the Lumyst had to be of the same attribute—otherwise, the complexity of the exercise would increase exponentially—and the Lumyst Core had to be at a high enough level to accommodate all the converted Lumyst.

The mass of a star was no joke, and even the Celestial was far from pulling off such a feat; otherwise, he'd be chucking suns or oceans at his enemies whenever things got tough. When Jake asked Ray if it was thanks to his cultivation, Ray couldn't give him a satisfactory answer.

The most plausible theory was that it might have something to do with a Grace obtained at a high level of enchantment or an ability gained at a much higher stage of Lumyst cultivation. Based on his experience with his Lumyst Aura, Jake had noticed that both paths seemed to lead to the same destination, with Graces being just a boost that turned the path into a straight highway.

Still, after Ray had 'stashed' his body, Jake realized they still had a problem. Even though he was now the size of a little boy, his current avatar was still an issue. In space, far from everything, that was fine, but they'd need to sort it out before returning to Twyluxia.

None of his Chalices or Goblets would hold up long with a sun boy inside. His Space Storage might do, but it wasn't really designed for storing living beings. That left his Inner Space and Spirit Dimension where he kept his Fairy Spirits and biomass reserves, but those weren't meant to accommodate something as massive as a Sun Spirit.

[Why not put him in the Purgatory?] Xi suggested confidently. [Now that your bloodline has reached level 2, your Artifact Incarnation skill can embody two artifacts at the same time. If you keep the Oracle Device mode for scanning and long-range prediction, you've got one slot left for the Purgatory. It's like having a little inner world all to yourself, and if you overlay it onto your Inner Space, you should be able to accommodate the Sun and Moon Spirits for a while.]

Jake had obviously considered this idea, but there was a major drawback. His body serving as the artifact for the Purgatory meant he was also its energy source and vessel. As long as he maintained the illusory world of the artifact as a spiritual dimension, the upkeep cost was negligible, but as soon as he had to manifest it physically at full potential, it would burn through his Aether Points at a staggering rate. Grade 10 Energy Body or not, he doubted it was a sustainable long-term solution.

But hey... for a few days, it would probably do the trick.

"Alright, let's do that then," Jake conceded with a grimace. "But only after we've convinced the Moon Spirit."

[Sounds like a plan.]