The Oracle Paths

956 How Utterly Refreshing

Jake and his friends located the new site of Cektl s lab a short while later. As he l d suspected, the alien had relocated to another back alley, keeping his whereabouts shrouded from the constant stream of individuals who sought his services from dawn till dusk.

In its former state, the lab's entrance was a tiny door, more akin to a cat flap than an entryway designed for civilized humans. It was wedged between two incongruous metallic box-shaped residences, rendered invisible by an illusion.

Fortunately, Cekt had given his disciples permission to locate him through their Shadow Guide, saving them from a fruitless search that would've been as futile as seeking a needle in a haystack.

Jake had braced himself for another of his master's tricks, perhaps another cat flap, but even by overestimating the old gremlin, he was left agape as he watched his Shadow Guide vanish into a sewer grate.

'Fuck! Does he really have to go to such lengths to hide? Jake cursed inwardly.

[I think you're underestimating how rare

Aetherists are in the Mirror Universe. Especially a Rank 3 Master Aetherist like Cekt.] Xi remarked with an amused tone.

"Jake, why are you staring at that sewer grate?" Ulfar asked anxiously. "Tell me, that's not the entrance to your master's lab, right?"

Lucia was prepared to follow Jake even to hell as long as they called it a date, but her strained smile and the wistful glances she threw at her beautiful dress clearly showed she was less than thrilled with this turn of events.

"It's an illusion." Hade noted stoically. "Ulfar, stop relying solely on your luck. Lucia... nevermind..."

He had just observed her tentatively reaching for Jake's hand, but at that moment, Jake had crouched to examine the sewer grate. Her delicate hand had closed on thin air, leaving her visibly flustered. It was so awkward that the Fluid Grandmaster swallowed whatever he intended to say.

'What a potent illusion.' Jake thought, admiring the myriad of runes composing the formation.

Aether wasn't the only energy powering the enchantment, and their Grade was high. His master's compact, almost viscous spiritual energy also permeated the formation, one of his wisps of consciousness merged within. If Cekt wished, he could transform this harmless illusion into a lethal formation with a single thought.

From this observation alone, it was clear that the old Wendok had little faith in the energy shield protecting Thelma, let alone the Oracle Guardians and other veteran Evolvers tasked with its defense.

Yet, as intriguing as this formation was, Jake had no intention of notifying his master of his presence. Activating his Cosmic Sight, his eyes filled with an ocean of darkness suddenly ignited from within, casting a moonlight radiance that immediately blended with the darkness of his sclera, forming a slowly swirling galactic vortex. Occasionally, arcs of electricity in various shades of blue traversed his irises, adding a splash of color to his inhuman gaze.

'Bingo.' Jake smiled, having finished analyzing and memorizing the rune formation.

His shining eyes flashed abruptly, forcing his companions to momentarily shield their eyes. An invisible psychic beam enveloped the sewer grate, which instantly vanished, revealing a smooth and glossy dark steel slab seamlessly integrated with Thelma's metallic ground.

Lucia and Ulfar betrayed no emotion, but as they watched him dissolve the illusion without breaking a sweat, an urgent sense of inferiority washed over them. Wasn't his master a formidable Aetherist with at least nine Ordeals under his belt? Had it been them, even a year would not have sufficed to neutralize it without external aid.

Did this imply that Jake could trap them in an unbreakable illusion if he wished? The thought sent a chill down their spines.

Below them, unbeknownst to the duo, Cekt was in his laboratory, hurling a barrage of insults and spittle at one of his witless disciples. He abruptly halted his tirade, his eyes snapping skyward.

"Hmm? My formation has been disarmed?" The already wrinkled face of the gremlin scrunched up even more in intense contemplation.

As he mentally scanned the surface, his eyes imperceptibly widened in surprise upon recognizing the culprit. After a brief jolt of disbelief, a delighted smile stretched his hideous face, revealing a row of yellow fangs in dire need of dental attention.

"Master?" Syrbarun, the one who had been berated by the Aetherist moments ago, blinked in confusion, wiping the alien's saliva off his face with his sleeve.

Why had the old gremlin suddenly stopped cursing his Vrusug ancestors ten generations back? Cekt's lips tightened in displeasure at the bovine expression of his fifth disciple.

'Damn it! Why is there such a disparity between my disciples...' The Wendok lamented, shedding a symbolic tear of exasperation.

As Syrbarun was about to ask him again, Jake and his three companions abruptly materialized before him, dropping from the ceiling as if it were not solid metal but a viscous, swamp-like liquid.

The moment Jake had touched the surface slab, which liquefied after scanning his hand to let him pass, he had fallen directly onto the usual teleportation cube before plummeting through several hundred meters of liquid metal to land here. His friends had followed in quick succession, arriving almost simultaneously.

"Wow, quite the rollercoaster ride," Ulfar quipped, checking his clothes before pulling out a pocket mirror to fix his hair.

Before he could even draw his comb, Lucia snatched the mirror from his hand without asking and hastily tidied her hair and smoothed the creases in her dress, hoping Jake hadn't noticed her tousled hair.

Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on one's perspective, his attention was elsewhere at that moment.

"You must be Master Cekt Mogusar. It's an honor." Hade bowed respectfully, oblivious to the other two buffoons.

Jake followed suit with equal solemnity. "Master.

I arrived as soon as I could."

Cekt's lips twitched at his cocky smirk.

'Well, well... Aren't you a bit too proud after

unraveling just one of my illusions?' The Wendok gritted his teeth but kept his thoughts to himself to avoid appearing sour. Instead, he responded with a falsely satisfied smile and said soberly,

"Thank you for coming. With you, we are complete. As for your friends... Well, I suppose they are welcome too. The more, the merrier."

Cekt had intended to send them away, but after giving them a quick once-over, he changed his mind. 'Interesting.'

"You are...?" The alien inquired, his gaze lingering on Hade with curiosity.

"Sigmar Aelsinire, but I go by Hade now," the pale, sickly-looking dark-haired youth introduced himself sententiously.

SMACK!

"Fuck, why didn't you just say your name is Hade?!" Cekt suddenly exploded like a manic, showering the bewildered Fluid Grandmaster's face with spittle. "Did you think I asked your

name because I'm interested in your life story?! If you want to stay here, answer the damn questions straightforwardly."

"M-my apologies," Hade mumbled, his gaze dropping and his cheeks flushing red (and not only because of the slap).

Jake bit his lip to stifle his laughter, while Lucia and Ulfar were too shocked to utter a word. Their mouths agape, they struggled to believe what they had just witnessed. The usually aloof and apathetic Hade had just blushed and stammered in front of a decrepit alien barely taller than a stack of apples.

How utterly refreshing...

After Hade's public crucifixion by the caffeine addicted old gremlin, Lucia and Ulfar introduced themselves in turn, sticking strictly to their names.

Satisfied, the cantankerous alien then asked for further details, such as their bloodlines, specialities, and preferred weapons, but quickly lost interest in Lucia. Conversely, he was intrigued by Hade's expertise in artifact creation and Ulfar's Witcher Bloodline, which required various potions for his personal use.

Being a Potioneer was also a highly sought-after subspecialty of an Aetherist. Cekt still needed to test them, but if they were even half as promising as Jake, he was inclined to accept them as his eighth and ninth disciples.

As luck would have it, he had prepared the perfect test for them!

"Syr, fetch the others," commanded the alien.

"Right away." The Minotaur-like alien in his mech suit hastened to obey.

Syrbarun's Vrusug fur had deepened to a darker shade of ochre since Jake last saw him. Not only had he grown taller, nearly scraping the ceiling, but he now boasted twenty mechanical arms attached to his back instead of ten, indicating his recent equipment upgrade.

While Syrbarun could have used his bracelet to contact the other disciples, he was all too eager to escape the cranky alien's presence for a few precious minutes. From the moment he arrived, he'd been nothing more than the old sadist's punching bag.

If he had known what awaited him, he definitely would have taken his sweet time getting here instead of being the first to arrive...

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