The Oracle Paths

?In doubt, he checked anyway, pressing the ingot briefly against the non-enchanted fabric of the tent. After a few seconds, nothing happened, and he let out a sigh of relief.

"I guess it's safe to use," Jake concluded with a faint frown.

The next step was to check if the Lumyst nurtured by the ingot itself was also harmless. For now, the metal remained just an ingot, albeit a living one. He could work with that.

"What weapons do you want? Swords, axes, spears? Tell me quick," Jake called out to the recruits, without taking his eyes off the black steel nugget.

Excited to choose, the recruits hurriedly specified their desires, and he immediately got to work. Even with his bloodline powers nerfed, shaping this metal took but a split second.

He just had to infuse it with some of his Metal Lumyst to gain control of each atom and rearrange them at will. A heartbeat later, a pile of weapons and armor pieces requested by his companions appeared before them.

"Wow! That was fast!" Scelacabe exclaimed, eyes wide with astonishment.

"That was... enlightening," Claire added more dignifiedly shortly after.

The other natives of the group were just as flabbergasted, but the Myrtharian Nerds present reacted much more moderately. Their boss was acting like their boss. Nothing new on the horizon.

Jake then picked up the axe at the top of the pile he had just forged for Jashuzen and scanned it to check the results.

[Black Lumyst Steel Battleaxe (+14): A war axe forged from a large ingot of Black Lumyst Steel. It is endowed with attributes of self-repair, self-sharpening...]

The rest was as the description of the metal ingot before forging. The weapon was alive, its atoms functioning more like living cells than inert particles. However, it had no sentience either.

The weapon also had no unique abilities or powers. They were the same as those of the metal composing it entirely.

"I suppose that without proper Aether Symbols and technology to add additional properties, the only way to further evolve it is to awaken its spirituality."

So, it was time to enchant everything. Jake realized then that he was in a conundrum.

His initial plan was to use Spirit Lumyst Water from his own Water Lumyst to enchant these freshly forged artifacts, but if his Lumyst Metal couldn't enchant what it touched, there was no guarantee that the created water would do any better.

And indeed, after projecting some Water Lumyst out of his body with his hands, the resulting puddle of Lumyst Water proved incapable of enchanting anything even when he took direct control, though he was almost certain it should be possible.

"Thankfully I thought to collect as much Lumyst Water as possible last night before going to sleep," Jake congratulated himself, pulling a Chalice of Nethershade from his spatial ring.

It was Meribelle who had found it for him upon his return. Clearly, following him around had made a strong impression on her. Enough to convince her to grant him such a precious gift.

This replica was only enchanted to +15, but that was more than enough for what he wanted to do right now. He would always have time later to forge something better as his enchanting expertise progressed further.

Once the chalice was in his hands, Jake's relaxed atmosphere vanished instantly. Now was when it got tricky. If he just poured Lumyst Water on the artifact without thinking, it would only have a 50% chance of enduring the first Spirit Enchantment.

If by chance the enchantment succeeded, the baptisms would continue until the energy of the poured Lumyst Water was exhausted. He had collected the purest and most concentrated Lumyst Water his chalice could contain, and he had no doubt there was enough energy to support 10 to 15 baptisms without a problem for an ordinary axe.

If he relied only on statistics to guarantee the result, he would need tens of thousands of axes like this one to ensure perfect success. Not really the kind of odds he liked.

Fortunately, he wasn't counting on chance to guarantee his result. After reading the entire 17 volumes written by Grandmaster Lorentz the night before, and then those written by Valandar later in the night, he knew how to optimize his chances.

Indeed, there were a bunch of factors that could work in his favor or against him. His luck and control of his spirit energy, which Jake had already identified, were far from the only factors to consider.

A well-developed Lumyst Aura could also improve these odds, as could his Lumyst cultivation, and his Child of Lumyst Grace. Combining all that, he was confident he could guarantee at least 9 consecutive Spirit Enchantments.

Beyond that, failure was possible, but unlike him, he didn't know if this Black Lumyst Steel could withstand the backlash of it. Today was not the day to find out, with only a few minutes left to finish equipping his teammates.

He was about to perform the Spirit Enchantment with the Lumyst River water as planned when his arm suddenly stopped, his face frozen in an epiphany.

"... Why didn't I think of that earlier. In hindsight, it's the most logical thing to do," Jake almost cursed himself as he decisively began to emanate some Black Metal Lumyst, but not his spiritual pendant.

"You planning to do what I think?" Hephais muttered, thinking he had understood what he intended to do.

"I don't see why it wouldn't work," Jake nodded.

If Life Metal Lumyst could precipitate into Lumyst Metal, then Spirit Metal Lumyst should precipitate into something too. Applying binary reasoning, it could only be a Metal-attributed Spirit Body, like the one Hephais had conjured a while before in front of them.

But what would happen if a metallic body and its astral equivalent were forced to merge? They would then become one, forming an artifact enchanted both physically and spiritually.

The question was whether such a fusion was possible, but even if it didn't work this time, Jake had another method at his disposal to make his idea work: to precipitate Life Metal Lumyst and Spirit Metal Lumyst at the same place, at the same time.

That way, there would be no risk of rejection, their birth being simultaneous and superimposed, and therefore as one. Once struck by inspiration, Jake was unstoppable and within ten minutes he had finished reforging everyone's doubly enchanted equipment.

"I-Incredible..." Ekho stammered voicelessly, weighing his new sword with reverence. Just holding it, he could feel how terrifying his weapon was.

The artifact's spirit was still dormant, but it already emitted a pervasive spiritual presence, sharp and biting like a cold metal blade. When the former alcoholic sliced the air in front of him with large movements, the fabric of the tent several meters away tore silently, eliciting a frightened squeak from him.

Thonzo also brandished his new black claymore in front of his face, eyes bulging and jaw hanging open, as if thunderstruck.

"This weapon... I'm almost afraid to wield it," he couldn't help admitting, audibly swallowing to remoisten his dry throat.

"..." Jashuzen, the only one who had held an enchanted axe among them until now, was more conflicted.

His familial heirloom was dear to his heart, but compared to his new axe, it was clearly garbage. He didn't know what to do with his previous axe. Although he knew he would probably never use it again, he was reluctant to throw it away.

Claire and Scelacabe had chosen a Tang sword for tight combat and a flexible spear for longer range in more open spaces. They too were as if mesmerized by their new acquisitions.

Hephais temporarily equipped two scimitars as well as a pair of daggers, needles, shurikens, chains, metal wires, and other accessories customized on request by Jake, but while finishing putting on his makeshift armor, he telepathically murmured,

"I'll come back to you next night to reforge my equipment once I can condense Life Shadow Lumyst."

"Sure," Jake heartily agreed. The better equipped his teammates were, the better their chances of survival. And if there was one teammate who had never let him down, it was the taciturn assassin.

As for Crunch and Lord Phenix, they also whined to have their own equipment and the two oddballs now looked like two cosplaying clowns in their ridiculous armors.

The fat cat had insisted that he forge a helmet with a huge rhinoceros horn so he could happily charge his enemies head-

on. His armor was also covered with long ultra-sharp spikes so he could, in his own words, perform his 'spinning top technique'.

The turkey was even worse, having outright asked for a huge joust that he apparently intended to hold against his armpit with his wing during charges, consequently losing the ability to fly…