NOVEL INFO
Summary
Have you ever wished you exactly knew how to accomplish your dreams? Not feeling the slightest doubt anymore? Being aware at any time how every choice, action and decision of yours affects your future?
That’s what happened to Jake Wilderth, a procrastinating young man without ambition. When a mysterious silver spaceship, popping out from nowhere, delivered to each Earthling a bracelet containing an AI introducing itself as the Oracle, their destiny changed.
From a boring uneventful life Jake began to strive for greatness, treading his Path over the dead bodies of many.
What a blessing it would have been if he was the only one profiting of such a gift! But when everyone became equal to face the future, he soon realized no gift comes for free..
Just a warning. Volume 1 sets the atmosphere in a Earth slowly degenerating into chaos and can be considered as a big prologue. It is slow and not as rewarding for the readers than mainstream stories on this website. If you can push through it will be worth it. For some real action you need to wait chap 27.
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NB: English is not my native language and despite my best efforts there can be some mistakes. Thanks for your understanding.
- Status/ Oracle System
- "Beep...Beep...Beep...BEEP!"
- In the past, Jake was used to having a plentiful breakfast before going to work. A bowl of milk, a nice amount of cereals, a fruit and maybe a cup of tea or coffee. The typical French breakfast. Sugar before everything else. However, it was more than five years ago, when he was still living at his uncle's villa.
- Once at home, Jake threw himself on the black leather sofa. This day at work had been short, but he was already exhausted with all the unforeseen developments. He found within himself the strength to stand up again to brew a cup of coffee. Lyophilized coffee, if that interests anyone. He was not rich, but not so poor he couldn't afford a good coffee machine. He was just lazy. Stir a teaspoon of freeze-dried coffee in hot water and it was done. Sorry, for the purists.
- Jake stayed silent for a long while after digesting such an amount of information. Not because he couldn't understand these values. After all, in the 22nd century, VR technology was mature and you could easily find a good VRMMORPG just by randomly choosing a game with closed eyes in the first VR game store you come across.
- He was burning from the desire to ask so many questions, all on the tip of his tongue. But somehow he managed to hold on. He would first hear what the Oracle AI had to say about the last available device's function.
- [I will now introduce 'Coaching' the last feature of Guidance.] The Oracle AI declared solemnly.
- Jake had so many questions to which he wanted the answers, but at the same time, he was so afraid to hear them. He couldn't help thinking there was something wrong. How could such benevolent aliens offer to every human a device that was technologically so many years ahead in the future? It didn't make any sense.
- "How is this possible?!" He exclaimed, puffing loudly. "Did the Oracle make him do this?"
- Even a long time after they came back home, both Jake and Crunch were still shaking. His lips were wobbling; his white tee-shirt was drenched with sweat. His face was bloodless, his hands cold in spite of the scorching temperature. He shivered non-stop, goosebumps all over his body, unable to keep his fear in check. He was petrified.
- Jake waited stoically for the ten minutes to pass. A pointe of impatience was slowly building up inside him, but he still kept his cool. When the time was up, he hurried to check his bank account with his smartphone.
- Beep...Beep...
- "Hey Jake!" Harry greeted with a relieved expression. "I thought you would not come. Yesterday, it was only me and Camille. Camille because she's the manager and I because I need the money. It was all for nothing in the end. We haven't seen any customers."
- His first reaction seeing the content of this mission was to ask Xi if the Coaching ability could joke. Of course, the answer was negative. The Coaching missions were always considered as great opportunities by the Oracle. It would be a regrettable mistake to ignore them in the long run.
- 'Ruby Hale?' If a god existed somewhere, it truly had a dark humor. Hale? She was disabled. A ruby? Who were they trying to dupe? Perhaps her mother had a nice sense of humor too. Or she just wanted the best for her daughter, perfectly knowing that she wouldn't see her grow up.
- All of a sudden, the scenery around him changed. He could still sense how he was suspended from the ceiling, but he was now in a small size plane, with a twenty-two something woman standing in front of him. There was only space for a few persons, the furnishing was minimalist. You could hear a loud throbbing from the plane engine and high-speed rotating propeller.
- [Rewards:]
- At this precise moment, Jake felt a visceral fear coursing through his body, goosebumps all over his skin. As good at procrastinating as he was, he couldn't ignore such an urgency. Lazy people could postpone chores and duties, but not threats to their life.
- At that time, Jake made a decision. He would copy each of his Shadow Guide's move till the very end. It would be tough, he would feel bored, may want to give up, but it was the old him. Most people giving in would always be assailed by doubts and uncertainties.
- The next morning the nerd shaved. Nothing to be proud of, but it proved that he was taking the Oracle missions seriously. He was not used yet to his new lifestyle. Cooking was time-consuming and his heart bled each time a fresh fruit or vegetable was consumed. If not for the promise of the soon to come investment returns, he wouldn't have been able to persevere.
- There was a common trait found in most intelligent people. A lot of thinking, little action. "Blessed are the simple-minded" was not a saying that just happened to exist. There was obviously a basis for this claim.
- The sun was at its zenith, the afternoon having just begun. Jake may have wasted his morning wallowing, but now that he was on the right track, there was no turning back.
- Jake brooded for a long time over the reasons behind Paul's invitation. He had always been inclined to party, but a little voice in his head was whispering to him that things would be quite different this time.
- Although Thiru's physical transformation was impressive, it wasn't enough to destabilize Jake, since after all he didn't care about almost anything. However, if someone claimed that the Oracle had no hand in it, he would refuse to believe it.
- [The Oracle Overseer tricked me. They knew all along.] Xi commented with a chilling voice, halfway between despair and anger.
- Jake was stunned after Paul's speech. The Earth was shrinking at this very moment and he hadn't noticed anything all this time. According to him, his planet wasn't really disappearing but was actually being absorbed or transported somewhere else.
- Disgusted by the conclusion of the evening, Jake decided to leave without telling anyone. He was so close to kissing Camille and because of his drunkenness he had ruined everything, giving the chance to someone else.
- First, Jake activated "Prediction" to obtain the perfect plan. His reaction time was not yet good enough to follow his Shadow Guide during a fight to the death. His actions would be too slow, delayed far too much to respond adequately to his opponent.
- First, he focused on his mental link with the Oracle device, checking what all the messages he had received during and after his battle were about. There were many notifications, so he went back to the oldest one to get a clearer picture.
- After Xi's recall, Jake turned his attention to the remaining notifications.
- "Mirror Universe? Currency?" Jake's mind was completely transfixed on these two notions.
- Somewhere in the Mirror Universe a few months later.
- A few seconds after the pillar of light disappeared, the audience gradually regained its sight. When all the spectators in their stands finally gazed at the creature in the center of the podium, they were speechless.
- "Beep beep! »
- "Planet B842, is that where I am?" Jake asked with a calmness that surprised even him.
- "The Cubes?" Jake repeated stupidly, wondering what a cube could do in a place like this.
- The battle had been brief but intense and the blood loss was gradually being felt. He calmly chewed on his protein bar, clenching his teeth from time to time, trying to ignore the pain.
- The group was a motley crew. Five men, six women, one child. One of the men, a rather athletic playboy, was about his height and wore a colt in his hand. The rest of the group seemed to crowd around him, seeking his protection.
- "You were all tagged when you came in here. You have all received a gift: A line of Aetheric Code. With it, you have a chance to survive and participate in the great epic that is life on Planet B842." Aslael declared with a round of applause...
- "First of all, a first obvious point should be made. You've all been Evolvers to some degree since the day an Oracle device merged with you." Aslael calmly disclosed.