The First Legendary Beast Master

Chapter 2007 Odd Oracles

Only a few minutes later, more Priestesses arrived, leading an assortment of Oracles, from their early teens right up to old age.

That seemed odd to Karl, as they were clearly all Immortals, and they didn't have any sense of mortal realm mana on them at all. So, they shouldn't have aged, and without being able to see themselves, there was no use for vanity skills.

But the older looking ones also felt old.

Their life force was weakened, and many were unstable on their feet. Perhaps it was a side effect of their skills going berserk? There were some skills that drew on the life force of the caster, the same as there were some that stole the life force of the enemy.

So, it was possible that something in the Oracles' repertoire was like that.

It would also explain why the clerics were going to such lengths to protect these, who were apparently the worst off out of everyone that they had in their current facility.

Karl didn't stop them, he simply gestured toward the building, so they could go inside and explore, and then stopped the last one in line to ask his questions.

"Will there be clerics returning to the facility in Coracas?"

The Cleric shook her head. "No, we will all be transferring. Two Oracles per cleric is our usual balance, given their unique situation and needs. Any fewer clerics and it becomes unsustainable."

"Then, if you're all here, I will close the portal."

The cleric nodded. "Thank you for that. It saved us a huge amount of time, and I do hope that it didn't cost you too much in array materials to open a portal that far."

Karl shook his head. "Think nothing of it. I will leave you to get settled in, unless you need a guide to show you the amenities?"

"I believe that there are guides already in the building. I sense people who are not part of our membership, though they do appear to be linked to the World Dragon."

Karl nodded. "That would be Dana and Leon, members of the Darklight Host. They're members of my branch, and I am an Avatar, so you could say that they are linked to the World Dragon in a way."

Swag nodded. "I don't know Leon, but Dana is Karl's wife, and they're Soul Bonded. She's good people, I'm sure that your membership will love her."

He was clearly trying to make up for the poor first impression, but the cleric barely spared him a glance as she nodded and turned to enter the compound. Their first goal was to get all the Oracles settled before one of them had a meltdown or a major vision that would disrupt the people around them.

"Wait. Before you go in, I have something for you. If the change unsettles some of the patients, use this, and it should settle them down."

Karl conjured a simple stone ball with [Nullify] inscribed onto it.

The stone wouldn't be nearly as effective as casting the spell directly, as the rock wasn't chaos element aligned. But it should stop a vision, or at least dampen the after effects of one.

The priestess stared at the stone for a second, then smiled.

"This will be incredibly useful, thank you. The power of the stone might not be high, but sometimes all it takes is a little nudge. Do you have any other similar skills that might help if we have an emergency?

We don't spend much of what we gather in offerings, so we can afford to pay for emergency services."

Karl smiled. "Just ask when you need it. Some of our members have [Mana Suppression] as a skill, and we can almost completely lock down mana in a limited area. If we do that directly on a person, it will shut down most active skills, and some passive ones as well."

The Priestess headed into the building, and Swag gave the temple a longing look.

"You really do know how to push your luck, don't you?" Karl asked the warrior.

"I tell you man, sometimes it works, and it is glorious. But look at those outfits. Damn I want to be an Oracle now, surrounded by so many beautiful women."

Karl laughed. "The Oracles are all blind, remember? The outfits are to help them spot fakes who don't belong in the temple's private areas."

Swag's eyes opened wide as he realized the genius of the plan.

"That's brilliant. Evil, but brilliant. Do you think that they wear those outfits for sermons? Or do you think that they put an outer robe on?"

Karl sighed. "I have no idea, you'll have to find out on your own. The temple will be open for healing, but they do ask for donations because their healing services keep the place open."

Swag winked at him. "I might not be a wealthy man, but I can afford to be pious."

Then, he turned and walked away, clearly in a much better mood. If Karl had to guess, he was likely going to look for his group to arrange another run so that he had an excuse to come to the temple for "healing" in a day or two.

Whatever, that was his lesson to learn the hard way, Karl decided as he went in to join the others in the temple.

Tian was lounging in Leon's arms, happily yipping explanations and pointing out fun things that they had added to the building. Most of them were decorative, but there was a Naga statue which was clearly Remi, that you could pat on the head to get drinking water.

The little details were important to Tian, but he had also made them distinctive enough that a blind person would not mistake them for anything else once they knew where they were.

If you were looking for water, and running your hand down the wall, you would know when you found the Naga.

That would be huge for the Oracles.