Still, their latest power-ups to him and his companions had greatly increased his optimism for the upcoming venture.
Sticking with Bhuzkoc and the nearly one hundred Fourth-Ordeal Evolvers under his command would have been suicide a week earlier, but now he at least had the confidence that he could escape safely if the unexpected happened.
The only uncontrollable variable was the Black Orc, but he didn't seem to have much interest in their quarrel. In fact, the servile and sycophantic attitude of Bhuzkoc and the other Evolvers in his faction suggested that they absolutely needed him and not the other way around.
The mystery of why such a high-ranked Evolver would choose to travel with this group was left unanswered, however, and that was the most concerning. If this were an exception, Jake might have seen it as an eccentricity on the part of the Black Orc, but after the most recent events he had grown despondent on the matter.
Two things.
First, for those who read chapter 554 early, there were several errors in Jake's Oracle Status. As many have pointed out to me, he spent his Aether on the Grade 2 Aether Encodings of his comrades before he left to rescue Maeve (beginning of chapter 505). So his Strength, Agility, Constitution and Luck Aether stats were already at 1000 points. I have made the necessary changes and invite you to reread the previous chapter for those who remember these details.
Finally, since a few days I publish after reset and not before. This means that the chapter will be released about half an hour later than previously. It's not a big difference, but at least know that it's normal.