บท 1026: A Year And A Half In Seclusion (part 1)

In the blinding brilliance of superheated plasma, his only company, Jake dedicated the following year and a half to cultivating his energy sources and reserves. This epiphany stemmed from realizing that a simple shortage of Aether could paralyze a machine as finely tuned as the Oracle System.

Without Aether, almost nothing was possible. Long-distance teleportation ceased, no more purchases through the Oracle Store, no more Oracle Shields—nothing. Even making a call to the other end of the galaxy became a Herculean task.

Jake knew one thing: he loathed feeling powerless and destitute. He refused to find himself in a pitiful predicament due to an Aether shortage, unable to afford the solutions to pull him out of it.

Even a Rank 3 Aetherist like his master could only endure the collapse of the Aether Network, showing that wealth alone wasn't enough to withstand an energy crisis of this magnitude.