FALLEN ORACLE

**Chapter 10: Light and Flame (3)**

This forest had always been uninhabited. After the recent Blade Beetle attack, it was even more desolate.In the forest was a clearing clearly trampled by Blade Behemoths. Chen Yi touched his storage ring and thought, *Might as well use it. No harm in trying.*With a mix of unease and anticipation, he pulled out the villa Huck had mentioned.The whole process was easier than he had imagined. He didn't have to bear the villa's weight or worry about whether its foundation would settle into the ground.The beautiful four-story mansion settled smoothly and steadily onto the clearing.Chen Yi couldn't believe it. Taking a whole villa out of the storage ring was as simple as taking out a staff.He approached the villa. The moment he opened the door, he was stunned by what he saw.The marble floor, smooth as a mirror, reflected the crystal chandelier covered in candles. The exquisite mahogany furniture was arranged perfectly, each piece in its place. Despite their number, they didn't crowd the hall.Three comfortable leather sofas curved elegantly, inviting one to imagine spending a whole day blank-minded while lounging on them.Even now that the weather was starting to cool, most people would want to try the ornate fireplace and the large oven connected to it in the kitchen.Climbing the spiral staircase, he found on the second and third floors four bedrooms and a study in matching style. Of course, necessary rooms like bathrooms were also sensibly distributed.The fourth floor was a completely empty, vast room. Chen Yi casually cast a few spells to test it. The walls absorbed the magic.So this was where Huck practiced magic.On the roof was a beautiful terrace with a patch of fertile soil. Chen Yi could feel the abundant mana in it—whatever he planted here would grow extremely quickly."Hmph. I should have kept that apple core," Chen Yi muttered to himself, dissatisfied.Coming from a commoner background, he was overwhelmed. Even Carl's manor hadn't impressed him this much.After a full tour, the villa was nearly perfect—except for lacking a storage room and having a strangely placed small room next to the dining hall.Chen Yi quickly concluded: this Huck really knew how to enjoy life.But then another question arose: why would he simply give away such a wonderful villa?Chen Yi didn't demand much from material life, but given the conditions, he was willing—and knew how—to enjoy it.*"When all this is over, I really ought to show this villa off to Mendes,"* he thought slyly.Luxury leads to decadence. Chen Yi suddenly remembered that he hadn't come here for a vacation—he was here to test the goddess's new spells.He returned to the fourth floor and opened his spellbook. With the help of "Destiny," he cast the first spell with almost no effort.But after casting this self-targeted spell, he felt no change in his body, nor any benefit.*"What does this spell do?"* he wondered, puzzled.Just as he picked up his spellbook to double-check the mana guidance steps, he was shocked to see that all his fingers had shortened by a noticeable margin, and his palms had grown chubbier.Something clicked. He hurried back to the first-floor living room and found the large floor mirror. The person in the mirror wasn't him.It was a middle-aged man about Chen Yi's height, with brown hair and a pudgy build. His eyes were small, his nose slightly swollen, and his hairline worryingly high.He was the kind of face that would be utterly unremarkable in a crowd.*I've turned into this?* Chen Yi couldn't believe his eyes.Looking closer, he noticed that his clothes and belongings had all changed with his appearance, and even the magic rings on his fingers had vanished.He quickly dismissed the spell. After a rapid and bizarre transformation, Chen Yi returned to his original form."Phew," he exhaled deeply. "If I had to keep that look, how could I ever face the goddess?"From his previous communions, Chen Yi deeply understood that the goddess's spells all served a purpose. So what was the meaning of turning into this slightly balding middle-aged man?Was the goddess hinting that this was the type of man she liked?Jokes aside, Chen Yi realized that the goddess had taught him a sixth school of magic—besides Elemental, Psionic, Strengthening, Healing, and Summoning. He decided to call it "Transmutation."In all recorded history on the continent of Alpha, there had always been only five schools of magic. No one had ever heard of shapeshifting magic.Chen Yi drew a sharp breath. He knew that the remaining four spells were almost certainly also transmutation spells.He eagerly cast the second spell. Sure enough, the mirror showed another face.This one made him collapse onto the sofa beside the mirror in shock.Staring at the middle-aged man in the mirror, he was speechless. *Th-this... this is Pope Rich!*The man he had turned into through the second spell was none other than Pope Rich of the High God Church, who had presided over Headmaster Morin's ascension ceremony just days ago.In a way, Rich was the most powerful man on the continent.*"Why would the goddess teach me a spell that lets me turn into the Pope?"* Chen Yi was utterly confused. *"What is she hinting at now?"*He studied the mirror carefully. The man he had become had slight differences from the Pope he had seen a few days earlier.In short, the Pope he had become looked slightly younger than the real one.The goddess had seen Pope Rich. It was even possible she knew him personally.That was Chen Yi's preliminary judgment.Why did the transmuted version look slightly younger? That was easy to explain. Perhaps the goddess had been imprisoned for some time. She could only create the spell based on her memory of Rich—from years ago, when he was younger.Teaching him such a spell at this moment was clearly not a coincidence. Based on earlier experience, the goddess Tiya must have known that Chen Yi had recently visited the Holy City.With more and more mysteries piling up, Chen Yi, his head about to explode, continued with the third transmutation spell.This time, he turned into an unfamiliar woman in uniform.*"Who is she?"* Chen Yi murmured at the mirror. *"The uniform looks military."*He then noticed a nameplate on the woman's chest.Mary? Even without Decipher, he could easily read the name.This woman was named Mary?With questions in his head, Chen Yi continued.After the fourth transmutation spell, he became a man.This man wore the same uniform as the previous woman. From the insignia on his shoulders, his rank was higher.The nameplate told Chen Yi this man's name was Lynde.Mary and Lynde's nameplates bore the same symbol: a simple depiction of a planet connected to a staff, with the other end of the staff pointing at a falling meteorite.Chen Yi had no idea what this symbol meant, but he guessed it was probably the mark of some organization—one that both Mary and Lynde belonged to.