FALLEN ORACLE

**Chapter 11: The Buried Book (1)**

*Lisa Elina* *Era 2063–2083* *Citizen of the Duchy of Haisen* *Intermediate Professor of Rongqi Academy**"Here lies a rose that once bloomed. She lit up an entire spring with her incomparable radiance."**"And for this reason, we were caught off guard by the sudden arrival of the rainy season."**"May her wisdom and talent continue to blossom in another world."*Lisa's epitaph was written by Headmaster Morin himself. As it said, her death caught everyone as unprepared as her life had.Lisa grew up in an orphanage. It was only at age eleven, when she awakened her magical talent, that a passing professor from Rongqi Academy noticed her and brought her to the academy.Unlike many children raised in orphanages, she had no serious psychological issues. Quite the opposite—she often displayed maturity far beyond her years.Many trainees at Rongqi Academy came from noble families, or like Chen Yi, from modest but happy homes. Lisa, who had never met her parents, showed no jealousy or imbalance. She had an innate, detached acceptance of fate.After her death, Chen Yi had thought of writing a eulogy for her, but in the end, he could never put pen to paper.In Chen Yi's eyes, Lisa was an interesting person.Few could be as brilliant as she from age twelve to twenty and still joke about being poor and weak, daring to confront a cat over a fish.The weak could fantasize about strength, the lazy could pretend to be diligent, the vile could impersonate greatness, but only interesting could describe interesting.Knowing himself to be uninteresting, Chen Yi could not write a single word for the interesting Lisa.Now, on the verge of collapse, he had no doubt that if Lisa were alive, he would share all his secrets with her.Even if the headmaster had ascended, even if the goddess suffered torment, even if he might have to fight the entire upper realm—Lisa would find a way. At least, she would figure it out with him.Leaning on the gravestone, Chen Yi poured out his worries and grief.Then, he noticed something strange about the hand resting on the stone.On the edge of the otherwise smooth, flat gravestone, there seemed to be a small indentation.Had Lisa's gravestone been damaged?That was his first thought.He stood up and examined the indentation closely. The hole cut in from the back of the stone and emerged on the top surface, as if a cylinder had been bored into the originally smooth plane.The cut was clean, and it went through one face of the stone. It didn't look like natural wear—it looked deliberate.*"What kind of animal would have such a grudge against Lisa as to damage her gravestone after she died?"* Chen Yi thought angrily.But then he realized: if someone really had a grudge, they could have done much worse.Conversely, whoever had made this hole seemed to have gone to great lengths to keep the cut smooth—almost obsessively so.The hole was hard to notice in the first place. Why go to such trouble?Clearly, out of respect for the deceased.But if they respected her, why damage her gravestone?Curiosity was almost instinctive for Chen Yi. He had to investigate anything that seemed irrational.After some thought, he quickly saw through the modest ruse.A cylindrical passage would have a certain orientation.Chen Yi cast a Glow spell and shone it from the top surface of the stone into the hole.He adjusted the angle until the light passed through the cylindrical hole and hit the ground not far behind the gravestone, forming a small circular spot.There might be something hidden at that spot.Whether driven by curiosity, despair, or sheer boredom, Chen Yi took out a shovel from his storage ring and carefully dug where the light had pointed.He dug about half a meter, beginning to doubt whether he was overthinking, when the shovel hit something hard.He quickly unearthed the object—a sizable iron box.Chen Yi opened the box and was stunned by what he saw:Inside were three things: a magic ring he didn't recognize, a staff he didn't recognize, and a spellbook he *did* recognize—his own old spellbook.The spellbook he had been searching for so desperately was hidden here in this box?*"Who hid my spellbook behind Lisa's gravestone? And what was their purpose?"* Chen Yi pondered.He eagerly opened the old spellbook. Fortunately, all the spells he had learned over eight years were still recorded. The thief hadn't been so insane as to destroy his life's work.The recovery of his spellbook filled Chen Yi with joy. He excitedly flipped through the pages, soon reaching the end.But on the last few pages, he found a passage of text completely unfamiliar to him.These were not magical symbols, but simple writing—recording something Chen Yi had never heard of.What was strange was that the handwriting matched his own exactly.The events recorded in the spellbook began somewhat earlier.---**Eighteen months ago...**"Chen Yi? Chen Yi? Are you asleep?" As he was about to go to bed, Chen Yi heard a woman's voice calling his name.He frowned, but decided to hear what the voice had to say.He knew Lisa wouldn't use Telepathy to call him from outside the boys' dormitory so late without good reason."Whether you're asleep or not, meet me at the small bamboo grove south of the dormitory area in ten minutes."Well. No choice given. He wondered what urgent matter Lisa, just promoted to intermediate professor, had to discuss right now.Chen Yi had no choice but to put his clothes back on."You're going out?" Phil, already in bed, asked. "At this hour?"Carl also said, "Hey, Chen Yi, who are you meeting so late?"Chen Yi was about to answer when the woman's voice whispered in his ear again: "And don't tell your roommates.""No one. Just going for a walk," Chen Yi replied casually.---Ten minutes later, Chen Yi arrived at the small bamboo grove as promised. It was a secluded spot on campus. The bamboo was so dense that even couples usually didn't choose it for their trysts."What is it? Urgent?" Chen Yi got straight to the point. He noticed that Lisa, in her blue dress, had an expression he couldn't read."Chen Yi," Lisa sat down on the ground, her long dress naturally trailing in the dirt. "I might be about to die."Chen Yi's face showed concern. "What's going on?"He knew Lisa wouldn't joke about something like this.What was stranger was that her eyes looked moist, as if she had been crying just before he arrived. But judging by her demeanor, the tears seemed to come from emotions like joy, gratitude, and reluctance—not fear of death."Before I explain, I need to ask you—are you sure you want to know what's happening?" Lisa said calmly, though Chen Yi could still detect a slight tremor in her voice—perhaps from fear of death."There's a time and place for riddles. I just hope you understand that I'll do whatever it takes to save your life." He was growing impatient."No. You can't save me." Lisa shook her head. "To put it simply, not only can't you save me, but once I tell you the truth, you'll also be in danger.""Of course, I won't let that happen. So I've come up with a way to deal with the danger in advance."Lisa took a staff from her storage ring and handed it to Chen Yi."This staff has a Forgetfulness spell etched into it. If you ever feel threatened, you can use it to erase all the information you learn today. That way, no one will target you. But memory is a person's most precious thing, so I wanted to ask your opinion first."Lisa's words were cryptic. Chen Yi couldn't make sense of them. But he nodded firmly and said, "Tell me. I want to know."