FALLEN ORACLE

**Chapter 5: Meeting the Headmaster Again (7)**

From Thomas Kaeln's description, it was clear that the female Blade Beetle buried on the academy grounds had been planted there by his instruction – through the Pope. In other words, the monster attack on the academy had also been his scheme.Previously, Chen Yi had been unable to understand why the academy's lawn – far from an ideal habitat for Blade Beetles – would coincidentally contain a dormant female. Now he understood.Kaeln's goal had not been to drive the monsters to kill the academy's faculty and students, nor to incite civil war on the continent of Alpha.His painstakingly orchestrated incident, which threw the whole academy into turmoil, had only one purpose – to force Headmaster Morin to use his magic.During the conflict in Rothesia years ago, the Kaeln family had already tried to send the headmaster to the battlefield. But Morin, being a man of peace who hated bloodshed, had not followed their orders.Now, with the Kaeln family's business in trouble and in urgent need of money, they thought of Morin – an outstanding Fallen Race mage. How could they quickly turn him into cash?Though the headmaster knew many high‑level spells, in daily life he only used basic ones for research and teaching, so the amount of mana stored in his body was not large.He disliked involvement in war, and there was no one on the continent who could fight him on equal terms. How could they make him use high‑level magic frequently?The Kaeln family realised that Morin, despite his peaceful nature, had an unbreakable bottom line: if an enemy invaded Rongqi Academy, he, as headmaster, would certainly step forward to defend it.Having figured that out, they used the female's attraction to males to orchestrate the Blade Beetle attack.Faced with the severe situation, the headmaster, as they had expected, used a large number of powerful high‑level spells in a short time.After the incident, sensing that the headmaster's mana reserves were full, the Kaeln family immediately ordered the Pope to inform Morin that he could ascend through the Star Gate.All of this was about the quality of the mana core they could refine – not "the gods recognising the headmaster's merit in defending the academy."Similarly, Radik – less talented and powerful than Morin – had ascended earlier most likely because he used magic more frequently, and his total mana storage capacity was smaller than Morin's.Thus, he reached his maximum mana storage capacity sooner. He was then arranged by his "god" to ascend, transformed into a mana core, made into that necklace, and became a "free gift" to accompany his old friend at auction.What had seemed like random events all had their underlying causes!Now Chen Yi understood the full truth behind Divine Communion and ascension on the continent of Alpha.The nobles of the upper realm chose talented young people from the Fallen Race, cast the Divine Communion spell on them, and taught them high‑level magic so that they would accumulate mana faster. At the same time, they used the Heaven‑rank Stone to extract mana from them during communion.For the most outstanding among them, when their bodies were full of mana, they were granted the "honour of ascending to the upper realm." They were then killed and refined into mana cores, cashed out in one go.Chen Yi gave a bitter smile. How naive he had been to imagine that the Fallen Race were merely "mana labourers" in the eyes of the Celestial Race.He thought that the Celestials saw them as "inferior people." In fact, in the eyes of these monsters, his people were not even "people" – they were just livestock to be slaughtered and used at will."If they are not of our kind, their hearts must be different." The Celestial Race had never planned to waste time and take risks managing "labourers to extract mana from the air." Why bother? Just s*******r them and eat the meat – simple and satisfying.Recalling his discussion with the headmaster in the library, Chen Yi realised how wrong the old man had been. It was not the Duchy or the Kingdom that had imprisoned the continent of Alpha on a cross – it was the "gods" they worshipped.The hand that had been secretly manipulating everything, its owner was right here on Redblade Avenue, in this very Magic Net Department building!---Realising all of this did not take Chen Yi long. But he knew he could not linger too long in front of this display board, which had no complex content.He continued walking along the outer wall of the auction hall. The corridor grew darker. Just as he was wondering whether to use a Glow spell, the corridor ended at a enormous door.That door was not fully closed; there was a moderate gap. Through the gap, Chen Yi could see rows of tall bookshelves."This is the confidential archives of the Lower Realm Management Office!" he judged.But placing the archives behind the auction hall seemed strange. After a moment's thought, he understood why.The real masters of B4 and B5 of the Lower Realm Management Office were not civil servants like Lynde and Mary, but nobles like Viscount Shearman – those who had the right to hold Divine Communion with the Fallen Race.To maintain social stability, these privileged classes might not be able to get everything they wanted in public. But in private, the federal government did its utmost to provide them with every convenience.Placing the archives next to the auction hall was exactly for this purpose – the nobles could consult the materials in the archives before attending the underground auction, ensuring a more satisfying experience.Though the news about Headmaster Morin had shaken him deeply, Chen Yi had not forgotten his original purpose in infiltrating this place: to find the real reason for Tiya's imprisonment and the location where she was being held.Pushing open the heavy door, Chen Yi stepped into the archive room. His footsteps activated the Glow magic circle, illuminating the whole room.The guards outside saw nothing strange in this – after all, it was not unreasonable for "Chief Lynde" to go to the archives on his rest day to review documents.Even if his attention had been caught by the auction display board, where he stood staring for a while, it was understandable. After all, this finale lot had an astonishing starting price; the chief was just daydreaming about the good life of the noble class, though his chances were slim.Chen Yi knew he was short of time. In an infiltration like this, the unexpected could happen at any moment.He quickly went to the cabinet marked "Fallen Race Management Records" and began leafing through them.After several volumes, Chen Yi noticed a pattern. The records were meticulously arranged in chronological order, divided by the terms of each Pope over the past two thousand years.The contents included the Pope's periodic reports, observations of the lower realm, and records of Divine Communion year by year. The records spanned from the first Pope at the start of the Rift Era down to the current one, Rich.These seemed unrelated to Tiya. Just as he was about to close a volume, he noticed something strange.The table of contents showed that the Pope from 1023 to 1057 of the Rift Era was named "Edward Knight." The next entry was "Noel Weide" from 1071 to 1093.Where was the Pope for the years 1058 to 1070? Was there nothing worth recording in the lower realm during those dozen‑odd years?Chen Yi found this odd. He flipped through the pages several times but saw no relevant records.He knew this was not the time to dwell on the question. He made a mental note and continued searching other parts of the cabinet.Soon, his attention was caught by a shelf labeled "Lower Realm Divine Communion Allocation Seminar – Meeting Minutes."Could Tiya's imprisonment be related to this?He followed the chronological order and found the records for 2079 – the year Tiya was imprisoned.There, for the first time, Chen Yi – a devout believer – saw how the woman named Tiya had step by step become the goddess in his heart.