FALLEN ORACLE

**Chapter 5: The Ruins (2)**

This discovery left Chen Yi both shocked and puzzled. There was no such thing as coincidence in the world. The only explanation was that the goddess had known he would come to the White Sand Rainforest and had sent this marking.How could she know his location?Chen Yi thought of the Psionic Lock he had just cast on the demonkin.But he quickly dismissed that idea. No matter how he looked at it, the goddess should be in the upper realm—that red planet. How could a Psionic Lock maintain its effect over such a vast distance?Could it be that she was actually locked up not far from here? Perhaps right at this marked location? Chen Yi was startled by his own deduction.But when had she placed a Psionic Lock on him?---After walking for half a day, Chen Yi finally reached the destination. The marked spot appeared to be behind a massive waterfall.He swam from the shore toward the waterfall. As he neared it, he used Beginner Ripple to manipulate the water flow, barely managing to withstand the waterfall's tremendous force. With great difficulty, he made it behind the curtain of water.Behind the waterfall was a modest cave that seemed to lead somewhere else.The White Sand Rainforest was sparsely visited to begin with. Without the goddess's guidance, no one could have found this hidden place behind the waterfall.Chen Yi steadied himself, lit a Glow spell, and ventured into the cave.The deeper he went, the more he felt the mana here was incredibly dense. He suspected that casting a low-level Shock-rank spell like Static here might have the power of a high-level Discharge."Mana is roughly evenly distributed across the Magic Net." That was the first lesson he learned in magic class. But this cave was upending that common sense.The further in he went, the more cautious Chen Yi became. He reminded himself: the goddess might very well be imprisoned here!As the mana grew denser—Chen Yi estimated he had descended about a kilometer underground—he suddenly spotted a skeleton at a bend in the cave.Seeing the skeleton didn't frighten him, but it did disappoint him. The hope that the goddess was imprisoned here grew dim.If this were a prison with guards coming and going, such a skeleton would have been cleared away long ago.Chen Yi brought the Glow spell closer to the skeleton. He could see it was an adult male. The strangest thing was that next to the skeleton lay an object shaped like a staff, the likes of which he had never seen.He crouched down and picked up the object. It felt heavy in his hand—apparently made entirely of metal.Chen Yi tried to channel mana to find a magic core inside, but though the thing's internal structure was very complex, he found nothing that responded to mana.Was this an iron club? For bludgeoning?He was puzzled. Then he noticed a crescent-shaped piece near the middle of the iron staff that seemed movable.Curious, he tried to wiggle the crescent piece.*BANG!*The iron staff suddenly made a loud noise. Flames burst from its end, and the whole staff vibrated violently. Without his protective spell, Chen Yi suspected his arm might have been dislocated.The staff had just activated—without any mana guidance? All because he touched that crescent piece?How strange. What spell was etched into this staff?Following the direction of the flames, he saw several smoking holes in the cave wall. Looking closer, the holes were very deep, and something metallic glinted at the bottom.So the staff had launched some kind of metal projectile with tremendous force into the wall.Chen Yi could imagine how terrifying this staff would be if used on a person or a beast, given its ability to pierce rock like this.What an incredible spell! And crucially, it had no magic core and required no mana guidance. Did that mean someone who couldn't use magic could wield this staff?Then a thought crossed Chen Yi's mind: could this be what they called a "technological construct"? Was this a demon's staff?Then was this skeleton actually a demon?But the bones looked exactly like a human skeleton. Did that mean humans and demons shared the same physical structure?Skeletons only lasted a few hundred years at most, but the God-Demon War was ten thousand years ago. Even if this strange staff could survive, how could the skeleton?As Chen Yi examined the holes in the wall, he noticed a string of symbols carved above the skeleton.He guessed these were likely the final words of this creature—presumably a demon—before it died.He channeled mana through his ring. The abundant mana here made the process effortless. He cast Decipher on the symbols.This was one of the "useless" spells he had discovered on his own before receiving Divine Communion. It helped him read ancient scripts in old texts.Under the effect of Decipher, the symbols on the wall soon revealed their meaning in Chen Yi's mind:*"Dark Matter Demon King is inside."*What in the world was the Dark Matter Demon King? Could it be that the deepest part of this cave held not a goddess but some demon king?Strange things kept appearing, each one more baffling. Chen Yi knew the only way to solve the mysteries was to go deeper.But the more mysteries there were, the more excited he became. He sincerely thanked the goddess for guiding him to this place.His gratitude for this alone outweighed even learning two powerful spells.Before venturing further into the cave, Chen Yi put the strange staff into his storage ring. He had a feeling that something capable of casting spells without magic would prove useful someday.---After another five hundred meters, the cave gradually widened into a vast underground chamber.Chen Yi could sense that this chamber was the epicenter of the dense mana.He cast Glow repeatedly, lighting up the entire underground space. In the center of the chamber stood a raised platform, and on it sat another skeleton—in a seated posture.Chen Yi climbed the platform with the help of his Glow spell and approached the second skeleton. Strangely, this skeleton also had the exact same structure as a human.Where was the Dark Matter Demon King the inscription had mentioned? Was this it?Staring at the skeleton, Chen Yi was completely baffled.Then he noticed a ring on the skeleton's left index finger, carved with a cross pattern. He recognized it immediately—it was a magic ring.Taking things from the dead was distasteful. But the goddess had guided him here—perhaps for this very ring.As the saying went, if heaven offers it and you don't take it, you'll only regret it. Why cling to antiquated morality and waste the goddess's good intention?With that thought, Chen Yi bowed to the skeleton and then reached out to remove the magic ring from its bony finger.