FALLEN ORACLE

**Chapter 6: Ancient Text Fragment (4)**

"By the way, Headmaster, what is this picture?" Chen Yi turned to another page and asked."That? It's called a 'gun.' A technological construct of the Demons. Probably similar to the staves we use."Chen Yi nodded silently. *Just as I thought.*The object in the picture called a "g*n" was exactly the strange staff he had found in the cave Tiya had guided him to."Headmaster, I have one last question. Although the fragment doesn't directly describe the gods' appearance, it does describe the battle between the gods and the Demons in detail here.""Yes. The common edition was printed based on this description, with some embellishments added.""But there's a detail here not mentioned in the common edition. It says the gods gathered on a mountain on the west bank of the Divine Radiance River for the final battle, unleashing terrifying magic that could move mountains and drain seas.""Yes. What's the problem?" Headmaster Morin looked puzzled."Haven't you noticed? How much mana would those earth-shattering spells consume? According to the principle of roughly even mana distribution on the Magic Net, and from a strategic perspective, those powerful gods shouldn't have gathered together at all.""Oh? That *is* a problem."Headmaster Morin smiled with satisfaction. This was what they meant by teaching and learning from each other. It was why he enjoyed discussing questions with students like Chen Yi and Lisa.Chen Yi had again noticed a crucial detail that everyone else had overlooked.Mana was roughly evenly distributed across the Magic Net. Casting a spell absorbed mana from the surrounding area.If so many unimaginably powerful gods gathered together, even a few strong spells would drain the local mana dry. Then other gods would have no mana left to cast with."Perhaps they were all using staves?" the headmaster proposed.A staff's mana came from its own core, not the surrounding Magic Net. So using a staff wouldn't drain the ambient mana."If that were the case, what was the point of gathering so many gods? With staves they made, ordinary humans could easily cast those powerful spells too. The gods wouldn't need to be there at all." Chen Yi raised a counterpoint.The headmaster nodded. "True. And it's hard to imagine what kind of monster core could fuel so many casts of such powerful spells. So, what's your take?"Chen Yi said, "If the ancient text is accurate, I can think of two possibilities. The first relates to the nature of mana itself. I once read your paper on mana circulation. You argued that after a spell is cast, mana disperses back into space and eventually returns to the Magic Net.""But what if the mana didn't return to the Magic Net? What if it simply disappeared?""Are you saying...""Suppose mana is a consumable resource. Every time we cast a spell, we consume mana from the Magic Net. And mana generally flows from areas of high density to areas of low density. The eventual result would be that the mana contained in space grows increasingly thin."The headmaster nodded. "Interesting hypothesis. It would also explain why the gods gathered together to cast spells. Ten thousand years ago, the Magic Net still held abundant mana, so even when the gods clustered together, the nearby space still had enough mana to fuel those powerful spells. If your hypothesis is correct, then it's quite sad for us and our descendants."Gradually diminishing mana in the Magic Net would inevitably make high-level spells harder and harder to cast, eventually leading to the so-called "age of magic's end." Magical civilization would fade away."The other possibility is that the gods channel mana differently than we do. Through some means, they can access mana from a much larger area."Though Chen Yi spoke confidently before the continent's finest magical researcher, he felt somewhat ashamed.Both of his conjectures came from what he had seen in the cave the goddess had guided him to. Once you knew about that cave with its abnormally dense mana and the ring that could control mana over a vast range, these ideas weren't hard to arrive at."I'll make a note of these two hypotheses," the headmaster said."By the way, Headmaster, I feel this book contains a lot of sensitive content. Why wasn't it burned by the Church?" Chen Yi asked."Why is it a fragment to begin with? Was it really just poor preservation?" The headmaster smiled. "Looking at the missing parts of this book, don't you think that missing content might be the heart of the matter?""You mean the Church is hiding something."Morin gave a knowing smile. "I never said that. Don't speculate."Chen Yi gave him an "I understand" look."There's something we can discuss behind closed doors." The headmaster turned back to the page of the crucified god. "The situation between the Duchy and the Kingdom has been unstable lately. I have a bad feeling.""No way. You don't mean..." Chen Yi was shocked.He had been born in peacetime and had never experienced war. But in truth, the history of the Duchy of Haisen and the Kingdom of Klem was a history of war. The two countries that shared the continent of Alpha had clashed fiercely every few decades.Chen Yi asked, "Is there anything we can do?""If war really breaks out, there won't be much we *can* do. You know the academy and the Church have always remained neutral in conflicts between the two countries."Chen Yi felt a headache coming on. If war came, his hometown—that small town on the border between the two countries—would hardly escape unscathed."Headmaster, if you wanted to talk about the two countries, why turn to this page?"That picture always reminded Chen Yi of Tiya. He wondered what other torments she was suffering in that prison. The feeling of helplessness gnawed at him.The headmaster didn't directly answer. Instead, he began to recount:"Three hundred years ago, one hundred thousand soldiers from the Kingdom of Klem advanced on the Duchy's capital, Taling. At the time, Taling couldn't have mounted an effective defense. But the Kingdom's army mysteriously withdrew.""Two hundred years ago, civil war broke out in the Kingdom. The rebels grew so strong that they established a state within a state in the east. The Kingdom spent over a decade suppressing the rebellion. But the Duchy, normally at odds with the Kingdom, passed up that golden opportunity and never invaded during those ten-plus years.""Sixty years ago, the two countries made peace through marriage. The princess of Klem married the prince of Haisen. Though it was a political alliance, the prince and princess truly loved each other. Through their mediation, relations between the two nations steadily improved. The next year, the princess gave birth to a prince. But on the very day of the prince's first-month celebration, war suddenly broke out between the two countries in Rothesia, escalating into full-scale conflict.""The Duchy of Haisen, the Kingdom of Klem. For thousands of years, the continent of Alpha has always been ruled by these two countries—never more, never less. We never suffer brutal wars that decimate the population, nor do we enjoy lasting peace.""As if some invisible hand is manipulating everything. And the Duchy and Kingdom are like the vertical and horizontal bars of a cross, forever imprisoning the continent upon them."Perhaps it was coincidence, but this was the second time in a few days that Chen Yi had heard such an analogy.He silently swore: even if he had to face terrifying unknowns alone, he would liberate everything bound by these instruments of t*****e—himself, the goddess, the continent, and fate itself.