FALLEN ORACLE

**Chapter 1: Born Toward Death (2)**

Chen Yi quickly opened the folder and found a document pouch inside. He eagerly pulled out the contents—and saw his own file.He didn't know Mary at all, yet this Mary had his file?Chen Yi regretted his carelessness in only now noticing this crucial detail.The file was strange. Aside from the first page with his magical portrait and the two pages listing his spells, the rest were completely blank!Chen Yi wasn't about to let this hard-won clue slip away.He had previously hypothesized that the Pope's image he could transform into was based on the goddess's memory of Rich from before her imprisonment, from several years earlier, which explained why his version looked slightly younger.His past self (before losing his memory) had also speculated that Rich might actually be from the upper realm—which further supported the idea that the goddess had met the Pope.By the same logic, the image he now transformed into was also how the goddess saw this woman named Mary.He could guess the origin of Mary's file: the Church came to the academy every year to collect student records. Since the Church answered to the upper realm, it wasn't strange that his file ended up in the hands of someone from there.The magical portrait in the file was very familiar to Chen Yi. It had been painted about a month before the Rongqi Rite, when the academy had updated its records.In other words, the goddess Tiya had seen Mary after that time.Since that was within the past year, Tiya had likely already lost her freedom.That meant Mary—and Lynde, who wore the same uniform—had visited her in prison, bringing Chen Yi's file along.Without freedom, Tiya probably couldn't have browsed the file at will. That meant the pages with recorded content were what Mary had shown her.Precisely because Tiya hadn't seen the other pages, those pages remained blank in the transmuted copy!Why would they show the goddess his file?Chen Yi couldn't figure it out, but it sent a chill down his spine—it meant that besides the goddess, others in the upper realm had also taken notice of him.He would have to be even more careful from now on.Chen Yi examined the file more closely. Both the first page and the spell list page were detailed, down to the academy's insignia on the page header.He couldn't help but deeply admire Tiya's extraordinary eidetic memory. Anything she had seen, she could reconstruct almost completely.Though he still couldn't grasp why Mary and Lynde had brought his file to Tiya, the discovery answered a long-standing question—why the goddess had chosen him.The file in front of him was likely the reason!Setting aside the somewhat narcissistic theory that his portrait was too handsome, the only possibility was that Tiya had taken an interest in his unremarkable spell list.In terms of pure power, his basic spells were nothing.At that thought, Chen Yi's eyes grew moist. On that distant red planet, there was a goddess he had never met in person.With only two pages of spells, she had seen past his intermediate trainee status and perceived his true essence.She appreciated his talent. She trusted his courage.Despite being in danger herself, she had given him her best.The transparent prison cell held not only his benefactor, but his soulmate.Chen Yi had once read in the ancient text fragment a saying from the Demons: *"A knight will die for one who understands him."*Now, he intended to do exactly that.---Three months later, the opportunity Chen Yi had been waiting for finally arrived. A plague broke out in the southern Kingdom of Klem. The Kingdom requested support from the academy, hoping to send skilled healers.After much pleading, Chen Yi finally secured the chance to travel there alongside Mendes.After arriving in the affected area, Chen Yi said he wanted to "investigate the origin of the plague more thoroughly," parted ways with Mendes, and began moving alone through the region.When Mendes found him more than half a month later, Chen Yi had become a corpse.Of course, Chen Yi hadn't actually died.Months earlier, Tiya, who seemed to share his thoughts, had taught him the spell he needed during a communion—a transmutation spell that could be used on others, turning them into Chen Yi's likeness.The spell the goddess taught this time was incomplete, because the magical portrait in the academy file didn't show below the knees.But as the saying goes, "The master shows the way, but the disciple must walk it himself." With his mastery of many high-level spells, Chen Yi's ability to explore new magic was on a completely different level from before.He quickly supplemented his spellbook, completing the missing part below the knees and adjusting it according to his current appearance.After parting with Mendes, Chen Yi traveled around. In a place severely affected by the plague, he found an unclaimed corpse and transformed it into his own likeness.Then he went to a more populated area and actively engaged with people. With the help of magic and his increasingly refined acting skills,Chen Yi successfully portrayed how a person infected by the plague would gradually worsen and slowly die.Having seen the corpse with his own eyes and questioned the locals about Chen Yi's final days, Mendes had no reason to doubt. He wept bitterly as he held Chen Yi's body.He pounded the ground and lamented that he should never have let Chen Yi go alone, that if only he hadn't arrived late—if only he, a healer, had been there—his good brother would not have been so easily taken by this natural disaster.Chen Yi, now disguised as the slightly balding middle-aged man, watched the scene with a heavy heart.If it weren't absolutely necessary, he wouldn't have wanted Mendes to witness such a painful spectacle, nor to bear the guilt of being unable to save him.But the upper realm had already taken notice of him. His next actions would require absolute secrecy; one slip could bring disaster to everyone close to him.And in general, only the dead could be completely above suspicion.Chen Yi said silently: *"Mendes, forgive me. When all this is over, I'll give you Huck's villa as compensation."*Because of the heat and the ongoing epidemic that still needed Mendes's help, he had to tragically bury "Chen Yi" on the spot.---Soon, news of Chen Yi's "death" reached the academy and his family. His parents and close friends like Phil were all in disbelief.They couldn't accept that Chen Yi, who had a solution for almost every danger, had been killed by a seemingly ordinary disease.But the people of the continent of Alpha had no concept of transmutation magic. And it was perfectly plausible that he had gone to the plague-stricken area to help a friend and died there.With no other explanation, they gradually accepted the "fact" in their grief.Later, Phil asked the Kingdom's soldiers for help, moving Chen Yi's coffin back to his hometown—Constown, under the jurisdiction of Wululu City. A formal funeral was held there.Though simple, the funeral was presided over by a priest from the Church, whom his nearly fifty-year-old parents had paid dearly to invite.At the funeral, his parents wept inconsolably. The grief of losing a child in their old age was more than ordinary people could bear.Liv, who had also come, cried as she tried to comfort the old couple.Carl, when no one was looking, secretly slipped a gold bar into the money box behind the bakery counter.Chen Yi, his appearance altered, watched every scene. There was nothing worse than attending your own funeral.He didn't know what he would do to compensate these family and friends in the future, but he was certain that under the current circumstances, this was best for everyone. Because he had already decided: he would go to the upper realm and confront the "gods."