“Eli, it’s time for dinner.” Rapunzel told me. That was fast, I didn’t even notice the hours go by.

After eating, the Hero asks. “So, how was everyone's day? Does anyone need more time? Or will we be able to leave tomorrow?”

After no one responded, Gregory spoke up. “Today has been quite interesting.”

“Oh, how so?” The Hero asks.

“You see, Eli, despite being a support, has aggressive mana. And, as she has been blessed by the Gods, her mana has become extremely aggressive, to the extent where it even hurts to be infused with and can even dominate staffs and destroy mana intent barriers.”

“What?” Rapunzel asks.

“You see, when someone becomes a saintess, they are empowered by the Gods. One of the effects being an enhanced intensity to the user’s primary mana trait. As such, Eli’s already aggressive mana has turned violent.” Greg explained.

“Well, the best way to understand is to experience it.” I say as I hold out my hands. “Wanna try?” Hansen and Rapunzel both grab onto a hand as I infuse them with mana.

“By the Gods! This is insane!” Rapunzel says as she pulls her hand away.

“Indeed.” Hansen agrees. “This mana is quite frightening. So this is what the spirits were talking about.”

“How about you, Mr. Roosevelt?” I offer.

He sighs as he grabs my hand, as if he already knows what’s about to happen. When I infused his hand with my mana, he reacted fairly calmly, barely even tensing his face before calmly removing his hand. Aw, that’s no fun.

“How did you even become a support when you have such aggressive mana?” Rapunzel asked.

“Well, in the first place I didn’t even realize that my mana was aggressive. And well, I just used my magic the same way everyone else did.”

“Haa, Eli…” Rapunzel sighs. It’s the saintess situation all over again! “Okay, so, why? And what did you think your mana was like, if you ever even thought about it?”

“I just figured it was probably mild or curious or something. I figured it wasn’t supportive, as while your mana trait isn’t quite linked to your personality, it tends to fit with at least some noticeable part of it for most people. So, as I wasn’t the big sis type, my mana probably wasn’t either. In the end though, I never cared enough to actually find out,” I sighed, “even when others around me did.” I mumbled. “Haa, I really should have cared a bit more about stuff like that, but I only cared about my probable future. I guess I was trying to avoid my past, well, anything vaguely related to it at least.”

“Why?” Rapunzel asks. “I-I mean-”

“It’s fine, I said you could ask whatever. Honestly, I don’t know. Maybe I was just trying to reject anything that wasn’t related to my life in the church. I might have just wanted to avoid the fact that I wasn’t born there. I mean, I do remember repeatedly trying to find out the day I entered the church, but they always refused to tell me, probably realizing I wanted that to replace my actual birthday. Haa, my wanting to become a priestess was probably for similar reasons, I just didn’t want to lose what was my life. It was all that mattered to me. Man, I never even realized that, or, I at least didn’t want to.”

“Are you okay”

“Yeah, I’m just surprised at how childish I was. Well, that does explain a lot about my actions though. Like why I never even read about what the saintess actually did, despite my usual curiosity. I probably subconsciously felt that even just reading about that would distance me from my church.”

A place I so desperately want to call home, but was never allowed.

“Well, enough of that.” I shifted as I clapped my hands. “So, I learned the wrong way to use a staff, by forcing my will upon it.” I smile.

“Yes, I did not believe that such a thing was even possible.” Gregory added, helping me shift the conversation.

“And afterwards, as thanks, I tried to help Greg earn the right to learn more advanced spells.”

“Alas, our plan ended up failing. Through no fault of Eli, though.”

“Well, it was both of our faults.” I sighed. “I thought we were doing pretty good as well.”

“What went wrong then?” Rapunzel asked.

“You see, I desired to properly earn the privilege, so we didn’t announce our identities. Eli had even declared that she was a wandering priestess. Unfortunately, we did not realize that the local mage’s guild’s leader would recognize us from our names.”

“Haa, we somehow completely forgot that we could be recognized from that!” I exclaim. “I was so embarrassed, and disappointed that I let Greg down.”

“Fortunately for us, the leader explained that we had already been screened before we were even allowed to join the hero’s party, so I was not just given the privilege, I had already earned it.”

“Haa, I still felt stupid for that though.”

“I felt the same.”

“I’m surprised it took this long for you to realize.” Melly commented. “Well, maybe not for Eli, she’s a bit special in that regard.”

“You are correct, though I had never previously attempted to conceal my identity as a hero, so such a situation never came up.”

“Wait, so everyone already knew?” I pouted.

“Sorry, Eli, but we did. It’s not hard to notice how differently people treated us once we joined the party, after all.” Melly explains.

“Yeah, I especially noticed, as I was just an ordinary commoner beforehand.” Rapunzel added.

“Even you, Hansen?” I ask.

“Indeed. It was quite clear.”

“Yeah, the only people who wouldn’t notice are either someone already important, like Gregory, or just never really revealed your identity, like you did, Elizabeth. Though both do happen to apply to you” The Hero explained. “Even I noticed, so I took advantage of it immediately.”

“Well that’s disappointing. I was hoping we weren’t the only ones. Haa, at least I wasn’t alone.”

“I feel the same. Continuing, Eli also discovered a new way to buff by utilizing her uniquely aggressive mana, though it is unknown if such an ability would even be beneficial. Afterwards, we discovered that Eli is capable of healing Hansen’s summons, so our options in combat may have increased.” Gregory reported.

“That is interesting, I’m curious to see how they turn out. I’m sure you will achieve great results with your spells.” The Hero says, more confidently than I expected. Hmm, maybe Melly’s buff isn’t a deadend.

Afterward we finished with our story, everyone else chatted about how their day went, though they were pretty standard.

Rapunzel picked up some new special arrows that she ordered, with some that were directly requested by the Hero. Odd.

Melly got a massage, and was going to spend the rest of the day relaxing before I interrupted her. Sorry about that.

Hansen had some business at the summoner’s guild, a surprisingly small guild that only exists in proper cities. It has few members, and only really exists as a meeting ground for specialized families or the occasional initiate.

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The Hero, well, did odd jobs. He was also primarily rewarded with various spices and the like. While the party was fairly excited, his actions were definitely strange.

After we finished what was apparently a new tradition for when we are in towns and the like, we went to bed. I originally planned on studying Hansen’s spells more, but as it was getting late, I just laid in bed instead.

Melly joined and asked. “You sure you’re okay?”

It took me a second to realize what she was talking about. “Yeah, besides, the fact it took me so long to even figure out what you were talking about should show how unbothered I am.”

Rapunzel joins in. “If you say so. We’ll be here should you need us though.”

“Thanks, but as I’ve said, I’m fine. The reason I shifted the topic was mostly because I was disappointed with my past actions. Just being on this journey has already fixed some of those issues.” I explain. “So Melly, you got any issues?”

“Not really, I’m pretty satisfied with my life, it’s even going better than I expected, other than with our journey’s rough start.”

“Haa, it seems like I’m the only one with issues.”

“No, everyone has their share of problems.”

“And my share is bigger.”

“No, you’re just experiencing all of your problems all at once. You were content with your previous life. Now that things have changed, the problems that lay dormant are surfacing. Take your time, everything will be fine before you know it.”

“Some retro and introspection could help as well.” Rapunzel added.

“...Okay, I’ll try.”

“Take your time, there’s no rush. Let’s just go to sleep for now. Goodnight.” Melly finished.

“Goodnight.” Rapunzel followed.

“Night.” I need to look at myself and my past, huh. I haven’t done anything like that since I decided I wasn’t a proper big sister. Haa, I’ll just take my time, as Melly said, I’m not in a rush.

______

The next day came quicker than I expected. I hadn’t even realized I had fallen asleep when I was woken up. After breakfast, we’ll be leaving for who knows where for who knows how long. Well, at least I have plenty of things to keep me occupied.

After breakfast, the Hero asked. “So, is everyone ready? Remember, we won’t be able to do anything should you forget something, as we’ll be pretty far from civilization.”

“I believe that you are missing something.” I say.

“Oh, and what is that?”

“You haven’t told us anything about what we’re doing yet.”

“Correct, while I can’t say too much, I will say that our end goal is mountain climbing and monster hunting. We’ll also see the explosive surprise I’ve prepared.”

Huh, I didn’t think that would work. “I see, and you presume we’ll be ready for all that?”

“Of course! I trust in everyone's capabilities. Besides, I’ve already planned everything out. This trip will be worth it.” He says proudly.

“I see, does anyone else have anything to add?” Rapunzel asks. After no one spoke up, she said. “Okay, let’s head out then.”

And so, we left the town and wandered off into the wilderness.

Soon, the first week had passed. I’ve gone through Hansen’s spells, and while most of them I probably won’t ever be able to cast, I did learn from them. My training with my mana vein spells is going fairly well, but I’m more focused on the actual healing spell Hansen had. I’m also trying to figure out one of the buffs, but despite following similar principles as my buffs, the underlying processes are very different. They are tailored perfectly for a summoner though.

I’ve also been training with Melly to try to control my insane mana. We did figure out one useful way to use the buff, by using it to enhance a single attack. While it is extremely powerful, it is also surprisingly expensive to even cast a single time, and that’s with only her hand! She wants to try a full body version, but that would cost more mana than a full set of buffs and likely only achieve a single hit. Luckily, we figured out that we can convert the mana infused buff into a regular preMilo buff quite easily, and even into a modern buff with a bit more effort. If it wasn’t for that, I wouldn’t have put nearly as much effort into practicing this.

The only other thing to note is that Greg has figured out one of the spells and is currently using it to destroy any random creature that dares to show their presence.

We should honestly just try to scare all these creatures away, but attacking random trees instead isn’t as interesting for everyone, so another point for me as I don’t usually need a target for my practice.

For the second week, a competition has started between Greg and Hansen vs Rapunzel to see who can find and kill threats first. It’s been surprisingly even, as while Hansen is better at finding enemies, he needs to then guide Greg to them, while Rapunzel can just kill her target. The Hero has even been keeping score.

I started practicing the buffs the Cardinal gave me, and they work surprisingly well together. I’ve only got enhanced unity compatible with Melly though, as it didn’t require any changes, and I figured that this spell would help me make more spells compatible with her. Hilariously though, my raw mana is capable of taking over that spell, which then does nothing but distract Melly. The spell, on its own, doesn’t do anything, and adding my mana didn’t change that. It did, however, make its presence known, to which Melly commented. “It feels like something squirming around inside my body.”

As soon as I heard that, I immediately cut off the spell and rushed to give her a hug. “I’m sorry!” I cried.

Melly was stunned for a second while I was crying. “What’s wrong? What hap- OH! No no, it’s not like that Eli!”

“How?” I force out, my tears refusing to stop as I struggle to listen to her.

“Um, it wasn’t bad?” Melly struggles to find the words to say. “It just feels a bit strange, there’s nothing to worry about. I know! It’s like holding an animal that doesn’t want to be held, so it moves around in an attempt to escape. That’s what it feels like.”

“It, is trying to escape!” I say in shock.

“No nonono, it’s not, that’s just what the feeling reminded me of. It’s completely fine, there’s nothing to worry about. In fact, I prefer that to the ‘super’ buff we’ve been practicing with. I even feel that this buff, unity or whatever, might be the secret to being able to control the buffs in general!” She explains.

“Okay.” I say, trying to calm down. I feel that she’s making sense, but my body refuses to listen. Noticing my struggle, Melly just holds me. A few minutes later, I finally calmed down. “Haa, are you sure it’s fine?” I had to ask.

“Yes, it’s fine. Besides, I trust you to dispel it should it ever start to bother me.” She smiles.

“Okay, I’ll believe you. No more training with this for today. We, haa, we can continue tomorrow, okay?”

“Okay, tomorrow it is.” Melly agreed.

Haa, that frightened me. I was not ready for that. Time to practice some other things to distract myself.

That night, I once again struggled to fall asleep. Haa, I hope I’m fine tomorrow.

______

So, despite my massive scare, I was able to cast and infuse unity onto Melly again. She said she was fine with having it activated for a long time, but I kept hounding her to see if she was fine, so we didn’t quite test her limits.

Other than that, we also trained with the ‘super’ buff against Zarewthem. We used it to hit him, then I healed him, effectively letting me practice two things at once. I did feel a bit bad about this training, but Zarewthem assured me that he was fine.

The third week, I got all of the buffs that the Cardinal gave me to work on Melly. Both buffs had their own problems when I infused them with my raw mana though.

Elise’s strength was pretty normal, it made Melly completely lose control of her body while giving her a massive boost in power. She was, however, able to forcibly cancel the spell on her own, though she was quite injured by the process. And that included her mana veins, so we had no choice but to suspend all practice for the rest of the day.

Skeletal refinement, however, was affected differently. It didn’t try to control Melly or ‘attack’ her. It instead influenced her mentality, making her far more aggressive. Also, despite the spell supposed to only minorly enhance the target, Melly acquired a noticeable increase in every aspect. It was like she suddenly knew the North Kahnate’s berserker rage. It was decently powerful, but my modern buffs were much better, especially when you consider the decrease in her combat skill caused by her rage. It was noticeably possible to control though, so it worked well as the next step in Melly’s training.

The Hero then suggested that we practice using all three at once in order to have a trump card, so we made sure to also practice that. The three of them worked fairly well together, with unity also reducing the intensity of the other negatives, but the increased aggression didn’t quite work with my mana’s control over Melly, as they instead competed over control. At least I can now see the possibility of their problems being overcome.

The fourth week went much the same, though I did spend more effort learning more preMilo spells than before. Greg has acquired a basic understanding of most of his new spells, and Rapunzel appears to have Leveled Up. I guess her training has been useful, and the hero’s bond is starting to show results.

The biggest improvement is that Hansen has recruited three mud slug things that the Hero led us to. Their request was to fight a powerful fire type creature so they could attempt to advance to the intermediate rank. The Hero was the one that promised them that was our next goal, so I guess we know what we are doing next.

I also learned that mud slugs primarily have the ability to destroy fire, but can also manipulate mud fairly effectively. And, despite their appearance, they can slide around quite quickly, with only Zarewthem being able to catch up.

For the fifth week, Melly and I trained to be able to use the triple super buff effectively, as the Hero said we’d soon be fighting a fire lizard. I think he’s referring to a salamander though, but I can’t be sure. Greg says that there are a few different creatures that can be referred to as a fire lizard though, so I’m probably wrong. Either way, we have gotten some results with our training. I still need to use patient analysis in order to command the spell, and I am the one deciding how we are attacking, but at least I can kinda tell what Melly wants to do, enabling me to crudely guide her, but proper results will take more time.