“HA!” I suddenly jolted awake. It took me a while to realize where I am and what I’m doing. “Ah! I was fusing with the core!”

““Yes. Congratulations, Saintess, you have successfully conquered the dragon’s core.””

“Thanks. Thank you for your assistance as well.” I bowed my head. “So, what do I do now?” I asked.

““You are free to go whenever you feel like it. Everyone else should already be done, so why don’t you go and meet with them?”” They suggested.

“I see. Thank you.” I get up from the mostly drained bath. I also noticed that all of my paint was gone. While there doesn’t seem to be anything left, I still use some spells to clean myself as I go to put on my robes. “AH!”

““Is something wrong?””

“I used magic!” Am I still under the effects of the mana potion?

““You did. As you have been continuously using your mana this entire time, the potion never wore off.””

“How long was I undergoing the ritual for?” I wondered.

““Over thirty hours.””

I gasped. “That’s impressive.”

““Correct, we expected you to take far longer.”” That’s not what I meant, but I’ll take the compliment.

“Thank you.” I thanked one last time before leaving.

When I opened the door, the paladins looked at me in shock.

“Thank you for guarding me.”

“Ah, no problem. We were glad to be of assistance.”

I asked if they knew where everyone else was, but sadly they only had guesses, so I decided to return to my room while eating a snack from my bag. Despite eating tons of food beforehand, I was quite hungry. I also cast some healing magic on myself to hopefully reduce the effects of the poison, but I knew that wouldn’t accomplish much.

On my way, I noticed the Hero. “Hello, Mr. Roosevelt.” I smiled.

He rolled his eyes and responded with a smile. “Hello, Saintess, have you succeeded?”

“Yeah, now I just need to eat and prepare for the poison.” I shrugged.

“Then you’ve come to the right place. I’ll make you something right away.”

“Oh, that would be grand!”

“So, how was the ascension?” He asked once he started cooking.

“Hmm, how was it?” I asked myself. The Hero doesn’t say anything and just lets me think.

As I started remembering what happened, I could feel my mana start to shift on its own. Hmm, that’s odd. Stop, I commanded.

Uh, why’d that work? I just tried out what I learned before my fusion out of curiosity. Hmm, that gives me an idea. First things first though, I need to remember what happened.

And once again, my mana starts to resist. Hmm, it appears that my mana doesn’t want me to remember.

That reminds me of unpleasant memories.

After that very angry thought, my mana completely gave up. Now, what were you hiding? Oh, OH! I see, that’s why.

“Uh, that’s odd.” I mumbled to myself in confusion.

“What is?” The Hero asked, surprising me.

“Ah, well, my, uh, personality? appeared to have drastically changed during the battle of wills.” I explained uncomfortably.

“That makes sense, you weren’t battling with your body after all.” He informs me.

“What?” I blinked. “What does that mean?”

“You see, battles of will use your mana as a substitute for your body. As such, your mana’s trait is brought to the forefront.”

“I see, that explains the change. By the way, can you tell me how battles of will are normally fought?”

“They, at least on the surface, are effectively just staring contests, with your will and mana being used to shave off the opponents mana until one side either gives up or runs out of mana.”

“Any exceptions?”

“Of course, some beings have innate abilities that can be utilized within the battlefield, though most are fairly useless. I presume the dragon had a breath attack as well as its final gambit.”

“Right. So, do both sides just stand there, or can you move?”

“It isn’t possible to move, unless your physical body moves.” He declares as he raises an eyebrow.

“I see, that explains why everything was so easy. My mana was able to move around, making the breath attack and final gambit nothing but wastes of mana. In the end, the dragoon had no choice but to submit.” I explained while smiling at the memory.

“Haha, you should tell that to the Cardinal, she’ll be shocked.” He laughed. “Your mana is amazing as always, I’m looking forward to you getting used to the core!”

“Hmm, I guess I am too.” I agreed.

“Hey.” He calls one of the chefs. “I’m preparing some proper food in celebration, gather the rest.”

“Yes boss!” He bows before running off.

“Huh, you seem to be fitting in.”

“Yes, though sadly I’m going to leave soon. Anyway, I’m going to start focusing on the food, so we can talk later.”

“Yes boss!” I approved. True food, or whatever it’s called, is the best.

I stood in wonder as more and more people arrived. As soon as it was done and served, we were eating like we were starving. I, surprisingly, was able to eat a good bit more than usual.

Afterwards, I wanted to stay and chat, but I passed out. I only realized after waking up in my bed, but I must have been exhausted. Well, I did stay up for around forty hours and used a mana potion, of course I’d be tired. Speaking of, how sore am I?

As I sat up, I realized that, while I am a bit sore, I can move about fairly easily. Huh, I thought I’d effectively be paralyzed for the entire day. I guess my spells did help. Or the true food. Hmm, or maybe even the long duration. Who knows, but it’s good news regardless!

As I moved my mana, I even noticed that it was fairly lacking in energy. Sadly, I do still have to deal with the poison, but even without doing anything special, I might be cured in a few days. That’s pretty nice. Sadly, I don't know the exact reason for that, so I won’t be able to replicate it.

Hmm, let’s try something. Move. At first nothing happened, but with a bit more command, my mana actually started to flow! It was far from being usable for spells, but I can use my mana to enhance my body! This is amazing! My mana is awesome! Ha, I can almost feel it cheering in response.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Awesome, with my low soreness and flowing mana, I can almost act like nothing happened. I can’t wait to see what other things I can do with my mana.

As I was leaving to go and get breakfast, actually during the morning this time, I was called out to by a priestess.

“Excuse me, Saintess, the Cardinal was hoping to see you. She said she would treat you to breakfast.”

I ruefully looked over towards the kitchen before sighing in my mind. “Of course, please lead the way.”

As we headed towards her office, I asked. “Do you happen to know why she wants to see me?”

“My apologies, I’m afraid that I do not know.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Hmm, what does she want? Confirmation of my success?

“Come in.” We heard as soon as we knocked.

“Saintess, I was hoping to talk to you, would you mind joining me for breakfast?”

“Sure.” I agreed as we moved to the meeting area of her office. “So, what was it that you wanted to talk about?”

“I heard that you had some issues arriving here, despite giving a direct order.” Cardinal Caitlyn states. Oh yeah! I’d forgotten about that after receiving a dragon core.

“Ah, yes. She didn’t even want to meet with me at first either. While I know several people don’t like me, and I’m fine with them not wanting to help me in normal situations, refusing to assist when it is urgent should not be allowed.”

“Ah, yes, though I’m surprised that you’d put up with that during normal situations.” She says in surprise.

“Yeah, like the last time I came here. The Bishop that sent me did not like me and initially didn’t want to help me. While in the end he did, I wouldn’t have complained if he refused. I was asking for a favor, after all, I can’t expect everyone to be fine with that.”

“Correct. If at that time you had used your authority, there would have been a decent chance of you being punished. Though considering why you came, you might have been fine.”

“Really?”

“Yes. You were asking questions that pertained to your identity and perception. If such things caused you problems in your journey, those that caused such issues, even indirectly, could potentially be punished.”

“Oh, though, it hasn’t caused me any problems so far.”

Cardinal Caitlyn gave me a doubtful look before continuing. “If you say so. Either way, how Bishop Narla acted is deserving of punishment. She will likely be reduced to a common priest, or worse.”

“Were her actions really that bad?” I questioned.

“Of course! If she had refused to help in the end, we would have been discussing the possibility of execution.”

My eyes shot open in shock. “What!? I knew things would end badly for her, but I didn’t think it would be that severe!”

“Haa, you really don’t seem to understand your position.” She sighs.

“Yeah…” I agreed with a sigh. “I initially decided that I’d figure all that stuff out after we dealt with the demon lord.” I admitted.

“Yes, that determination is part of why I haven’t done anything about that yet. Still, you should at least know the basics of your authority, as it is likely to be of assistance for your mission” She advises.

“Haa, yeah, I really should. Well, since I’m about to gain some free time, now'd be the perfect time to study up.”

“Perfect. Tell me when you are free, and I’ll make sure you understand everything you need to know.” She offers.

“I’ll be in your care.” I accept. I’ve definitely been slacking on that front.

“While you are here, I am curious about how your monster ascension went, would you mind telling me?” She asks politely.

“Sure?” I don’t understand why she asked like that.

“Really? Thank you.” Um, am I telling some sort of secret? Eh, whatever.

I quickly told her about my battle of wills. Oddly, she never said anything the entire time. She only had a reaction once, before just sitting put with a tense smile on her face. Yeah, I was pretty sure I did something odd, but not to that extreme!

After a few minutes, I finished. “So, how was it?” I asked nervously.

After taking a moment to collect herself, she finally responded. “That’s ridiculous. If it was anyone else telling me that, I wouldn’t have believed you. Sadly, you wouldn’t lie about this.”

“Is it really that strange? That you’d completely disbelieve it?”

“Yes. The only known way to move in the mindscape is to move the physical body, which is of limited use when you lack the means to tell others how to move you. As such, what you did defies all common understanding we have about battles of will. I would ask how you accomplished such a feat, if I didn’t already know that it was caused by your strange mana.” She sighs, again. Man, she’s really perplexed.

“Ah, sorry about that.”

“No no, don’t worry!” She says in panic. “Its uniqueness is just a bit regretful, that’s all. Well, at least we know it is possible now. Maybe, with your help of course, we could figure out how to do that ourselves.” She says with hope.

“I’ll do my best, but…”

“Of course, only after you slay the demon lord.” She agrees with a smile. “Oh, while not quite as amazing, making the dragon submit is also very impressive.” She complimented.

“Is it?” I wondered.

“Yes, most monsters would rather die than even consider submitting, especially once they’re already dead. The main thing though, is that you get more power from parts that submit than those that don’t. Far too many people either end up failing by not finishing the mind off when they had the chance or injured by forcing the ascension through while the opposing will still resists, trying to accomplish such a feat. Not to mention how you did this with the core…” She trailed off.

“I see.”

“In addition, your feat is doubly impressive when we consider your fairly low Level. If we were to spread this, your prestige would soar. I’d doubt you’d have any more issues getting the respect you deserve.”

“If. Sadly there are plenty of other problems such revelations would cause.” I sigh.

“Of course. A dragon core is very valuable, after all. No matter how effectively you use it, few would consider it worth it. Hence, we must keep that a secret, at least for now. Whether it is revealed within your lifespan or not will be discussed at a later time.” She declares.

“I understand. I hope I won’t accidentally reveal anything, but I’m fairly worried.” I shyly apologized.

“Hmm, why?”

“Well, I have a feeling that the core brought out more changes than just general improvements to my mana.”

“Oh, while that will likely prove useful on your journey, any noticeable changes could prove problematic.”

“Sorry about that.” I bowed.

“Do not worry. This was all for a good cause. Besides, you were told to by the Hero. So, we can just blame him after he leaves.” She smiled, but I just stared at her in shock. “Ah, I’m not going against him. He talked to me yesterday and specifically suggested putting all the blame on him after he left.”

“But, wouldn’t that tarnish his legend?”

“Unlikely. Such minor issues aren’t likely to be widely passed on, after all. Regardless though, he said he’d rather be hated and save people than be beloved but useless.”

“Oh, I see.” That, wow. Haa, he really is a hero, huh. I don’t even know how to react to that.

“As such, you shouldn’t worry. We will take care of anything that happens.”

“Okay.” I sighed. It will be fine. “Oh yeah, I was also told that once I’m used to the core, I should get the saintess robes.”

“Haa, that Hero is quite ambitious, isn’t he? Well, that might be possible, but I have no actual say in the matter. You, sadly, have to earn it conventionally.” Okay? “Regardless, even if you fail to acquire it, you did only recently start your journey, so no one will look down on you.”

“Yeah, but I’d still prefer to actually get it. Oh, are you able to tell me how I’d go about earning it?” I asked, not really expecting a real answer.

“It’s quite simple. All you have to do is prove that you are powerful enough to wear it.”

“Okay, how?”

“By wearing it.”

“That, that’s all? Nothing else?”

“Exactly. If you can leave while wearing them, you can keep them. While it sounds simple, in practice it normally takes the saintesses multiple years, and tries, to accomplish. Luckily you can retry whenever you want, as often as you want. There was even a saintess that tried at least once a day, every day, for three years straight before succeeding. You don’t even technically need to report or ask permission to do so. Though said saint did so every time. There is an entire book of his official requests.”

“Is it easy to make those requests?” I asked in worry.

“Easy, but time consuming. Especially the first time, as you need to report various things beforehand, so it can take upwards of half an hour. The other times you just need to send a request and get it approved, which can be as simple as a sheet of paper saying ‘can I try on the robes’ that gets a stamp. It can even be the same piece of paper.” She laughed.

“Oh, that’s easier than I expected.” I sighed in relief.

“Of course. You do technically own the robes, after all, so you don’t even truly need permission. Though that Saint, haa.”

“What?”

“Saint Louis. He was very… formal. He filled in the entire request form every time. Even if it only took him a few minutes because of how familiar with the princess he was, filling out those forms every day is insane.”

“Why? Did he not know?”

“No, he knew.” She sighed. “He was just like that. He said he was ‘paying respects to the holy robes.’ While I can understand his reasoning...” She just shook her head.

“Yeah, same here. Ah, by the way, can you at least tell me what the robes do?”

“No, you’ll have to figure that out yourself.” Of course.

“Okay then.” Haa, great.

“Well, I think that’s enough for today. We’ll have plenty of time to talk in these upcoming days, after all.”

“We will. Goodbye, Cardinal Caitlyn. I’ll see you later.”

“Goodbye, Saintess, and good luck.” She responds as I leave.