After we finished packing, we headed out to do our own things as it was still too early for lunch. It’s surprising how quickly everything went this time though, considering how long it took me to pack previously. Though, I guess I was trying to pack a ridiculous amount of books at the time…

Oh, as we were packing, I did get to read through the book about the halo. Sadly, it was quite small, and what was there mostly consisted of legends and stories. Oddly, even the church can’t confirm where the halo came from. Or how it was broken.

At least it explained why the halo still functions at all anymore; it bonds to my divine blessing to fuel itself!

It also helpfully lists the halo’s few abilities.

First, it glows, with the intensity displaying just how powerful your mana trait is. However, that glow is only visible when using mana sight unless I am actively using it.

Second, I can emit my trait through the halo, letting my trait partially manifest and affect the world.

Thirdly, something that I didn’t notice, I can apparently use it to detect nearby mana sources, though it only works while I’m actively using my aura as it essentially just touches other manas directly to ‘feel’ them. Crude, but fairly effective.

Oddly enough though, there was no mention of it ever affecting Gates, which is extremely strange as I am absolutely certain that it was my halo that was attracting the light. So, why wasn’t that mentioned?

Well, I might as well ask if I don’t know. So, I wandered back to the warehouse, as even Cardinal Caitlyn seemed surprised by the light shifting.

“Excuse me, would you happen to know anything about the halo being able to manipulate the Gate’s light?” I asked.

“What? No, I have not. Why?”

“Oh, because my halo does that for some reason. So, um, do you happen to know where I might be able to find more information about the halo then?”

“Huh, that’s strange… Anyway, there might be some more information about the halo in the main temple, but I doubt they’d have anything more than the full myths, legends, and their analyses. Sadly we just don’t know that much about such an ancient artifact.”

“Yeah, paper was far rarer back then, and most of what was written, especially by the old church, has been lost.” I sighed. It’s depressing just how much history has been lost and forgotten. “Thank you for your assistance.”

He shrugged. “It’s my job.”

“That doesn’t exclude you from being thanked,” I point out as I leave. Okay, since I can’t find anything else about the halo, I might as well continue trying to learn the robe’s spell. While I doubt I’ll accomplish much, one day of practice with Samuel is equivalent to several on my own. Haa. Can’t I just bring him with me? I promise I’ll take good care of him!

Jokes aside, I hope that I’m at least close to something so I’m not constantly annoyed by this numb feeling while traveling. It’s almost a full-on distraction as it is. Haa. Well, if it does I’m certain the Hero will have some sort of solution, at least.

So, I grabbed Mark and went back to training with Samuel.

______

“Haa, this is starting to get annoying,” I complained.

“Already? You do know that it would likely take several months to figure out this spell at the very least, right?” Samuel questioned.

“I know. I wasn’t actually planning on learning that spell until after we’d defeated the demon lord after all. All I wanted was an actual cleaning spell. But that’s not what I was complaining about.”

“Then what are you complaining about?”

“My robes! They’re making me feel numb! And, it’s getting worse! Why!?” I complained. “Arg, even just moving feels wrong now!”

“Already? That’s happening far sooner than I’d thought it would.” Samuel said in surprise.

“What do you mean? Do you know why this is happening!?” I yelled.

“Please cal-”

“NO! It feels like my entire body is falling asleep!”

“Okay. So, as an ability of the robes is being unlocked, the areas affected by said ability start to feel something. While I don’t know what the other saintesses felt, Saint Cameron felt restless everywhere, almost as if his body couldn’t stand sitting still for even a moment.”

“Really? Huh, that sounds like the exact opposite of his trait, doesn’t it?”

“Why yes, it does.” Samuel smiled. Ah, so he already knew. Man, he really likes to get people to figure things out themselves.

“So, the numbness must be related to my primary trait of control. That would also explain the slight coldness as well.”

“You also felt cold?”

“Yes, but only slightly, and only really around the edges of the numbness. However, when I touch the location, it becomes quite cold. Uh, isn’t that, like, really bad? Like, the numbness would be bad if it wasn’t for the fact that my muscles and such still work properly, meaning I probably only lost my sense of touch, but low body temperatures are quite dangerous!” I said as I started to panic.

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“Cal- It’s fine. It’s only an effect caused by your robes as it uses your mana to activate its ability.” Samuel explained.

“Isn’t that still bad though!? While it’s not me exactly, aren’t my robes just drawing out power using my trait?”

“Oh, you even thought of that, how impressive.” I just glared. “Ehem, so, the church has also thought of that. And they have confirmed that your robes are not actually drawing out power, at least, not from you. While we can’t confirm any of our theories, we have multiple pieces of evidence that confirm that you will suffer no ill effects from your robes.”

“That’s good.” I sighed in relief. “Still, this is quite uncomfortable. How long is this going to continue for?”

“Until you fully unlock your robe’s ability. Luckily, we are on the right path, though I do not know how close you actually are to unlocking your new ability.”

“You don’t? Then, how long will this take?” I said worryingly.

“It shouldn’t take too long. Unless we are extremely unlucky, anyway, then you’d stay like that until you found whatever crucial piece you were missing.”

Oh… “...Let’s just hope that doesn’t happen.”

And well, it seems like we actually were quite close, as less than an hour later…

“Haa,” I mumbled from my blanket fort. The numbness had spread from my robes to my body, before quickly affecting almost my entire body. Now, the only thing I can feel is an ever-increasing coldness. And I can’t even write now, as I lack any fine control over my body, so I can only watch Samuel work.

“How are you fairing?” Mark asks as he returns with some more blankets.

“-olb.” I try to say. Haa, the numbness has even affected my mouth now, affecting my ability to speak. Well, at least I can still move, even if I look like I’m a zombie as I do so. Still, if we don’t unlock my ability soon, I physically won’t be capable of traveling tomorrow.

“Okay, try this spell,” Samuel says after testing it for himself.

I nodded before adjusting my last spell with his new changes. Luckily I am still quite capable of casting spells, as without that I would have been screwed.

“Ah,” I muttered after I cast the spell. “AH!” I yelled.

“Saintess!? What’s wrong!?” Mark asks in panic.

After squirming around on the floor for almost a minute, I sighed as I just lay down.

“Saintess, what happened? Are you okay?” Mark asks.

“Yeah, I’m fine. You know how you get pins and needles whenever you regain feeling in a numb limb? Well, I had that affecting my entire body. Haa, I couldn’t even register what had happened with my robes!” I complained.

“Oh, well, as long as everything’s fine,” Mark sighs in relief.

“That is disappointing, Saint Cameron quite enjoyed the feeling he got whenever he unlocked a new ability.” Samuel sighed regretfully. “So, Saintess, may I ask what new ability your robes have acquired?”

“Ah, let me see,” I say as I stand up. Huh, I am surprisingly just able to tell what the new ability is. “That’s… whew, I didn’t think it would be that grand. Okay, so, I’ve fully unlocked the robe’s innate cleaning and cleansing abilities.” I reported.

“You, enhanced its innate ability to keep you clean and resist infections?”

“No, well, not exactly. Before it was a completely passive effect, so it was quite slow and ineffective. At least, when compared to just using spells. But now I can innately cast the full effect of the spell, doing minutes to hours of work nigh instantly. Also, it apparently could only cleanse open wounds, not diseases or ingested poisons and the like. But now it can.”

“Wait, does that mean…”

“Yes, I should be all but immune to any and all toxins.” I smiled as I cast it fully.

“Wow, okay, even though the spell is very efficient, using it to its full potential takes over a third of my total mana. Wow, that, that’s intense. Haa, I, I feel just, empty.” I said as I struggled to breathe. Haa, stupid psychological reactions. However, that is understandable, as it took almost four times as much mana as my combo of cleaning spells almost instantly.

After I calmed myself down and rebalanced my mana, I said. “Yeah, it’s a good thing I can use the spell in parts, because WOW, that was intense. Like being punched in the gut.”

As I sat down, I noticed that, around where I was standing was a small amount of, um, dust? No, wait, is that, the various ‘impurities’ that were inside my body? It has to be, huh, considering how my robes would have kept the outside of my body clean.

“What’s wrong?” Samuel asked, noticing my stare.

“Ah, well, the spell was actually able to remove some ‘impurities’ from my body.”

“Impurities? What do you mean?”

“As you know, despite our immune systems and such being quite good at their job, some stuff isn’t taken care of. Well, the mud slugs collectively called that stuff ‘impurities.’ So, while not quite as good as the mud slugs, this spell can even clean my internals.” I explained.

“That is interesting, though I doubt that would be particularly useful.”

“Yeah, especially as it’s not quite as powerful as the mud slugs’,” I say with a sigh. “Wait, since I can use this basically at will, does that mean I can eat as unhealthily as I want?”

“What do you mean, Saintess?”

“Well, the mud slugs were able to at least partially deal with things like cavities, obesity, diabetes, fatty livers, etc. So, my spell should be able to do the same.” I said in excitement.

“Ah, so you can eat as many sweets as you want without consequence, right?”

“Yeah!”

“Congratulations. Though, I don’t recall you eating any sweets or really any snacks in general.” Samuel pointed out.

“Oh… yeah. I don’t really eat that stuff, huh.” I mumbled in realization. “And, as it is, I can only use this ability on myself, so I wouldn’t even really be able to enjoy it with my friends. Haa, it’s not actually as useful as I’d thought it would be.” I realize.

“My apologies, Saintess, I did not intend to ruin your excitement.” Samuel bowed in apology.

“It’s fine, I would have soon realized that myself anyway.” I shrugged.

“Even if you don’t use it to gorge on sweets though, all but guaranteeing good health is still useful.” Mark comforted.

“Aye, that it is,” I said with a smile. “Well, thank you for your assistance with this; both of you.” I thanked with a bow.

“But Sainte-”

“It’s fine, Samuel. Anyway, I will be back to traveling with the Hero tomorrow, so this is the last time I’ll see you for, well, who knows how long. So, do you finally want to be released now?” I asked.

“No.”

“Why though? It wasn’t like you did anything particularly wrong?”

“But I did. Cardinal Caitlyn spoke to me about why you punished me as you did, and I agree. So, I shall stay here until I have truly proven my worth.” He smiled. “Don’t worry, I doubt I will be stuck here much longer, considering how much I should be able to help you.”

“Okay. Just remember to talk to Cardinal Caitlyn should you want to be released.”

“Thank you for your concern, Saintess, I will.”

With that, I parted ways with Samuel and Mark and headed to lunch.