Saintess Summons Skeletons

So Saints can see each other’s level…

Unsure what to do, Sofia walked up to the end of the terrace. She observed the woman leisurely sleeping in the sky. She looked like she was thirty at most. So that’s like, a thousand years in high-level age, I guess. Do people who only get to a high level when they’re older keep looking old forever?

She had dark blue hair. So much hair. That must be hell to take care of… She also had two pointy fox-like ears on top of her head and a fox-like tail. Her long purple robes, ruffled by the calm breeze, were strangely mesmerizing.

Still floating, the fox woman yawned. The way she slowly stretched her long legs made Sofia wonder if she was stretching or putting on a show. Then she finally opened her eyes. Orange, slit. Wait, I really picked that up from this far away? Seems like my vision is getting better.

‘[Poker Face] reached level 10’

The floating woman didn’t come down, instead she flipped around on the spot. Her back that had been facing the ground now faced the sky. Like that, she observed Sofia, her chin resting on the interlocking fingers of her joined hands. She wasn’t bothered by her hair as it now floated upwards. She was the first to talk, her voice was suave and laced with mana.

“And so the Saintess of Scriptures entered the Temple of Wind. Eager to learn more about her terrible fate and the God that used her, she bowed down before the magnificence of the most beautiful woman she had ever seen, Valeure of the Wind.”

[You have been affected by : hypnosis. But your skills negated the status]

“Oh, so you resisted that,” Valeure said, giggling. “Amusing. You’re not quite as clueless as you sound.”

So the rumors about mind control were true. ‘Facetious but benevolent’ eh? She could as well be the one to spread the information about herself. I wouldn't even be surprised.

‘[Poker Face] reached level 11’

‘[Poker Face] reached level 12’

‘[Poker Face] reached level 13’

‘[Poker Face] reached level 14’

‘[Way of the Fool] reached level 6’

Also, Saintess of scriptures? The only god I’m praying to right now is called [Poker Face].

“That’s an interesting way to welcome a guest.”

“One must find entertainment where they can, what’s a little amusing trick between Saints? I heard you also met the rabbit, surely you also remember her well. She offers quite memorable welcomes,” Valeure defended herself, giving Sofia a wink and lightly punching the air with a balled fist.

I almost summoned the armor just now.... Totally would have if I didn’t have the mana perception to tell me this wasn’t an attack. Would it have even helped if that was a real attack? Don’t think so.

‘[Poker Face] reached level 15’

‘[Poker Face] reached level 16’

Being around this person is tiring…

“I could not forget her if I tried.” Just how many Saints took the same slap exactly?

“She means well, although her methods are clumsy. She is quite the amusing one in her own right as well. Do tell her to come see me if you meet her again.”

“Does every high-level person on the continent know each other?”

“Know? Not quite. But when people gather power, they create ripples. Look at yourself. You made a few waves already. Very amusing.”

‘[Poker Face] reached level 17’

‘[Poker Face] reached level 18’

I need to learn about her definition of the word amusing because what I’ve been through until now was all but.

The foxy Saintess spent some more time Observing Sofia.

“I do not remember the [Holy wings of the divine Script] looking like that. How amusing. There is more than meets the eye with this orphan.”

Fuck. She knows the skills I should have? There has to be a way to justify it… Some passive skills give cosmetic changes, maybe tha-

Pivoting to stand upright, the fox Saintess had glided down until she was floating a few meters away from Sofia, “That’s enough playing around for today. It is pleasant that you came on your own before even receiving my invitation. So many of the other Saints are very closeted. They never take any initiative. Utterly unamusing.”

She didn’t even leave Sofia any time to answer. “Your wings do work, still, don’t they?” she asked. Sofia nodded in response. “Follow me then, we will talk at my place. The temple ceased to be amusing an eternity ago.”

So she’s not going to ask more questions about the wings? Good. In hindsight I really should’ve cut them off before entering the city… I just hate how restricted I feel without them…

She had also debated cutting them off before coming to the temple but since a lot of people in the city had already seen them she felt like there was no way the local Saint couldn’t find out. And considering how she knew my name and that I used to be an orphan, it was likely that she did already know about the wings anyway.

Valeure soared up at a leisurely pace. I guess she couldn’t care less about the no flight rule. Deploying her wings, Sofia followed suit.

They went up and up, soon they would hit the mana shield dome covering the city. Is she going to disable it for us to go through? Sofia wondered. But the fox Saintess did not stop, she reached the shield and without even stopping, gave it a flick, producing a harsh bang akin to an explosion. The mana shield didn’t survive the hit. The mana making up the shield dispersed in a large area around her, allowing the falling snow to enter the city. Valeure flew through the hole she made. Sofia hurried to follow her. It’s already closing!

They flew up through the winds and snow. Sofia had expected the other Saintess would change direction but she seemed only interested in going up. They flew through the snow clouds. Below her, Sofia could see nothing but clouds, and after a stretch of empty sky, above was another layer of clouds.

Nature is as incredible as it is deadly.

Sofia usually didn’t fly so high, this was near her limit, where mana became thin and it started getting uncomfortable to breathe. But Valeure kept going straight up, aiming for the next layer of clouds. Perhaps she had noticed Sofia struggling below, she stopped.

Sofia felt a torrent of mana surging from below, an enormous amount. This… She’s going to kill me. The clouds below dispersed, pierced through by the sudden surge. Sofia activated her armor and braced for impact before she was engulfed by a giant column of air and mana that propelled her up faster than she had ever flown.

She was going so fast her anti teleportation bracelet almost activated. This wasn’t meant as an attack, but the flow of mana was so violent, Sofia was losing health just being carried by it. The armor didn’t help at all. Like this, she was propelled through a second then a third layer of clouds.

The scenery was incredible. Under the untainted blue sky, the afternoon sun shone upon layers and layers of clouds. Sofia couldn’t appreciate it for long, the speed was too much. She felt her vision narrow and disappear. Blind again. All her mana perception could see was the rampaging wind column she was in. Her consciousness was slipping away. Then it slowed down and stopped, thankfully not too abruptly. Sofia’s health jumped from 40% to full in an instant. Her vision recovered, she instantly felt better. The fox woman was right in front of her.

“Are you alright? You should invest in more Stamina. I expected you to fare better. You didn’t even heal yourself, did you forget [Heal wounds] already? Also what’s up with the armor? You’re getting more amusing by the second,” she peppered Sofia with questions while flying around her, observing her from every angle. Clearly she didn’t expect any answers.

She doesn’t sound that shocked that I have weird skills… Are there other ways to mess them up besides the system errors? I guess my demon skill is an exception like that too. Wait… The specialization! But the armor is passive and before level 100. So either you can get specialization points outside of the trial and before level 100… Or there’s passive points too.

“Well? Don’t stay there, follow me,” Valeure said, flying past Sofia.

Turning around, Sofia discovered the Saintess of the Wind’s ‘Place’. Floating silently in the sky, far above the clouds, was a large network of white stone platforms. Very few had actual walls and ceilings, most of them were small single ‘rooms’ each with their own function, and only flimsy looking guard rails made of the same white stone bricks separated them from the sky.

There were hundreds of small platforms like these. Some linked by stone stairs or bridges, some of the older looking ones, whose stone was eroding and breaking away were linked by wood and cording hanging bridges. These platforms were all built around the singular oldest looking thing in there, that had a markedly different style, it was a large and fancy round building.

I recognize this thing… Wasn’t it called a coliseum? There was one in Drakron too. This one looks much older but the general shape is the same.

There were many small animals running around on the platforms, but not a single human. Foxes.

Sofia couldn’t fly to the place since the mana this high up was so thin, she had to wait for Valeure’s wind magic to move her, without it she would fall straight down.

The two Saintesses touched ground at the same time.

“This is my home, don’t touch anything, a lot of things here are quite dangerous. I have a bad habit of collecting cursed things or items with weird properties.”

Weird hobby. But who am I to judge…

“Don’t pay attention to the kids,” Valeure added, pointing to a couple of running brown foxes, “We’re going to the arena, this is where I like to receive guests.”

Kids?!

Well, [Identify] shows nothing on them…