Chapter 2: Holy See

Chapter 2: Holy See

Sofia didnt have time to process the surprise she felt from reading the weird [Saintomancer] title of her class. She focused on the unfamiliar place in which she had woken up. The church already got me? But how! When? Where am I? The prayer house in Verenha isnt even large enough to have a room like this!

She was on a plain but large bed, larger even than what the director had at the orphanage. The bed sat dead in the center of a very wide, and otherwise empty room. The indirect sunlight in the room came from large windows that covered a whole wall. The walls themselves, much like everything else beside the bed, were made of completely unadorned polished white marble like she had only ever seen used for the nobles gravestones. The whole place felt very cold.

The only other presence in the room was the robed priest that had spoken previously. He was a short and frail looking old man, but he carried himself like he was some high ranking noble. Maybe he is. She had the urge to jump at him, maul his face, and run out of the room. But she had seen the armored guards walk out of the room, surely they couldnt be far. Also, she was chained to the bed by her right ankle.

I just wanted to summon skeletons!

Uhm, sir priest I have a few questions.

You may speak your mind, Saintess. The old man didnt bother turning to look at her, visibly absorbed by whatever he was looking at through the windows.

Where am I?

This is your new room in our Holy See, Saintess.

The Holy See.. in Einsen?

Indeed.

The capital is a nine day carriage ride away from the orphanage in Verenha! What do you mean were in Einsen! Why not the Red Winds Empire while were at it!

How did I get here, exactly?

You were summoned here by the Magisterium, Saintess. Sofia had a very hard time keeping her face from contorting. So they can just summon me here any time they want? Good. Great. Fantastic! God, I want a refund on my life, please.

Can anyone just do that?!

Only the Magisterium, Saintess.

Only one person I need to murder in cold blood to get out of here then? Such a bargain, thank you They dont even see me as a danger The chain was clearly more of an intimidation tool than a real restraint, it wasn't even tightened properly around her ankle.

Loud steps echoed in the corridor outside the room. A gigantic mountain of a man in golden plate armor entered the room. He had to crouch to get under the door frame. Standing upright in the room, his graying hair almost touched the marble ceiling. He kneeled toward the old man. I get it, I probably couldnt even kill the man in his sleep.

High priest, you called.

Rise. You may brief the Saintess on her duties. The high priest unceremoniously left the room after giving his order.

Summoned heroes (1 / 4)

Lv.1 Holy Skeleton (Human)

Theres a summon already... The skeleton in the crypt back in Verenah I guess. She couldnt lie to herself, Holy Skeleton did sound quite good. It couldnt possibly be worse than a basic skeleton, she hoped. What worried her most was the four summons limitation. Can I never have more than four undead? What kind of shitty necromancer is this! Wait, no, it says Lv.1, that shouldnt be here. Necromancer summons cant level the book said. Their level would be hidden and decided at the summoning. Maybe its not so bad if they can level up.

What would happen if they died however? Would they be back to level 1? Theres no way that its better than having a hundred basic skeletons

I can feel a faint link with it

She couldnt see through the skeletons eyes or anything fancy like that. But she instinctively knew the skeletons location compared to her, it seemed the [Holy Skeleton] skill could at least send simple orders as she felt the skeleton moving after ordering it to leave the crypt.

The simple order cost her eight hundred mana points. Wow, that's expensive. Maybe because hes so far away. She thought it was a bit of a waste but she spent eight hundred more mana to order it to go back to the crypt. No testing could be done if the skeleton got spotted and killed during the day. People usually werent very kind to the undead.

*Ding!*[Holy Skeleton] reached level 2

So fast! My classless skills all took weeks to level up. Does just dumping mana in there do the trick? She contemplated spending all of her mana on useless commands right now to level it up more. I should still try the other ones first.

[Summon Blood] did exactly what the skill said. It summoned some blood mid air that fell off and formed a small puddle near the bed. She could see some practical uses for that, especially with how much mana she had, she could probably fill a whole barrel with the stuff. But it was hard to imagine just that helping her escape. What would higher levels do, summon more?

[Heal Undead] did exactly nothing. This one should be a priority once I get out but before that In the end [Holy Skeleton] was probably the best choice to level up, wouldnt it make the skeleton stronger?

It looked like her mana regeneration was a little less than one point per second. This is quite fast as well Necromancers should be at about two points per minute at level one. My mana pool is so big though Still, thats more than three thousand points an hour, I can just use it all and it will be back way before the testing tonight.

She sent more commands to the holy skeleton, namely Hide in a corner Dont move Be silent Escape if someone finds you. She expected to feel tired from the big mana spending but felt nothing. Maybe the book authors just made up this whole mana exhaustion thing, she thought.

[Holy Skeleton] reached level 3

It's level three now. The description didnt change, I just hope it isnt useless to level it up or I might as well train with [Summon Blood] instead.

Sofia struggled a bit to wiggle her foot out of the shackle. She was free to leave the bed now. There really wasnt much to see in the empty room. The windows showed a perfect view of the mountain flank capital down under. The city of Einsen was built on a steep U shaped mountain flank, making it very safe from invaders. The Holy See was a fort a bit higher on the mountain than everything else, named after the very same Holy See of the church, composed of the oracle and high priests who led the religion. The only building that sat higher up on the mountain was the royal palace on the opposite side.

If only she had wings, she could just fly away. Only to be summoned back here But she didnt have wings anyway. The only thing she could get out of this window was a precipitous drop. Would they just let me kill myself like that? She didnt find any way to open the windows. They didnt even vibrate when she punched them, let alone break. All she did was hurt her hand.

She went up to the door. It wasnt locked. Can I just explore the place?

Someone opened the door from the other side before she could do it herself.

The room felt cold and hostile, but admittedly, the view wasn't all that bad.