“She is waking up! She is waking up! Call the Saintess.”

As Maria’s consciousness returned, she heard Elaina shouting. Her body felt sore all over. The pain that made her writhe in agony still linger, prevented her from making any meaningful action.

“…” She wanted to scream but all she could do was staring weakly at the ceiling.

“How do you feel, little one?”

A young voice entered Maria’s ear, tried to pull back her attention from the realm of pain. The owner of the voice is a small girl with white hair, deep blue eyes in a nun outfit, stood beside Maria’s bed, looking at Maria with a troubled expression.

“…”

“She wakes up alright, but it will take a while before she can do anything... Report to me when she can speak properly.”

The small saintess stepped outside, leaving Elaina to tend her master. Several tall white-hooded men greeted the saintess outside the door.

“How is the girl?” One of the men asked.

“She is fine, but she is not in a condition to talk.” The saintess reported.

“You couldn’t completely heal her?” The men were surprised.

“More like… there was no injury to heal. I checked both her inner and outer body. Nothing to suggests a mental magic attack either.”

The saintess scratched her head while tried her best to explain.

“what do you mean there is no “Injury”? She has been unconscious for a week. We need her to wake up right now!” The men were furious.

“calm down, rushing won't help anything. It's not like we are sure she is the culprit in the first place. Sure… she was the only one who lost her consciousness before the Palace disappear, but it might just be a coincidence...” The little saintess argued.

“Coincidence? Last time I check, sleeping for a week straight is not normal. If she did that on every other day, we might just suspect her being under attack by some curse, but she did it right before the Palace disappeared. There is no way it is a coincidence!” The men shouted.

The small saintess went silent. Another white robe but older man stepped out and put his hand on the small saintess's shoulder.

“It can’t be helped, Asereth. Everyone here is pretty on edge. Without the Palace, the human will lose their footing in this world. We are trying to create a library out of all the books from the Archive to mitigate the damage but when it comes to helping the human in the battle against other races, nothing comes even close to the Palace. No offense here but even your Academy pale in comparison to the Palace. You know this.” One of the older men spoke.

“Yes, yes… That is why I told you guy to keep searching instead of wasting your time here. I will take care of the girl. She is my student. It is my responsibility. Just give me a bit more time.”

“Good… as long as you understand, then it is all good. However, according to standard procedure, we will have to place some eyes on her.” The older men respectfully bowed.

Asereth took a heavy sigh and nod to the white robes. After the white robe group left, Asereth looked at the cloudless night sky and wondered about her decision.

-------------------------------------------

Unable to deal with pain, Maria closed her eyes again. This time, however, her consciousness was taken to the white space. Maria couldn’t care less if the Advisor was here. Her pain was gone and that’s all that matters. Maria lay down on the ground and breathe a sigh of relief. Before Maria was able to get a rest, the Advisor appeared. She stood above where Maria lay, looking down upon her.

“Are you ok?” The Advisor asked.

Maria immediately stood up and threw a tantrum.

“Ok? Did you know what I been through? I felt as if my flesh is tearing apart, all while something is grinding me up together. Being prick by a thousand needles might not even be as painful as this. What is that all about?”

“It was the pain from battle damage I took during the test.” the Advisor responded casually.

Hearing that answer, Maria pondered for a while “Hold on… I don’t remember seeing you took any damage during the test.”

“What you see with those eyes are the surface. You will need to train to be able to see what hidden underneath. The test that the entity name "Tir" use to test us was not that simple. At least, not simple enough for me to suffer no damage in our current state. So, if I can't dodge it, I simply just received it and fix it up right back to its original state. It was just too quick for you to see it.” The Advisor explained.

“If you fixed the body, how did I feel pain?” Maria asked.

“I only fixed the body. Pain, on the other hand, was a separate issue not worth my concern at the time so I ignore it in favor of escape. Well, I see how it affects you, that's why I pulled you here.” The Advisor continued her explaination.

"Thank you." Maria took a big sigh of relief and lay back down on the ground again. The Advisor remained where she was, staring down upon Maria.

“Do you mind?” Maria uncomfortably stared back.

“Well… I have something rather important that requires your presence. I also promised to tell you what I did at Palace didn’t I?” The Advisor extended her hand to help Maria get up.

“Ugh… fine…”

Maria finally pulled herself up and followed the Advisor through the door. To Maria surprise, the place she arrived with the Advisor is a dark place, with no light. She tried to follow the Advisor’s illumination, but the unstable terrain made it impossible to do so. Maria fell face first on something soft.

“Hold on Maria, I will arrange some light in a moment.”

With a click sound, the place was flooded with light, revealed the entire space that was filled to the brim with books, scrolls and occasionally rare flying runes. A familiar voice suddenly rang out underneath Maria.

“Could you move your body, please? You are heavy.”