Rising Suspicion

[The Saintess System has been unlocked]

[First requirement achieved: Pray]

[Faith points: 1/10]

'This... What kind of absurd prank is this?' Serenia extended her hand to touch the blue screen before her, but her hand passed through the window with ease.

'Saintess.. System?'

This unknown thing was thrown at her with no further explanation, what a faulty mechanism.

'One thing I can tell though..' Serenia placed her hand over her chest.

'My magic got stronger. Only by the smallest bit, but it's there.'

This change only happened after she prayed and unlocked the system.

'Does this mean.. As I increase my faith points, I get more power?' Serenia frowned. She had never heard of such a thing applied to Saintesses before.

Walls had ears. No secret could truly be hidden without a trace. Serenia didn't believe that throughout history, all these Saintesses was exposed to such a mechanism without ever letting out the word of it. At least one would've freaked out and blurted out the truth, right?

"...I suppose it's a fortunate thing." Serenia was still overcome with confusion, but she decided to take it up with optimism. She wanted to experiment with the System.

She shut her eyes off once more, and uttered a minute long prayer to the El.

Ding!

[Faith points: 2/10]

A bell-like notification sound rang.

'There it is again.' Serenia felt a slight shift in her power level, which more or less confirmed her previous theory.

Feeling mischievous, Serenia offered more and more prayers until she reached the tenth mark. The contents of said prayers were filled with mindless songs of praises that would make someone cringe out of reflex.

Nevertheless, Serenia did it with a happy mood, shaking off the uncomfortable feeling struggling to explode out of her.

'All for the sake of power!'

Ding! Ding! Ding!

[Faith points: 10/10]

[The first stage has been completed.]

[Reward: One-time access to the <Skill Library>]

[Restriction placed: Due to the advancement, faith points obtained through prayers are now limited to once per day.]

[Faith points: 0/100]

'Great!' Serenia was happy with this discovery.

Serenia originally already had talent and the mana to fuel her power. If this system could increase that aspect even more, how powerful could she end up to be?

'This would hopefully broaden my influence and reach.' Serenia's wish was to escape from being a puppet, and she needed power to do that.

She originally planned to reel in another person to help her with this issue, but if she could free herself from the shackles on her own, that would be great as well.

Of course, her idea of getting the vacation she dreamed of was still the top priority.

'I have to be careful with how I use this power! If I reveal too much.. I'll be stuck with the role of a Saintess. Forever.' Serenia lamented.

The Holy Palace loved to take advantage of others. If they learned that Serenia had this kind of cheat system, they would definitely use everything up their sleeves to trap her to their side.

She suppressed her excitement, stood up, and faced the statue with a bright smile. She stretched her body, which had been sore from the position she held for so long.

Just as she was about to leave, a voice rang from behind one of the pillars.

"What are you doing here, Saintess?"

It was the Third Paladin, Aceras.

Like Cardinals, Paladins were assigned a number that determined the authority of the rank they had. Kieran, who she constantly fought with in her previous life was awarded the title 'First'.

"Just offering my daily prayers, Third Paladin."

The previous Serenia liked Aceras. He was a master at sweet talk and flattery, and always buttered up to Serenia like no other. Honestly, it sometimes crossed the boundaries of respect.

He was a womanizer through and through. Women from all backgrounds would swoon over his charismatic presence and appearance. That same charm worked on the past Serenia, but that would stop now.

"Hmm... Should I believe that?" Instead of accepting her answer, Aceras raised the question.

"What do you mean?"

"You might've not realized it, but I've stood here for quite some time. You've been kneeling for at least twenty minutes, opening and closing your eyes with one minute intervals. Your expressions change every time you repeat the cycle. Saintess, care to explain what all that is about?"

"..I believe I have the right to keep some of my matters private. I just had a very long and lovely chat with the El. The contents of it, you have no rights to pry about. It's quite rude of you to intrude like this." Serenia tried her best to emulate a saintly attitude while still rebuking the man with a firm tone.

Serenia didn't want to stay inside the room for longer, so she hurriedly walked towards the exit. Before she was able to escape, Aceras' words caught her attention.

"One more thing, dear Saintess... Your magic, hasn't it gotten stronger?"

Aceras' expression was as if he had found out the discovery of the century.

Serenia widened her eyes. She turned around and took a deep breath.

'Calm down. I made sure to not speak out loud. Even though he might've been here from the start, he wouldn't know.' Serenia convinced herself.

"I think you might've been mistaken. During my prayers, I tend to get deep in trance, so my magic might've fluctuated and caused a misunderstanding." Serenia explained.

"Is that so~? Then, I apologize. I was just worried about the wellbeing of our precious Saintess, you see?" Aceras chuckled. "Well then, have a good day, my lady."

With her heartbeat pumping faster than ever, she eloped from the scene and returned to her room. She immediately jumped onto her bed and let out a stressed groan.

"That was dangerous! I let my guard down. This body doesn't have the same abilities as I did.. At all."

Back then, sensing presences within a hundred meters of her reach was nothing to her. It came off as unintentional, and she never had to act on it. However, the same couldn't happen with Serenia.

As a result, she wasn't able to sense Aceras' presence and let this happen.