My Servant System

The phoenix pendant floated in front of me for a few seconds more, like it was flaunting its newfound luster and shimmering, enchanted glow to me, only to then drift back towards my collar and reattach itself to the black leather, rejoining the Asmodia pendant and allowing people to see my allegiance on both the mortal plane as well as the 'heavenly' plane.

It's newfound luster aside, the phoenix pendant was given a screen inside my System to show of its new use as well, since it was now an item blessed by the Goddess who had given me this System; it wasn't just a normal enchanted item, so I was curious to see what the stats would be like...

[Storybook Phoenix (Dormant) : Increases INT and WIS by 10%, Regenerate Mana 25% quicker, Increase Mana Capacity by 25%, Increases AGI and DEX by 5%, Increases Healing Spells Efficiency by 25%]

The long list of bonuses that this small pendant was giving me was quite something, and the longer I read it, the more I wondered what the hell this thing would do when it was 'Awakened' or whatever; what bonuses would it provide then?

Would it increase my stats even more, increase the rest of my stats, give me more damage, more mana, more efficiency..?

What would it do?

Actually... how the hell do I even awaken it?

Do I... pray to it more?

Give it some of my experience?

Feed it blood?

What do I do for it to awaken?

Or... well, it IS called a Storybook Phoenix, so perhaps it requires 'stories' to get stronger, though that wasn't really much of an answer to my questions at all since I had no way of knowing how I to give it those stories... like did I go read some books, or just live my life and show it MY story?

After all, it was MY Storybook Phoenix, so wouldn't it make sense for it to be about MY story?

Right..?

...

Not getting an answer from the System nor from Reincantra, I just let out a sigh and instead reread the benefits of my new pendant, which were incredibly lucrative; it shot up my INT and WIS by 14 points each, my AGI and DEX by 7~8 points each, increased my overall Mana Capacity and Regeneration by 25% - which was why my chest was currently beginning to hurt as the orb resting beside my heart began to swell up with more liquid mana - and finally made it so I could heal people better, which... I mean, who is going to say no to increased potency of healing spells?

Certainly not me, that's for sure.

That was really generous for a 'dormant' item, and it got me excited to see what the 'awakened' state would look like, but for now... there was little I could do besides speculate on what it would be, so I instead decided to make use of my time in the best possible way by opening the System Shop and opening up my bulging wallet of Shop Points.

After saying a quick thank you prayer to Reincantra, of course; I didn't want to seem ungrateful, but I was equally as excited to spend my 320,000 Shop Points after what felt like months of accruing them, since the last major purchases were the earrings we all wore that increased our CON and WIS by 15% and 10% respectively.

And they were roughly 6,000 a piece, so now that I had a rather large budget to spend on something I deemed as a necessity, well... wasn't that just exciting~?

Things I hadn't even looked at yet were open to me now, so I began to browse the store after setting some parameters, with the first being the limitation to jewelry, and the second being to limit everything to some sort of support or healing focused item that had more than just one single use.

A few things popped up that interested me, things that would maybe be useful, maybe they wouldn't be used at all; who knows, but I will not be complaining if they never get used since its a reassurance for me anyways.

I also had to place a point limitation on them as well, capping them at 30,000 points each since I needed to make 9 separate purchases to obtain one for each of us; me and my three lovers, Mother, the Marquess, the Countess, and my two sisters.

[Vitrea Ward Ring : Capable of blocking (2) severe damage strikes before breaking [30,000 Points]]

[Molt Chain : Increases bodily regeneration by 10% [20,000 Points]]

[Cottonbead Bracelet : Absorbs some physical damage away from the wearer [22,500 Points]]

[Golden Tortoiseshell Pendant : Increases CON by 65% [22,500 Points]]

More and more options filtered in and out of my mind as I scrolled through the list, highlighting and marking the traits that began to appeal to me more whilst also marking out the items that I liked enough to give a second look.

What was I looking for exactly; something to heal, something to block, or something to support?

All three were valuable in their own right, and I had to remain kneeling for a few minutes more as I went over each in my mind, weighing pros and cons for each as I tried to come to a decision... whilst also taking price into consideration too, since I wanted to get as much as I could for how much I was spending.

I wasn't being cheap, I just wanted to make sure that I was being efficient with my 'money' and getting the most out of it, which was why I gradually found myself leaning towards two items.

The [Vitrea Ward Ring] and the [Molt Chain] were what I had my eyes on the most at this moment in time; the ring would provide two instances of being able to block severe damage, which was always a nice thing to have no matter what type of world you could find yourself in.

'Severe Damage' was a loose enough parameter that I was confident it could block either a physical attack or a magical one, as well as anything slow acting like poison, though I was less certain on that thought.

As for the chain, simply boosting the healing factor someone had by a good amount seemed useless when magic exists and healing magic is relatively easy to learn, but having it act in the background or during a fight would be nice, and it would make anything that happened in day to day life easier to deal with...

Though the more I weighed the two against one another, the easier it became to just accept that the [Vitrea Ward Ring] was well worth its price tag, and it would work for everyone no matter what; the Marquess would be able to not worry about two life threatening wounds in battle, while Mother could feel safer just going about her daily life.

My two sisters could be safer as well from something that might end their own fragile lives at the moment; they were of strong races, certainly, but their bodies were still weak and able to be injured easily, so having this to safeguard them from any sort of fatal mistake or accident was also a huge relief.

And a ring could be worn as a pendant too, making it something they could and would always have on them, which was just as reassuring; it wouldn't be something they thought of after the first week of wearing it, and it wouldn't get in the way of their hands if they wore it that way.

Finding myself liking this idea even more, I just took the plunge after a quick double check of the items I had highlighted, purchasing myself 9 [Vitrea Ward Rings] for 270,000 points in total... which was enough to make my already hurting chest ache even more as I watched the number slowly be subtracted from my wallet, leaving me with only 50,000 points to spend on something else.

For now though, I looked down at the 9 separate rings in my hands, each one identical to one another and each one looking rather beautiful.

Smooth and thin bands of red glass riddled with dark gold veins, the [Vitrea Ward Rings] were simple and elegant in appearance, the only sign of their incredible power being the way the gold veins slowly wriggled beneath the surface, dispersing the power evenly and constantly.

Each one was light and solid, the material not cracking or responding at all as I gave one a test squeeze, making sure they weren't actually made from glass - or at the very least, a breakable glass that would shatter with ease.

When they withstood my swift test, I slid one on and nodded at how it shrunk down to fit my finger snuggly, and when I moved to slide it off, it expanded and allowed itself to be removed with ease as well, showing off the wonders of magic in such a simple way.

With my new haul of impressive magical gear, I stood up and turned around, heading back into the Palace and making my way back to the room, where I would wait until everyone was awake to give out the wonderful gifts I had managed to obtain for them.