64

Walking around the capital I observe different businesses, pretty much the same as you would see in fallen angel. the biggest difference between the two is a lot of women wear veils, most likely copying Catherine since she wears one in public. I have told her a few of my ideas about buying a big building and doing an auction with her backing. it will be Phenex tears like we discussed originally but adding devil fruits and even some items I plan to craft soon. most of the items in the system shop all require demonic energy but some don't. I plan to make them and then sell them to build a high-level crafter persona to use, that and make a lot of crystal coins.

"I grabbed some of the fountain of life when we were in the undergrounds and I plan to try and make Phenex tears with them. I am hoping it adds some interesting effects, maybe recovering youth or lifespan?" Catherine purses her lips and nods, currently, we are sitting on a bridge while being cloaked from sight so she slipped the veil off.

"Can I watch? I am interested in trying it myself since it might do something similar. we are known as the black Phoenixes and have flames of rebirth, which might infuse them into the product." I nod

I didn't put much thought into that since she isn't a Phenex but it might work for her. if it works for her then I wonder how the tears of the actual Phoenix in this world would work. there is a Phoenix egg in the holy church in the human world, I am one hundred percent stealing it. it was like a daughter to Chen Rui and then sacrificed itself to protect him. it later resurrected using Catherine's womb, so it later became her daughter too. a bit weird but I don't plan on letting her die to begin with so she won't have to do that.

"I think it might work with how you have demonic energy, I am curious how a black Phoenix's tears will affect it. the whole ritual requires you to not think of anything and cry, if you think of someone then it's only effective for that person since it's intended for them, to heal the one the Phoenix cry's for. but take away the person and the tears still work, it's not all that complicated." she looks at me oddly.

"It's your actual tears? how much did you cry, you little baby?" I snort and shake my head.

"Want to watch? we can head over to my setup and try out your tears and also the fountain of life." she nods and I pull her in close as I warp us to my workshop.

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She curiously looks around all my current projects as I pull the tub over to the open floor. once it's in the middle I open a circle and fill the tub with fountain of life and turn around to where she walked off.

"This looks interesting." she has her hand on the huge block of blue metal I used for Athena's sword. which when I see my eyes go wide since I forgot to give it to her on her birthday. I crouch down and rub my hair, it's not like I didn't make her something. we just didn't give her anything since we were all just talking and hanging out and then we boned. "what is this stuff- are you ok?"

"Yea, I made a sword from that for Athena and forgot to give it to her yesterday for her birthday." she chuckles.

"Forgot your girlfriend's birthday present? that just might cost you." I look down as I correct her.

"Wife..." she stiffens as she stops walking around the metal block.

"What did you just say?" a chill in her voice causes me to stand up with a shiver.

"I said wife, I mean we did the blood marriage and all so that would make her my wife." she smiles wide.

"I see, so you haven't had any public ceremony or children. right?" I nod not knowing if she got knocked up since it is too soon. "Hmm, I guess I need to speed up my plans. we also shared blood did we not? so we can be considered at the same stage, but I will get the first ceremony."

"And when will that be?" she smiles once more as she leaves the metal behind to approach the tub.'

"Soon baby boy now cry so we can see if this works." I roll my eyes and approach the tub.

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"Well it changed color, don't know if that means it is safe to us though." she walks to the edge of the tub and scans the mixture.

"We both have natural healing that would affect the results of a test, can you summon anyone here to test? maybe that Athena could come over and try its effects." I wave her off.

"Let's see what happens if you do the ritual first, I will contact her and see if she is busy. after we have yours to test as well if she hasn't responded then I will try to get a different volunteer." she nods and I move the tub out of the way to grab an empty one.

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Athena appears in a flash of light from the summoning circle, Catherine on the side is already looking her up and down.

"Hey Athena, thanks for coming by we have a few other Phenex tears to try out." Athena walks up to me and plants a hot kiss on my lips before snuggling into my chest. Catherine watching the scene snorts but doesn't comment.

"Nice to meet you, empress Catherine, I am Athena Wales." they shake hands and I bring out the three tears on the tray. one in fountain of life, one that's Catherine's and is a blood red color, and then there is the mix of the two which turned black with glittering silver in it.

Athena pulls out the dagger I made her and grabs the one closest to her which is the fountain of life one. after cutting her palm she drops it on the wound and it seals roughly the same speed as normal if not a tad bit faster. the light that pulsed through her matched the color of the liquid and didn't seem to do anything special.

"Fell anything different from normal?" she ponders while tilting her head.

"Other than all the soreness is gone as I would expect from a Phenex tear I think I might be energized. it's slight but also I was resting when you called me anyway so I would have to get tired once again to know." I chuckle awkwardly at the odd vibe that is growing at her insinuations.

"Next one?" she tests Catherine's.

"That one felt different, it kind of felt like it used a different energy to heal." noted, she grabs the last one and tests it but as the drop hits her wound it shines brighter than the rest. after shaking her hand a few times she looks at the empty bottle.

"And how was that one?" she puts away her dagger and gives the bottle back as she leans on the table.

"That one felt like I got a slight boost with it, not anything massive but noticeable. kind of like a fire was lit inside me is the best way I would describe it." checking her stats I can't see anything so I will have to try it out with someone weaker to narrow it down.

"Alright so the life one might recharge stamina along with healing, Catherine's is similar to mine and finally the mix of both with fountain of life may give a buff. I will test them out more on lower ranks to narrow down the effects." I bottle up some of all three and give them to Catherine so she can also look at them as well, we need to know the effects more precisely to market them as different products and charge more for the differences between them. all seeing eyes doesn't explain it completely but what Athena described is roughly what I guessed from the information it gave me.

"Are you going to be busy the rest of the day?" Athena asks as she looks around and spots the odd metal I used for her sword, I will wait till we are alone to give it to her.

"I was planning to leave soon, I need to prepare some things for the wedding since it will be a bit short notice for most people the sooner I get the ball rolling the better." Athena has a competitive glint in her eyes but smiles.

"Ok, I will head back home since my mom and dad are going to show up sometime before they head back to the fort." I hug her and give a quick peck on the lips, she backs up and I teleport her back to our house.

"I like her, she didn't cower or overstep as well as she didn't try to cause a scene. I need to get to know her better to know but I think from what I see she seems to be nice." I smile, at least their first meeting didn't go bad.

"Yea she is very loveable, a very happy person, and it's infectious." she nods and walks over toward me, wrapping an arm around my neck she pulls me into a kiss. she slides her tongue in my mouth and so I push it back and we soon are fully battling. after a passionate few minutes with hands wandering she steps back.

"It's unbecoming of me to cause problems with her out of jealousy but that doesn't mean it didn't spark a certain feeling. admittedly we still haven't spent much time together but I enjoy being around you. I am not able to live with you full-time like she is so I have less time to be around you than she does, that can't be changed in the near future until there is a viable heir and I am confident in them leading my empire. so I would like it if you could make visits over to see me when you have the time, I will try to stay over whenever I can as well." I pull her into a hug as I set my chin on top of her head.

"I planned to make trips over, it's one of the main reasons I am going to open up some key businesses in your capital. I want to spend more time with you as well, I will send you a message when I plan to head over, and if you are free we can hang out or go somewhere. also, you are always welcome to come to my place to just hang out for a few or even stay the night." she nods and squeezes tighter.

"Ok, I will take you up on that then. tonight is a no-go since I need to get some things moved around and people updated on my relationship status. it would cause a lot of unnecessary problems like conspiracy theories which won't do any damage but will be annoying. I will announce it within a week and after that, it should be a month or so till the actual event itself." she takes a step back and her magic circle spreads out under her feet. "I will contact you when I either have free time or I get one of those buildings ready for you." with that she disappears leaving me alone in my workshop.