[Ding!]
[Congratulations to the Chief God for gaining a new Familia member, Miku Izayoi. Obtained one portion of Spiritual Essence.]
[Monthly fixed Spiritual Essence growth increased to 12 units.]
Looking at the prompt from the Divine Pantheon Reconstruction System, Luo Shu fell into deep thought.
Although Miku Izayoi's overwhelmed reaction, making soft whimpering sounds like a small animal while lying on his lap, was quite adorable, Luo Shu had already entered an excessively rational sage-like state.
What Luo Shu focused on most now was the points reform of the Divine Pantheon Reconstruction System.
Originally, the system monthly provided points, but now it had changed to Spiritual Essence.
One Spiritual Essence is equivalent to 100,000 points.
Moreover, points and Spiritual Essence can be exchanged within the Divine Pantheon Reconstruction System.
Currently, Luo Shu has over 1.37 million points and 1 Spiritual Essence.
At first glance, the numbers are indeed simple and easy to understand, but there are actually quite a few complications.
Because there are too few Spiritual Essences, and they aren't enough to distribute.
According to the Divine Pantheon System's description, Spiritual Essence is a treasure that increases a Demigod's Spiritual Power, brings them closer to their concept, and accelerates the birth of their Authority Prototype.
To put it bluntly, Spiritual Essence can be equated to cultivation resources used by Demigods; it wouldn't be wrong to call it spirit stones for immortal cultivators.
It is precisely because of this that things are a bit troublesome.
There are only just over 10 portions of Spiritual Essence per month, yet there are six Demigods in the SDS!
Origami Tobiichi, Mukuro Hoshimiya, Miku Izayoi, Kurumi Tokisaki, plus Serafall and Luo Shu—that makes six people.
And this doesn't even include Kotori Itsuka, who is certain to join.
According to the Divine Pantheon System's explanation, the amount of Spiritual Essence required for a Demigod Class to construct an Authority Prototype and become an Apostle seems to vary from person to person and by Class, but there is still a general range.
Top Tier Classes require over 300, High Tier Classes over 500, and Common Classes at least 1,000.
So, even with a monthly income of 12 Spiritual Essences, if divided equally, everyone would only get two portions, which is hardly sufficient.
Unless all resources are concentrated on one person.
'But come to think of it, does this mean the worse the Class, the more resources are needed for advancement?'
Luo Shu, who was studying the Divine Pantheon, was taken aback by this information, but then found it somewhat reasonable.
Top Tier Classes are inherently much stronger than Common Classes after advancement, so it wouldn't make sense for Top Tier Classes to require more resources to become Apostles while Common Classes have it easier—that defies logic.
Like this, where Top Tier Classes have relatively lower requirements, and Common Classes have the highest resource demands, is actually quite reasonable.
'If 12 Spiritual Essences per month are concentrated on one person, based on feedback, a Child of Apocalypse needs about 400 Spiritual Essences to form an Authority Prototype... roughly 33 months, or 3 years...'
After a quick calculation, Luo Shu realised that advancing to Apostle in 3 years is considered very fast; to go any faster would depend on one's own capabilities.
However, given the requirements, Luo Shu isn't in a hurry about advancement. After all, Demigods don't need a ritual to advance to Apostle.
He doesn't even have an Apostle yet, so the Divine Pantheon hasn't provided information on how to advance to Angel, however.
Thus, Luo Shu isn't paying much attention to this matter.
What he's concerned about is something else entirely.
Namely, the Familia now has a salary!!
And it's an additional salary!!
Common Rank Familia members get 10 points, Excellent Rank 100 points, Elite 1,000 points, Hero 10,000 points, and Demigods 1 Spiritual Essence, all paid monthly and entirely covered by the Divine Pantheon System!!
Upon receiving this reminder, Luo Shu finally shed tears of happiness.
Times were tough before.
To show his regard for the Familia and to take care of the girls, he used to split earnings fifty-fifty with them, and sometimes even paid out of his own pocket.
Is he a capitalist? He's a people's entrepreneur!
Now it's settled. The Divine Pantheon Reconstruction System has taken over the financial support, so the fixed income from recruiting Familia members can be kept by Luo Shu himself—at least he can take it with more confidence now.
Of course, part of this includes the revenue from SDS storing Abyss Artefacts in the Divine Pantheon, but Luo Shu can still claim 70% of the monthly income. Moreover, the salaries of his Familia wives are still covered by the Divine Pantheon system.
Now that's what a proper system should do~
"However, judging by the monthly income figures—10 points for a Common Class holder per month, and a Common-level ability costs 100 points—is the Divine Pantheon's support calculated based on acquiring an ability of the same level every ten months?"
"A fixed ratio of support? Is the support really that generous?"
Luo Shu pondered that this level of support didn't quite seem like the kind of benefit the Familia itself could generate.
Although the Divine Pantheon's point income originates from the Familia's impact on the world, materialised as an abstract product of that influence, such impact isn't necessarily consistent.
Normally, this kind of influence should fluctuate—sometimes high, sometimes low—as people's sentiments change.
For example, a book leaves the strongest impression upon first reading, then gradually becomes more mundane, until only a faint trace remains.
Yet the Divine Pantheon provides a fixed monthly income, which seems rather unreasonable.
So, the Divine Pantheon must have a little private treasury, right? (laughs)
Is the current support funded from that little treasury?
Does the system subsidise funds to help the Chief God and Familia develop?
That's rather interesting.
"But aside from Familia support, the most important aspects are surely the Class Derivation System and the newly unlocked Class Template, right?"
Glancing at the rows of basic Classes provided by the Divine Pantheon that could advance to Demigod, Luo Shu couldn't help but mutter to himself.
"Before, SDS couldn't find a Class that could be widely popularised; now, there are too many Classes to choose from..."
"Perhaps I should discuss this with Lacus and the others. After all, they have quite a lot of experience in developing organisations. And with so many new features in the Divine Pantheon, I ought to inform her as well."
Once he had formed this idea, Luo Shu shifted his focus away from the system's support and gently stroked the back of Miku Izayoi, who was lying across his lap.
Even through her dress, he could feel the smooth, pleasant texture of the girl's spine.
But at the moment, Luo Shu wasn't paying much attention to that; instead, he was somewhat worried that Miku Izayoi might vomit on his leg.
Speaking of which, the infusion of basic Divine Pantheon knowledge seems to have intensified quite a bit after his promotion to Demigod—has it added information about Apostles?
Poor Miku, becoming the first new Familia member after the Divine Pantheon update... she's really suffering now~
Just then, Miku Izayoi, who was lying face-down on Luo Shu's lap, lifted her pale face. She turned over, resting her head on his thigh, and weakly complained to Nia Honjo, who was sitting on the nearby sofa:
"Nia, you big liar! The infusion of Familia information is more than ten times worse than you said!!"
"Even if you say that, I had no idea it would be like this! And you shouldn't blame me for this sort of thing!"
Nia Honjo spread her hands innocently, using her eyes to hint that Miku Izayoi should look at Luo Shu.
From any perspective, the responsibility for this matter should fall on Luo Shu, not on her, Nia Honjo, right?
"But you're part of the Familia that weaves common sense, aren't you?" Miku Izayoi adopted a stance that squarely placed the blame on him, steering the conversation away from Luo Shu entirely.
Though unspoken, this blatant favouritism left Nia Honjo utterly speechless.
She'd only just joined the Familia, yet she was already fiercely protective of Luo Shu. If something actually happened, it would be chaos!
Good grief, even though she hadn't experienced any hardships under her protection, you, Miku Izayoi, were still that same love-struck fool!
Choosing romance over friendship, is that it?
Is this how you treat your best friend?
Though she was complaining to herself, Nia Honjo understood that, for Miku, behaving herself was the best option right now.
After all, Miku Izayoi couldn't possibly act coquettishly with Luo Shu in front of her, could she?
Given Miku's personality, if she really started complaining to Luo Shu, it would undoubtedly turn into a scene of a little animal acting cute.
Acting coquettish with her best friend's lover right in front of her best friend?
That was something the current Miku Izayoi would find incredibly difficult to do!!
Thinking this, Nia Honjo hesitated for a moment before tentatively asking:
"Should I take you back to your room to rest?"
What greeted Nia Honjo was Miku Izayoi's disdainful look.
Shouldn't you, Nia, be the one to tactfully leave so I can be alone with Luo Shu?
Though unspoken, Nia Honjo perfectly understood Miku Izayoi's expression.
But would Nia do that?
Heh, she'd already done enough assisting for one day. Any more and she wouldn't be able to stand it herself.
Did they really think she, Nia Honjo, was a true lily?
The lily stuff was just talk - she was here for the real deal!
Just because I'm not eating doesn't mean you can eat in front of me!
With this warning look in her eyes, Nia Honjo pulled Miku Izayoi to her feet, then said cheerfully to Luo Shu:
"Anyway, I'll take this child to rest now. Luo Shu, remember to get some rest early~"
"I won't disturb you any further~"
Before Luo Shu could react, the two vanished instantly. It seemed Nia Honjo had used the Divine Kingdom's teleportation function to directly take Miku Izayoi into the Divine Kingdom.
This lightning-fast departure left Luo Shu completely bewildered.
In the end, he could only shake his head, glance at the mountain of gift boxes piled before him, and smilingly begin unwrapping the presents.
To be honest, this was the first time Luo Shu had received congratulatory gifts from girls who liked him.
For Luo Shu, this was quite meaningful!
"Maybe I should set up a display cabinet in the study to put all the gifts in for my own appreciation?"
Luo Shu stroked his chin, immediately thinking this seemed like an excellent decision.
Provided that the collar Origami Tobiichi gave him, and the fox tail with anal plug attachment he was currently unwrapping, were hidden away first. Otherwise, if someone saw them, it would basically mean social death.
At least for now, Luo Shu still wanted to live, well, live properly.