So, the two four-star miracle elixirs she got from the first ten rolls were what essentially saved their lives. One of them healed Oathran and the other closed the hole in her chest, allowing her the stability to build a heart replacement out of pure mana.
Well, not really the elixir, though. To be fair, the mana still came from her bond with Oathran and she was still the one who had to architect the whole thing and consciously control it… now. But it certainly helped that the potion made the blinding pain vanish and handled all the boring internal knitting.
When her heart was ripped out, it took a rather significant chunk of her aorta and vena cava with it. The miracle elixir had healed the damaged cells but politely declined the task of regenerating what was just… gone.
"If what you did was only healing my broken parts and not regenerating what was missing, then who controlled my mana all night to replace the function of my heart?" Cecilia asked the system.
[You underestimated yourself, Cecilia]
[As we said, you have been chosen as our System Player]
[We admire the essence of your soul!]
"You're saying I did it? Subconsciously, while I was completely knocked out?" Cecilia narrowed her eyes, skeptical.
DI-DI-DING!
[Correct!]
Cecilia hummed, sitting and hugging her knees by the riverbank. "I didn't know I was that impressive."
"Impressive."
A certain person's deep, amused voice echoed in her memory, and a flutter of butterflies started tickling her stomach. She hid her reddening face behind her knees, taking a deep breath. Get a grip, woman.
She concentrated once more and straightened her back, all business.
"I want more information. So, if a Four-Star Miracle Elixir can heal broken parts but not regenerate missing ones… would this 'Heavenly Elixir' from the five-star list be able to do it? Regenerate the parts?"
[Correct!]
[Heavenly Elixir can restore someone to perfect health, no matter the illness! It can regenerate missing body parts, even if the missing parts had been long missing! But, it cannot heal hereditary defects or hereditary disease!]
"Repeat that," Cecilia said, her eyes narrowing to slits.
[Uhh… ahem…]
[He…Heavenly Elixir can restore someone to perfect health, no matter the illness! It can regenerate missing body parts, even if the missing parts had been long missing! But, it cannot heal hereditary defects or hereditary disease!]
Cecilia fell silent.
In the course of her time as a Saintess, countless people had been beyond her help because of incurable diseases. Perhaps some were hereditary, but others… with this elixir…
She closed her eyes and sighed. She grasped the hem of her dress with both hands, and then slowly, forcefully, unclenched her fists.
If only she had been 'chosen' by this system just ten years sooner… No. A single year sooner. She could've saved…
Forget the Heavenly Elixirs. Even the common Miracle Elixirs could have saved countless lives. If she could just roll a couple of times and get them… she could've…
No. If she could get just one and have a trusted alchemist analyze its ingredients, they could potentially reverse-engineer it. They could mass-produce it.
She just needed to almost die once. She didn't even have to actually die. If she had known, she would've begged that bastard Arzhen to rip her heart out sooner.
"Alright. Next," she said, her voice clipped, shoving the tidal wave of 'what-ifs' into a locked box in her mind. She truly had no time to dwell on it now. "If we have a list for the possible five-star items, we must have the same list for the four-star and three-star items, right?"
DING!
[Correct!]
[Below is the list of the four star items you can get!]
[1. Enchanting Perfume]
[2. Miracle Elixir]
[3. 4 Stars Weapon (Random)]
[4. 4 Stars Artifact (Random)]
[5. 4 Stars Spell (Random)]
[6. 4 Stars Potion Recipe (Random)]
[7. 4 Stars Magic Stone]
[8. 4 Stars Mana Potion]
[9. 4 Stars Blank Magic Scroll]
[10. Money Pouch (1000 G)]
"O-oohh!" Cecilia's eyes widened. What was this, a treasure trove? Just from the look of it, they were all incredibly useful!
[You are guaranteed one four star every 10 rolls!]
"But I can't actually choose what I get, can I?" she asked, her initial excitement tempered.
[Correct!]
[This is a gacha after all!]
"Hmm, what does 'gacha' mean again?" Cecilia narrowed her eyes, suspicious.
[...a… ahem. I-it's a revolutionary game mechanic created by the wisest minds in the whole multiverse!]
"So, a gambling game, huh," Cecilia sighed, the wind thoroughly taken out of her sails. "Something that depends on luck… for someone as cursed with misfortune as myself…"
She coldly scoffed. Her life was proof her luck was in the negatives.
[O-okay, next!]
[Below is the list of the three star items you can get!]
[1. 3 Stars Weapon (Random)]
[2. 3 Stars Magic Stone]
[3. Money Pouch (100 G)]
"Huh?" Cecilia blinked. "Only three? That's… significantly less impressive."
[Correct!]
[But the amount of varied 3 stars weapons you can get is more than every other star! You can get up to 20 different weapons from the three star pool. But you can only get 5 different weapons from the four and five stars pool!]
Cecilia was annoyed now. "You think that's better? It means to get one specific three-star weapon, the chance is even lower than getting a specific higher-tier one. You're just diluting the pool with junk."
[Correct! But since the chance of any 3 stars appearing is higher than the others, the rolls are balanced!]
Cecilia looked at her roll history. She had gotten two three-star frost steel spears and one three-star frost steel staff. She had never used a weapon in her entire life and now she wondered if she could just sell these cluttering items in her 'inventory'.
It took a while navigating the system, and even getting herself used to its bizarre logic. She was initially shocked to discover she had a spatial inventory.
Let's repeat that.
InsIDE HERSELF.
DING!
[Yes! You can convert any item into gold! All three stars items can be converted into 100 G and all four stars items can be converted into 1000 G!]
[If you ever want to convert any five stars items, you will receive 10000 G from it!]
"Hmm, is that so?" Cecilia hummed. "I wonder if this 'G' is the same currency we use in this world…"
[Correct!]
Cecilia's eyes widened. Wouldn't that mean the intrinsic value of these items, in gold, would be astronomical? She needed to verify that sometime.
100 G was more or less a royal minister's yearly salary, minus all their benefits and the money they skimmed from corruption.
Her own yearly salary as a Saintess was 500 Gold. The unwritten rule, of course, was to donate 90% of it back to the temple to uphold her reputation and not be compared unfavorably to her predecessors. Not that she was entirely sure the temple used those funds to help the needy.
So now, squinting at the value of these seemingly "common" items in her inventory, she hummed. "Am I… rich…?"
She sighed and rubbed her temples, a headache brewing. Turned out she just needed to almost die once to get all this, no matter how scammy the system's gambling mechanics sounded.
"Ah, I remember something," she said, a new plan forming. "You said I got a reward for leveling up Oathran's love affinity, yes?"
[Correct!]
"And you said I have access to the system shop?"
[Correct!]
"Good. I want to do something."