Anna quickly placed her hands over her mouth and glared at the offending words. Why wasn't there a further explanation as to what in the world a Goddess Name was for? Honestly, that information would completely change her approach. As though hearing her internal complaints additional information began to fill in the area below the elegant hand-lettered, 'Ah Fuck':
A Goddess Name is an intimate and powerful tool, by having a willing entity utter the chosen name the Goddess can then offer a range of blessings, assistance, and power to the speaker including but not limited to a system contract. The name cannot be a common word, and the speaker must be able to visualize the essence of the Goddess in question for a Divine connection to be valid thusly expanding Her power.
Her eyebrows rose with interest with each new tidbit, it seemed as though this Goddess System can grow to be inexplicably powerful. She pressed her finger against the name and thought to erase it, the words seemed to resist her force but soon after the additional information below scattered into flecks of silver dust and morphed into a question.
"Would you like to spend 950 Goddess Points to redeem a name change? Current Goddess Points - 1000."
Anna's breathing became labored as she read the sentences over and over, this had to be a joke… That would only leave her with 50 Goddess Points! She didn't even know how much the other things would cost much less how hard it would be to earn more. Her heart ached as she tried to get her breathing under control.
"Confirm."
Despite her unwillingness, there was one thing she was even MORE unwilling to deal with, having to introduce herself to her son as 'Ah Fuck'.
Anna slammed the book shut, leaving the Goddess Name blank as she sat on the floor and stared at the timer. She sat there for three days, her body not moving an inch. While her spiritual body may not have moved her mind had been racing, thinking, pulling on all her knowledge as an entertainment manager. The name had to have appeal, grace, power… mature but approachable and more important, easy to remember. On top of having to meet all those criteria she had to also consider she was going to a Fantasy World she knew nothing about, she did not remember all the numbers that One had uttered after them.
Angel? No, an angel was a servant, and despite the fact that she was going to be dealing with a Demon Apocalypse which meant she needed something inspiring… her face shifted for the first time in days as though a statue come to life. That was it, she could simply call herself Mother. All those lost heroes were going to be like her children. If she wanted to be technical they'd be more like newly contracted trainees and she'd be their agent and manager, but that was an unimportant detail.
Wasn't she wise, charming, and magnanimous? Those that were standing on the precipice of death would cling to this mother's thighs.
Anna smacked her thigh and stood up as she made her way back to the pedestal. She didn't even wait until the words settled before calmly pronouncing, "Mother."
"Mother has been selected as your Goddess Name."
She beamed and turned the page, the pages were so thin they were almost like transparent wisps of smoke. Between that and the sheer thickness of the book, it was surely a couple thousand pages long.
"One page only took me three days… off to a great start." She muttered under her breath as new words began to form. It took her one year to finish the first chapter. She learned a lot about what she could and couldn't do and a general overview of her powers.
With a mere thought, she could change the featureless aspects within this space for no cost! Fascinatingly enough she could remove anyone from the space at will as long as she had enough spiritual energy and more importantly she can draw someone in at any time if they are linked to her via a system contract. And finally she was right, points were hard to get.
So first things first she closed her eyes to feel the space with her mind, it was odd seeing as she had always been in her mind but only on a subconscious level. Anna was acutely aware of the feature objects as they did not share the same essence with her. She altered the space in its entirety and when she opened her eyes she was in a beautiful moonlit meadow beside a small pond.
The instruction manual now floated in the center of the pond while the bookcase was now a tree that grew books with seating areas on alternating elevations. A large mirror that dripped star dust floated around the space, easily moving with her mood, the timer would show up whenever she looked at it. And finally, the crystal ball was now one of the moons in the sky it would lower and shrink accordingly when she needed to use it, which she did now.
"Current Goddess Points: 50. Would you like to spend 1 Goddess Point to Actualize your System Space? Actualization will 'save' your design settings and make it so others can experience it with all their senses as though it were real!"
"Yes, please," Anna said politely and was swiftly surprised by the follow-up message.
"Achievement Unlocked: My First Space! Reward: 1 Goddess Point.
Achievement Unlocked: My First Purchase! Reward: 5 Goddess Points."
If that meant what she thought it did that would mean that she could earn additional Goddess Points for first-time achievements. In fact, there was a high probability that there were also tiers of achievements. So perhaps 100 purchases would also unlock something…
However when she attempted to think about an Achievement List all she got was a headache and a bit of exhaustion, based on what she had read in the manual was a sign of spiritual strain.
Having given up on that she instead opted to see what Goddess Point spending sinks were available.
"Menu Initializing…"
"Please select an upgrade category: Entertainment, Physical, Mental, Spiritual [Locked], Passives, Followers [Locked], System Promisee [*1] [Locked], Treasures [Locked], Familiars [Locked], and Miracles [Locked]."
Anna notably ignored the Locked categories as she wasn't a fan of headaches and she ignored the Entertainment section as she honestly had little time and even fewer points. She instead opted to look at the Passives. Based on what the manual had lightly glossed over in chapter one she knew that Passives were benefits that were either active all the time, or required some sort of trigger to activate.
Examples were Hover Step: never have your feet touch the ground again! And Water Breathing: self-explanatory.
She found herself instantly drawn to the auras.
Divine Aura: Others in a close visual proximity of your greatness will be able to acutely sense your power. As you get stronger you will be able to expand your range and even impact their emotions. [Cost 5 Goddess Points]
Anna didn't hesitate and promptly purchased it. She carefully examined the other categories but realized that for a lot of them even though they weren't locked, the items within them were gated behind Goddess Stat requirements like Strength, Charisma, or Intelligence. But she did see something that she knew she wanted in the Mental category, Perfect Memory, which she purchased for 10 Goddess Points.
Perfect Memory: You remember everything perfectly and with only minimum effort are able to bring it to the forefront of your mind. This includes sensory input, good and bad. Caution, memories cannot be erased aside through memory wipe purchase of 100,000 Goddess Points or a stronger entity stealing them. This skill may require spiritual energy to get under control.
Needless to say, she grossly misinterpreted the danger of this skill. Anna had only crossed her arms when she pondered how long it had been since she last had sex, almost at once her mind pulled every explicit detail to the forefront of her mind. She fell to the soft grass and a faint moan escaped her lips as she experienced that heated night over and over again.
"You have gained one rank in Willpower."
Orgasm after orgasm crashed into her mind as she kept pulling more and more memories each more torrid than the last. Her body felt weak and she struggled to breathe much less move, the barest of shifts of her clothing would set her body off into another chain of pleasurable release. That is when it went from heaven to hell.
"You have gained one rank in Willpower…"
Her body had eventually become overstimulated to the point of perceived pain and she had to relive and experience so many things that she had completely forgotten. The darkness and self-hate welled up within her as she had to experience the shame of giving away her body to land Jace parts. The burning of her skin as she scrubbed herself to the point of bleeding in a painfully hot shower so no one would have to hear her cry.
She thought it would never end as she lost her child over and over again, she didn't even have the ability to make noise anymore, everything was just a haze of pain and suffering. Anna just barely heard the system droning in her exhausted state…
"…ained one rank in Willpower. You ascended to the Peak Stage of the first Gate. Only by surpassing your previous limitations will you conquer the Gate of Shame to gain enlightenment and proceed toward the Early-Stage of Suffering."
"Initializing the trial of Humiliation."
Then everything went dark.
[*1] In case this isn't obvious, a promisee is a person on the receiving end of the promise. So Anna would be the promisor, and any individuals or heroes that accept her contract would be the promisee.