If I was being honest I never even considered using the phoenix heart ever again mostly because even now I remember very clearly how powerless I was against Xara she seemed indomitable but as Ai said I should have the strength to beat her she was never a god just an extremely powerful bird but that was a decision best left for another day.
After tutoring Ai in alchemy for a bit and translating the books I forgot about I discussed some of the other potions and crap that I thought was just junk that could be auctioned off which only succeeded in making the girls more annoyed with me as apparently the things I found useless were supposedly incredibly rare or impossible to make or find.
Ai:"This is what you call "useless shit"?"
she was holding up one the lesser drake cores that I literally had like a thousand of because my space ring I made was designed to pick up treasures automatically so I wouldn't have to do it on the battlefield and because no one saw me pick them up I could just deny having them so I never shared with the rest of the heroes or the kingdom the downside was that it also picked up just about anything unless I turned off the function since I constantly upgraded it to expand it's internal space I'm not sure how big it is inside anymore.
Me:"Its just a lesser drake's core not even a dragon's pearl it would be better for you to use this to practice making a proper golem heart"
I was finally going to teach her how to create a golem heart for her puppets her failures could be auctioned off as most wouldn't know how worthless they were given how she reacted to the core.
Ai:"But couldn't you use this to breed a draconic creature they are extinct on this world the only ones left are extremely poor imitations as they don't even have draconic essence"
Me:"If I want to breed a dragon I have better materials than that piece of crap and don't worry about others using it for that because once you refine it won't have any draconic essence anymore"
Ai:"Alright if you say so"
Her first attempt wasn't too bad for her first time but it was still lacking in many areas; overall it was still miles better than the puppet core she had originally designed when I first met her; Ai seemed overly excited by the creation of the golem heart but I needed to take the wind from her sails before she thinks that she is talented like the old bastard who taught me alchemy before she could get a big head.
Me:"Its such a shame"
Ai:"What is?" annoyed
Me:"I thought you had talent but if this is the best you could accomplish with my guidance then I guess I overestimated you"
Ai:"FUCK YOU! I'll show you talent!"
Ai began to review the translated books and reexamine her golem heart looking to improve herself with her next creation while I left her to her devices.
Marie:"Was that at all necessary?"
Me:"I was giving her some motivation"
Marie:"Couldn't you have just encouraged her instead of pissing her off?"
Me:"She is a genius but she lacks the drive to push herself to greater heights because she has been coddled for too long with everyone praising her feats and basking in their awe of her abilities now she has desire to surpass herself in order to prove me wrong"
Marie:"What if she figures out what you did?"
Me:"It won't matter she will still try to prove that I was wrong about her"
Marie:"Which still benefits you at the end. So now that you explained that could you help me too?"
Me:"I don't really know alot about witchcraft but I do have some grimoires..."
Marie:"That is not what I meant but I'll need that too I need your help to create a coven of my own"
Me:"I'm not a witch so I'm not sure how I would be able to help you there; not that I'm against the idea of you recruiting more women to serve me but why?"
Marie:"Witches like mages gather together to share knowledge but unlike mages which are still human we technically are not because of this uniqueness when we form a coven we not only do we become linked but our powers are increased depending upon the value and potential of each witch added to the coven"
Me:"Value and potential you mean how strong they are?"
Marie:"Yes and no if strong witch joins a weak coven yes but if the same witch joins a strong coven but is lacking in potential the coven will only receive a minor boost while she would have her potential raised there is also the factor of alignment which could affect the coven"