As I finish reading my status, I almost fall over in pain as foreign memories start flooding in, Riser’s own memories this time, but I manage to stand up straight as I turn to Mia, who is observing me with an amused expression on her face. Damn you, you milf phoenix.
“You sent me to high school dxd.” I deadpan.
“Ara, it would seem so” she giggles as she stands up and stands before me, I’m decently tall, standing at 180cm, but she is easily the same height.
She traces her finger up and down my chest and leans in while staring into my eyes. “What of it?” she says.
Pretending to be pissed off, she gives off a little yelp as I push her down to the bed, looming over her with my hands on either side of her head, on the bed. She seems kind of unfazed, though.
“Couldn’t you have sent me somewhere with power levels a bit more grounded?” I ask, trying to sound displeased as I move my head closer to her own and stare into her eyes.
Her face starts going red after a few seconds as she turns her head slightly and speaks in a small voice. “I’m sure you’ll manage.”
Satisfied with the reaction she gives, I get off of her and lie down next to her.
“I guess I will.”
Obviously, I’m not displeased enough to actually care about where I got sent, anywhere is fine as long as it’s not that hellhole. I just wanted to tease the phoenix.
I normally wouldn’t dare tease an immensely powerful immortal phoenix, but we are literally soul mates now. We might as well get familiar with each other. Not to mention that she was reduced to level 1 as a result of binding her soul to mine.
+10 Affection with Mia
Huh? I guess that's a thing.
We lie down in comfortable silence for a while before I turn my head to her and speak what’s on my mind.
“So, you also have the gamer system?”
She looks at me for a moment before seeming to remember something. “Fufufu” she giggles. “I do not, I picked it up from a burnt corpse and decided it would suit you better.”
“I see,” I reply, deciding not to comment. Thinking it’s time I did something, I look through the memories I’ve gotten from Riser.
At this point in his life, Riser hasn’t shown or accomplished anything exceptional. There’s really nothing of note about his upbringing besides his education and training his demonic abilities and clan’s signature power, the Phoenix flames. At this point in time, he doesn’t even have his own peerage yet. I suppose it's as close to a clean slate as I could have hoped for.
Another upside is that Riser Phenex and Rias Gremory have yet to meet each other. I'm not sure how much I care about this particular bit of information, but it's definitely something.
According to my memories, Riser has been raising his demonic power and training his control over his flames since before he was 10 years old. Being born as a member of the Phenex clan, Riser is automatically a high-class devil and was originally going to be given his Evil Pieces on his 18th birthday, which I seem to have missed. What gives?
“I’m aware that we're a couple of years before the start of canon, but level one seems kind of low, doesn’t it?”
“Ara, quite greedy, aren’t we?” Mia bops me on the nose as I look at her. “The plan was indeed for you to inherit his power and have a higher starting point, but the timing of your transmigration was just a bit too good, managing to replace Riser’s soul in the middle of his inheritance ceremony.”
“Inheritance ceremony?” I remember it to be a ritual the Phenex clan practices in order to raise demonic power, but I don’t remember ever going to it.
She smiles and continues. “You gave your new family quite a fright, suddenly collapsing in the middle of the ritual like that.” she pauses, then flies back into my body in the form of red light.
“I’m sure your darling little sister will explain the rest to you.”
My door flings open, and a young teenage girl with light blonde hair and drill-like twintails barges in, this must be Ravel Phenex.
“Riser-Sama! are you o-”
Her speech cuts off as she goes bright red and she looks at the floor instead of myself. “Put some clothes on, pervert!”
I look down at myself, to find myself only wearing underwear and sitting like someone was going to draw me like one of their french girls. “Oh.”
I get up, reach into my wardrobe and decide to go for Riser’s signature red suit and white dress shirt while speaking “Is anything the matter, dear sister?”
I don’t care to speak in the same arrogant manner Riser does, nor do I feel like putting in the effort to have the same swallowed-something-nasty expression he does.
I straighten my posture, admiring myself in the mirror. Yep, I wear this face much better than Riser did.
“Well?” I ask, turning back to Ravel.
She’s still bright red, now looking at my face. “Enjoyed the view?” I tease.
“F-father wishes t-to see you!” she yells out awkwardly and proceeds to hightail it out of my room.
I chuckle to myself while reminiscing about my past life, I guess teasing your younger siblings will always be fun.
That being said, I’m pretty annoyed by not having gotten any of Riser’s inheritance. My “father” wants to see me, no doubt because of the failed ritual.
It would be disastrous if he was to somehow find out I’m an imposter, the only thing I can do is go in there and hope he doesn’t notice anything off.
I eventually find my way to my father’s study through the huge mansion, after asking a maid for directions. How embarrassing.
Stepping into the room, I can see a man sitting and observing me from behind his desk. He looks to be not quite middle-aged, with long brown hair and blue eyes, sporting a stylish beard.
Leisurely sitting around on the couch by the windowsill is a woman who looks to be in her early 20's with a voluptuous body, her face passing for a grown-up version of Ravel.
Yes, these two are Lord and Lady Phenex.
River Phenex
Race: Devil
Sex/Age: Male/2636
Height/Weight: 185cm/78.5kg
Level: 410
HP: 7800
MP: 11200
STR: 505
END: 413
DEX: 710
INT: 952
WIS: 922
CHA: 120
LUK: 150
Rachel Phenex
Race: Devil
Sex/Age: Female/2521
Height/Weight: 165cm/41.1kg
Level: 1997
HP: 36600
MP: 71200
STR: 1148
END: 1487
DEX: 1803
INT: 2301
WIS: 2095
CHA: 550
LUK: 570
Holy fuck. I was expecting my father to be powerful, but what the hell? I bet Lady Phenex could give the four satans a run for their money.
“Father, aunt.” I greet, after standing for a moment.
Indeed, Riser Phenex's mother died shortly after childbirth. Lady Phenex, as she's known to the world, is my father's younger sister.
He cracks a smirk at my greeting, seemingly finding something funny. “Father and aunt, eh? Have I been promoted from ‘old man’?”, Lady Phenex also giggles at my greeting but doesn't give a reason as to why.
Fuck. How could I have missed that? Why is Riser such a douchebag?
“I’m just kidding. Ravel did mention that you seemed different, looks like it was the truth. What’s gotten into you? Possession perhaps?”
I’m glad for his joking tone because I might have painted my pants brown if he was serious. I don't know if he qualifies as an ultimate-class devil, but my aunt definitely does. A game over if I've ever seen one.
“I have some mild amnesia from the ritual, It’s not a big deal though.”
I don't have enough confidence in my acting skill to suddenly mimic Riser's exact mannerisms, so I'll just go with this.
"Oh? Mild Amnesia you say? I suppose that makes sense." Lady Phenex giggles once again as my father says this.
What am I missing here? "Makes sense in which way?" I inquire.
"Nevermind that," he says, changing the subject. "You do know why I have summoned you, yes?"
"Because of the failed inheritance." I straighten up as the mood turns serious.
"Indeed. As things stand, although you still qualify as a high-class devil, the demonic power that you have built up arduously over the past few years has all but dissipated. In fact, I don't think you can even utilize the pieces even if you tried to."
"Because of this, I'm going to refrain from giving you your Evil Pieces, for now at least."
Ouch. That's harsh even if it's true. Lady Phenex seems to agree as she shoots my father a dirty look.
They seem to be waiting for my response as they look at me. "Okay." I nod. Although Riser would be livid, a peerage isn't exactly high on my list of priorities at the moment, so I'm just going to roll with it. It's not like I can't request the pieces after some level-ups.
There's a surprised look on both their faces as my father repeats after me. "Okay?"
"Okay." I affirm.
I can tell that they were expecting a tantrum from the way they're looking at me. Hopefully, I can get around to fixing my reputation around the household. "Very well." With that, he stands up and makes his way out of the study while talking in an amused tone. "Your aunt wishes to speak to you about a certain matter."
As I turn towards the couch, I mentally face-palm at Riser for not ever realizing how overpowered his aunt is, overpowered and hot, of course.
"Rachel." I regard her as I sit on the couch next to her. Now that I'm up close I can get a good look at her, she definitely doesn't lose out to Mia in terms of looks, with her light blonde hair flowing down her back, and her pouty lips.
I put aside my lustful thoughts for now, and wait for her to speak.
"Riser," she starts, in a casual tone. "I've been speaking to Venelana and Zeoticus Gremory, their daughter will be returning to the underworld for summer vacation in one month. They wish to meet their future son-in-law at that time."
"I see." Riser has been engaged to Rias Gremory since she was announced as the Gremory heiress, I suppose it makes sense that their first meeting takes place around now. Although, I'm pretty sure Rias will be dead set on hating me no matter how I behave at our first meeting. Because of that, I don't care much for this right now, the only thing on my mind is to start spamming dungeons so I can raise my personal power.
Rachel has a somewhat incredulous look on her face as she hears my brief reply. "What happened to your infatuation with the Gremory girl?"
Infatuation? I think Riser was just horny but sure.
"Hm. Well, you're prettier than she is, so I guess I've gotten over it."
She stares at me for a second before bursting into laughter. "Oh, really?" she asks when she's finished laughing.
"Yep, your laughing face is pretty too. I'm smitten."
+10 Affection with Rachel Phenex
She punches me lightly on the shoulder. "You must have hit your head too hard, Riser," she says with a chuckle. "Smooth player, aren't you?"
"Anyway," She continues. "I'll be accompanying you to the Gremory Castle in one months' time. Now get out of here."
I give her a smile and wave as I walk out of the room. "Later, Rachel."
This new family of mine seems to consist of genuine people from my brief interactions with them. I wouldn't mind considering them my actual family, given time.
As I walk back to my room in order to prepare, I hear a system prompt go off.
Quest assigned
Objective: Reach level 100 within 1 month
Reward: Skill: +? Affection with ??, +20 Affection with Rachel Phenex, +20 Affection with Ravel Phenex
Bonus objective: Reach level 50 within 1 week
Bonus Reward: Complete Eromancy Spellbook
Penalty: -10 Affection with Rachel Phenex, -10 Affection with Ravel Phenex, -? Affection with ??
I've never heard of eromancy before, but consider me intrigued.
Now that I have a grasp on my situation, I'm going to make the most out of my second chance at life. There's no reason I can't become the strongest with the system and Mia assisting me.
But first, I need to grind some dungeons.
***
I went back and changed some stuff, mainly nerfing the mc's stat bonus and changing the focus of this chapter.
Hope no one minds :P
