The First Awakening of Power

"What, what are you doing?" Natasha asked, her voice laced with shyness and trepidation.

Beneath her dark blue bangs, her face was flushed with an unprecedented redness, and even the tips of her ears felt as if they were burning with fever.

Jing Yan froze for a moment, double-checking his own hands.

Realizing that what he had been gripping was indeed her chest, he finally pulled his hand away.

He tucked it behind his back.

At this moment, a complex look flickered within Natasha's berry-red, gemstone-like eyes.

"Sister Natasha, here is the bandage." Jing Yan moved quickly, snatching the bandage from the shelf nearby and handing it over.

"You... alright." Natasha paused, but she took the bandage nonetheless.

Then, just as she turned her head to continue treating the patient she had been tending to, she suddenly stiffened her face, deliberately putting on a fierce expression. Lowering her voice, she leaned close to Jing Yan and whispered a stern threat: "You just wait."

With that, she turned back around and resumed her work on the patient.

Standing behind her, Jing Yan stuck out his tongue, a subtle, imperceptible smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

He knew that Natasha wasn't actually angry with him.

As the leader of the Wildfire organization, Natasha usually despised those who bullied the weak or acted with lecherous audacity.

If she had truly loathed him, she would have slapped him without a second thought, but she hadn't done so.

This meant that deep down, even after such an intimate encounter, she didn't feel a profound sense of disgust toward him.

Seeing the deepening shyness in her expression and noting that she had only put on the airs of a senior rather than truly losing her temper, Jing Yan was certain that she held feelings for him—feelings that likely leaned toward romantic interest.

It wasn't merely the way a sister looked at a younger brother.

Thinking of this, Jing Yan felt a surge of pleasure.

Naturally, he was quite fond of this voluptuous, fiery older sister as well.

His actions just now had not only brought him closer to Natasha by a stroke of luck, but they had also bolstered his divine power.

In other words, from the sign-in mission he had just completed, Jing Yan had deduced a pattern: it was possible that by further "conquering" other women, he could continue to elevate his power as the Aeon of Lust.

Logically speaking, the divine power he had gained from the sign-in reward, if fully unleashed, would be enough to manipulate the desires of the entire city—a force that was by no means insignificant.

Jing Yan now wanted to test just how much of a direct impact this power had on people.

He closed his eyes and began to experience his own strength.

Since transmigrating, he had been in a state of total powerlessness, and until now, he had never truly utilized his abilities.

He had previously worried that using his power might alert the Aeon of Elation, Aha, but he was less concerned now.

The planet Jarilo-VI, where he currently resided, was located in an incredibly remote region.

Especially in the Underworld of Belobog; the only person here with any connection to the Aeon of Elation, Aha, was the merchant Sampo Koski.

Therefore, as long as he avoided the man's gaze, he shouldn't be noticed by Aha.

Otherwise, there would be no point in living.

Or, to put it another way, the followers of the rival paths of The Hunt and The Abundance would have no place to exist at all.

Clearly, that was not the case.

The people on the Xianzhou Luofu, who followed The Hunt, allowed an organization like the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus to exist without wiping them out entirely.

This proved one thing.

The followers of weak, hostile factions were likely beneath the notice of the Aeons.

Followers of an Aeon might also choose not to wage war against those of a rival faction based on their own subjective will.

Even if he were discovered now, he wouldn't see the Aeon Aha descending to destroy the universe, nor would he see an Emanator-level existence tearing through the galaxy, or some high-ranking powerhouse blowing up the planet.

This was because the blessings bestowed by Aeons upon the vast majority of their followers were "hands-off" in nature.

They did not take over or exert total control.

Thus, Jing Yan estimated that only when his own strength reached a certain level would he be targeted by more powerful entities of the same caliber.

Of course, one could not rule out another possibility: that an Aeon in human form happened to be in his immediate vicinity.

Such cases did exist.

For instance, the Aeon of Elation, Aha, had once disguised himself as a mortal and boarded the Astral Express of the Aeon of The Trailblaze, Akivili, becoming a Nameless just to find an opportunity to blow up the train for a laugh.

And he had actually succeeded.

If there really were an Aeon walking around in a human vessel nearby, and it happened to be his nemesis, the Aeon of Elation, Aha, then his luck would truly be unparalleled!

If he died, he would have no one to blame but himself.

But Jing Yan did not intend to live as a submissive mortal, never using his divine power, just because of a one-in-a-trillion chance.

So, what he could do now was attempt to channel his divine power.

Within his mind.

A white space appeared before his eyes, containing a colossal hall.

Within the hall stood rows of massive white statues.

The statues were lined up on both sides.

Among them were Aphrodite from the Western myths of his past life, the Goddess of the Luo River, Mi Fei, from the Eastern myths of his past life, the god of desire from the land of curry and son of Brahma, Kama, and the deity Hathor from the land of pyramids...

Statue after statue stood on either side, but the one at the very back was the most immense, reaching a full hundred meters in height.

Within this world of his eyes, Jing Yan felt like a tiny insect.

Yet, the image of this statue was his own likeness.

In an instant, Jing Yan understood something.

Just as he had known, paths with overlapping concepts would devour one another; a powerful god would consume and assimilate a weaker one.

"Harmony" had devoured "Order."

Furthermore, there would be new wars or acts of consumption between Aeons.

For instance, "Elation" Aha wanted to devour him.

However...

His own Path seemed to be somewhat different.

He might be able to allow other gods of similar paths to exist, and even draw power from them.

Of course, it was also possible that he had already assimilated other "Lust" Aeons; he did not understand it himself.

While standing in deep thought before his own giant statue, Jing Yan discovered something.

He seemed to have found a way to use his own power!

At that moment, he opened his eyes.

He returned to reality.

Yet, within his black pupils, a strange color suddenly flared.

It was a faint, iridescent hue.

As his gaze fixed upon it, a wounded person standing ahead with an injured arm suddenly stood up.

The divine power had taken effect!