Natasha's Shyness

Jing Yan, Seele, and the others had now made it safely back to Natasha's clinic.

At the clinic entrance.

Seeing everyone return unharmed, Natasha smiled with relief. She also looked at Jing Yan with a little more admiration.

[Natasha's affection increased by 10%. Current affection: 75%]

[At 90% affection, the target is considered successfully wooed!]

Oleg, the public face of the Underworld Fire organization, stood nearby. When he saw them, the corner of his mouth lifted into a slight smile. He noticed the bandage wrapped around Seele's arm.

The neatly wrapped bandage showed that Jing Yan had arrived just in time during the recent incident.

If he had been a moment later, he might have found Seele gravely wounded.

They might not only have failed to rescue Hook, but could have lost Seele too. That would have been a terrible trade.

Of course, Jing Yan paid little attention to the admiring looks from those around him.

Seeing the system panel's notification, Jing Yan paused.

He hadn't expected the system's notifications to be so specific—even giving him the exact affection percentage. Still, that was a good thing.

He also couldn't help thinking about the strategy Seele had told him about on the way back: how to pursue Natasha.

Seele's suggested approach was to invite Natasha to take part in activities she hadn't tried before and treat them as dates.

According to Seele, Natasha was a workaholic who devoted herself entirely to the people. She was either treating patients or practicing how to treat them.

Even in her free time, Natasha would sew up teddy bears to simulate stitching wounds and hone her clinical skills. That showed how seriously she took her work. The rest of the time, she usually spent making and gathering medicine.

So, according to Seele, Natasha was under a lot of pressure and had little time to relax. If Jing Yan could find a chance to invite her out and do something fun she wouldn't normally try, she would probably grow fonder of him.

Jing Yan thought he could take about half of what Seele had said to heart.

Natasha really was a workaholic, but she wouldn't agree to a straightforward date.

She wouldn't allow herself to have any spare time to waste, but...

Jing Yan suddenly understood.

He turned to Natasha and said, "Natasha, Nat, I've got something fun here. Want to—"

"Go away, go away, go away." Natasha's pretty face immediately took on an annoyed look.

"Since you helped save someone, I'll let you take a breather today, but..."

"Hey, where did you get that thing in your hand?"

Jing Yan was holding a brightly colored stone.

"I just picked it up on the way," Jing Yan said casually.

Natasha frowned at that.

"Which way?"

"The Suburban Snowfield?" Jing Yan added.

"The snowfield?" That only made Natasha more puzzled.

"How come I've never seen one there before?" she asked, still unconvinced.

"I don't know. Maybe something changed up there. There could even be outsiders around now."

Natasha furrowed her brow and thought for a moment, but didn't answer right away.

"Has that rascal Sampo been hanging around with you lately? Did he sneak you up there for a look?"

Natasha asked.

"No," Jing Yan said, but he didn't sound very certain. It seemed as though he was hiding something.

"Then hand it over and let me examine it." Natasha held out her hand.

She clearly didn't believe what Jing Yan had just told her.

"Can't. What if it's some kind of strange relic..." Jing Yan's reaction left Natasha rather confused.

Usually, Jing Yan was very obedient and rarely had any selfish motives, so Natasha couldn't understand why he was acting this way.

"A strange relic... Are you sure it isn't a fragment of a Fragmentum Creature? If it is, carrying it around for a long time could harm your health," Natasha said earnestly.

"A fragment of a Fragmentum Creature? Since when are Fragmentum Monsters this pretty? You're overthinking it, Nat. I'm perfectly healthy—in fact, I feel even better than before."

"I can give it to you, but you have to agree to one condition, Nat. Once you've finished treating the patients, come out for a stroll with me?"

"Forget it. I'd rather use that time to hand out some cream stew to the children."

Hearing Natasha's answer, Jing Yan fell silent.

He'd expected as much, but he hadn't thought that even showing her something strange wouldn't be enough to lure the curious Natasha in.

As far as Jing Yan knew, Natasha's lifelong goal was to shield people from the cold brought by the blizzards, so Belobog wouldn't face extinction once its Geomarrow Ore veins ran dry.

So whenever she came across anything unusual, she wanted to grind it up, add it to her formulas, and see if it had any special effects.

That was why, to cater to her interests, Jing Yan had used one of his Aeon authorities to create a special item.

It was like how Nanook, the Aeon of Destruction, created the calamity-bringing Stellaron.

Or Fuli, the Aeon of Remembrance, who created the Garden of Recollection.

Or the abominations created by Yaoshi, the Abundance.

As the Aeon of Eros, Jing Yan had tried using his power to strengthen himself and infuse objects with it. Then he'd tried using it to alter objects.

And he'd succeeded.

He called his creation an "Emotion Stone." Just as the name suggested, he'd infused the stone with emotional power, so that anyone who picked it up and examined it would be affected by that power.

The emotion Jing Yan had imbued in the stone was "joy"—the power of happiness.

That way, he could use an object to wield his divine power.

At first glance, this might seem unnecessary, but Jing Yan thought it was essential. With the stone in his hand, he could confirm one thing.

That was...

The system's criteria.

If directly using divine power to influence someone's judgment didn't count as wooing them, would it count if they willingly accepted an object and were affected by it?

If that didn't count either, he'd really have to change tack and bone up on a few books like How to Become a Love Saint before trying to woo girls.

"There are other doctors at the clinic, Nat. You don't have to push yourself so hard," Jing Yan continued, trying to persuade her.

"It's no trouble, no trouble. It's what I'm supposed to do," Nat insisted.

She turned her head slightly away, her expression seemingly unchanged.

Even so, Jing Yan keenly noticed something off about her expression: the skin on her earlobes had turned a little red.

That color didn't match the fair skin of her face, which was uncovered since she wasn't wearing her mask. It was enough to show that Natasha wasn't refusing him solely because she wanted to help the people of the Underworld. There was also a touch of shyness.

She'd probably realized he had ulterior motives?!