Chapter 14: She Was Burning Alive on the Inside and Looking Like a Sin on the Outside

"System, collect the reward."

The moment those words left her mouth, a dim ball of light appeared before instantly lighting up the entire room.

A crimson and orange flame took shape in the air, slowly condensing into a glowing teardrop that hovered right in front of her.

Natasha reached out and grabbed it with trembling hands, pressing it tightly against her chest as if she was afraid it would disappear the next second.

She looked down at the glowing teardrop and studied it closely. It felt kind of solid like jelly and gave off a warmth against her body, but she didn’t feel any actual heat from it.

Then a system window popped up.

[Phoenix’s Tear (Epic)]

[Description: A phoenix cries only once in its life, right before it dies. The tear holds the last of its flame, and that flame can heal almost anything.]

"It really is the real deal!" Natasha said with excitement since the look and description matched the information she had gathered about them.

[Do you wish to absorb it?]

"Huh, you can do that?" She was surprised by the system’s words. She got even more excited when she remembered how some main characters in novels could absorb everything instantly with their system’s help.

[Of course. I can offer some help so you don’t waste any resources during the process, but you still have to absorb it manually.]

"Is that so...?" Natasha was a bit disappointed and tossed those wishful thoughts out of her head.

She walked to the bed and sat cross-legged at the center while holding the teardrop. She closed her eyes and steadied her breathing before saying, "System, lend me a hand."

With that, wisps of golden aura emerged from the teardrop and wrapped around her body before slowly getting pulled in. The golden aura entered her mana circuits and started melting the broken circuits back together.

’Ugh..! Focus!’ Natasha nearly screamed from the pain but held it in and focused on guiding the golden aura.

Beads of sweat formed on her forehead.

She hadn’t felt any heat while holding it in her hands, but she sure as hell felt it now that it was inside her mana circuits.

’This is nothing compared to what I’ve been through! I have promises to keep. Fixing my circuits is only the beginning.’ She thought calmly, enduring the pain like it was nothing.

***

Meanwhile, Dante was watching the feed with interest. He was genuinely impressed by how well his master was handling the pain.

But he soon discovered a problem.

"Isn’t she sweating a little too much?" He noticed that her entire body was drenched in sweat and her nightgown was soaked through, clinging to every inch of her.

He could see the full outline of her body as the fabric stuck to her skin. He could even make out the vague shape of her nipples.

Gulp!

"Okay! That’s enough peeping!" Dante immediately shut the feed and slapped himself with his hands to get his thoughts straight.

He then opened the notification tab where a series of system messages were lined up.

[Natasha has successfully completed the chain mission and obtained an epic item, "Phoenix’s Tear."]

[Triggering 10x rewards.....]

[Congratulations! You have obtained Metamorphosis (Legendary)]

"Oh...?" Dante raised his eyebrows and instantly pulled up the description.

[Metamorphosis (Legendary)]

[Description: The complete reconstruction of the physical body. Strips the body down to its foundation and lets it rebuild the way it should have grown from the start. The body will be optimized for mana cultivation.]

"...Why does this sound so painful?" he said, shivering just from imagining it.

"Hey system, on a scale of 10, how painful is this compared to what my master is going through right now?" he asked with a bad feeling.

[Let me estimate it as quickly as possible!]

[Natasha’s pain rating: 10]

[And yours will be 100.]

"Holy shit!" Dante immediately sat up straight and his face went dark. "Why the hell is the pain 10x too? I didn’t sign up for this!"

He had only broken a few bones in his entire life, and Natasha had definitely been through way worse. Judging by how much the pain was getting to even her, he might actually die if his was 10x of that.

"System, you’ve got to have something for this, right?" he asked with a nervous smile, praying in his heart.

If there wasn’t, he was done for.

[Hehe]

"????"

"Motherfucker, why are you grinning?! My life is on the line!" Dante was completely dumbfounded.

[Worry not! You can disable the pain if you wish.]

"Of course I wish! Who wouldn’t, except a masochist?" Dante said with an annoyed face while breathing a sigh of relief on the inside.

"Now I’m definitely sure you were watching me have a meltdown this morning," he said, glaring at the system window.

[That is pure slander! I just made a mistake by sending the message incompletely.]

"Yeah, sure." He obviously didn’t believe a word of it. But he wasn’t too worried either.

From what he had seen so far, the system enjoyed messing with him but it wasn’t actually sadistic.

After making sure there was no real danger to his life, he checked the other notifications.

[Natasha’s favourability has increased by 10.]

[Current favourability – 34 (Interested)]

Seeing the jump in favourability, Dante was very satisfied.

His plan was to close the gap between the two of them both emotionally and physically. Acting drunk had let him get away with a lot, and getting her to open up about her past had definitely worked wonders.

"6 more points until the crush stage..." he said with a grin. "Now, on to the last one."

[You have touched Ryan’s mother inappropriately in many places and have become a special person in her heart.]

[You have obtained 2,000 villain points!]

"Why do you have to phrase it so weirdly? You’re making it sound like my master enjoys getting touched."

A speechless look appeared on his face as he read the message.

Shaking his head, he focused on the villain points and added with a smile, "Let’s see what I can get with 2,000 points."

[Villain Store opening....]

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Author’s Note: Sorry for these slow updates guys, it’s seriously demotivating to write when there is nothing wrong with the story but getting rejected twice for a contract and wasting 14 days because of this. I can’t even apply twice in a single upload.

That means i have to delete the book every time I get rejected. It’s VERY annoying.

Getting a contract is more random than a lottery. Idk what to do man.