She had been worried Xi wouldn’t understand, but after just a short while, the piece of animal hide in his hands was starting to look more and more like the shoe upper she had imagined.
An Jin quickly handed him two thin wooden planks that were similar in shape, with their corners smoothed and holes punched along the edges to serve as soles.
Xi deftly stitched the two parts together.
Now, it really looked like a pair of hide shoes.
An Jin was overjoyed. She squatted on the bank, tilting her little face up to look at the water’s surface.
Under the gentle sunlight, the breathtakingly beautiful Merfolk had his head lowered. Long, blue hair flowed like seaweed over an upper body that seemed carved from jade. His waist was as supple as water, and his lower half was a long, beautiful, finned tail. Its scales glimmered like ice on an azure sea—a dazzling, dreamlike sight.
The Merfolk’s exquisitely beautiful profile was reflected in her eyes, like a peerless ink wash painting submerged in water, one you couldn’t help but drown in.
A blush crept across his fair, almost translucent face, warmed by the sun.
The little female’s completely undisguised gaze made Xi both nervous and secretly delighted. The movements of his hands unconsciously quickened.
Yet he didn’t dare to look back. His blue, vertical pupils constricted slightly, afraid of shattering this beautiful, tranquil moment.
His blue ear-fins softened, drooping slightly, and a blush slowly spread to their tips...
[DING—Affection from Random Character (Merfolk · Xi) +5. Total Affection value currently unknown.]
[Special Reward: Gold Coins +5, (Remaining +15)]
’Huh?’
’+5 Affection?’
’What did I even do?’
Before An Jin could question whether the system’s calculations were wrong, a barrage of system notifications exploded in her mind—
[DING—Affection from Random Character (Xi) +3. Total Affection value currently unknown.]
[DING—Affection from Random Character (Xi) +1. Total Affection value currently unknown.]
[DING—Affection from Random Character (Xi) +2. Total Affection value currently unknown.]
[DING, DING, DING...]
An Jin: "???"
’System, didn’t I choose farming mode? What is going on?’
’This is too weird.’
An Jin didn’t dare look at Xi anymore, afraid that if she stared any longer, his affection would shoot straight up to 100.
After a moment, Mirror Mirror’s voice chimed in. [Master, I’ve checked, and there’s nothing wrong with the system~]
"Are you trying to fool me?"
An Jin silently retorted in her mind, ’You can’t even identify Xi’s total affection value, and you’re telling me there’s nothing wrong?’
[Master, that’s not related to this~]
[It’s because when you chose your growth path, you picked ① Construction Path, so you can’t see the affection values of random characters.]
[If you want to see it, the only way is to accumulate their affection to a certain level through your interactions, and then it will be revealed~]
After explaining, Mirror Mirror let out a small sigh, sounding extremely regretful. [If you had chosen the ② Conquest Path back then, Master, this wouldn’t be happening...]
Xi was nearly finished with his work. As he made the final stitch, he let out a sigh of relief and glanced toward the shore out of the corner of his eye.
He saw the little female squatting there with a troubled expression, muttering neurotically to herself. One moment she looked utterly defeated, the next, completely shocked...
’She looks a little silly.’
He couldn’t help but chuckle.
After confirming that the little female wasn’t looking at him, Xi felt a brief pang of disappointment, but his spirits quickly lifted again.
This was the perfect chance to secretly carry out the plan he’d been devising for a while and give An Jin a little surprise.