Jasmine remembered the lesson immediately. Mental corruption below twenty percent was still considered manageable for a Sentinel without immediate guiding assistance.
It really tastes like an apple. So the tongue was necessary for the flavor to come through.
Jasmine nodded slightly as she stared at Oleander’s lips, which were now red enough to resemble fruit themselves.
Oleander was still breathing heavily, his brow furrowed as the dizziness in his head slowly eased. When he finally looked up at Jasmine on his lap, his gaze landed on her swollen lips.
Her lips were still slightly parted as she absentmindedly pressed them together, as though trying to understand the lingering taste.
Then realization hit him.
His entire body stiffened.
The next second, Oleander pushed Jasmine away.
He hadn’t meant to use that much force. Jasmine stumbled backward, nearly pitching face-first onto the floor before her reflexes kicked in. She caught herself with both hands and ended up in an awkward push-up position.
Oleander immediately reached his hand to help her. "Are you—"
But Jasmine was already standing.
She straightened her clothes and looked at him with her usual composed expression, although the slight crease between her brows suggested she wasn’t particularly pleased about being shoved from his lap like he’d just discovered a grenade sitting there.
Oleander slowly withdrew his hand. He cleared his throat, adjusted his glasses, and sat straighter in the chair as though restoring his composure could somehow erase what had just happened.
"What did you do?" he asked.
Professor Hatthon stepped closer, his eyes practically shining with curiosity.
"Did you really enter his spiritual realm through a kiss?"
Everyone in the room turned toward Jasmine.
They were all waiting for an explanation.
If a Guide and Sentinel had a high enough rank and compatibility, even something as simple as touching hands could allow the Guide to enter the Sentinel’s spiritual realm.
A kiss was simply one of the more intimate methods couples usually did.
Jasmine cleared her throat.
"That’s... part of my S-Rank mental purification ability." She paused. "...Maybe."
Her uncertain answer somehow still sounded smug.
She quickly pushed the lingering strangeness of the kiss aside. She wasn’t sure whether she should be curious about it or uncomfortable, and she didn’t have time to figure that out now.
Instead, Jasmine picked up one of the prepared plates.
She added a little pepper to the mashed potatoes, sprinkled coriander over the shredded chicken and her carefully made cottage cheese, then carried the plate toward Oleander.
"Here. Try it."
Oleander stared at the plate.
Then at Jasmine.
He accepted it, but instead of eating, he placed it on the table beside him.
How was he supposed to eat right now?
His mind was still stuck on the strange sensation of their kiss, and his body had yet to recover from the sudden surge of warmth that had followed it.
If he was going to eat something, it certainly was not some shredded chicken.
"I’ll eat it later in the dorm," he said. "I’ve lost my appetite."
Jasmine pursed her lips to one side. No notification appeared. No additional Guide Resonance. Fine.
The points would probably come after he actually ate the food.
But when Jasmine looked at him more carefully, she noticed the pallor beneath his flushed cheeks and the sweat running along his temple.
He still didn’t look well.
"Are you sure you’re okay? Eat it now. If it’s not enough, I’ll make more."
Her insistence came from experience. Soldiers who had just returned from a mission often ate like they hadn’t seen food in weeks. Their bodies burned through enormous amounts of energy, and Jasmine had never seen an exhausted soldier refuse a proper meal unless something was seriously wrong.
Oleander lowered his head. His ears had turned slightly red.
"It’s fine. I’ll eat later."
"Sure. Okay." Jasmine nodded. "Just make sure you eat it."
She agreed, but her gaze lingered on his face.
The redness was getting worse.
Why is his face red?
Jasmine’s eyes widened slightly.
Does he have a fever?
Her gaze drifted toward his lips.
The memory of the kiss immediately returned.
Is that a side effect of the Divine Kiss?
She quickly looked away.
She’d already told herself that the kiss was nothing special. Just another function of the Chef God’s ridiculous blessing.
Yet the faint apple taste was still lingering on her tongue.
Jasmine frowned. She really needed to ask the system about this later.
Because if the Divine Kiss had some kind of side effect, she should prepare herself better.
All the professors were still standing there with their mouths half open, apparently having forgotten why they’d gathered in the first place.
They had come to observe whether Oleander’s mental energy would increase after eating Jasmine’s food.
Instead, they had just watched an E-Rank Guide enter an S-Rank Sentinel’s spiritual realm through a kiss.
Robbin seemed to be the only one who remembered that they were supposed to be collecting data.
Still unable to believe what he’d witnessed, he quickly raised the scanner and aimed it at Jasmine. His fingers trembled slightly as he checked the results.
"Look at this..." His voice rose in disbelief. "Her mental energy hasn’t dropped at all, and her mental purification level hasn’t dropped either."
He turned the scanner toward the others.
The display showed:
Jasmine Trunken — E-Rank Guide
Mental Energy: 9,800/10,000
Mental Purification: 100%
"How could this be?" one of the professors murmured.
No one answered. They were all staring at the numbers as if the scanner had suddenly developed a sense of humor.
Ding.
Beep. Beep.
Jasmine’s BeepAir chimed.
She immediately looked down.
Syncing: 100%
Compatibility function unlocked.
Her eyes brightened.
"The only possible explanation is their compatibility," the young female professor said slowly.
"No way... That can’t be."
The professors exchanged serious looks, their attention shifting between Jasmine and Oleander.
Oleander, meanwhile, was beginning to feel some of his strength returning. The dizziness in his head had eased, and the warmth spreading through his body told him that his mental energy was recovering.
He looked at Jasmine.
"Come here."