“Twenty years is not that long! Hey, how about we go out when we see each other again?” Abel said in the most relaxed way that he knew how.

Just like Loraine, Abel was very sad that they had to part ways for twenty years. Yet, it was not in his place to make decisions for the elves. The only thing he could do was to persuade Loraine to finish her practice as early as she could. That way, she might just get out of her training room a lot earlier.

“But Abel, you’re always in trouble, I’m worried about you, “Loraine said softly.

Abel’s face blushed when he heard Loraine saying that him. He wanted to pretend that he didn’t know, but Grand Duke Edwina and Duke Albert were looking at them with the biggest grins ever.

Abel said as he quickly reached for his portal bag, “You are worried? What, I thought you know how strong I am! Come on, if I do get in trouble, I know my way out!”

Abel continued as he handed his gifts, “I didn’t think that you’d be locked for twenty years. Here, I don’t think that these will be enough, but, you know, take them.”

There were about fifty bottles of elven perfume, most of them flashing in blue light arcs of light. As Loraine opened one out of curiosity, an intoxicating aroma spread out around him.

For a second there, even Grand Duke Edwina and Carrie lost their consciousness. The formula for Abel’s elven perfume was about the most basic one there was. Yet, after the ingredients were synthesized by the Horadric Cube, the resulting product became far better than most bottles that were available. Actually, Abel’s elven perfume might not be the best one there was, but it definitely was the most unique one. Instead of enjoying its smell with your nose, you could literally savor it with your own soul.

Carrie glanced at Loraine. She didn’t say any word, but her hand was reaching out towards her. Despite being a little bit reluctant, Loraine handed the elven perfume to her older sister.

Carrie placed the elven perfume in front of her nose, sniffed gently, and closed her eyes for a while. “Mother,” she called out to Grand Duke Edwina with a calm look on her face, “This elven perfume can purify souls. It’s not very effective, but I know that it can.”

To elves, especially high-level druids, having a pure soul meant being able to communicate better with animals and plants. The higher the level of a druid, the purer the soul must be. Thus, items such as Abel’s elven potion were extremely precious for them.

“Oh?” Grand Duke Edwina lifted her chin for a bit. She reached out her hand, and the bottle of the elven perfume flew into her hand.

Abel was almost terrified to see that. Grand Duke Edwina did not cast any spells to do that. She was grabbing the potion with her power of the Will, almost as if it had a physical form. When wizards used their power of the Will for an attack, it’s usually a, well, psychic attack. That being said, having the power of using your power of the Will for a physical attack was nothing short of insanity.

“Most impressive! This elven perfume can purify souls! Not only that, but it also works on souls of any level!” Grand Duke Edwina applauded, then threw a smile towards Loraine, “Um, Loraine, since there are so many bottles here, how about you keep ten of them and give the rest of them to your mother?”

Abel didn’t expect that his elven perfume would be this popular. Truth be told, he was just trying to make something nice for Loraine.

Despite how unwilling Loraine was to give out her potions, she still nodded her head to her mother. Abel jumped in as he saw this, “Your excellency, I’m the one who made these potions. If you want some as well, please, I’ll be perfectly happy to brew some more for you.”

Abel made his stance clear. As so, Grand Duke Edwina smiled back to Loraine, “If Abel said so, sure. You should keep these elven perfumes to yourself then, Loraine, but remember, don’t carry the bottles in a box. Hide the bottles on yourself. Otherwise, those seniors might just take them away.”

Loraine wasn’t stopping there. As she stared at the bottle in Carrie’s hand, Carrie just put in her own portal bag. “It’s mine now, Loraine!” she said in a very succinct voice.

Abel held back the smile as he looked at these sisters. Carrie’s personality was very different from Loraine’s. Loraine’s personality was passive and easy-going, but Carrie’s a more independent think and, well, hard to get along with.

“Here, Loraine,” Abel took out some more bottles, “have some ration potions. I made them just a while ago. I’ve got apple flavor. These are grape-flavored. These are orange-flavored.”

As Loraine saw the many, many gifts Abel had for her, she felt like her heart was melting from happiness. She said softly to Abel, “Thank you so much, Abel, but I can’t take them all away with me. Don’t you need some ration potion for yourself, too?”

Abel replied, “I can make more for myself if I want. Just take these. You’ll need them when you’re being locked up in a cave. Besides, even if you can’t carry them….”

Abel took out a crystal ball from his pocket, “This is a portal ball. It’s perfect for you. You don’t need any mana to use it. Just use your power of the Will, and it will be activated.”

Abel had no idea how valuable his portal ball was. In truth, it was not something that was naturally produced on the Holy Continent. It was actually an object rewarded by the great evil being when the duergars did their worship whilst sacrificing their own kind. Like the kong kong spiritual beast bag, it was extremely valuable because it did not require any mana to be used.

“Loraine,” Abel sighed as he watched Loraine putting her items inside the portal ball, “I wanted to give you a surprise. I didn’t think that it’s going to be our parting gift.”

“Don’t worry, Abel. The lifespan of a normal elf is 600 years. I can sign a life contract with you, and that’s going to give you half of my lifespan.”

“I’ll miss you, Abel. I’ll miss you every day. We’ll be together for 300 hundred years, so 20 years is actually short….” Loraine blushed as she glanced towards her parents, who were too busy looking at the elven perfumes in their hands.

“Promise me, Loraine. Don’t you ever do something stupid like that,” Abel said in a firm, yet gentle voice, “Live as well as you can, and I’ll train as hard as I can. Since I am a rank three wizard now, my lifespan is already at about 180 years. In the future, I’m going to be stronger, and that’s going to make me live longer.”

“Oh, sorry. I did the math wrong. Since you can live up to 180 years old now, and I can for 600 years if I divide by two…”

Abel interrupted Loraine before she finished speaking, “When I get stronger in the future, I’ll also live a lot longer. Do you understand that, Loraine? After twenty years, we’ll spend every day together. The important thing for you to do now is to train yourself properly. I’ll always protect you, Loraine, but you must be able to protect yourself as well.”

The dinner that night felt very sad. As Grand Duke Edwina told Abel to stay, Carrie took Loraine out of the house. It’s going to be a while before Abel could see Loraine again.

Watching as the tears came out of Loraine’s eyes, Abel wondered if he should ever bring her back home at all. As the two had their final look at each other, Abel opened his mouth as though to say something.

“I’ll come to visit you.” Abel didn’t actually say it out, but that looked like what he was trying to say, judging from the shapes that his mouth was making.

“Abel, I know what you have done in the human world. While I will let you keep your identity as an elf in Angstrom City, you will be allowed to live here for some time being. Actually, live here for a while. I need to know more about my future son-in-law.”

Grand Duke Edwina’s words made it difficult for Abel to refuse.

According to Abel’s original plan, he wanted to leave Angstorm City and continued his life as a mercenary. Either that, he could also be an adventurer that trains himself during his journey. But since Grand Duke Edwina said it, he might just be an elf for the time being.

Living in Angstorm City wasn’t too bad. In fact, Abel could learn a lot of new things here. Besides, since this entire place was governed by Grand Duke Edwina, safety wouldn’t be a problem at all. Even if the Wizard Union knew that he was here, no one dared to come here to kill him.