Abel decided to leave several hundreds of training potions to Loka. It was about enough to last one year for him and his black-armored elves. Of course, it was up to Loka himself to decide when he should distribute them.

As for the rest, Abel just didn’t bother too much. There were about two hundred elven gardeners that were looking after the fruit grove. Other than that, there were about fifty servants that were responsible for looking after the palace. Loka and the black-armored elves were taking care of all the security work. Since the whole place was built to be a fort, it would be extremely difficult to infiltrate inside.

In case of emergency, the Orwell spirit could always call for help from the tower spirit Fiora. Also, given the close proximity to Angstrom City, there was virtually no problem when it came to the safety of this location.

Abel left elves without telling anyone. Once he was back at the Abel Magic Tower, he appeared where the large-sized teleportation circle was.

Bartoli was there to greet him, “You’re back, Master.”

Abel asked, “Is the irrigation system ready?”

Bartoli explained in detail, “About two weeks ago. The necessary parts were sent to Harry Castle from the three castle domains. I’ve been in charge of all the assembly work this whole time.”

“As you have. Please, continue.”

“Master, it will take about half a month to get all of them complete. Some of the minor parts are installed, and once the workers become more familiar with the job, they’ll become faster as they go.”

Abel asked something else, “How are the griffin knights doing? Did any of them show signs of enhancement?”

“No, Master,” Bartoli replied, “None of them did. Number 24 promised that he would in five years, whereas the other three reported that they might take more time than that.”

Abel shook his head, “That’s a bit slow. No, actually, that’s way too slow.”

Given what’s going on in the world right now, there would probably be a lot of crises happening within the next decade or so. In other words, this was exactly when the service of knights was crucial. If the duchy of Carmel could always produce a stable amount of food, it was almost guaranteed that its neighbors would start to look for ways to take advantage of it.

Abel knew how limited his power was. He could produce as much as he wanted in the three castles he owned, but the output would definitely not feed the entire human world. In that case, he had to choose to save himself first before saving others. He needed some ways to protect himself when he was threatened. He couldn’t be bullied into giving all he had to save the lives of others.

Military might was what he needed. Speaking of which, the dragon blood wall-breaking potion was just about to be finished. It’d be the perfect tool for promoting the knight commanders to become head commanders. Soon, he’d be using it on several knights that were under his service.

Bartoli reminded Abel, “Master, there aren’t enough griffin knights. Right now, they each have to do six-hour shifts between switching to the next one, and it’s was putting on a lot of toll on their training routine.”

Abel shook his head, “Well, we got the griffin knights because someone was generous enough to give them to us. As for the griffin, I do have ways to tune their physical conditions, but it’s not like I can just create a new griffin out of nowhere.”

Bartoli lowered her head in silence when she heard this. She wasn’t born in the Holy Continent, after all. She could try to provide ideas, but she didn’t have ways of actually solving the problem.

Abel asked again, “How are the mount wolves?”

Bartoli replied, “As you’ve requested, Master, Marcy, the family trainer, has been in charge of nurturing all several tens of mount wolves. As of now, five mount wolves are already pregnant. Soon, the family will have its first squad of mount wolf knights.”

Abel nodded his head in approval, “I’ll raise Marcy’s salary. As for the reward for his work, I’ll trust that you’ll be generous about it.”

“Yes, Master,” Bartoli bowed, then proceeded to leave as Abel waved her out.

“Flora,” Abel spoke as he looked towards the ceiling, “Send me to Harry Castle.”

Once Abel was out of Harry Castle’s hallroom, he saw Lord Marshal busy training a few knights. When the two saw each other, they both stopped what they were doing and had a chat.

Lord Marshal said with a smile, “You got anything for me, Abel?”

“Very sharp, Uncle Marshall,” Abel replied with a smile, “Let’s find a place to sit and chat.”

The two quickly made their way into the castle hallroom. As soon as they sat, the servant brought a cup of juice and a coffee cup. The juice was for Abel. Everyone knew how much he liked juice.

Abel asked with concern, “Well, I want to talk to you about your knight’s training.”

Lord Marshal laughed as soon as he heard, “Pfft, haha! Come on, Abel! You’ve been helping this old man too much already. I thought I was going to die as an intermediate knight, but now, with the help of your supplements, I actually think that I can become a knight’s commander.”

Lord Marshall was very pleased with his current condition. Under the influence of the potions Abel gave, his strength had been on a steady spike for a while. Also, since the “full-recovery potion” reverted the speed of his aging, he went from an average-talent knight to a man full of promises. It was more than what he could ever ask for.

Not Abel, though. He had more plans for his foster faster.

Abel shook his head, “Uncle Marshall, I’m afraid to say this, but my goal is for you to become a head knight’s commander.”

It all had to do with the blood of the beastly god. Now that Abel’s got it, he wanted to make sure that he shared its power with his family. If Lord Marshall had the power to drink it, there was more time to persuade him to prolong his life.

Lord Marshall said with a sigh, “You know, Abel, I do like bragging a lot, but I know where I stand in terms of my talent. When I was young, I tried everything I could to become better than I was, but all I got was an intermediate knight.”

Abel went to whisper to him, “About that, Uncle Marshall, I, uh, I have the blood of the beastly god. You can take some if you want.”

“Wait, no,” Lord Marshall replied rather calmly, “It’s not going to work on me. I’ve made up my mind already. I’m not going to become a knight’s head commander.”

Abel persisted, “Come on, Uncle Marshall! If you can become a knight’s commander, I’ll have ways to promote you to become a knight’s head commander.”

If one bottle of the “dragon blood wall-breaking potion” wouldn’t work, Abel would try two. If two didn’t work, he would try three. If that still didn’t work, he might just fuse a dark-quality potion for Uncle Marshall only.

But no, the man refused.

Lord Marshall shook his head, “I don’t need to live longer at this point. Ever since you came to Harry Castle, Abel, things have been changed so much. I’ve had much more than what I could ever ask for. Right now, I’m just waiting. When the day comes, I’ll be buried with my wife and watch Harry Castle from our graves.”

Abel was almost begging at this point, “I want you to be alive, Uncle Marshall! I want you to see me getting married. I want you to see the birth of my child, and when my child grows up, I want you to be there to teach him the ways of the Harry family.”

Lord Marshall tapped Abel on the shoulder, “Let’s leave it all to nature, then. When the time comes, this old man will embrace whatever that he’s given.”

Abel respected Lord Marshall’s choice, but at the same time, he decided to set up another goal inside his mind. There weren’t a lot of people in the world that he could refer to as a family. If there was any way that he could make Lord Marshall live longer, or if there was any way that he could help him want to live longer, he would just go ahead and do that.

As for Lord Bennett, he wasn’t that worried at all. Head Commander Hoover was already there to be his personal instructor. Soon, it’s almost guaranteed that his biological father would become at least a knight’s commander.

With that in mind, the next step would be to successfully brew the dragon blood wall-breaking potion.