Chapter 136
TL: Sarah
Ivan woke up from his unconscious state and vaguely saw two little babies crouching beside him, but in the blink of an eye, they disappeared.
“You’re awake.” A gentle voice came from the side and Ivan turned to look. He saw a figure against the backdrop of the sunset, half bent with long hair gently swaying at his side. There was a small smile on his handsome face.
Ivan looked at him intently and said nothing.
Shang Ke squatted down, “I’ve dealt with all your injuries but you’re seriously injured and need a good rest.”
“Thank you.” Ivan spoke with a hoarse voice. His eyes never strayed away from him.
Shang Ke said, “My name is Shang Ke. How about you?”
“Ivan.”
“Ivan, who are you? How did you get hurt? ” Shang Ke began the necessary interrogation.
“I’m an alchemist. I got hurt because a traitor offered a bounty on me for making oxygen spirit beads.” Ivan didn’t conceal anything and spoke plainly of his account. On this continent, any race could become slaves of the specters, but not the elves.
“What’s an oxygen spirit bead?”
“A high-powered oxygen storage device that can reduce the fighting capacity of the specters and weaken them.”
Shang Ke remembered that the specters were a very oxygen-hating race. Three-fifths of their bodies were made of metal so a high concentration of oxygen will make them oxidate, slowing their reactions.
However, ordinary oxygen concentration had little effect on them; otherwise, they wouldn’t dare approach the location of the elves.
“Can you show me the oxygen spirit bead you created?” Shang Ke was very interested in this kind of thing that could threaten the specters.
“I’m sorry, I don’t have any on me right now. I’ll show it to you when I get better.” Ivan touched his body and all his belongings were in the same place, showing no sign of being searched over.
“Well, I’ll mentally note that down. Are you hungry?” Shang Ke pointed to a stone table nearby. “There are fruits over there. You’re welcome to eat them.”
“Thank you.” Ivan watched Shang Ke leave before turning his attention to the fruits.
He struggled to sit up at first before he moved closer to the edge of the stone table, casually picking up a fruit and placing it in his mouth. He took a bite and immediately, a fruity scent filled his senses. The sweet juice slid down his throat, bringing an indescribable feeling of warmth and the pain in his body eased.
Ivan looked at the fruit in amazement. The shape of it was no different from that of ordinary fruits but the taste and quality were very different. Ivan raised his head and looked at the lush fruit trees not far away. The fruits on the branches were like pearls, round, smooth and full.
White fragrant fruits, red wild berries, purple grapes, green vegetables as well as the vines and flowers swaying in the breeze— they all formed an isolated haven. He remembered a month ago that this place was only just a wild forest full of overgrown weeds. But now that it was cleaned up by an elf, the place was beautiful, abundant and rich in life.
A gust of wind swept by, blowing petals all over the air and lifting a layer of the waves in the lake. Ivan looked at the beautiful scenery and felt as if his heart had been baptized. Suddenly, all of his previous troubles vanished into thin air, leaving only peace.
“Keke, are we going to shelter that human?” Bubble, the elf, drew close and asked.
“Mmm.” Shang Ke leaned against the window with Gray, looking at the solitary man under the dim light of the night.
“He looks very scary.” Bubbles used his fingers to stretch his eyes, making a fierce expression.
“Yes, it is very scary.” When Shang Ke helped him with his treatment earlier, he took off the leather mask on his face. As a result, he saw half of the man’s disfigured face. The left side seemed to be occupied by dozens of small black snakes, entangled and twisted, looking very horrible.
“So let’s not shelter him, okay?” Bubbles also squeezed into Shang Ke’s arms, voice full of expectations.
“Don’t worry. Let’s observe for a few days. If he’s a good man, we’ll keep him. If not, how about we drive him out again?” Shang Ke touched his little head and suggested, “You all are responsible for supervising him. If he dares make any of you unhappy, I’ll help out.”
“Deal!” Bubble promised loudly.
Gray also cleverly nodded his head.
The next day, Ivan found himself with two more small tails and four green eyes staring at him.
“This is …” Ivan, sandwiched between the two elves on both sides, looked stiffly at Shang Ke.
“My children, Bubbles and Gray.” Shang Ke replied with a smile.
Where did these kids come from? Clearly, they hadn’t been there a month ago!
Ivan’s heart was in turmoil and he scrutinized Shang Ke.
He was actually already married?
There was a flash of cruelty in Ivan’s eyes before they dimmed and his whole person became lifeless.
Shang Ke detected the change in his mood and was not surprised: was the man’s new skill in this world to be able to transform his scummy aura into a dead aura?
If he wasn’t sure of himself, he would have almost doubted whether this man was possessed by something strange. On the day he rescued him, he had already recognized the man’s identity. It was his scumbag man with a charming mole on his palm.
However, in addition to his domineering manner, this was the first time he’d seen such a beautiful and sad temperament in his man.
“These children are lovely and your wife… must be beautiful.” Ivan said, expressionlessly.
This was surely the most insincere praise Shang Ke had ever heard in the world. Ivan seemed to have misunderstood something but Shang Ke was not going to explain for the time being. After all, they had only just met. His knowledge of this man was limited to a few words.
Ivan’s recovery rate far exceeded Shang Ke’s expectations and he was almost fully recovered in four or five days. But in fact, it wasn’t Ivan who was recovering fast but the environment and food provided to him were the best treatments to his condition. It was possible that Shang Ke himself didn’t realize what a remarkable natural talent he had.
Ivan never thought that this elf would accept his strange self without any hesitation. He found himself unconsciously integrating into their lives.
When Shang Ke taught the little elves to practice basic magic, he watched beside him. When Shang Ke took them to pick fruit, he watched beside them. When Shang Ke was knitting clothes for them, he was still watching. When Shang Ke went out, he was responsible for the little elves’ safety. Gradually, the two elves changed from keeping their distance and supervising him to climbing and rolling on top of him without scruple.
(MyQNote : my imagination run wild....)
Although Ivan didn’t have a good impression of the two elves born by Shang Ke and “another woman”, the two elves didn’t feel rejected at all. However, in a few days, they became like a family with the man they themselves called “fierce.”
What happened to the agreed supervision? Shang Ke said nothing to the two unruly little guys.
After Ivan’s injury healed, he began to leave early and return late, occasionally missing for a day or two. However, his whereabouts couldn’t be concealed from Shang Ke who was a spirit of Teldrassil. All the trees in the forest were his eyes. But searching required spiritual power and Shang Ke rarely used it unless necessary.
Seven days later, Ivan came back from the deep forest and said to Shang Ke, “Didn’t you want to see the oxygen spirit bead?”
Shang Ke nodded.
“The materials for creating it have been collected. I’ll refine them for you now.” Ivan had no problem displaying the materials one by one to him.
It turned out that he went out these days to collect materials? Shang Ke looked at all kinds of stuff laid out in front of him, most of which were rare materials. Ivan most likely spent a lot of time and effort to find them.
Shang Ke sat in a row with the two elves and watched him quietly refine the oxygen spirit bead.
Ivan’s palm suddenly burst into a golden flame and the two elves dove into Shang Ke’s arms. Even Shang Ke felt a little uncomfortable under the hot temperature. He hurriedly cast a water mist magic to wrap around him and the elves.
Ivan noticed this and subconsciously distanced himself, making sure not to frighten them. He began to use a wonderful technique to smelt the materials skillfully.
After a few minutes, two golden beads gradually solidified into shapes under the astonished gazes of the three elves. On the surface of the beads, several dark lines were intricately made, giving off an aura that elves likes.
Ivan handed the beads to Shang Ke, “For you all.”
“Thank you.” Shang Ke curiously inspected the two oxygen spirit beads. It was hard to imagine that these tiny beads contained rich oxygen.
Ivan warned him, “There’s a sealing spell on the surface of the oxygen spirit bead. I’ll tell you what it is, but don’t open it casually lest you hurt yourself.”
Shang Ke nodded to show that he understood.
Ivan gave him a deep look, “I have to go. It will likely take a while before I can come back to see you.”
“Mnm, be careful.” Shang Ke smiled at him.
Ivan carved his smile in his heart, and then reluctantly left the beautiful place.
He wanted to stay with Shang Ke very much, but he didn’t want to destroy their quiet and peaceful life. In the future if he were to ever be tired or injured, this would be his dwelling place.
Although he knew that they would meet again in the future, Ivan’s departure still left Shang Ke a little lost.
“Keke, that human is actually pretty good.” Bubbles evaluated while playing with the oxygen spirit beads.
Gray nodded silently.
“Keke, if he comes back later, let’s take and keep him.”
“Alright.”
A month after Ivan left, another elf was born from the eggs. However, this elf drove Shang Ke’s all over the place in an effort to help her. She was born with fire poison so her skin was covered in rosy red spots. She often had headaches and fever, and couldn’t sleep at night.
In order to cure her fire poison, Shang Ke went deep into the forest every day to look for spirit grass.
It was a pity that all he could do for her was to relieve her pain. The only thing that could cure her was the fountain of life. But where was the phantom jade that sealed off the fountain of life? Before, he had asked Ivan about it but he only knew that it was in the hands of a royal family of the specters. He wasn’t sure which family.
Shang Ke began to consider whether he should continue to live in seclusion or not. The advantage of it was that it could protect the elves to the greatest extent, while the disadvantage was that information was blocked so the current situation couldn’t be grasped.
After thinking for a few days, Shang Ke finally decided to gradually come into contact with the nearby War Camp while keeping a low profile as much as possible. He was going to mainly prioritize listening for intelligence, supplemented by material transactions. At the same time, the identity of the pure blood elves couldn’t be exposed, otherwise they would be hunted down by the specters at all costs.
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Sarah: slowly but surely getting back on track…but wow the ML is so different from his past reincarnations! Who are you and what did you do to our scummy gong ML? 😂 I feel bad for baby elf #3 tho ;w; ko-fi.com/sarah_min
SnowTime: Happy New Years~ And thank you Tania for your Christmas gift 😀 Slowly getting over my cold~