Elf’s Blessing

The villa hall fell silent in an instant, with only the crackling of the fire in the fireplace breaking the quiet.

Lucy widened her eyes in disbelief. Her clear, sky-blue eyes reflected Kyle’s face up close, while her pretty face flushed deeply, whether from excitement, shyness, or something else.

"What did you just say? I didn’t hear it clearly."

Her voice trembled slightly, tangled with complex emotions—anticipation, unease, joy, and more.

"I said…" Kyle had barely begun when the girl in his arms suddenly interrupted him. "Wait!"

"Oh my God, this isn’t a dream, is it?" Lucy held her cheeks in her hands, her skin noticeably hotter as she muttered to herself, "The way you suddenly came back today was exactly like the beginning of the beautiful dreams I’ve been having lately. And now you’re saying that to me."

"Kyle, I’m not really dreaming, am I? Otherwise, hit me."

After saying that, Lucy looked at Kyle with some concern.

"Of course this isn’t a dream." Kyle shrugged helplessly. With his inhuman strength now, how could he possibly hit Lucy?

He could only extend a finger and lightly flick the girl’s smooth forehead, carefully controlling his strength.

"Ah." Lucy covered her forehead in pain, but her face instead blossomed with an especially radiant smile. She playfully spun around, wrapped her arms intimately around Kyle’s neck, and gazed into his eyes face-to-face. "Ask that question again."

Kyle nodded. "I asked whether you’d be willing to become my family."

"Do you even need to ask? Of course I’m willing! A thousand times, ten thousand times willing!" Lucy answered excitedly, choking up as though unable to restrain her emotions. Tears spilled from her amber-like eyes and slid down her fair, delicate face.

After losing her relatives, she had lived in Kyle’s home all along, hoping and waiting every day. Now, these words, like a promise, let her know that all her waiting had been worthwhile.

"I plan to create a family called ‘Carl’ and cultivate a private force. If you join, then you’ll be my family from now on. I’ll use my strength to protect you," Kyle said with a smile, wiping away the tears on Lucy’s face.

Tears glimmered in Lucy’s eyes as she asked softly, "Then if I agree, will I be the first to join the family?"

"This… of course." Kyle reacted quickly and nodded. Logan was still completing the family trial mission, so he could only barely count as half a member.

Lucy tilted her head and gathered her courage to ask, "Then when are we getting married?"

"You just turned eighteen, and you’re already thinking about marriage? At least wait a few more years." Kyle couldn’t help but smile. Did this mean I’d picked up a wife on the battlefield?

"I’m not that young." Hearing this, Lucy puffed up indignantly and straightened her body, the chest of her dress revealing curves of modest scale.

"You little temptress." Kyle smiled wryly, then seemed to recall something. He said to Lucy, "Close your eyes for three minutes first. No matter what happens, don’t open them."

Lucy nodded and quickly closed her eyes. Her beautiful eyelashes trembled slightly, and her angelic face looked as though it were expecting something.

Kyle waved his hand, selecting three cards from Card Space with a thought. All three shimmered with blue-quality radiance as they floated above the first-floor hall.

The first card was an Add Life Card categorized as an ability-type card, so it could only condense into a translucent, illusory card in the outside world.

"With these thirty years of natural lifespan, I hope you’ll stay healthy and remain by my side for a long time."

At Kyle’s mental command, the Add Life Card was consumed and entered the girl’s body, immediately taking effect.

Lucy’s delicate body trembled slightly. The Add Life Card also indirectly fine-tuned her physique, greatly increasing her vitality and leaving her body feeling more refreshed, comfortable, and energetic.

Kyle caught the second card. It was an Item Card, and it swiftly transformed from a card into a physical object in his palm.

The object gleamed with the dazzling luster of precious gemstones. It was a heart-shaped sapphire necklace, exquisite and flawless, like the most expensive and luxurious work of craftsmanship.

Girls should all like this sort of thing…

Kyle muttered inwardly as he placed the sapphire necklace around Lucy’s fair neck. No matter how valuable the Heart of the Ocean was, to him, it was merely one of his many possessions.

There was also the third and final creature-type card: Elf’s Blessing.

Kyle’s thoughts stirred as he targeted Lucy and consumed the one-use mysterious Creature Card.

The next moment, as the card spun and disintegrated in midair, the space around it twisted slightly. A tiny winged humanoid phantom flew out from the vortex.

The half-real, half-illusory creature resembled an elf. Its little mouth moved as if chanting an inaudible spell, and a ray of natural light bathed Lucy’s back as she stood there with her eyes closed.

"What exactly is going to happen?"

Kyle watched everything in surprise. Yet very soon, the natural light gradually dimmed, and the phantom of the tiny elf creature faded away, vanishing along with the small spatial vortex in the first-floor hall.

The hall fell quiet and dim, returning to its original normal state.

"Was that all?" Kyle frowned. What had that elf creature been just now—could it be related to those higher-dimensional races from the realm where Asgard, the divine domain, existed on Earth?

"Kyle, three minutes have passed. I can open my eyes now, right?" Lucy said softly, cautiously opening her eyes. When she saw the Heart of the Ocean around her neck, her little mouth opened wide in shock. "Th-This is far too valuable, isn’t it?"

"It’s just a gemstone necklace. I noticed you weren’t wearing anything, and you can wear this to banquets in the future." Kyle patted Lucy’s head and asked, "When you had your eyes closed near the end, did you feel anything unusual happening to your body?"

"Something unusual? I felt a slight electric tingling sensation, but my heart was beating too fast with you beside me, so I didn’t react in time," Lucy answered frankly.

Elf’s Blessing, a gift from nature, and it was gone after just one natural-light effect?

Kyle complained inwardly. Since when had blue-quality cards become this useless, especially a one-use Creature Card?

"Oh, right. I’ve been so busy talking with you that I forgot I haven’t bought ingredients for lunch yet." Lucy touched her now-empty stomach.

"That’s easy. Can’t we just eat out?"

Kyle made the suggestion. Right now, the thing he seemed to lack least was money.

After Lucy put away the Heart of the Ocean, the two got dressed and headed out. Only after opening the front door did they discover that a light rain was drizzling outside.

"Ah, I’ll go get an umbrella." Lucy looked up at the gloomy sky and was about to go back inside for one when, the very next instant, the drizzle stopped without warning.

A fresh breeze blew, the gloomy clouds scattered, and sunlight and a rainbow emerged as the rain gave way to clear skies.

Was it a coincidence?

Standing at the doorway, Kyle frowned slightly, realizing that things were not as simple as they had seemed.