77: Chapter 0077 Provincial Capital

It turned out that Gelia was young, beautiful, and single, so it was natural for her to attract unwanted attention; the whole thing started about half a year ago when Gelia accompanied her father to a class reunion.

One of her father's classmates also brought his son. That fellow only saw Gelia a few times in passing, but from then on, he was so smitten that he couldn't eat or sleep, constantly brewing up bad ideas and persistently persuading his own father to act as a matchmaker for him.

As a result, his father, utterly annoyed by the pestering, finally swallowed his pride and approached Gelia's father, Payne. Under the earnest pleading of his old classmate, Old Payne thought that while his daughter was indeed pretty, she hadn't mentioned having a boyfriend all these years. He had also met the classmate's son, Payne, whose appearance seemed fine, and whose talent and diligence also appeared excellent. So, he reluctantly agreed to his old classmate's request.

Consequently, the classmate's son was overjoyed. To show his sincerity, he personally traveled to Glen City, the provincial capital of Monte Province, intending to solidify the engagement with Gelia and secure his position.

Gelia, who championed freedom, naturally refused, using the excuse: "I actually already have a boyfriend, but since we are in a normal dating period, I haven't brought him home for him to inspect yet."

Old Payne naturally didn't believe her. Based on his years of experience, he could certainly confirm that Gelia was still completely pure. However, Gelia insisted she had a boyfriend. As her father, he could only leave the child's affairs to the child to handle herself.

But after all, he had promised his old classmate, and the other family's nephew had traveled all the way to his home. He had to give the other party some kind of explanation; Old Payne issued a strict order: this time, Gelia absolutely had to bring her boyfriend home to settle this matter and prevent him from losing Face with his old classmate!

Where could Gelia find such a boyfriend on short notice?

The first time Gelia met Li Size, she had told him to contact her anytime if he needed anything in Gray Mist Mountain Town. In the end, the situation completely reversed, and it became Gelia who needed to seek out Li Size for help...

Felina finally couldn't resist Gelia's persistent coaxing and reluctantly agreed. They had already agreed to go traveling anyway. After the handover in Gele City this time, the three of them could just head straight to the Province City and treat it as part of the trip.

This poor trip had completely changed its flavor.

Li Size could only take the two women first to Gele City to prepare for the handover of Veselin's Redeemer witchcraft motorcycle. Li Size rode Blue Star, Felina rode Nianze, and Gelia rode Redeemer; Li Size had originally wanted to take Felina for a ride on the newly modified Blue Star, but Felina saw through his little thought:

Once the Redeemer witchcraft motorcycle was handed over, there would only be one witchcraft motorcycle left, and the three of them would have to share a ride—something Li Size was quite nostalgic for.

The new motorcycle's top speed reached 340km/h, so arriving at Gele City took only about half a witchcraft hour. Test-driving Redeemer made Gelia scream with excitement. After understanding the new modifications, she clamored that when Li Size returned to Gray Mist Mountain, he must modify her witchcraft motorcycle as well.

When Veselin, under Felina's guidance, slowly adapted to Redeemer, she completely fell in love with the feeling of speeding wildly with the wind. She was quite satisfied with Redeemer; Li Size's newly developed model of witchcraft motorcycle had won the favor of a Formal Wizard.

Thus, Li Size obtained the opportunity to purchase a zero-ring mental power amplification potion according to his previous agreement with Veselin. With enough gold coins, Li Size spent 50 gold coins to secretly perform an Analysis on it. As for the brain in a vat, he had already spent 200 gold coins to perform an Analysis back in Gray Mist Mountain Town:

zero-ring mental power amplification potion (Beginner): Can temporarily slightly increase the user's Mental Energy by 1.5 points; lasts for 1 hour. Side effect: Mental dullness (Mental Energy -2), side effect lasts for 2 hours. Potion resistance duration is 24 hours.

brain in a vat (Beginner): Can permanently increase the user's Mental Energy by 0.5 points. Effective only when Mental Energy is below 15 points. Limited to two uses per person.

The Materials for the zero-ring mental power amplification potion were actually not hard to obtain; it was just that the apothecaries who mastered the formula were few and were basically monopolized by Veselin. Veselin deliberately adopted a scarcity marketing strategy, making the potion very difficult to buy on the market.

Li Size planned to use the zero-ring healing potion and the zero-ring mental power amplification potion to practice and quickly raise his Potion Crafting (Great Skill) to the Master level. This way, he could achieve the maximum effect when refining the swift spirit and the brain in a vat later on.

Two main Materials for the brain in a vat are relatively difficult to obtain: one is the powder gland of a Hallucinogenic Bewitching Butterfly at the High-tier Wizard Apprentice level, and the other is the melancholy fruit. Li Size's current knowledge reserve did not contain information about these two Materials. It seemed unlikely he could obtain these Materials in the short term, and now he was delayed by Gelia's matter...

After finishing the business with Wizard Veselin, Li Size took the two women to the train station in Gele City. Gele City was a full 2500 kilometers away from Glen City, the provincial capital of Monte Province.

They arrived in Glen City late at night. It was improper for Gelia to take Li Size directly home in the middle of the night, so Gelia went home alone, while Felina and Li Size stayed at the hotel themselves; Felina held Li Size tightly and whispered, "Husband, I don't want to lose you!"

Li Size stroked her head and comforted her:

"dear, don't overthink things.

We are just here to help Gelia pretend to be her boyfriend for a bit. How could you lose me?"

Felina shook her head, gazing at Li Size with sparkling eyes:

"Mmm! I feel like Gelia likes you a lot too, and you seem fond of her. Alas..."

Li Size kissed her forehead, holding her as he explained:

"Stop overthinking. We..."

"No matter what, Husband, you must never leave me! If you really like Gelia, I... I can accept it too."

Saying this, she lowered her head, her voice growing fainter...

Li Size kissed her deeply; at that moment, silence spoke louder than words.

The next day, Gelia arrived at the hotel early in the morning to pick up Li Size, her expression a mixture of confusion, apology, and perhaps a hint of expectation and worry; on the way, Gelia seemed like a different person, softly introducing everything about her family to Li Size.

Besides the fact that Li Size already knew her father was the Deputy Director of the Provincial Police Department, she also had an older brother serving in the Logistics Department of the Duchy's Police Department, considered quite promising for his age. Last night, Gelia received a call from her older brother, who was very displeased that she had hidden having a boyfriend from him for so long, saying he would definitely come to Gray Mist Mountain Town next time to beat him up!

Li Size broke into a cold sweat upon hearing this. This was supposed to be a pretense, and even if it involved concealment, Gelia was the one doing it. Why should he be the one beaten up? That older brother was trouble!

Blue Star's speed was fast. As they were about to reach the Police Department's compound, Gelia, who was holding Li Size in the back seat, suddenly blushed deeply...