".... And as such, I will be taking over from Elder Lan in teaching you guys martial arts!".
Arthur sighed internally, trying his best to avoid meeting eyes with the tall, muscle head at the front of the class.
His oldest brother, the next Clan Leader of the Kovacs Clan had taken it upon himself to temporarily cease Clan missions, and instead teach the next generation of Fae Masters how to defend and defeat other Fae Masters.
Despite only being in his early twenties, his brother Dominic was a Peak Rank 2 Fae Master. If he broke through to Rank 3, his status in the Clan would change, and Dominic would become an official Elder of the Clan.
His origin essence sea had long since broken past its quartz origin essence sea colour and become a ruby origin essence sea.
Rank 2 Fae Masters had a ruby origin essence sea, and considering that Dominic was a Peak Rank 2 Fae Master, he possessed a zero ruby origin essence sea!
Most of the young Fae Masters before Arthur had their eyes shine in excitement!
Being able to be taught by the next Clan Leader of the Kovacs Clan! What an honour!
"What a load of shit more like it", Arthur muttered.
This wasn't good, he thought to himself.
In his previous life, Dominic never became the martial arts teacher for his generations Fae Masters. Although the position would only last the next few months, it was still a huge ripple in the history that Arthur was familiar with.
The fifteen year old bit his bottom lip.
"I thought that my actions wouldn't have that many side effects for the short-term. But it seems that this elder brother of mine, just really wants to piss me off....".
Arthur's foot tapped the ground rapidly, his mind speeding at a million thoughts per hour.
He almost didn't hear Dominic call his name, gesturing for him to come up to the stage.
"Arthur! Come up to the stage will you! You'll be my assistant for this lesson!".
His foot stopped tapping, and his slumped body stood up, emotionless as he walked to the main stage.
He would've felt embarrassed about being called up to the front of the class to help the teacher, but suppressed any and all emotion within himself.
A former Rank 6 Fae Immortal, being subjugated to such a thing as helping teach martial arts? Oh, how the mighty have fallen, he thought.
He stood opposite Dominic, several metres away.
Dominic ignored his brother for the moment, turning to face his audience instead.
"As recently awakened Fae Masters, your origin essence sea manipulation is lacklustre in comparison to more mature Fae Masters. As such, to offset the costs of such things, the Clan will teach all of you some basic martial arts, to compliment your attacks.
If you run out of origin essence in a fight, your pretty much guaranteed to be killed or captured depending on who you're dealing with. If you can combine Fae with martial arts moves, you can more effectively deal fatal damage to an opponent. It will also help improve control over your bodies, as well as your origin essence".
Dominic turned back towards Arthur.
He waved his finger, causing Arthur to roll his eyes.
"No knives this time".
Arthur scoffed.
"Then no more Goldenshield Fae either".
Dominic raised an eyebrow but nodded.
The two brothers, one fifteen and the other twenty-three raised their arms and slowly shortened the distance between each other.
From the outside it just seemed as though both of them were too nervous to approach the other, but to some of the Elders descendents, whom had already practiced some form of martial arts, looked on carefully.
With Dominic's size and physique, theoretically he should have an advantage over Arthur, who was both shorter and smaller in comparison. Additionally, Dominic's status as a Rank 2 Fae Master meant that his innate physique was much stronger than his younger brothers.
The elder sibling narrowed his eyes.
'So why does it feel like I'm the smaller one here?', he thought.
Arthur slowly shortened the distance between them. His eyes were light black pools of light, depthless, seemingly endless despite his young age.
The moment he got within a few metres of his older brother, Arthur suddenly sped towards him, pushing off his back foot and sprinting towards Dominic with everything he had!
Dominic let out a flurry of strong punches towards his young brother, but Arthur raised his hands quickly, blocking, or either parrying his blows to side.
The two brothers constantly darted around each other. One avoiding the others blows, and the other punching rapidly, trying his best to land a hit on his younger sibling.
The way Arthur spun around on the balls of his feet made it seem as though his was dancing in between the narrow confines of Dominic's blows. His raised arms constantly parried or blocked his older brother's fists, causing Dominic to narrow his eyes.
'This kid.... when did he get so good at reading my blows?', he thought to himself.
From the outside it may have seemed as though Dominic had the advantage, however one of the Elder's descendents, Ratimir's eyes shone as he gazed at Arthur.
".... hit footwork.... how beautiful....".
Arthur spun rapidly on the balls of his feet, moving constantly to so as to enter Dominic's blind spot.
His large physique meant that while his strength and endurance was much higher than the average person's, Dominic would need to turn constantly so as to keep his opponent in his field of vision.
He saw Arthur's figure in front of him, and he tensed his body, throwing forward a punch that would definitely break the bones of lesser men if hit.
However-.
"What!".
He felt Arthur's figure flicker for a moment, and his punch miss, hitting nothing but air.
Dominic felt the world pause for a moment, before the hairs on the back of his head raised, causing him to swing his fist back around, slamming into Arthur's raised guard.
The fifteen year old was sent flying back several feet, falling to ground as he groaned, holding his forearms in pain.
".... You really don't hold back do you.... elder brother?".
Arthur smiled for a moment, clenching his hands a couple times to make sure there wasn't any lasting damage. Some of the other members of his class ran up to him, checking to see if he was injured, or needed any assistance.
"Arthur! That was so cool! You dodged all his blows!".
"Well.... not all of them".
"Do you think you'll be able to teach us how to do that!?".
"Well, if you're willing to learn".
"If it wasn't for Young Master Dominic being a Rank 2 Fae Master, I think you would've got him!".
"Well, I don't know about that. Dominic is physically stronger than me".
The next Clan Leader of the Kovacs Clan peered over at his younger brother, a peculiar expression on his face.
He remembered that not even a week ago, Arthur had reflexes that could detect and react to him appearing behind him, moving so fast that he almost though his brother had reached Rank 2.
He thought that his senses might've been enhanced through the talent awakening, and as a result, made him faster, or allowed him to detect more in a fight.
'He is definitely more skilled than the average Rank 1 Fae Master. And even though his offensive moves were a little slow, his movements were something else. That strange footwork.... is it something he picked up in the Winter Rain Mountain?'.
Dominic shook his head for a minute letting out a small sigh.
At any rate, it seems that the winning the tournament in the next few weeks, definitely wasn't going to be easy, so long as Arthur was around.
The young reincarnate smiled for a moment before shaking his head.
"I mean, I've got my own cultivation to worry about, so I'm not sure if I can help you guys all the time".
One of the boys, the son of a relatively well-off merchant said,
"Well, what if we pay you for the lessons? I mean, we all get three origin essence stones a week, what if we gave half of one to you for your time?".
Some of the poorer students frowned for a moment before Arthur spoke up.
"How about I show you a couple things first? If you think that's worth paying money for, I'll make it one origin essence stone for two weeks worth of tuition?".
Arthur smiled after a moment, seeing most of the young Fae Masters nod, and start organizing a time amongst themselves.
He grinned.
'Like taking candy from a baby....'