".... I finally don't have to worry about getting caught sneaking out".
About a week had passed since Arthur had a talk with his Father, and it had been a week since Arthur moved out of the Clan Leaders residence, and set up shop in the basement of a tavern, on the main stretch of Parachenko Village.
His room was much larger than the one in the Clan Leaders residence, but had several barrels of liquor piled up in the corners of his room.
His departure hadn't gone.... exactly as he thought it would.
His Mother quite adamantly refused his request, saying that he needed to stay here until he finished his year studying under the various Elders, and only then would be allowed to leave home.
His younger siblings seemed even more distraught over the fact, saying that Arthur was trying to abandon them, crying and wiping their tears all over him trying their best to get him to stay.
Arthur felt nothing as he patted their heads and walked out the door.
The relationship between him and his siblings would be severed eventually. In order to prepare for that eventuality, he started now, so as to avoid them chasing after him in the future.
His older brothers and sisters had long since moved out of home, with the sole exception of Dominic, who was to be the next Clan Leader.
He too was saddened by his brothers leaving, but understood his reasoning why.
He wanted to become stronger!
That was what his Father, the current Clan Leader said to him.
Dominic wanted Arthur to stay, at least for a while longer, but knew that nothing he could do would allow him to do so.
Arthur sighed.
"At any rate, I need to prepare for the first tournament in a few weeks time. Winning will allow me to pick any Fae out of the Clan Reserves for myself, as well as a handful of origin essence stones. If I can keep my position as well, the Clan will reward me for keeping first place within my generation".
Arthur looked down at the dozen or so origin essence stones he had picked up.
Other than the three he obtained by selling the venom spider spirit beast corpse, he had obtained another eleven from tutoring the newest generation of Fae Masters in martial arts.
His first lesson was free, and was the most comprehensive, allowing the vast majority of these new Fae Masters to get a taste of what Arthur had comprehended over a thousand years of living.
The second, roughly three days after that only had a handful of students show up, including those who are descendents of various Elders.
They all paid the one origin essence stone a fortnight, which paid for two lessons a week, over two weeks. This source of origin essence stones were relatively stable for the time being, but in the distant future, wouldn't be as reliable.
Arthur debated offering this deal to the next batch of Fae Masters next year, but decided against it.
By then, he would have more revenue streams, which would allow himself to use more methods to gain wealth and strength. Something like teaching martial arts would be a waste of time for Arthur.
"By the time the tournament comes around, Robert should be finished with the preparations regarding the Hidden Shadow Fae. Once he starts picking up some revenue form it, I'll introduce another Fae Formula to him. And if he doesn't accept then.....".
Arthur will just go to the next shop and offer them the same thing.
Betting his chips on Robert and his store was a way of increasing his hold over Robert.
Even if the man wanted to go against Arthur and cut him out of the deal, he knew that Arthur still had the Fae Formula on him, and could spread it to the rest of the Village, lessening his profits by a huge margin.
If Robert wanted to keep his future wealth, he had to keep dealing with Arthur.
"My cultivation is advancing smoothly as well. Since I can leave the Village any time I want, I can use the Bloodseeker Leaf Fae whenever I want as well!".
Despite being kept in a basement, Arthur purchased some mortal material vines and plants which huge amounts of vitality in them.
They paled in comparison to the trees and the vast forests outside the Village, but they could still be used during thunderstorms or rainy days, which occurred often on Winter Rain Mountain.
Things were progressing smoothly.
"I'll let the Water Leaf Tree create Spirit Water for the time being, and concentrate on cultivating. Just before the tournament, I'll prepare some trump cards, just in case things go different again".
Arthur had already experienced one huge change to the timeline, and that was his brothers intervention as the martial arts teacher!
In order to keep things from changing too drastically, he acted the same way he did in his previous life, albeit with some.... distinct changes.
Acting nice seemed completely natural to Arthur, but he sighed in his heart every time he had to smile after someone completed a move, or compliment them after he let them land a blow on him.
If things were to keep progressing like this, Arthur might "accidentally" punch someone in their jugular, "accidentally" collapsing their windpipe.
He sighed once more.
"I'll just cultivate. Thinking too much in my current state will only be detrimental to my future...".
Sitting down cross-legged and closing his eyes, Arthur calmed his Mind, Body and Soul, entering a cultivation state almost instantly after closing his eyes.
Such a thing was unattainable to Rank 1 Fae Masters, and was an indication of Arthur's prior knowledge and wisdom regarding cultivation.
Focusing on the three origin essence seas within him, Arthur gathered himself before condensing all the origin essence within him, into a single point in his Body origin essence sea.
His Body origin essence sea was the largest out of the three, being capable of holding 79% of all his origin essence. Gathering all of his origin essence and condensing it into a single point was something that most Fae Masters found hard to get used too, but Arthur kept condensing his vapour quartz origin essence, moving the gaseous substance closer and closer together.
Squeezing the origin essence closer and closer together was how Fae Masters cultivated. By squeezing it, they would push out impurities in the origin essence, and allow a Fae Master's origin essence to increasing in quality.
The quantity was stuck for Arthur at 201%. They quality however, was able to improve through cultivation.
Once the vapour quartz origin essence reached a point where it couldn't be condensed any further, it would become liquid quartz origin essence. The quality would increase drastically and the expenditure of Rank 1 Fae would decrease by a huge margin.
The only problem was-.
"That as cultivation progresses, it gradually uses up origin essence. When one condenses origin essence and purifies it, it releases impurities, leaving a gap in the total origin essence".
Meaning that as more and more purities are released, their origin essence decreases. Of course, origin essence replenishes over time so that doesn't worry most Fae Masters but-.
"This is the difference between first-tier talents and second-tier talents. First-tier talents possess a bigger origin essence sea and can cultivate much longer than second-tier talents. Their origin essence regeneration is much higher than second-tier talents as well".
But Arthur smiled.
"On the other hand, the Bloodseeker Leaf Fae can regenerate my origin essence as well. Regardless of my quartz origin essence, it would still regenerate 10% an hour, so long as it has a enough life force within it to convert into origin essence!".
Arthur didn't have to spend his origin essence stones on cultivation for the time being. Doing so, would only waste his future prospects!
In his spare time, other than cultivating Arthur also prepared for the future events.
"Water shield fae?.... Or perhaps I should choose something different. Skeleton fae is pretty good as well. But shadowspike fae and shadow cloak fae are also suitable considering my past attainments. But since I have been reborn, should I just limit myself to bone and shadow fae? Hmm, perhaps something like wind or wood would be more suitable? I might have to give this more thought".