Over the course of the next couple weeks, Arthur did nothing but cultivate, only stopping to eat, sleep, drink and attend the mandatory Lectures set by the Clan rules.
If he didn't attend, it wasn't as though he was going to be punished, but missing a day without a valid reason would result in some sort of punishment.
And knowing full well from his previous life, Arthur did not want to miss out on the three origin essence stones he was given every week. He had missed out on such a thing multiple times in his previous life, leading to losses on his part.
Arthur gazed out the window, ignoring the Elders comments on the manipulation of certain Water Attributed Fae.
Anything that they would be able to impart on the next generation would be useless for Arthur. His time would be better spent thinking about gaining resources, or increasing his cultivation speed, without any of the drawbacks.
'I haven't made any progress in regards to my Fae, nor do I need to currently. After the first tournament, will the focus of gaining Fae be important to my "classmates". Most of them won't have the financial capacity to purchase Fae outright, but some of the students with Fae Masters as parents would'.
Arthur's current self had over two litres worth of Spirit Water and several dozen origin essence stones, hidden in different places across Winter Rain Village. For the time being, it wasn't safe to carry such an amount on his person, while keeping it all in one place, naturally invited trouble.
Starting yesterday, Alina's father, Robert, had begun selling hidden shadow fae to the rest of the Village. The sudden appearance of a completely new Fae, caused the vast majority of Rank 1 Fae Masters, and some Rank 2 Fae Masters to perk up at the new Fae that arrived in Parachenko Village.
The hidden shadow fae was one of the few Fae in the region which possessed concealment effects. Using it during daytime didn't allow the hidden shadow fae to make full use of its potential, however using it at night, turned even the most useless of Fae Master into a powerful assassin!
It allowed the Fae Masters body to sink into shadows and hide within shadows, while holding their breath.
Hidden shadow fae needed special Rank 1 Fae materials which also happened to be purchased by Robert at the beginning of the mass production process.
This revenue stream was his and his alone. Arthur didn't need to do anything about it for the time being.
In the first day, which was yesterday, Arthur already gained fifty origin essence stones.
Each hidden shadow fae was priced at 25 origin essence stones a piece, so 30% of that would be 7.5 origin essence stones.
Robert had only sold 6 hidden shadow fae, but rounded it up, to show his sincerity to Arthur.
This combined with the wealth he gained from teaching martial arts, as well as from the weekly origin essence stones that new Fae Masters were given, allowed Arthur to accumulate a total of 77 origin essence stones!
If any of the other Fae Masters in his class heard about that, they would go wide eyed and have their mouths drop straight to the ground!
What an insane amount of wealth!
Of course, this was excluding the amount of wealth Arthur had accumulated, if he exchanged his Spirit Water. However, this resource was not something he was planning on using in the short-term.
Spirit Water was a pretty good Rank 1 Fae material, and could also be used in some Fae Formula he had in his mind.
A couple of them, Arthur had his eye on.
Of course, he still had to prepare a tribute for the Sleipnir which came to Parachenko Village once a year, but he had plenty of time to prepare for that eventuality.
'In terms of offensive measures, the moonsword fae is an extremely good fae, despite its high origin essence costs. However, in preparation for the tournament next week, it would be better to have some other Fae prepared, so as to hide my trump card'.
The bloodseeker leaf fae was currently being used every night of every day. Devouring as much leaf life force as it possibly can, refining it into origin essence for Arthur to use.
Although he was still purifying his vapour quartz origin essence and hadn't yet condensed into liquid quartz origin essence, it was still coming along nicely.
'The easiest Fae for me to form in the short term are Water Attributed Fae. Not only do they counter Randolf, who would be the largest annoyance, but they are also the easiest, considering some of them use Spirit Water..... I'll see if some of the other stores have anything tonight'.
Why wouldn't Arthur go to Robert's in order to purchase Fae materials?
Wasn't it obvious?
His daughter was participating in this competition too!
Even if it was worthy of being thrown in the Clan Prison for tampering with the Fae materials, Robert could still "mention" all the materials Arthur bought, to his daughter and allow her to come up with a plan to beat him.
Even if Arthur wasn't worried about something as trivial as a Rank 1 Fae Master, growing bad habits now, led to complacency later.
Being lax against a weaker opponent had been the downfall of countless fallen experts.
Arthur wasn't about to let history repeat itself.
"At any rate.... I'll at the very least need two offensive Water Attributed Fae before the tournament. Anything more than that and I'll have to be the judge of what benefits I do, or do not need".
With Arthur's current resources, as well as his current knowledge, there were a handful of Water Attributed Fae that could match both his needs, and his requirements.
Origin essence expenditure was a factor, but not particular relevant, now that he had the bloodseeker leaf fae.
Which origin essence sea it dwelled in was also a factor, seeing as though it might have further potential for growth if he played his cards right.
How rare they were also played a part.
If his opponent didn't know his Fae's abilities, that would be perfect, but if he did, Arthur would just have to adapt his battle strategy in order to compensate for this disadvantage.
And finally, but most importantly-.
"Is how the Fae compliment one another".
If a Fae Master possessed both a flamespike fae as well as an icicle fae, the power of both would be declined since one cancelled the other out.
However, if the Fae Master possessed say a flamespike fae as well as a breeze fae, then the power of the former would be increased, despite being only Rank 1.
It's strength would hardly ever reach the Rank above itself, but it wasn't rare throughout the Seven Continents.
Some Fae Masters had heritages that lasted several tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of years. The accumulation of both knowledge and wisdom could hardly be compared to Arthur's one thousand years of life.
Of course, talent played a big part.
Since Arthur wanted two offensive Water Attributed Fae, the power of complimentary Fae would have to be researched carefully by Fae Masters before being created, but with Arthur's current powers, something like this, was ridiculously easy.
"Mere Rank 1 Fae....", he muttered.
At its core, the essence of complimentary Fae was that one Fae's power would increase the other after use. Something like this was extraordinarily easy, even Randolf could comprehend.
He did understand the notion behind complimentary Fae, but finding out which Fae complimented each other was something else entirely.
How would a Fae Master grasp a Fae's abilities without using them for themselves?
This is a part of the reason why Fae Masters are considered researchers. They delve into the Mysteries of Fae, trying their best to comprehend them, unravel them, and make their power their own.
In doing so, they would discern Truths about the World itself, and the foundations upon which mortals stand in front of the vast unfathomable Truth.