Several more days passed and Arthur did nothing but cultivate and feed his Fae.
He currently had in his possession six fae, all of different types and abilities.
The first one was obviously his newly reincarnated Origin Fae, the Winter Solstice Salamander. Being a Rank 6 Fae, Arthur didn't have the capability to utilise it, however, being a Rank 6 Immortal Fae, it possessed two abilities.
The other ones were all Rank 1, and paled in both strength and ability to the Winter Solstice Salamander.
The moonsword fae.
The water leaf fae.
The bloodseeker leaf fae.
The black smog fae.
And the camouflage fae.
For a Rank 1 Fae Master, one that hadn't even reached liquid quartz origin essence, this was a huge amount of Fae.
Most Fae Masters could hardly support more than half a dozen, and yet Arthur, who had only been a Fae Master for just over a month, possessed five Rank 1 Fae!
However-.
Arthur shook his head.
"It's not enough. Even though my abilities more than likely exceed that of all my generation, it's still not enough".
Arthur was more than halfway to reaching liquid quartz origin essence, and would approximately reach it by the end of the month. By then, the difference between him and the others would only grow, until the point where Arthur would reach Rank 2.
Everything now should be in preparation for something later. Short-term gains weren't what Arthur was looking for.
Investing in the future, with the help of his future knowledge was what he wanted.
Arthur let out a deep breath.
"I'll have another two more Fae by the end of today. That'll bring my total number of Fae to seven".
As a Rank 1 Fae Master, in order to survive on his own, Arthur would need variation, more so than actual power. Unless he was fighting a Rank 2 Fae Master for real, Arthur would rather focus on increasing the number of his current abilities, rather than raising a single one and neglecting other areas.
The moonsword fae was an excellent short-range offensive fae, there was no need to increase his strength in this area for the time being.
".... All I need to do today, is win second place. Then I get two fae of my choice, and 40 origin essence stones.... Although.... I would like to see just why Randolf wants first place so badly.....".
Arthur showed a peculiar expression, before shaking his head and throwing those thoughts to the back of his mind.
"I'll forget about that for now. I have too many questions and no methods of answering them. For the time being, all I need to do is fight".
Arthur stretched his body somewhat before gathering the fae in his room, letting them sit in his origin essence seas.
The bloodseeker leaf fae and the camouflage fae both resided in his Body origin essence sea.
The water leaf tree and the moonsword fae both resided in his Mind origin essence sea.
And the Winter Solstice Salamander and the black smog fae resided in his Soul origin essence sea.
The requirements of these origin essence seas weren't too important now, but were more so as a higher ranked Fae Master.
Exiting his room underneath the tavern, Arthur gave a short nod to the elderly owner, before the latter wished him good luck in his fight today.
The owner's son used to be a Fae Master, a peak Rank 2 Fae Master, but passed away a few years ago during a clash with a spirit beast. Ever since then the elderly man had managed this tavern alone, until Arthur's Father asked the elderly man if his son could live here.
Arthur didn't really help the elderly man with managing the tavern, but did help him carry some of the larger barrels up and down the stairs.
Everything he did, so as to fit the "persona" of a nice, helpful young man.
Arthur sighed for a moment, feeling the gazes of pedestrians as he walked down the main street. Most of these people were just mortals, who lived in Parachenko Village under the Kovacs Clan rule. While others were Fae Masters, slightly older than Arthur who looked at him eagerly as they whispered and gossiped.
"My money's on the Clan Leaders son this year. His older siblings always took first place, so I reckon he would too".
"No way! This year, a first-tier talent has appeared in the Clan. My money's on that Randolf kid".
"What about the descendents of those Elders? Borik has a Fiend Worm Fae which can enhance their physical strength by several fold, and Ratimir has an offensive Bone Sword Fae! I've never seen such a Fae before, but I heard that it is extremely useful because of its low origin essence expenditure".
"But what about Alina? With her Silent Butterfly Fae and the new Hidden Shadow Fae her father's shop sells, she would have at least two Fae on top of the one out of the Clan Reserves! That's three Fae!".
Arthur smiled, remembering everything that happened in his past life.
Alina never would've had the Hidden Shadow Fae if it wasn't for him, and she also picked the offensive Shadowstream Fae from the Clan Reserves.
Borik, on top of his Fiend Worm, would pick another offensive Fae, the Bear Arms Fae from the Clan Reserves.
And Ratimir, the most troublesome of the bunch would've picked the Bark Growth Fae from the Clan Reserves, in addition to another Rank 1 Fae, the Stream Fae, which he would've got from his Grandmother. This was on top of his Bone Sword Fae, which was his Origin Fae.
Everyone else other than these three weren't particular strong, nor did they ever exceed these three, or Randolf during Arthur's time in Parachenko Village.
They weren't worth noticing, if he was being completely honest.
There were a couple of events in the following years in which some of these individuals were involved, but Arthur had already made note, and remembered when and where these events were.
Arthur's gaze was focused on the martial arts ring in the distance, which had a number of both mortals and Fae Masters gathered around it.
There were two betting stands, opened up by both mortals and Fae Masters, to differentiate what type of currencies were being bet.
The new generation of Fae Masters couldn't bet, so as to avoid cheating, but that didn't mean that their friends and families couldn't bet for them.... or against them.
Arthur noticed Dominic and his Father, Niklos standing on a platform, above the martial arts stage. He noticed them, and gave them both a short nod before moving towards the waiting area for the new generation of Fae Masters.
All of these newly awakened Fae Masters seemed nervous, even Randolf whose sole goal was to get into the grand final. Arthur rolled his eyes at the young man before sitting down in the corner of the room, closing his eyes and smoothing out his breathing.
All he needed to do was win.
Nothing else mattered, and anything else was irrelevant.
Anything that got between him and his second place rewards, was something that needed to disappear.
Arthur steadied his heart, preventing it from beating too quickly.
This wasn't the time to lose himself. If he wanted to do that, he would've headed out into the forest and killed anything that moved.
His left hand stopped shaking.
'All I need to do, is not kill anyone', he thought.