All the Elders sitting above the main stage all glanced towards Niklos who merely waved them off.
It was obvious what they were thinking.
"I didn't give Arthur the moonsword fae in the Clan Reserves. All of you are more than welcome to check with Elder Anatol, whether or not my words are valid".
The vast majority of the Elders retracted their earlier gazes, but several of them moved their attention back towards Arthur.
The young man was sitting down in his seat, like he did after every match, closing his eyes and smoothing out his breathing. The fifteen year old crossed one leg over the other and crossed his arms, appearing slightly aloof, and distant from the rest of the world.
Some of the Elders nodded.
'What a good demeanour! There are no traces that he had just fought a battle on him!'.
Most of these Elders had fought life or death battles to get where they were today. Seeing such a young man, with such a smooth, yet powerful demeanour caused them all to sigh, and be thankful for this talented next generation.
If this was the quality of the next batch of children bearing the Kovacs name, then it was a good thing.
If this was the quality of the next batch of children bearing another name, then things definitely were not good.
This tournament allowed the upper echelons of the Clan to know where to best put their attention towards. Those with talent were the ones they should naturally focus on, but if one forgo their talent and didn't work hard, then what good were they?
If Randolf became arrogant because of his talent, but didn't work hard, then what was the point?
Why should they give him special consideration, if he was going to let it all go to waste?
So long as they worked hard, then that was all that mattered. Being talented was definitely a bonus, but hard workers were the ones that went far in this world. That was something the Elders agreed on.
However-.
'But if Arthur didn't get the moonsword fae from the Clan Reserves, then just where did he get it from?'.
One of the Elders narrowed his eyes as he looked towards the son of the Clan Leader, a curious expression on his face.
He either got it from a Fae Formula, which was without a doubt out of the question for someone so young, or he found it in the forest of Winter Rain Mountain. If he did find it in the wild, then perhaps he would be willing to share where exactly he found it?
If the conditions to create the moonsword fae could be found in the forest, then would discerning the Fae Formula for the moonsword fae out of the question?
No!
If he could find it, and then mass produce the fae, the amount of origin essence stones would be astounding!
The Elder sighed for a moment before throwing those thoughts to the back of his mind.
The chances of that happened were almost abysmal. The Winter Rain Mountains were enormous, and covered hundreds, if not thousands of kilometres of forest and mountain. The further one went in, the more dangerous it would become.
It was possible for a person to meet a spirit beast with the same strength as a Rank 3, or even a Rank 4 Fae Master!
If he went there by himself, without knowing where to look, he would surely die.
'I'll just observe for now. Nothing wrong with that, is there?'.
This Elder just sat in his seat quietly, looking down on the main stage.
The other fight of the semi-finals had just begun, although from the get go, it was clear who the winner would be.
"C'mon Alina! Your strength and origin essence haven't fully recovered from the previous fight. Just forfeit and I won't attack you".
Alina held her shadowstream fae, cursing silently at her measly 21% origin essence.
Randolf held a large fireball in his hands, one that illuminated the stage and sent waves of heat billowing out, making her face and arms tingle as she approached.
She tried to move quickly, darting from left to right in an uncontrollable pattern, hoping to confuse Randolf into missing his attack.
The first-tier talent sighed for a moment before narrowing his eyes, shooting a large ball of fire towards Alina, one that completely missed her, but singed her leg from the subsequent explosion from the fireball.
Many in the audience winced slightly as they saw Alina clutch her burned leg.
They knew that with such an injury, continuing combat would be impossible.
The girl sighed before letting her shadowstream fae dissipate, returning to her origin essence sea.
She held up her hands, showing a resolute expression.
"I forfeit".
She glanced towards one of the female referees, who assisted her in getting of the stage, and back towards the medical tent set up in the corner of the arena. She only endured cuts, some deep, but most just scratches in her previous match, but this time, her lower leg was burnt.
The Fae Master on duty sighed at the girl's actions, but just released his spring water fae, letting it heal her leg.
With the manageable pain, Alina's gaze moved away from her injured leg and back towards the main stage. Even Ratimir, and Borik with their injuries lifted their heads and turned towards the stage, their gazes focused on the two figures standing at either ends of the arena.
One side was the first-tier talent of their generation, someone who stood above the rest of them in terms of origin essence sea, and origin essence regeneration! Theoretically, he should be able to cultivate faster than the rest of them, and therefore should be the one to become a Rank 2 Fae Master first!
His Origin Fae was the offensive crimson fae, and his secondary fae was defensive flamespike fae!
Randolf possessed the huge physique that most Kovacs male members possessed, and was close to two metres tall!
On the other side of the arena, was the young man that out of all them, possessed the worst second-tier talent. His origin essence sea, origin essence regeneration rate, and his cultivation speed should be slower than the rest of them! However, unbeknownst to them, he possessed a huge advantage over all of them!
The bloodseeker leaf fae! A fae capable of converting the life force of plants into origin essence!
With that, his origin essence regeneration rate far surpassed even Randolf's, being only second to someone with the Thirty-Three Sovereign Boundary Physiques!
They knew he possessed the Winter fae, in addition to the moonsword fae which he had showed earlier.
It was possible that Arthur had one more fae, but it was unknown to almost everyone present!
The crowds screamed their names, as silver taels were bet constantly as the Clan Leader waited patiently for his betting booths to close.
Randolf looked towards Arthur, but didn't look him directly in the eye.
Smiling slightly he nodded towards him.
"I hope we have a good match Arthur".
Arthur nodded, readying himself by stretching on the main stage.
The Clan Leader noticed that the tensions on the main stage had just about reached their breaking point, before he nodded, standing up and puffing out his chest, projecting his voice.
"The final match of the new generation tournament will now commence! All bets are now closed, and the victor will be granted 25 origin essence stones, in addition to being allowed to choose one Fae from the Clan Reserves!.... Randolf Kovacs, are you ready?".
Randolf nodded.
"Yes Clan Leader!".
Niklos focus turned towards Arthur.
"Arthur Kovacs! Are you ready!".
Arthur nodded.
"I am Clan Leader".
Niklos smiled, opening his arms wide as if trying to embrace these two participants.
"Then, let the final match.... begin!".