Ratimir and Alina looked at each other again before turning towards Arthur with a weird look on their faces.
They wanted to learn from Arthur and yet all of a sudden they had been called up in front of the class?
And he wanted them to let the other borrow their fae during the fight?
Arthur frowned for a moment before smiling politely at them.
"Or perhaps one of you would like to fight me instead? Does that seem like a good idea to you?".
Both of them shook their heads, resigning themselves as the jumped up to the practice stage.
Borrowing fae wasn't too hard for Fae Masters, once they had enough practice. And they could call their fae back at a moments notice in the event that their fae became either damaged or had started to be refined by the opposite party.
And under the careful gazes of everyone present, neither one dared to try and take the others fae.
Even if they were the descendents of Elders, they would still face serious repercussions.
They both sighed, standing up on the practice stage as they handed their fae over to the other person.
Their origin fae was the only fae in their possessions that couldn't be refined by the other person. Since it was born from a Fae Master it shared a connection much deeper than normal fae.
In fact, when combining fae or refining fae Origin Fae were the only Fae that could not be destroyed while doing so. It was protected by the Fae Master completely and would only die in the even that the Fae Master would die.
Alina gave Ratimir her Silent Butterfly Fae, her shadowstream fae, and her hidden shadow fae.
While Ratimir gave Alina his bone sword fae, the bark growth fae and the stream fae.
Using these fae were.... different than what they were used to.
Despite their origin essence working smoothly through these fae, it still felt.... sluggish as they tried to activate their abilities.
This was due to the fae not belonging to them, and having been refining with someone else's origin essence.
Arthur nodded.
"Okay. These fae are similar in nature and ability to your own original fae. Use them to defeat one another. The winner gets an origin essence stone".
Both of their eyebrows raised slightly and Arthur nodded holding up a single origin essence stone.
"You don't believe me? Then come and get it".
The two descendents of Elders nodded for a moment before shooting forward towards the other, one armed with the shadowstream fae and the other with the stream fae.
Arthur frowned for a second before shouting.
"Alina! Use the bone sword fae! If you don't, you'll have to fight me afterwards instead!".
The girl sent Arthur a deathly stare but snorted and switched to the bone sword fae in a moments notice.
She wanted to learn Arthur's footwork more than anything, but, like Randolf and Ratimir, saw merit in this sought of training.
Getting used to a vast majority of fae was important for a Fae Master.
There might be times on the battlefield where she would have to retrieve the fae of one of her deceased Clan members and refine them on the go. Once she did she wouldn't have any time to train with them and would inevitably have to use them in battle should the need ever arise.
Alina struggled getting used to the length and weight of the bone sword fae.
It didn't weigh that much considering it was a fae and not an actual weapon, but the extra length was something that she had to get used to.
Having the bark growth fae on her arm was weird as well.
In the event that she couldn't parry or block one of Ratimir's attacks, she could always raise her shield and push it forward, trying her best to stagger Ratimir.
Ratimir on the other hand, had a much more smoother experience with Alina's fae.
With his size, using the silent butterfly fae wouldn't prove much use, but the similarities between his own stream fae and Alina's shadowstream fae were evident.
The stream fae felt much more.... nimble in his hands. The blade itself mimicking the properties of water. While the shadowstream fae felt much faster, much less resistance in slashing, seeing as the blade itself was made out of solid shadows.
While both Alina and Ratimir found themselves enamoured with these new sensations Ratimir eventually pushed Alina towards the edge of the stage, leaving Arthur to signal the victor of the fight.
He looked towards them, as they handed their fae back to each other.
"How did it feel, using these fae?".
Ratimir and Alina sat down on the edge of the stage, the rest of the class standing around them as they talked.
"Using Alina's shadowstream fae was.... similar, yet clearly different to the stream fae. The properties of water and shadow are too different and move themselves differently in battle. With water you need to let it flow, while with shadows its much more-".
"Free, right?".
Ratimir nodded at Alina's words.
"Your bone sword fae took some getting used too. The length and the weight was way different to what I was used to. But, the bark growth fae did supplement some of my weaknesses. Blocking some attacks completely were much easier than parrying or dodging".
Arthur smiled throwing an origin essence stone towards Ratimir, quickly turning back to the rest of the class.
"This is what I mean by letting the body through martial arts, supplement the fae. A Fae's full power can only be utilised by someone who can let it out. Understanding what your fae is, and how to use them is the first step. Both Alina and Robert changed their styles to supplement the power of the others fae, this is what everyone here needs to do".
Randolf lifted his head slightly.
"How do we do that?".
Arthur smiled grew malicious for a second, before returning to its normal politeness.
"With a beating of course!".