"Alright. It seems that all 48 of the students are all here. Elder Vova?".
The lead Lecture Hall Elder nodded slightly before giving a small nod to the group of Fae Masters beside him.
Other than the three Elders from the Lecture Hall, and Chensa and her partner, the excursion into the territory outside the walls of Parachenko Village, would be escorted by a group of Fae Masters, on the same route as their daily patrols.
They would only be present for a short while, until they met up with the returning patrol group, and then start their route, without the Elders or the new Fae Masters.
Alina, Ratimir and Borik all took up positions near each of the edges of the group, while Randolf, Arthur and Andrea took up the rear.
None of them were asked to do this, but were instead taught by their Elder grandparents.
Even thought this was just an excursion into the forest, they didn't want their younger generations picking up any of the bad habits that they ignored as young Fae Masters.
Always being on guard when travelling outside cities or towns would always prove to be a valuable lesson. Outside Winter Rain Mountain their existed countless bandits and thieves ready to kill you, kidnap you or worse.
Not to mention those young Fae Masters from large Sects and Clans. If you were lucky and met someone who had entered the Clan through their own talents, they might let you go.
But if you met one of those arrogant young masters whose grandfather, or father was some sort of Elder or Deacon of a Clan, who might not escape with your life.
The vast majority of Clans and Sects in the outside world belonged to the righteous path. They were the Sects which protected the weak, and truly believed that it was the duty of the strong to protect those who couldn't protect themselves.
The notion itself was a little too altruist for Arthur, but he could understand the sentiment.
However, there was undoubtedly those bad apples, who were corrupted by their power and backing and used their influence and strength to exert force over those weaker than them.
These individuals hid behind a façade of righteousness, and used the face of God while playing the Devil.
These were the types of people that Arthur hated the most.
He showed a self-depreciating smile.
'Of course, that doesn't mean that I won't do it. If I cared what others thought of me, I would've ended my life long before I even finished my first century of living....'.
Arthur would do anything to secure his own future, as well as increase his own strength. It didn't matter what it was, or who he did it to, so long as he had something to benefit out of it, Arthur would perform it to the best of his abilities.
That is what it means to be a demon.
Arthur felt a small nudge come from his side and turned his head to look at the green haired girl beside him.
Andrea was starting to show the physical effects of possessing one of the Thirty Three Sovereign Boundary Physiques, causing her hair to turn a shade of grass coloured green.
Right now, Andrea only had green highlights and her physical body hadn't fully adapted to the powers of the Boundless Forest Yearning Sovereign Boundary Physique, even though she could express those powers whenever she wanted.
She had a curious expression on her face.
"What are you thinking about?", she whispered.
Arthur gave her a smile before shrugging his shoulders.
"I was just wondering what the Elders have planned today. I suggested the idea, but I didn't have any say in what would actually happen".
Andrea nodded her head slightly.
"I mean, we'll probably just have to forage for food and find sources of drinkable water. The main goal of this exercise is to familiarise ourselves with the area around the Village. Other than that, I don't really know....".
The pair chatted quietly, at the rear of the group. Other than Randolf who was trailing just a little bit further in front of them, Chensa and her partner who were behind Arthur and Andrea, no-one else was around the two.
Of course, no-one that they could discern of course....
Arthur turned his head to the side, his eyes landing on a particular spot before moving again.
A small bead of sweat formed on the brow of the old man hiding behind a large, hundred year old tree, thanking his previous self for remembering to borrow the fake wood fae from the Clan Reserves.
'.... for a second there, I actually thought that he saw me. He was looking right at me....'.
The fake wood fae allowed a Fae Master to make their bodies take the appearance of a tree. It was similar to the camouflage fae in that it turned the Fae Master invisible for moment, but wasn't nearly as strong or as all-rounded as the camouflage fae.
Fake wood fae allowed a Fae Master to mimic the appearance and spiritual essence of a tree. They didn't hide their presence but instead mimicked that of a tree.
In the middle of a forest, unless one had another tracking or investigative fae like the wolf nose fae or the bear nose fae they probably wouldn't be able to find this Fae Master.
And considering that this Fae was Rank 3, its strength was fae above the realms of a Rank 1 Fae Master like Arthur. Since the Elder matched eyes with Arthur, for a second there he thought that he could be seen!
Elder Stas let out a shallow breath.
His heart was was raising, anyone that could see Elder Stas right now would instantly be able to tell how nervous he was.
He knew in his heart that this wasn't the right thing to do, but his desires and lust for power exceeded the limits of his conscience.
Even if he had to kill Arthur to get what he wanted, Stas would still do it. He firmly believed that this "mysterious diary", or the knowledge within it at least was something that exceeded the limits of a Rank 3 Fae Master.
Even if the other Elders couldn't see it, he believed that he could!
Getting attacked by two Rank 2 Fae Masters and only getting off with a severed hand was evidence of that! Even he, someone who also was considered a genius couldn't match blow for blow with a Rank 2 Fae Master as a Rank 1.
He would be killed instantly!
Arthur and Andrea strolled through the forests peacefully, under the careful gazes of Chensa and the other Elders.
Arthur had littered "little seeds" all over the territory outside the Clan, most of them in unique places like underneath the root system of a tree, or near a large riverbank like for the blood essence gathering tree.
Even if the patrols found these places where Arthur had slightly "altered", would they even know what they were looking for? And if they did, how would they know where exactly to look?
Would they check in every crevice? Along the shores of ever stream and river within the territory of the Kovacs Clan?
Of course not!
Even if they were to walk right into the mouth of a flesh eating trap fae, they would only realise what they had done, after it was too late! The problem wasn't that their strength wasn't enough, or that they were too weak.
It was that they were too ignorant of the outside world!
In his thousand years of life, Arthur had explored more than half of the Thirty Three Heavens!
How would an eighty year old Elder from the Kovacs Clan, one that had never even left Winter Rain Mountain, even try to think of the things that Arthur had seen?
Arthur smirked.
'Perhaps I'll be able to use the blood essence gathering tree early', he thought.