Arthur felt the feeling of a foreign gaze placed on his body the entire trek towards the area where their excursion will take place. Although Arthur could tell where the gaze was coming from, he still couldn't discern its exact location.
Arthur felt as though it was even easier to find out where this geezer was hiding in the Village, in comparison to the forest.
'He must have some sort of fae that can change his presence. In Parachenko Village, there wasn't enough plants or trees to mask his presence successfully in comparison to the forest. If that's the case, he'll be even harder to find....'.
Arthur didn't know that he had stared directly at Stas, and even if he did, he would still do it again.
Arthur didn't know that Elder Stas possessed both the wolf nose fae and the fake wood fae. Most of the Elders in the Clan didn't possess one Rank 3 Fae, let alone two. And even though they were both powerful in their own rights, neither of them possessed any direct combat abilities.
Arthur and the rest of the group halted their steps, seeing that the escorting patrol group split off, and headed in a different direction.
Elder Vova smiled slightly at his students before turning his head slightly before nodding at this location.
"We'll rest here for a short while. If anyone wants to walk around feel free to do so. If anyone finds a fresh source of water, make sure to remember its location alright?".
All of his students nodded, most of them walking about, familiarising themselves with this part of the forest.
Most of these young students, despite having played around here in their childhoods, hadn't been this far away from the Clan before. Exploring just outside the Clan itself, where one could still see the lights from the candle fae in the distance was one thing, however, several kilometres outside the of the Clan was another.
Perhaps only Arthur, and a couple of others who were the children of mortal hunters had only been out this far.
These hunters, despite their lack of strength, still could defeat a Rank 1 Fae Master if they caught them off guard. Most practiced some form of basic martial arts, ones that could strength the foundation and were usually well versed in hunting and tracking their targets, even without the use of Fae.
Their strength came from their experience, which was collected over a long period of time. Unlike Fae Masters, use origin essence sea naturally transforms their bodies, these mortal hunters needed to hone their physiques to reach a point comparable to Rank 1 Fae Masters.
Of course, against Rank 2 Fae Masters, they were nothing special.
Using physical strength alone, without any sort of technique was more than enough to cripple, if not kill a mortal hunter.
Arthur and Andrea headed off to the side, under the careful watch of Chensa and her male counterpart.
Arthur was quite familiar with this area, seeing as though he planted a couple "seeds" within a few kilometres of this location.
Before getting into a fight with those two Rank 2 Fae Masters from the Marina Clan, Arthur had spent a lot of his time, and wealth creating these "seeds". Most of which were used to advance his potential and strength for the long term, however some were used as backups in case something went wrong.
Today, Arthur was planning on using one of these backup plans of his.
Arthur gestured for Andrea to follow him towards a small clear stream nearby, but instantly stopped moving and crouched down, gesturing for Andrea to do so as well.
The girl turned red as Arthur grabbed her by the arm and pulled her down, placing her head next to his chest.
"Arthur! This isn't the time, or the place for-".
The fifteen year old smiled, raising a finger to his mouth before pointing off into the distance. Andrea raised an eyebrow and turned her head towards the direction his finger was pointing in.
Her eyes narrowed slightly before widening rapidly as her mouth dropped.
Her faint, greenish-brown eyes seemed to light up the entire forest around them as she watched the creature in front of them with a soft gaze.
"Is that a spirit beast?", she whispered.
Arthur nodded.
"It's a River Walker Deer. A type of spirit beast that is indigenous to Winter Rain Mountain".
The large, blue horned deer raised its head slightly as it walked over the small stream in the distance, glancing towards Andrea and Arthur. It could feel that neither one of these humans had any hostile intent towards it and it resumed drinking from the stream without a care in the world.
While for the most part River Walker Deer weren't that valuable to Fae Masters, their large blue coloured horns were extremely valuable to the right individual. They could be ground up into bone powder to increase the growth of Water Attributed Fae materials, or even used in some low Ranked Fae Formula.
Arthur himself had purchased a little bit of River Walker Bone Powder in order to grow some of his "seeds".
Seeing this large, beautiful spirit beast in the wild, with Arthur so close to her, Andrea couldn't help but smile, unconscious activating her Affection Tree Fae and releasing a formless aroma.
Arthur took one whiff of the air before scrunching up his nose and furrowing his brows.
This girl couldn't control her powers and unconsciously let it loose, he thought.
If this were in the Village, or even in a mortal town, everyone who smelt the aroma of the Affection Tree Fae would undoubtably fall under her spell. Only those who actively felt negative emotions towards the target, or someone with an air bubble fae, or a breathing fae would be able to resist the influence of the Affection Tree Fae.
If this evolved into the Rank 2 Spirit Affection Tree, then wouldn't it be possible to influence Rank 2 Fae Masters? Andrea would be able to exert an influence over an entire region if she fully realized the potential of her Physique.
Arthur smirked slightly as he looked down at Andrea.
He let out a shallow breath, steading his heart.
'Patience Arthur.... patience. The time isn't right yet. Just wait for your moment, and everything will work out fine....'.
Unlike say the Formless Night Shadow, or the Overflowing Ocean Depths the Boundless Forest Yearning's Secondary Origin Fae wasn't one that directly influenced one's combat abilities. It didn't strengthen, or enhance Arthur's powers like the bear arms fae, or compliment anything like the moonslice fae did the moonsword fae.
But.... that didn't mean it wasn't useless.
If Arthur could make an entire Clan, like the Kovacs Clan or the Marina Clan fall under the influence of the Affection Tree Fae, then couldn't he take everything they owned and leave before they even realized what had happened?
Couldn't he use this to affect young geniuses, and pull them over to his side, or force them to fight against each other?
The Overflowing Ocean Depths had the Tidal Teeth Fae, and the Formless Night Shadow had the Black Copy Fae!
Tidal Teeth Fae was similar to the bone sword fae or the stream fae which created a weapon that a Fae Master could use to attack their opponent. However, the Tidal Teeth Fae created a large sword, one flat and serrated around the edges like a sharks tooth.
It cut through water like a knife through warm butter, and could regenerate itself just like an actual sharks tooth would.
On the other hand, the Black Copy Fae created a formless copy of the Fae Master, one that could perform everything the Fae Master can do, all without possessing an actual physical form. They could jump, leap and run alongside the Fae Master and take blows for the Fae Master whenever they needed.
At higher Ranks, the number of copies that could be created would increase, and their likeness would only grow stronger.
If Arthur had any of these, his strength would increase dramatically.
The River Walker Deer noticed another quickly approaching aura and darted further up the stream, away from the Kovacs Clan territory.
Arthur and Andrea quickly stood up and turned around only to see Chensa and her partner gaze towards the fleeing River Walker Deer with a strange expression on their face.
Chensa turned towards Arthur and Andrea.
"C'mon you two, we're going deeper into the forest".