A week passed in Parachenko Village....
The remnants of an enormous battle could still be seen throughout every corner of the Village, as to this day, Fae Masters and mortals were still finding bodies that had gotten buried or swallowed up by the mud and rain.
The once small, and relatively calm streams that flowed through Parachenko Village had now become wide, surging rivers that bloomed with an uncountable number of life forms.
Numerous spirit beasts, Fae materials, spiritual medicines, special treasures and quite a few number of Fae had been discovered over the past few days, a number that would only continue to grow as time passed.
The aftermath of the two beast tides caused the population of Parachenko Village to dwindle by more than half, and their collective Fae Master strength declined by almost 70%.
Despite the fact that they still had powerhouses like Niklos, Elder Vova and Elder Anatol, the number of Rank 2 and Rank 3 Fae Masters the Kovacs Clan possessed had fallen dramatically.
These Fae, Fae materials and spiritual medicines were a quiet consolation to the fact that they had just lost so many.
And now, new rules had been implemented within the Village so as to strengthen their defences, in addition to bolstering their combat power.
All remaining citizens of Parachenko Village, that were around the age of 15, would undergo their talent awakening ceremony. Regardless of whether their name of Kovacs or not, once they underwent the talent awakening ceremony, and awakened a Fae Master talent, they would be allowed to change their name to Kovacs, and become a true member of the Clan.
Normally one would need to seriously large contribution to the Clan if they wanted to change their name, and allow their descendents to become "Kovacs", but with the fall in overall strength in the Village, the new rule certainly boosted the mortals morale significantly.
If their child, or their next child could awaken a Fae Master talent then their family's destiny would change forever!
This would result in a baby boom within the mortal population of Parachenko Village, exactly what the Elders were aiming for.
"Despite the fact that we have lost more than 10% of our entire Fae materials, spiritual medicines and specially bred spiritual beasts, the growth of these resources has increased by more than 300% in the last week. New Bone Attributed, Blood Attributed, Emotion Attributed, Flesh Attributed and Water Attributed materials have begun to spring up all over the Village.
"Not to mention the fact that we even found an extremely powerful Rank 3 Bone Development Fae, our losses have only been in the amount of people, not our actual resources themselves. Of course, there is the matter about.... her".
The remaining Elders gathered in the Elders Hall, all of them showing slightly disappointed expressions.
The loss of the Boundless Forest Yearning was a big one, something that no number of Fae or Fae materials could make up for.
The possessor of the Boundless Forest Yearning, could've at least reached Rank 5 if nothing happened to her, and she could've been accepted into a nearby Sect and overcome the enormous boundary that was Rank 6.
If that happened, then the benefits that could come to the Kovacs Clan were uncountable. They wouldn't just have to settle for a large section of the Winter Rain Mountains, they could take the entire mountain range for themselves.
They might have to worry about the Marina Clan but other than that, everything was fine.
They could become the true overlords of an entire region, just like the Nine Seas Theology.
Elder Vova sighed, and glanced towards Niklos.
He knew how.... or, at the very least, he knew what a certain somebody must be feeling at this point.
He had seen the purity in Arthur's eyes. His resolve as well as his conviction.
But now.... all of that... had been completely wiped away.
He hadn't just failed in his task, but he failed in everything he believed in.
Arthur.... was probably broken.
Not physically, but mentally and spiritually.
It would be a surprise for his cultivation to ever progress beyond its current Rank.
Niklos nodded somewhat sombrely.
"The loss of the Boundless Forest Yearning is an enormous setback for the Village, and it does restrict out future plans somewhat. However, the current state of the Kovacs Clan cannot afford to think about the "what ifs". If so, we should be questioning "what if the beasts tides never happened in the first place".
Instead, we should focus out attention on our Fae Master population".
Elder Velika and Elder Sagan nodded.
"Out of our roughly 2,000 Fae Masters, only roughly 700 are still alive. And of that 700, about 90 of them have injuries that cannot be healed with our current Fae. These include loss of limbs, burns, loss of organs, severed veins, and broken spines. They cannot fight, but most of them can still.... give birth".
Niklos nodded.
"Those mortal women who have lost parents or husbands that can still give birth, offer them a chance to marry those Fae Masters who can still procreate. Give mortal men the same opportunity. For the remaining 600 or so Fae Masters.... offer every single one of them a Fae of their choice for every child they can give to the Village within the next 5 years. Our numbers need a boosting and sweetening the deal for all parties involved will be a good idea".
All of the Elders nodded at the Clan Leaders words.
"There will not be a penalty to those Fae Masters who do not participate in this, however, those that do no participate will be forced to guard the boarders of the Village, and assist in the elimination of all spirit beasts within our territory. Leave the Knight Ranked spirit beasts, but everything else must be killed".
These Elders, or at least the Elders that remained all knew of the importance of keeping a balance within the ecosystem.
If they completely eliminated a section of the food chain, then the rest of the chain would suffer as a result.
Even these Humans, who usually thought themselves above the food chain, or on top of the pyramid would suffer if their food supply ran short.
Niklos let out a deep breath before leaning back into his chair.
"Is there anything else? Or shall we convene today's meeting?".
Most of the remaining Elders nodded, but Elder Sagan turned towards Elder Zarek showing a.... polite expression on his face.
Elder Sagan was Borik's grandfather, while Elder Zarek was Alina's grandfather.
The pair were rivals in their younger days, but pretty good friends now that both of them had become Elders.
Despite his polite expression, his tone was more.... suggestive, than anything else.
"I was wondering, Brother Sagan, if you wanted to perhaps betroth Alina to Borik? Our grandchildren are at a marriageable age, and their talents are similar. So perhaps they might hit things off if we were to-".
Elder Zarek narrowed his eyes.
"No. No chance in hell. If Alina gets married now, the best years of her cultivation will get wasted on rearing and raising children. Her talents are more than enough to help her reach Rank 3 and become an Elder as well. I'm not taking that chance away from her".
Elder Sagan just smiled before raising his hands, making a "backing off" gesture.
He knew he wouldn't be able to move his friends heart with just this one instance, but, as time passed, and Alina's cultivation slowed, things would start to become very different....
So long as his grandson didn't screw things up, he might just be able to get him a wife....
Niklos glanced at the two Elders before mentally sighing getting up out of his seat.
'Perhaps.... I would be able to do something like that, if things were different....'.