Arthur left the territory of the Kovacs Clan, and headed towards the area where he had planted the blood essence gathering tree.
The entire area had been engulfed in water, and it was possible that the Fae had been forcibly unearthed, or killed during the intense floods. It was even possible that it was squashed to death, under the weight of the Noxious Venom Spider Beast King, if it was really stepped on.
The surrounding area had become much more damp, and the soil beneath Arthur's feet lost its sturdy properties. He had to avoid walking in areas with extreme amounts of mud and water, lest he falls into some sort of sinkhole or spirit beast den.
With the Boundless Forest Yearning, the way that Arthur.... perceived things in the forest had changed ever so slightly.
It had only been a couple weeks since he obtained the Sovereign Boundary Physique, and his Mind, Body and Soul were still adjusting to its powers, albeit at a much faster rate than Andrea did.
He hadn't even touched upon the realm of Laws, but the leaves and trees seemed to perk up a little bit in the presence of Arthur. Every step that Arthur took, seemed to revitalize the woodlands around him, as if being infatuated with his very being.
The key abilities of the Boundless Forest Yearning, laid in both "Wood Laws" and "Emotion Laws". With the sole exception of some Wood Race members, his affinity to both forests and emotions exceeded that of all others.
When used in conjunction with one another, Arthur could inspire an enormous amount of affection within the flora around him.
Trees would move their branches to protect him.
Leaves would cover his body from sight.
Thorns and spikes would pierce those who got too close.
Flowers and petals would rain down around him, covering him, and hiding him using their colours and scents.
This was only something that someone who had touched upon a Law could hope to understand, but Arthur, even as a Rank 1 Fae Master, could still feel the affection and emotion that came from the forest around him.
A particular path seemed slightly brighter than others, causing Arthur to smile before following it.
It wasn't the path to where he had planted the blood essence gathering tree, but somewhere further downstream.
Arthur followed the brightened leaves and the strong healthy bark before narrowing his eyes at the massive lake in front of him.
Actually, to call it a lake would be a little of an insult. A large pond was more appropriate, although, from the colour of its centre, one would be able to see just how deep this particular pond was.
"Shit.... a sinkhole", Arthur muttered.
If Arthur had the Overflowing Ocean Depths, he would, without a single thought, jump down and retrieve the blood essence gathering tree. That particular Sovereign Boundary Physique, exceeded all others when it came to combat in the water.
Except for perhaps the first and second Ranked Sovereign Boundary Physiques, perhaps even the fifth and sixth one in certain circumstances.
The Overflowing Ocean Depths was Ranked 9th in terms of pure combat power.
The Perpetual Titan Strength was Ranked 4th.
For scaling purposes, the Formless Night Shadow was ranked 14th.
While the Luminous Golden Light was Ranked 11th.
The Boundless Forest Yearning on the other hand, was Ranked 22nd. Relatively low in the scheme of things, but its power did not lie in combat.
The other Sovereign Boundary Physiques, at least the ones that Arthur were familiar with, like the Ardent Blaze Annihilation which was Ranked 10th and the Immovable Earth Mountain which was Ranked 29th were also powerful in their respective fields.
Ardent Blaze Annihilation was the opposite of the Overflowing Ocean Depths, and was considered weaker than it, due to the incompatible nature of their Laws.
On the other hand, the Immovable Earth Mountain possessor could, and had won against someone with the Perpetual Titan Strength Sovereign Boundary Physique by forcing them to run out of origin essence.
One was Ranked 29th in terms of combat power, the other 4th, yet, the latter had lost.
The Boundless Forest Yearning was weak to the Ardent Blaze Annihilation, but was strong against the 12th Ranked, Variable Thought Order.
Emotions overpowered Thought. While Thought overpowered Desire. Desire on the other hand, overpowered Emotion.
Arthur's understanding of the vast majority of these Sovereign Boundary Physiques were rudimentary at best.
He knew the Secondary Origin Fae that they all possessed, but other than that, his attainments in most of the Laws that they were based upon were.... next to nothing.
Perhaps the Formless Night Shadow was the exception, but that was for a different reason.
Arthur let out a sigh as he gazed down at the sinkhole before turning around and heading to another location.
"For the time being I'll leave the blood essence gathering tree alone. My current self can't fight evenly against a Baron Ranked spirit beast, especially underwater in their natural habitat. My crocodile transformation Fae can't hold up against a creature of that Rank either".
With just the crocodile transformation fae, Arthur could fight Knight Ranked spirit beasts underwater.
With crocodile transformation fae, halberd fae and woodpecker fae, perhaps Lord Ranked spirit beasts.
With the enhancements from the Blood Fruits and the crocodile transformation fae, halberd fae and woodpecker fae, Arthur could fight just about every spirit beast under Baron Ranked under water, with the exception of a few extremely dangerous ones.
But Baron Ranked spirit beasts? Arthur had absolutely no chance.
He let out a deep breath of air before activating his wind stalker fae and running in another direction. There were signs of Fae forming everywhere within Winter Rain Mountain, and would be quite easy to discover.... but only if one knew exactly where to look.
Arthur's figure flashed as he darted over branches and leaves, not daring to leave a footprint on the soft soil below.
His path may have been blocked by twigs and thorns, but miraculously, not a single leaf or twig was snapped by Arthur has he leapt from one tree to the next, almost as though the trees themselves were moving out of Arthur's way.
If one looked closely, they would see the faint image of a large tree behind Arthur. One with bright jade coloured leaves, and strange pink coloured vines bearing flowers of the same colour.
It was an odd looking tree, but not at all displeasing to the eye.
In fact, it seemed kind of cute the closer one looked at it....
The affection tree fae was capable of inspiring affection in all things in the world. Once it reached a certain point, one could even inspire affection in the heavens and the earth, and receive blessings from it.
Its combat power was relatively low in the scheme of things, but without a doubt, the Boundless Forest Yearning was one of the most powerful Sovereign Boundary Physiques.
These mortal Ranked plants, couldn't hope but become infatuated with Arthur, and moved themselves to open up a path for him to travel through.
Eventually, Arthur's figure stopped, and the corners of his mouth turned upwards, as he gazed down at the gargantuan corpse below.
It was the figure of a huge bear with brown coloured fur. Its body was covered in large swathes of green vines and leaves, which almost seemed to grow out of its body.
This was the corpse of a Baron Ranked Wood Leaf Bear. One that had been killed by Elder Vova and his Wood Attributed Control Skill.
Despite being dead for more than two weeks, its flesh had yet to rot, and its fur was still relatively intact.
Arthur smiled as he noticed the faint movement directly beside the corpse of the Wood Leaf Bear.
It was minute, tiny, but Arthur could still see it.
The faint traces of Fae....