Alina came back shortly afterwards, a Rank 1 Moonslice Fae and a Rank 1 Blood Essence Fae in hand.
Her combat methods were similar to Ratimir in that they were both close quarters fighters. The moonslice fae was to increase the range of her attack, while the blood essence fae was used to regenerate her origin essence faster.
Since she couldn't benefit from the Origin Essence Liquid Pond, Alina had to rely on Fae in order to increase her cultivation speed. She had reached the peak of hadron quartz origin essence and would take at least a week or two in order to reach zero quartz origin essence.
From there, even with her enhanced origin essence sea size, she would still need another few months in order to reach the peak of Rank 1. With her grandfathers help, she would undoubtably become a Rank 2 Fae Master before Borik and Ratimir, but even then....
Alina glanced at Arthur before leaving.
The next time she would see him, he would be a Rank 2 Fae Master.
The young woman bit her lip before leaving and heading back home. If she could redouble her efforts now that she didn't need to attend the mandatory Lectures, she might be able to become a Rank 2 Fae Master sooner rather than later....
Arthur felt Alina's gaze on his body but ignored it and followed Elder Vova towards the Clan Reserves.
He could feel that Elder Vova had something to say, and glanced around for a moment before opening his mouth.
"Is there something troubling you Elder Vova? You seem.... slightly off, at least compared to usual".
Elder Vova glanced at Arthur not at all showing a physical change in his expression.
"I just wonder what goes on in your head Arthur".
Arthur raised an eyebrow, trying to appear confused.
"I'm assuming it's because of my proposal earlier".
Elder Vova didn't deny Arthur's words, and only hummed gently before replying
"When we last spoke face to face, you wanted strength in order to protect Andrea. Which is part of the reason why I accepted your request for the Rank 2 Wood Essence Fae. I.... heard from Dominic about your.... current parental status as well".
Arthur opened his mouth, but instead just showed a slightly remorseful expression. He wanted to hear what Elder Vova fully had to say before he formulated a reply.
"From the timing, I can assume that you had relations with those two women, after you had started forming a relationship with Andrea. After the excursion to the Falling Snow Famous River. I don't doubt the love you have for Andrea, as I've seen in the past some of the relationships your Father has had with other women, despite his love for you Mother.
"The only problem I have, is why you feel the need for intervening in the affairs of the next generation. As an Elder, and as a full blooded descendent of the Kovacs Clan, I can admit that bringing in so many new members to Clan is slightly disheartening and frightful if something were to occur that could divide the Clan.
"However, through all my years of teaching, there hasn't been a single instance of rebellion or revolution echo throughout the Kovacs Clan, or Parachenko Village. We are a righteous Clan, and don't reject immigrants or outsiders from out walls. Even other Fae Masters whose name isn't Kovacs won't be turned away, so long as they haven't committed any crimes.
"I understand being pragmatic, but don't you think your analogy was a little bit.... over the top?".
Arthur smiled for a second before shaking his head.
"This year, we had close to fifty new Fae Masters. With the recent beast tides, that number has been brought down to just above thirty. Do you know exactly how many fifteen year olds there are in the Village at this moment Elder Vova?".
The Elder nodded.
"There is approximately 91. At least, I'm pretty sure there is 91".
Arthur nodded at his words.
"If you were to guess, how many of them exactly would awaken a Fae Master talent, regardless of what tier?".
"I would say about 30%-40%. Just like every other year".
Arthur's smile turned polite as he glanced at Elder Vova.
"I think this year, more than 70% of those 91 teens will awaken a Fae Master talent. This is just a guess of course, although it is founded on some sort of facts".
Elder Vova raised an eyebrow.
"Oh? And what facts would those be?".
Arthur raised a couple fingers.
"There has been drastic change to the Clan as of late, the amount of spiritual essence in the atmosphere and the surrounding biomes have increased several fold since the beast tides. The introduction of the spirit vein tree fae has caused it to increase as well.
Someone who hasn't experienced the pleasures of being in a large Clan, or Sect would say that the assignment of talents are completely random, but those who have would know that the thicker the spiritual essence in their environment, the higher the awakened talents will be.
With so much death, blood, bones, emotions, wills and desires, along with spiritual essence, numerous Fae have formed causing the spiritual essence to decrease slightly. Although.... what will happen to the rest of the spiritual essence?
If you were to measure around Fae Masters there wouldn't be any change. The same with mortal adults. But children? Those below the age of fifteen.... would experience an decrease in the spiritual essence around them. It may take several years, or even an entire generation but.... eventually, the vast majority of mortals within Parachenko Village, Kovacs or otherwise, should be able to awaken a Fae Master talent".
Elder Vova's eyes widened, and his mouth dropped slightly when he heard those words.
It may just be something that Arthur had made up in order to convince him of his plan but-.
He narrowed his eyes for a moment and stopped walking, rubbing his chin.
"But how do mortals unconsciously absorb spiritual essence? Unlike spirit beasts, whom can devour other spirit beasts humans do not have the luxury of constantly eating-".
Elder Vova's eyes widened and he turned towards Arthur with a slightly shocked expression.
"Spiritual plants!".
Arthur smiled and nodded.
Spiritual plants weren't like Fae or regular Fae materials. While a Fae material would be something like the Consciousness Lotus, or the Spirit Water Liquid, or the Heavy Water that Arthur had stored up a spiritual plant was more akin to a spirit beast.
They were plants that had awakened an origin essence sea.
Mind you, this was different to the Wood Race from the Myriad Races.
Just like Humans and spirit beasts, spiritual plants awakened an origin essence sea through exposure to Hatred Fae. What made them different was that over time, their origin essence sea could slowly grow.
Their intelligence and spirituality was much lower than Humans or even the average spirit beast, but their lifespans were more than ten times the average spirit beast.
Depending on what type of spiritual plant they were, they could actually give birth to special Fae materials, or heavenly medicines. But, their most common usage was for-
"Eating.... if the Clan can use some Hatred Fae in order to nurture some spiritual plants, the fruits and vegetable from spiritual plants can enhance the talents of future Kovacs..... Smaller families usually nurture a spiritual plant or two, knowing that they can occasionally produce Fae materials, but they keep the produce for their own consumption.....".
Fae Master families usually only grow Fae materials, so spiritual plants, despite their commonality, weren't as popular.
Elder Vova frowned for a moment before shaking his head.
"Something so common should've been discovered earlier. How can you prove such a thing, even when Fae Masters from outside the Clan have been doing such things for generations?".
Elder Vova had a point. Since Fae materials in the wilderness and outside Fae Grounds were extremely scarce, most families grew spiritual plants in order to produce Fae materials. Their produce were eventually eaten, and should enhance the talents of their young generations.
Arthur smiled, causing Elder Vova to feel a shiver up his spine.
He knew that Arthur probably had the answer, but seeing him act this way was slightly frightening, especially knowing how perceptible he was!
"I'm surprised you don't know this, considering you haven't lived outside the Clan before, but while I was talking to a Fae Master from outside the Clan, he told me what he did with the fruits and vegetables that came from spiritual plants. He said,
"We usually offer them to the packs of spiritual beasts that wander outside our small Villages. Usually Deer species or sometimes Rabbit or Fox species, but sometimes even Bear species. Of course, if we come out to hunt and don't have any offerings, we almost always get attacked".
Elder Vova felt himself go weak at the knees when he heard this information.
The Kovacs Clan would experience a baby boom in the coming years, as a result of their new rules.
Those Fae Master families would focus on growing Fae materials in order to increase their wealth.
While mortal families would focus on growing spiritual plants, which could produce a large amount of spirit essence filled fruits and vegetables, in addition to a small amount of Fae materials.
They would feel those produces to their descendents, which were filled with spiritual essence and enhance their innate talents.
Fae Master families ate more meat than others, but hunting spirit beasts for the flesh all the time would cause an imbalance in their environment. This was why the Kovacs bloodline was so strong, due to their carnivorous diets and their huge physiques.
Arthur's words seemed completely valid, even if he didn't want to admit it!
The differences in lifestyles.... it just seemed so....
Elder Vova let out a huge sigh before turning to Arthur.
"Everything you just said was the truth right?".
Arthur shook his head to the side.
"Everything that I have just said, will eventually come to pass".
Arthur kept walking forward, not caring at all about the massive bomb he dropped on Elder Vova.
He had just enlightened him on a whole new aspect of spiritual plants and spirit essence, and its effects on the human body.
.... Of course though... Arthur was lying out of his ass.