Time passed relatively slowly for Arthur, who was bathing within the Origin Essence Liquid Pond without a single care in the world. He removed all worries, or thoughts or schemes from his mind and solely focused on increasing his cultivation during this period of time.
As the brand new "genius" of the Kovacs Clan continued to ascend towards higher realms of cultivation, the upper echelons of the Clan were debating something else at the moment.
Ever since the beast tide, the power dynamics with Parachenko Village had changed dramatically. The number of Elders within the Elder Hall had diminished severely, and those groups of Elders who were counted on for their vote, either didn't make it, or had lost a portion of their cultivation when protecting the Village.
As reparations for their sacrifice, the rest of the Elders Hall could only offer their descendents more rewards or merits, but other than that, these former Elders were destined to remain as stronger mortals for the rest of their days.
The remaining Elders, alongside the Clan Leader were the strongest out of all the Elders within the Kovacs Clan. Excluding Elder Anatol, who protected the Clan Reserves, there were only just over a dozen Elders remaining in the Kovacs Clan.
There were a few "seeds" who were destined to become Rank 3 within their lifetime, like Dominic and Leon, but for the time being, they hadn't yet ascended from Rank 2 Fae Master to a Rank 2 Fae Master.
The current batch of Elders were observing a massive diagram of the Village pointing out specific regions for development and areas which needed to be protected.
They couldn't decide how mortals chose to build their homes, but they could dictate where they couldn't build them.
Ever since Arthur had mentioned the capabilities of spirit plants, the Elder Hall had been quite busy with planning for their futures.
They had the Ocean Vein Tree Fae, but that only had a radius of a single kilometre and was in the possession of the Clan Leaders party. The introduction of spiritual plants, and their effects had yet to be explored, and even if it was a mindless endeavour, just attempting to see whether or not this harmless experiment will fail or succeed was something that many were willing to bet on.
Even Arthur's grandfather, the leader of the Medicine Hall had been called in and asked to investigate the relationships behind the possibilities of awakening a Fae Master talent and the amount of spiritual essence ingested through spirit plants.
The Medicine Hall Elder frowned for a moment before shrugging his shoulders.
"Honestly.... I can't tell. My knowledge on plants and herbs only extends to healing and poisons. How they can affect the origin essence sea and the potential of an origin essence sea awakening is beyond my understanding. Although, I can't see any fault in the logic. I don't quite understand spirit beasts, but I do know that the percentage of a spirit beasts child also being a spirit beast is higher than a Fae Master having a Fae Master child....".
If Arthur were here, he wouldn't be able to suppress a smirk.
It was like trying to catch fish in a barrel.
What was the point, I've already got them right where I want them.
Elder Vova showed a conflicted expression before gesturing to the pastures on the west side of the Village. They were the pastures and fields closest to the Lecture Hall.
"For the time being, I think we should grow the spirit plants here next to the Lecture Hall. I could give students lessons in the fields and show them how to nurture spirit plants under the pretext of helping them with their studies. We wouldn't have to worry about the mortals interfering, and the vast majority would be none the wiser".
Quite a few of the Elders nodded as well.
Including Elder Sagan.
"The soil in the western fields aren't as bountiful as the northern or the eastern fields. The southern fields are for our tamed spirit beasts so those are out of the question".
The Kovacs Clan had lost quite a number of tamed spirit beasts in the previous two beast tides.
The Clan mainly reared, Cow Species, Sheep Species and Chicken Species spirit beasts, all of whom were Knight Ranked and unusually docile.
The Elder in charge of that little enterprise, was Elder Velika, who was in possession of a Rank 2 Cow Shepard Fae, Rank 2 Sheep Shepard Fae and a Rank 3 Chicken Shepard Fae.
The Shepard type Fae was a type of Fae that could tame spirit beasts. They didn't demand absolute obedience from the spirit beasts as they weren't enslavement, or Will-erasing Fae, but they did create a similar effect to the Affection Tree Fae in Arthur's possession.
But unlike the Affection Tree Fae, it couldn't hit multiple targets at once, and couldn't tame spirit beasts of the same level as the Fae.
So theoretically, a Rank 9 Chicken Shepard Immortal Fae would only be able to tame up to Rank 8 Immortal Chicken Species spirit beasts.
Quite a number of Elders nodded, before Elder Zarek spoke up.
"I suppose this settles the experiment into the effects of spirit plants on our descendents, but if its not too much trouble, I'd like to ask the rest of the Elders present about something that my daughter-in-law brought to my attention".
Most of the Elders perked up and noticed Elder Zarek pull out a massive diagram, this one also of the Village, but more detailed and much more filled in. Some frowned for a moment, not recognizing the houses and streets before raising an eyebrow and turning towards Elder Zarek.
Elder Sagan and Elder Velika too raised an eyebrow.
"This is..... a future Parachenko Village?".
Elder Zarek nodded.
"My daughter in law obtained some schematics from her brother about building houses on top of the numerous rivers that now flow through the Clan. Originally, the plan was to slowly remove them and guiding the rivers towards the rear of the Village, off the cliffside. However, with these perhaps we won't have to spend so much time and effort into changing the landscape....".
Elder Zarek pulled out another set of building plans, this one, exactly the same as the one that Arthur had used to build his own house.
"I won't lie to any of you, I do believe that my daughter in laws brother obtained this from Arthur. He is currently awaiting the construction of this house, which I do believe quite a number of Fae Masters are interested in".
Elder Velika narrowed her eyes at the building plans, before nodding slightly and glancing at Elder Zarek.
"It would be.... prudent to check out every available option. If this new building design is as sturdy, waterproof and as resistant as our normal houses, then perhaps we won't have to spend time changing the landscape. It would also allow us to grow Water Attributed Fae materials right here within the Clan..... When is the houses scheduled to be completed?".
Elder Zarek narrowed his eyes for a moment before rubbing his chin.
"If I'm not mistaken, about a month from now. Give or take a few days....".
The other Elders also nodded.
"If the new type of building proves to be a reliable one, we will be able to turn this new weakness into a strength. The number of Fae materials, and the variety of Fae materials should explode if this proves to be a success".
These discussions within the Elders Hall didn't quite concern Niklos who was busy with some of the other Elders regarding the expansion and scouting of the territories outside the Clan.
He could trust that the Elders Hall wouldn't cheat him out of too much, at least to the point where they were clearly trying to gain benefits for themselves.
While one group was focused on the internal reconstruction of Parachenko Village, and the urbanization of its new environment and landscapes, another group was busy focusing on another front.