Over the next few days, before the Lectures start for the next generation of Kovacs within Parachenko Village, Arthur had being spending his time differently in comparison to his previous year.
Last year he had put quite a bit of his focus into both Fae Formula, as well as cultivation.
This year, Arthur had continued to cultivate just like any other diligent Fae Master, but he had also spent some of his time.... practising with some of the other Fae Masters. Primarily those who had been in the top ten during the most recent Fae Master Tournament.
Most of them had ample combat experience, or at least had survived the beast tides and had experienced what war, even on a small scale was like. They knew where their weaknesses laid, and where they had room to improve.
Not to mention.... all of them were Rank 1 Fae Masters. The Affection Tree Fae didn't just work on members of the opposite sex, it inspired affection in all things between the heavens and the earth.
The tenth ranked place, Parvan. The sixth ranked place, Milena. The fifth ranked place, Iryna. And the fourth ranked place Zlatanna. These were the four that Arthur had started.... "hanging around with".
He had told them that now that all of them had stopped their Lectures and were free to do whatever they wanted during their free time, that they could all train together if they were up for it.
He had offered the same olive branch to Godemir, Florian and Vladya, but the former were friends with Ratimir, while the latter had started associating with Alina.
It wouldn't be too long before these proper Fae Masters were sent on patrols, missions and other miscellaneous tasks, so Arthur missed out on a couple while focusing on reaching Rank 2.
All of them had experienced Arthur's strength, so they were interested in teaming up with him. All of them had their..... peculiarities, but Arthur didn't think much of it. They were pretty tame in comparison to some of the things that Arthur had seen, or done in the past.
"Parvan you fucking asshole! Get back down here!".
The only other male of the group flipped the short, busty young woman off, sticking his tongue out before shaking his head.
"Maybe if you beg for it, I'll let you come up here little girl~".
Arthur let out a small sigh as he examined the seen before him.
Two of his potential "pawn" were currently fighting. One standing on the top of a massive, thirty metre pillar of stone, while the other one slammed her feet down on the earth, trying her best to shake the pillar with her massive eight golden coloured spider lances.
One was currently reading a book, while the other one was cheering them both on like an idiot.
It was with these four, that Arthur wanted to destroy Parachenko Village.... maybe he was the one that was an idiot.
Arthur let out a cough, letting his presence be known to the rest of them.
All for of them, regardless of whether it was the short, angry girl or the arrogant young man at the top of the pillar, all turned towards Arthur who stood there blank faced with his arms crossed.
The smile on his face..... didn't reach his eyes.
"What the hell do you think you four are doing?".
Parvan and Iryna glanced at each other before pointing at one another.
"She started it!".
"He started it!".
Arthur felt a part of him die on the inside as he completely ignored those two and turned towards Milena and Zlatanna. Milena was the one cheering them on, while Zlatanna was the one reading the book.
If Arthur was younger and less experienced he might just let these four get away with whatever they wanted. So long as he could count on their strength, he would let them do just about anything short of killing and looting.
But now.... he wanted them to kill when he said kill. Loot whenever he said loot. And die whenever he said die.
Brainwashing Fae Masters wasn't an easy feat, especially without any sort of preparations beforehand. Trust was an important part that wasn't grown easily, even within a Clan.
They could count on each other when it came to external threats, but internally it was a free for all. Resources were limited and attaching themselves to the genius third born son of the Clan Leader seemed like a good option at the time.
Arthur just shook his head before summoning his halberd fae.
The moment he activated said Fae, the other four felt their stomachs sink and their expressions worsen.
The glint in Arthur's eyes became sharp, and his facial expressions turned stern as he gazed at every single one of them.
"You guys know the drill. If you can land a hit on me, if any of you can land a hit on me, then I'll help you grow stronger. If not, I'll beat you until you can learn to work together".
Hiding the lesson behind this "tough love" wasn't going to cut it.
Arthur had already told them that if they wanted to even land a hit on him, let alone beat him, they would have to work in tandem. Arthur also promised them, that he would help them grow and become stronger as quickly as possible, at least to the point where they could fight Borik or Alina to a standstill.
Anything further than that and it was up to them.
Arthur had beat them all up dozens of times, and then healed them with the Fae he obtained from the Clan Reserves, and the Sleipnir.
Even if it used up a lot of origin essence, these four weren't worth even a pseudo Attribute Control Skill. At least not yet.
Arthur watched as Parvan took the front, with Iryna and Milena on either side of him. Zlatanna's figure flickered slightly before Arthur scoffed, raising his halberd fae in order to block the downwards slash.
His strength as a Rank 2 Fae Master, enhanced with Blood Fruits, allowed him to push back Zlatanna with a single arm. The girl flipped through the air slightly, landing behind the rest of her group, as Parvan and Milena launched a ranged barrage.
Parvan specialised in Earth Attributed Fae, while Milena preferred to use Fae that could augment her poison. Corpse poison, flower poison, chemical poison, fae poison.... anything really.
She also liked to use corpses, which isn't that surprising considering her family were grave keepers.
A vicious timed barrage of stone, earth and poisonous blood shot towards Arthur. The young sixteen year old just raised his hand before summoning numerous vines up out of the ground beneath him, letting them coil and twist into the form of a shield in front of him.
Some of the stone bullets and poisonous blood weren't deflected by the shield, but due to Arthur's positioning, he completely evaded all of the stray bullets.
The hairs on the back of his neck raised slightly as he lifted his halberd fae and felt an immense pressure bear down on his body. His eyes locked with the dangerous, yet also short girl, Iryna as all eight of her Golden Poison Lances bared down on Arthur.
His gaze turned dangerous and the corners of his mouth raised upwards slightly as he noticed Zlatanna coming from his left.
Arthur didn't so much as lift a single finger as a huge amount of woodland spikes appeared within the area around him, forcing Iryna to use her spider lances to evade the attack, and for Zlatanna to retreat backwards, avoiding the large number of woodland spikes.
Arthur smiled as he noticed that final move, he twirled the halberd fae in his hands before grinning, causing the four in front of them to shiver slightly.
"Don't worry. I won't kill you or anything".