Just like what Bartland had suggested, Arthur had in fact purchased the materials to transform Wood Yin Ghosts into both Hermetic Cactus Ghosts and Seafoam Moss Ghosts.
Out of the six Wood-Yin Attributed Ghosts he had obtained from Alan, in addition to the single Wood Yin Ghost born from the Wood Embryo Seed, Arthur had five remaining ghosts in his possession.
Two of them had failed to transform into a higher quality existence, and unravelled themselves from the inside out. Constantly leaking Thoughts, Emotions and Desires outwards, until the point that they were completely empty.
Unlike Zombies, Corpses or Skeletons, Ghosts were existences without physical bodies. They could only interact with the physical world by expending some of the bottled up Thoughts, Emotions and Desires that had created them. They could possess other living creatures which didn't expend anything, however if one wanted to use them to attack, it wasn't without a cost.
Thoughts, Emotions and Desires could be replenished in ghosts, however only by absorbing it from living beings. There were some Fae that could be used to supplement this, however none could be found within Human Heaven.
As such, there was always a market for creatures with Thought, Emotion or Desire Attributes. They could be fed to ghosts and were a great source of energy for them.
Arthur currently had in his possession:
2 Dusk Vine Revenants.
1 Hermetic Cactus Ghost.
1 Seafoam Moss Ghost.
And one other Revenant-class ghost.
Arthur wanted to create another type of Wood Attributed Ghost, the only other Wood Attributed Ghost Formula that he had on him, but failed both times he tried to transform it. It was a Revenant-class Ghost whose abilities were almost comparable to Wraith-class ghosts, but with Arthur's current attainment in the Ghost Attribute, he was far from being able to create such a thing.
One might think that all Ghosts, considering their name, possess a Ghost Attribute. Which does make sense when thinking about the definition of the word. However, just as it is the case with Alchemy Attributed Fae, some Fae and some Fae materials names do not correlate to their Attribute, but rather their purpose.
One might think that all Source Flames would possess at least one Fire Attribute, perhaps in addition to another one. However, there exists a Source Flame, and a compatible Fae called Wood Nurturing Flame.
As its name states, the flame nurtures wood, causing it to possess a Wood Attribute. However, instead of possessing a secondary Fire Attribute, it possesses a secondary Alchemy Attribute instead.
Meaning that this particular Source Flame, could be used as an Alchemy Flame.
There was also an ancient Fae called the Soul-Stirring Cauldron Fae. A Soul Attributed Fae that could be used as an Alchemy Cauldron. It's original purpose before the creation of the Alchemy Attribute was merely as a tough defensive shield, but in the Contemporary Era, it's actual uses were revealed.
All Flames are not Fire Attributed.
And not all tools and weapons are Metal Attributed.
Not all Ghosts are Ghost Attributed.
"Do you three understand what I'm trying to say here?".
Milena, Dagen and Nyssa looked at each other for a moment, before the oldest of the three spoke up.
"Yes. Not all the Corpses in my possession possess the Corpse Attribute just because they are dead. But, some of them do and some of them do not, why is that?".
Arthur showed a wry smile before shaking his head.
"To be honest.... I don't fully know the answer to that myself. My attainments in the path of Ghosts don't extend nearly as far as some other fields. However, I will say this. The existence of Attributes isn't necessarily what is important. What is important is the function of the Fae. Or in this case, the corpse or ghost".
The three Fae Masters nodded, before Arthur turned towards Nyssa, who just looked down and avoided his gaze. It had been more than a few days since Arthur had given her his ultimatum, and she hadn't made much progress in regards to transforming remnant Thoughts, Emotions and Desires into an actual ghost.
A Fae Master had to make sure that the balance between the three were relatively stable, lest the ghost either dissipates and dies, or becomes uncontrollable and attacks everything around it.
She had tried three times so far in order to create a ghost, but failed every single time.
The first and second attempts of ghosts that Nyssa tried to form were the Remnant-class Ghost; Blood Bone Ghost. It possessed a dual Blood-Bone Attribute and was the most common type of Ghost with these specific Attributes.
On her most recent attempt, made just last night, she had tried to create a solely Bone Attributed Ghost. Rib Cage Ghosts were the most common type of Bone Attributed Ghosts and possessed relatively high offensive abilities for just a Remnant-class Ghost. They could openly control their size of their rib cage to create a shield, or an area of effect attack that could pin opponents inside of itself.
The girl had the right idea in the beginning, but after she had formed the Rib Cage Ghost, it had quickly dissipated. The balance between Thoughts, Emotions and Desires were completely uneven, resulting in another failed attempt.
To a certain degree, forming a ghost was much easier than evolving one. One only needed to study where ghosts naturally form and deduce what Fae materials are needed in order to create a specific Ghost.
However, within places where Ghosts naturally form are enormous amounts of residual Thoughts, Emotions and Desires. Creating ghosts would be easy so long as one just threw the materials into the environment. Throwing a hundred sets of materials randomly would result in numerous successes, even if most were just unintentional.
The area around Parachenko Village had quite the supply of these necessary mental components, but weren't nearly as strong that one could create ghosts without any sort of external influence. The Wood Spectre Tree was about as far as one got.
And even that needed nurturing from a Fae Master.
"I saw your attempt last night".
Nyssa felt her cheeks flare up in embarrassment, and let out a small sigh, and nodding.
"I didn't try and balance the formation between the mental components. I tried to use the Rank 1 Emotion Gathering Fae to early and resulting in too many residual emotions gathering in the Rib Cage Ghost. Additionally, the Rib Cage Skeleton Fae that I sacrificed didn't possess enough spiritual essence within it. It must've been a variant Fae, one that was weaker than what I originally anticipated it to be....".
Arthur nodded.
"You need to be more aware of your materials before you start. If your materials are dirt, than all you can create with it is a faulty dirt castle. I know you spent quite a bit purchasing the necessary Fae in order to forcibly cause Ghosts to form, but that doesn't matter. You have four more days before the end of our agreement. If you do not succeed then-".
"I have to stop right?".
Arthur narrowed his eyes for a moment, feeling the intensely aggravated gaze from the fifteen year old girl in front of him.
Like most young teens, especially young teen Fae Masters, Nyssa was wilful. And just like Andrea, confidence in herself, formed from the existence of her first-tier talent had started to show. She knew that the difference between Arthur and herself, in terms of talent and comprehension were far beyond what she was currently capable of.
But still, in order to catch up to him, she was more than ready to follow him down whatever path he may tread upon.
Arthur may appear harder on Nyssa, but that was only because he knew she was the most loyal out of all of them. Without a doubt, if he asked her to kill her nephew, she'd do it in a heartbeat.
Arthur's gaze lingered on Nyssa for an extra second before nodding turning back towards Milena and Dagen.
Arthur understood that he could never feel emotional attachments to anything in his life, but it didn't quite mean that he didn't find things interesting.
He found Physiques interesting, and found certain individuals throughout the Thirty Three Heavens interesting. Most like him, and followers of the demonic path, however some, blinded, or perhaps unfazed by things such as lies or deceit.
This young girl.... was blinded by love and affection.
She was not one of these things.