"What do you guys mean I was only in there for a few hours? I've literally spent two years inside of that Monster! I ate, slept, bathed, shat and even cultivated on the inside of that damn thing!".
Dominic raised his arms, trying to placate Arthur as the others all showed expressions of shared horror and sympathy.
Arthur's cultivation based had risen by two whole sub-realms. In a total of two days, he had transformed from being a vapour ruby origin essence Fae Master, all the way towards being a solid ruby origin essence Fae Master.
Without the power of the Restriction Fae, even Rank 3 Fae Masters could peer in Arthur's origin essence sea if were given permission, and Rank 4 Fae Masters could sense Arthur's cultivation from a distance.
With him flaring his solid ruby origin essence cultivation base, it was clear as day that in the minds of his friends and family, that Arthur had spent a significant amount of time within the innards of Madness. His appearance might not have changed due to his current level of cultivation, but the fact that both his arm and his cultivation base was significantly higher than it was a few hours ago, all of them believed him....
Why would Arthur lie about something like this? Spending two years alone within that.... Monster, it would've been horrifying to even think about....
Dominic just tried to calm his younger brother down.
"Arthur, I need you to understand that for whatever reason, Time moved different within that creature. You had only been gone about an hour or so, and then you fell unconscious the moment you came out.... Can you tell us what happened to you in there?".
Arthur gazed into his older brother's eyes, noddingly slightly as he steadied his breathing.
"The moment I had entered I remained within Elder Vova's Untainted Flower Petals. I stayed in there for a few hours before the Attribute Control Skill was unravelled and I started falling uncontrollably. It honestly felt as though I had been falling for hours, maybe even longer than a day before I collided with some strange, unknown black liquid.... It looked like shadows, considering it didn't stain my clothes, and clung to me, even after I found some sort of dry land.
"There was no source of light anywhere, and yet, everything was clear to me, as if I had been standing right underneath a faint candle-light.....".
Arthur continued to regale all of his friends and family about some of the "experiences" he had gone through over the past two years. He couldn't be sure whether or not they had investigative type Fae on them, so Arthur entwined some of his past experiences within the "world of Madness".
Sub-realms and hidden groves..... Ancient tombs and forgotten legacies....
Arthur had seen it all, at least, had seen at least one of each of them in his previous lifetime. They were usually created by former Fae Immortals, or legendary Fae Masters, near experts in their crafts at the time....
He had told them of various spirit beasts and the different types of materials that he had discovered within the Monster. That he had to fight and kill in order to survive in such a harsh, unforgiving place....
He mentioned something about facing an eyeball within the depths of the shadowy-waters. The moment he had touched it, Arthur's entire arm froze and he had to use several Crimson Fae in order to keep himself from getting frostbite.
He just kept swimming, farther and farther before seeing a faint glimmer of light on the other side of the sea of shadows. The only source of light within this world would be from the outside world, and considering that the only place Arthur could even think that there would be a passage to the outside world would be in the same place that Elder Anatol created....
Arthur travelled towards the light and the exact moment that he started to crawl up and out of the shadowy World, one of the spirit beasts within, a creature created from both moss and shadows launched a massive thorn towards him, piercing his upper left side and pushing him straight through the exit....
"I don't know what else to say.... I-".
Arthur saw his Mother step forward, and pull her fourth-born child into her tender embrace.
His Mother was a peak Rank 2 Fae Master, but in front of everyone else, he suppressed the pain that exploded from his shoulder and patted his Mother on her back with his left hand. He let his right hand hand loosely at his side, as Chensa eyed it with a slight gleam in her eyes.
"And your hand? I know that it's been.... transformed into something else.... but does it actually hurt? The moment I touched it earlier, the sheer amount of cold that I felt, exceeded anything belonging to a Rank 3 Fae Master..... Something that possesses both the Transformation Attribute and Ice Attribute....".
Chensa herself was an Ice specialization Fae Master. She was used to the cold by this point and was quite well-versed in the number and types of Ice Attributed Fae and Fae materials within the Clan.
Seeing such a powerful Ice.... Transformation, she couldn't help but wonder slightly as she gazed down at the beautifully crafted hand.
Chensa and Arthur's Mother smacked the twenty-year old, narrowing her eyes at her eldest daughter.
"Chensa! Have a little more consideration for you brother! He's gone through a lot, and he's done it all on his own.... He should be able to rest easy now that he's surrounded by family....".
The twenty year old young lady had the guts to appear embarrassed and took a few more steps back. She glared at Henrik and Dagen, who both let out a small snort, as they avoided the glare of the Rank 2 Fae Master.
Arthur turned towards Nyssa and the others. All of them had differing expressions, but from what he could tell, they were all quite relieved by the fact that Arthur wasn't.... well, dead. Now that he was a solid ruby origin essence Fae Master, the gap between them and him all widened significantly, although that was to be expected with a two year handicap.
The seventeen, or perhaps the nineteen year old sent Parvan a glance, causing the younger male to sigh before shaking his head.
"I suppose we won't ever catch up to you at this rate Arthur. At the very least, knowing that you're much stronger at this point is a good reassurance. Got any new abilities or Attribute Control Skills you want to tell us about?".
Arthur smirked slightly before shrugging his shoulders and waving him off.
"I just hope that you all won't slow me down. I've got big things planned for the future Parvan, I hope you're ready".
The faces of the other nine Fae Masters lit up, and they glanced at each other, with Iryna and Nyssa nudging at each others hips. Milena and Dagen were also whispering about Poisons, and the possibility of incorporating some sort of metal into her Corpses in order to enhance their strength.
Dagen had started to walk the path of Blacksmithing, and was figuring out how to gradually combine his path of Blood with the Blacksmithing Attribute. In the book that Arthur had given him, there was a whole bunch on Blood Iron Nurturing Pools, although he wanted to ask Arthur for his opinion on the best place to set it up before purchasing the materials for it.
Milena had also tried to enhance one of her Corpses using one of the methods that Arthur had taught her. It was rudimentary technique commonly referred to as a Coffin Evolution Ritual which involved placing a Corpse into a special Coffin and sealing with various Fae materials inside. This particular ritual could be used in water, sand, trees and even mountains to change its affects....
At any rate-.
"Arthur..... would you like to take a look at my new creation?".
Iryna pushed Nyssa forward, causing the younger girl to blush slightly after being put on the spot in front of all her friends and Arthur's family. Arthur frowned for a second, before opening his mouth and nodding at her words.
".... Wait.... You mean you succeeded in forming a Ghost?".
Nyssa blushed and nodded, taking out a Storage Fae and summoning her new creation.
"I may have cheated somewhat and only formed one last night, but I didn't hear about your hospitalization until this morning.... After I heard about it from Parvan, I immediately came here....".
Arthur's eyes widened slightly as he gazed at the unknown ghost in front of him. He never once claimed to be a specialist in the Ghost Attribute, but in his life he did desire to research and develop ghosts for uses far more varied than just battle or conflict.
Nyssa's ghost was tall, and far from the humanoid forms of Verde, or any of Arthur's ghosts.
It stood on numerous bone-like stilts, appearing slightly similar to a spider in terms of how its body was shaped. There was no large web-storing abdomen, or any smaller from body capable of holding the brain and mouth.
It was just a massive spine, with large, spider-like legs, causing it to stand high above Arthur and the rest. It's skull was reminiscent of a horned lizard, although the faint blood coloured flames within its eyes made it obvious that it wasn't by any means inanimate.
The colour of the skeleton was a faint crimson, making it appear as though the ghost itself had been dyed crimson. A massive ribcage, extending all the way down past its hind legs constantly jittered and moved, as if fingers gently tapping on a piano.
It would've looked similar to the Rib Cage Ghost, if it wasn't for the fact that it was shaped like a weird lizard-spider monster that had crawled straight out of some mortals nightmare.
Nyssa let out a proud smile, gently patting one of its legs.
"Elder Vova told me that there was no such record of a ghost in the Clan Records, so he let me name it!".
"This is the Ghost-Class ghost; Crimson Rib-Monitor Ghost!".