Arthur avoided a flurry of slashes from Zlatanna's dual-wielding windstream fae. The invisible blades slashed out towards Arthur, causing him to swerve on the balls of his feet, side-stepping and narrowly dodging the vicious blows aimed at his neck and heart.
The gusts of wind created by the two windstream fae caused Arthur's hair to flutter slightly, and the seventeen year old took out a piece of string, tying up his hair as he continued to dodge Zlatanna's moves.
The young girl gritted her teeth and roared, activating some more Fae as another blade of faint green-tinted wind was sent flying towards Arthur. The x-shaped ranged attack caused Arthur to shake his head slightly, raising his transfigured ice arm towards the green wind blade, shattering instantly against the cold touch of Arthur's right hand.
The wind unravelled itself upon contact with Arthur, but Zlatanna didn't stop there as a muffled explosion resounded out and her figure flickered, appearing behind Arthur, her arms raised and ready to kill.
Aiming at Arthur's neck, Zlatanna sliced horizontally with a windsword Fae, using the extra reach to put more distance between Arthur and herself-.
Her opponent smirked, raising his left hand, covered in a thick, bronze metallic gleam. The Rank 2 Bronze Arms Fae were quite useful when fighting against Wind Attribute Fae Master specialists, and Arthur needed to make sure that Zlatanna knew this fact.
The girl didn't stop their, showing her own smile as she made a quick gesture with her hand. The back of Arthur's arm, which collided with her windsword fae flowed with a faint imprint, before exploding outwards, creating an enormous amount of smoke and dust to fly up.
The girl, clad in sweat and dust, retreated back several steps, he chest practically heaving as she struggled to regain her breathing pattern. Even though Zlatanna was a zero quartz origin essence Fae Master, comparing her physical abilities to Arthur, a solid ruby origin essence Fae Master was like comparing a fly to a bird.
They were in completely different leagues due to the difference in their cultivation, so why bother trying to compare them at all?
The smoke cleared, and all of the Fae Masters present noticed a slight hole in the ground where Arthur once stood. Nothing but the blackened section of earth from where Zlatanna's explosion remained, causing the woman to feel the hairs on the back of her neck tingle, as a faint breath tickled her ear.
"If I didn't have my Fae activated in time, I might've lost my arm in that explosion".
Zlatanna didn't even bother responding before she slashed out behind her, aiming at Arthur's neck. The slightly older male's figure flickered, before Zlatanna felt a huge amount of force collide with her shins, causing her balance to become off-centre, and her figure to go falling to the ground.
Before she could roll over and evade Arthur's strike, the faint edge of a blade touched her throat. The seventeen year old woman lifted her head, and gazed up at the slightly older man standing on top of her.
She glared at Arthur a little, before raising her arms and recalling her Fae back into her origin essence sea.
"I surrender.....", she muttered.
A series of groans echoed out from behind Arthur, and he extended his left hand forward, lifting Zlatanna up off the ground. The Rank 1 Fae Master took the hand, and brushed herself off before flicking her hair back and huffing slightly at Arthur.
"I guess two years really has changed you quite a bit. You're quite a bit more patient in terms of your fighting style.... can't say I like it though".
Arthur rolled his eyes pretending to look hurt.
"I needed to learn how to conserve my strength. Fighting long battles was something that happened quite a bit in the early days....".
Zlatanna gave Arthur a once over, before walking towards her eight teammates, all of whom had various scratches and bruises forming on their bodies.
Courtesy of Arthur, of course.
It had been a few days since he completed recording every single material he could find within Parachenko Village, with the sole exception of some of the materials taken by the various Elders who had entered the building created around the Monster, and who could take whatever materials they wanted without having to worry about a portion being taken by the Clan.
Elder Vova had shown Arthur a few of the Fae materials he had obtained, as did Elder Karl and Elder Jakob, but every other Elder within the Village either refused or found some excuse to not see him. Most of them thought that Arthur would try and exchange some with them, or try and get them to escort him into the Monster holding building, but they all just shook their heads and got their descendents to see him off.
It wasn't considering rude for a Rank 3 Fae Master to send off a Rank 2 Fae Master, but Arthur was both the son of the Clan Leader, a Rank 4 Fae Master, and someone who had comprehended an Attribute Control Skill.
Considering that he was now a solid ruby origin essence Fae Master, his fighting duration and intensity had only grown stronger, as did his Attribute Control Skills.
Their innate arrogance didn't make them believe that Arthur could kill them, but if he wanted to, he could probably given them a run for their money. Elder Zarek, Elder Velika and Elder Sagan knew the power of Elder Vova's Attribute Control Skill, and none of them could beat him either.
They all wanted to try and create their own pseudo-Attribute Control Skills as soon as possible, even if it meant creating an incomplete one for their descendents to learn and gradually perfect.
Because once Arthur became a Rank 3 Fae Master, his status would be equal to their own. They wouldn't be able to stop him at the door like they were currently doing....
Glancing at Zlatanna, Henrik and the others, Arthur nodded slightly before glancing at Milena. Except for Nyssa, she had the best talent, and the highest cultivation realm out of the nine Fae Masters before him.
Milena was already at the peak of Rank 1 Fae Master. She had been cultivating silently and patiently, spending just over 20 months to reach this point. She had a top-tier second-tier talent, so her origin essence sea was missing just over 50% from being completely full.
All of the others from her generation, including Iryna, Parvan and Zlatanna were also zero quartz origin essence Fae Masters. While out of the other five, Henrik and Helga were hadron quartz origin essence Fae Masters, Eric and Dagen were at the peak of solid quartz origin essence and Nyssa, being a first-tier talent was also a zero-quartz origin essence Fae Master.
Arthur had given her the bloodseeker leaf Fae and she had received a Rank 1 Vein Limit Fae from Arthur as well. On top of already having an origin essence regeneration Fae on her, her cultivation speed should've already exceeded the original Arthur. The difference in their innate talents made up for the difference in cultivation speeds.
Noddingly slightly at everyone, Arthur smiling knowing how close his plan was to fruition.
"Over the next few days I want all of you to prepare a large amount of supplies in preparation for a relatively long trek. We've received an assignment to head to the Falling Snow River and retrieve some Fae and bring it back to the Clan. Considering the change in landscape and spirit beasts within the vicinity of Parachenko Village, make sure you prepare non-perishables. Store them somewhere safe as well, just in case".
Parvan raised his head, slightly surprised.
"Are you sure you should be getting back into the swing of things so quickly Arthur? I mean, you only just got back and-".
Arthur just showed a nonchalant expression, waving him off.
"It'll be fine. I've been used to fighting on my own for quite some time, so I think it'll be better to do something in a smaller group, as we travel outside of the Village. I think it'll be good, for you guys and for me".
His concerned teammate nodded and sat back down.
After ironing out most of the details and requirements as to what to bring, and how much they should bring, they all scattered, returning to their houses or share-houses, gathering what things they might've needed.
When Arthur got home, his Mother, Brothers, Sisters and Father were all waiting for him....
While he had been training, he had become a Father.