One step at a time

Arthur had multiple different plans happening all at once, it was almost hard to keep track of everything.

Even if he knew how future events would play out, and how other people would react to said future events, the more he kept influencing the situation, the harder it became to read the future.

Arthur never once claimed to specialise, or dabble in divination, or fortune-telling in his previous life. In fact the cost of hire Fae Masters, or Fae Immortals who specialized in those particular fields were extraordinarily high.

The art of divination, had roots that far surpassed most other Fae Master specializations in the entire Thirty Three Heavens. They were even older than the Alchemist and Blacksmithing specializations. Older than the array and the formation specializations as well.

He was currently "guiding" the Village towards producing more and more spirit plants, in order to fuel his future cultivation and to form some of the Fae that he currently needed. Fae materials were also needed to be stockpiled, eventually after he decided to leave the Clan.

Building the water-rise houses was also a part of his plan. The structure of the entire house was something that Arthur was very familiar with, and so long as their foundations were in the water, Arthur could make the most of this structural weak point.

His Father also wanted him to start familiarizing himself with the terrain of the Winter Rain Mountain. Arthur didn't need to bother with this request, although he needed to keep up appearances.

Keeping his family close was also important. People getting suspicious was the last thing Arthur wanted.

There was also the matter of his "seeds". Those whom he had placed a seed of affection within had already started to bear fruit. Members of the opposite gender were the easiest to create affection within, so it was already too obvious when Iryna and Nyssa started appearing outside of his house every morning, under the pretence of wanting to "train".

There was a difference between affection and love, although if one knew exactly where to press, it was easy to turn the former into the latter.

Playing on emotions and making use of peoples weakness was something that Arthur knew all too well how to do. It was evident alone with Andrea how he could manipulate people, even someone who had the Affection Tree Fae was nothing more than putty in his hands.

The girl was just too young. Too immature in the end.

If she had trusted anyone other than Arthur, then perhaps her destiny would've taken her to the limits of the Thirty Three Heavens....

At any rate-.

"It's been almost a month since you've all awakened your talents and become Fae Masters, so like every other year, there will be a new Fae Master Tournament for you to show off your accomplishments".

Arthur's eyes swept over the group of ninety young men and women, most of the latter had their eyes shining as they gazed up towards Arthur's tall, handsome figure.

"The rewards will not be as plentiful as the most recent Fae Master Tournament, however, they will be greater than my own first Fae Master Tournament. As such, all of you must place great importance on both your cultivation, and your combat prowess over the next couple days. Those who lose in the first round, will have to fight me the next time you all come to class".

Even with the looks of adoration in their eyes, most of the teens in the crowd shivered when they heard his words.

Even though he fought against girls, he didn't pull any punches. Quite a number of people had broken bones and bruises after fighting Arthur, almost immediately getting healed seconds after.

No-one had managed to land a hit on him, even after almost a month.

They were finally starting to understand the differences that Elder Vova was talking about between Arthur and themselves.....

The thousand year old demon smirked slightly, supressing the malicious glint in his eyes.

"Additionally, whom ever takes first place in the first Fae Master Tournament will receive a prize from yours truly. I will accept one request from the victor, no matter what it is or might be".

The eyes of numerous Fae Masters lit up, and most glanced at each other, the potential for what Arthur just said stunning them for a moment!

'..... Anything?', they all thought.

Some girls even gulped slightly.

Most of the girls had the same thought, or something similar, while most of the boys thought back to the Attribute Control Skill that Arthur had used during the previous Tournament.

If they could learn that, then wouldn't their strength increase drastically!? They could stand above their peers, and even have the time to perfect that ultimate move before the next Fae Master Tournament!

They might even be like Arthur, and become popular with most of the girls!

No matter what their origins were, the thoughts of most teenage boys were relatively similar in the long run.

Arthur's schemes went far deeper than just that little dangling carrot, and he glanced at the five young teens in the crowd, all of whom looked towards Arthur with shining eyes.

He gave them all a small nod before waving his arms and dismissing them all for the day.

In addition to "guiding" his students cultivations, he didn't dare to shirk his own cultivation.

Arthur's vapour ruby origin essence sea had more than half been refined, glowing a brightly coloured crimson. The thick, cloud of origin essence seemed almost see-through due to Arthur's refinements, and his cultivation hadn't yet reached the peak of his current realm.

Once Arthur fully refined his vapour ruby origin essence, the insides of his origin essence sea would appear as though a piece of carved jewellery. Stunningly bright, bending the light that passed through it to make it seem as though they were staring into a world dyed crimson.

There wasn't exactly a need to rush things, but Arthur wanted to increase his cultivation as quickly as possible. He had many things to improve on other than his cultivation as well, and didn't want to lag behind in any area.

There was his Intent, which was still in its immature stage. It needed nothing more than the unification of Arthur's Will, Emotions and Desires in order to be strengthened, which usually came from outside influence.

There was nothing in front of him that warranted the need for such a thing, so it was difficult to do so on command.

Arthur's attainments in Wood Laws and Emotion Laws needed work as well. Both of which were extremely powerful Laws, the latter having a huge effect on creatures with human-like intelligence. So long as there existed emotions in a living being, could they be swayed with Emotion Laws.

Emotion Fae were the easiest to sway them with, but Laws could boost the effectiveness of Fae, and sway someone without them noticing.

The Affection Tree Fae had been getting usage daily, and its size had increased to more than twenty metres. The brightly coloured leaves made it seem slightly out of place amidst the huge amount of leafless trees around Arthur, and the pink coloured vines rolled down from the branches like waterfalls off rocky cliffs.

Without a doubt, it should evolve roughly around when the caravan comes to Parachenko Village. Arthur didn't know if this was particularly fast or slow, but at least he knew his cultivation speed was definitely above average.

Normally someone in his situation, someone with a Sovereign Boundary Physique would be losing out using just a Rank 1 Vein Limit Fae in order to increase his origin essence regeneration, but he wasn't too bothered by it.

There existed amply opportunities in the near and distant future.

Arthur had a schedule for certain events in Human Heaven, most small, impacting only a couple people, but eventually snowballing into something huge.

There were large scale events, like ancient tombs and heavenly treasures which Arthur also wanted to try his hand at obtaining.

For the time being, the only thing he could do was just take things one step at a time. He had already started preparing for the future, so in the present, all he could do was make the most of the time he had.