The Martial Unity

Chapter 3198: Changed Presence

Rui was not pleased by Jormungandr’s disapproval of him; however, he would be lying if he said there was no merit to the serpent’s words.

The fact of the matter was that he simply didn’t have any underwater capability.

And for good reason, of course.

Very few battles happened underwater.

Most battles happened above sea.

This made it so that there was no incentive to even focus on it. However, even Rui had to admit that it felt silly to be helpless in water when he was aiming for Water.

He heaved a sigh, putting a pin on the matter before departing from the region.

He had achieved what he had come for, and that was good enough for now. With the current system they had, trade vessels would be able to move back and forth between the true world and the Panama Continent, while warships would be capsized by the monsters of the Great Nam Ocean.

”With that, I have largely taken care of all my responsibilities.”

Now, it was time to focus more on his own personal interests and goals once more.

”I need more primordial seed.”

He wasn’t satisfied with the amount of pluripotent exotic matter that he had in his primordial core. Having experienced the power of this substance multiple times by now, he was quite excited by the capabilities it offered him. In his test battle with Damian, his battle against the eldritch chimera, and his most recent battle with Anthea, the primordial core had proven to be of invaluable support.

He could do much, much more with it than if he had more of it.

”I can carry some with me and focus on integrating more of it into my body over time as I travel through the true world.”

He had forgotten about Project PluriBody just because he had gotten a new toy in the form of Anthea’s cells and Project Evolutionary. It only made him more eager for both projects because of the extraordinary synergy between the two forms of power.

WHOOSH!

He returned to the Kandrian Empire as fast as possible, eager to renew his supply of primordial seed and make other preparations.

”After that, it’s time to head to the Genora Continent as a delegate.”

With the dark elves, in particular, there wasn’t a strong need for his delegation, but the communication technology incompatibility meant that his father could not communicate with all the leaders of the dark elves of West Genora.

And while Matriarch Pruschilia was a powerful and esteemed leader within the dark elves, from the looks of it, she could not represent the entire continent by herself, especially when she had come here as merely the leader of an exploratory venture, as opposed to a delegate with a mandate.

She could only represent the interests of her clan when it came to more serious agreements.

It showed that the dark elves were not as insular as one might have thought.

Thus, while his father negotiated with the dark elves that had settled on the Panama Continent, Rui would speak to the dark elves on the other side. Together, they could finalize an alliance or at least bilateral trade agreements.

Rui would be helping the continent while simultaneously fulfilling his own drive to harness the six paths for adaptive evolution. The thought made him more excited than ever, propelling him towards the Kandrian Empire with great speed and power.

It wasn’t long before he returned home to the Kandrian Empire.

This time, however, he didn’t head to his father, but instead to the Martial Union.

It had been a while since he last visited the place.

After he broke through to the Sage Realm, he didn’t have time to reconsider his relationship with the Martial Union due to the fact that all Martial Sages had departed for the Central Highlands of the Beast Domain shortly after.

He spent eleven years away from human civilization until the Beast Incursion finally ended. This was his first time visiting the place to get his hands on some standard Martial gear, among other things.

WHOOSH

He stopped in the skies above the Martial Union headquarters in the Town of Vargard, illuminated by the gentle light of the evening Sun as he slowly descended into the headquarters.

His appearance drew the attention of, well, everybody.

The many Martial Artists that lingered in the headquarters estate widened their eyes with shock as the prince and the strongest Martial Sage of the empire appeared before them.

”It’s... It’s His Highness!”

”Your Sagehood! It is an honor to meet you!”

”Long live the Dawnbringer!”

Unfortunately for them, Rui was far too impatient to bother with entertaining them.

WHOOSH

In the blink of an eye, he disappeared from their field of vision, entering the headquarters as he went deeper.

He could sense many Martial Sages gathered around a familiar, but young presence.

”Arastia...!”

Her presence was unmistakable, but it had also unmistakably changed.

It had grown stronger.

WHOOSH

He arrived in a facility with a special combat arena, one armed with all kinds of sensors across the boundary.

Around the combat arena were not just all manner of officials, scholars, and researchers, but also the Martial Sages and Martial Masters that he had sensed prior.

Despite sensing his arrival, not a single one had turned to greet him.

No, their attention was focused on the spar occurring within the special combat arena in the facility.

Young Arastia fought with a young Martial Squire.

POW POW POW!

The boy she fought gritted his teeth as he launched all manner of blows against her, trying to launch a clean knock-out blow.

And yet, Arastia was hardly overwhelmed.

The audience watched with amazement as blood gushed out from within her body, forming a shield medium between herself and her opponents, allowing her to withstand his powerful attacks.

Her hemokinesis was far beyond anything that they could have possibly expected.

Rui’s eyes lit as he watched her fight.

”She has broken through.”

It was the only explanation for how she was able to keep up against a Martial Squire who was older than her.