The Martial Unity

“Perhaps it is more viable at the Apprentice Realm, but it becomes increasingly difficult for Martial Artists of higher Realms.” Headmaster Aronian explained. “Martial Squires exert an enormous amount of force. Yet even they are akin to children before the might of Martial Seniors. The gap in power between the two Realms is as large as that of the gap between the Apprentice Realm. And above that Realm lies the Martial Master Realm. Martial Masters such as myself are capable of exerting titanic amounts of force far beyond anything you could even close to beginning to fathom.”

He paused. “Of course, I am merely a retired old man who is far weaker than I was in my prime. Who knows? perhaps even you can defeat me, hohoho.” He chuckled mirthfully.

Rui’s eyebrow twitched at those words. Even though headmaster Aronian restricted the pressure his mind exerted, even the tiniest shreds of the weight of his mind were enough to strain Rui. There wasn’t the faintest doubt in the latter’s mind that headmaster Aronian could erase every trace of his existence with the slightest bit of exertion.

“But you get the point.” Headaster Aronian continued. “It’s highly resource-intensive. Not only that but forging a weapon of enough quality to be worthy of a Martial Artist requires among the most skilled blacksmiths. However, the incredible toughness of the materials needed to forge the weapons is incredibly high. This means that the forging process is extremely difficult. Forging even a single weapon requires a massive amount of heat and powerful esoteric technology. The same is true for maintenance. It’s an extremely expensive endeavor.”

“I see…” Rui nodded. This made a lot of sense, it perfectly explained why weapon usage was common among humans, but not among Martial Artists. “Thank you for your explanations, Headmaster Aronian.”

“Hoho, not at all.” Headmaster Aronian. “Is there anything else you came to see me for?”

“No, this was all. Sorry for taking your time. I’ll take my leave then.” Rui said, bowing deeply.

“Mmm.” He nodded. “You’re at a crucial stage in your Martial Path. Soon, this Academy will no longer be able to be worthy of you, you will begin your life as an independent Martial Artist. You have important decisions ahead of you. More than anything, make sure you stay true to your Martial Path at the end of the day.”

“Yes headmaster,” Rui affirmed. “Thank you.”

He turned around and left the office.

The doors closed behind him as he headed towards the Apprentice library.

(‘Stay true to your Martial Path.’) He repeated in his mind.

Which of the two choices was truer to his Martial Path? A path of speedy mastery of techniques, or a path that empowered the very core of his Martial Art that he had spent two lives working on?

In reality, the answer was always obvious. He was just extremely reluctant to part with the remarkable advantages that his training speed had due to his extreme tolerance for sleeplessness.

But anything pertaining to the VOID algorithm was more important to him. Especially a technique that could potentially allow him to use it with absolute perfection and excellence.

Its difficulty was certainly extremely high, but he demonstrably had the tools to overcome it. As long as he did everything he could, the probability that something would go wrong wasn’t too high.

He brought out his communication device, sending a message to Squire Grillogan, informing him of his decision.

“This will be the last training stage where I retain my growth speed advantage.” Rui murmured with a tinge of resignation. “I really have to make the most of it.”

It was the same mindset one had when stocking up as much discounted food as possible before the prices went back to normal.

Just then, he reached the Apprentice Library, sighing.

(‘This will probably be the last time enter the Apprentice library of the Martial Academy.’) He mused. He was pretty certain about this. Regardless of whether he became a Squire Candidate from this training stage or not, he would be leaving the Academy. It had begun to feel like a dull shackle that no longer provided him with much more utility. He yearned to be independent once more after getting rid of the debt he had incurred from his time at the Academy.

“Time for my final training stage at the Martial Academy.” Rui murmured, walking in. The Apprentice library was now an extremely familiar place to him.

(‘Now then.’) He wondered. (‘What to pick?’)

He hadn’t entirely made his mind up. Though he was sure about the avenues of his Martial Art that he most certainly did not want to train.

(‘My physical parameters are quite solid from the last training stage.’) He mused. (‘I gain more from broadening my Martial Art allowing me to increase the number of Martial Art I can adapt to. That is my Martial Path, after all.’)

Rui knew that there were still Martial Art out there that he was not fully capable of adapting to. He was more interested in targeting those than ones he was already fully capable of adapting to. That would mean he would need to diversify his capabilities to a certain extent.

To a certain extent, he was quite excited about this training stage, he would be gaining a large sum of new capabilities, or at the very least, that was what he would be aiming for.

(‘Now then.’) He wondered. (‘Where should I start?’)

He glanced over to a particular section in the library.

The mental technique section. It was the same section where he had gotten the Mind Palace technique, which was the single most revolutionary technique that he had ever mastered in his entire life.

(‘If I’m going to start somewhere, why don’t I go with techniques that I’m quite compatible with?’) His eyes lit up in eagerness. The mental section had given him a gem last time, perhaps it would give him another this time as well.

(‘Doesn’t hurt to look.’) He shrugged.