The Martial Unity

“What was his Martial Art like?” Rui asked Kane, as the question popped into his head.

“Funnily enough, it was eerily similar to that of Senior Xanarn’s,” Kane remarked. “Actually, it was extremely similar to Senior Xanarn’s now that I think about it.”

Rui furrowed his eyebrows in response.

That was indeed an odd coincidence, he wondered if Tokugawa was a disciple of Senior Xanarn. Perhaps he had inherited a good portion of her Martial Path that explained why his Martial Art resembled hers.

He wasn’t sure if that was the case though. How could a disciple surpass the master when they weren’t even of the same Realm? Although it was technically possible that the man had absorbed Senior Xanarn’s teachings in a very brief period and then quickly surpassed her after learning everything, that was far more than just a little unlikely.

Once the sparring session finished. Senior Xanarn spoke with all the guardians one-on-one to give them tips and areas of improvement, that was the true yield that the Martial Squires were looking for. The insights of a Martial Senior were the reason that they chose to partake in this sparring session.

Rui smiled with excitement, he couldn’t wait for her to reach the tenth class, and he looked forward to sparring against her with everything he had.

“Sir?” A messenger from the management department addressed Rui.

“Hm?” Rui turned towards her. “Yes?”

“The deputy director of the intelligence department wishes to speak to you,” She informed him. “Please head to his office as soon as possible.”

Rui had expected as much, nodding.

The intelligence that he provided to the intelligence department on the superweapon that they had commissioned from Frigga Industries was sure to attract a lot of attention. The only reason he hadn’t been summoned immediately was that the report needed to undergo processing by an analyst of the department before it would be categorized or organized by the protocols of the system.

He suspected that the deputy director had immediately been alerted of the intelligence that Rui had supplied the second that the analyst had finished processing them.

(‘It’s quite fast and speedy of them,’) Rui mused as he got up.

“Are you in trouble?” Kane raised an eyebrow.

“No,” Rui chuckled. “I’ll catch you later.”

He threw one last glance at Senior Xanarn before leaving the battle arena.

It wasn’t long before he arrived at the office of the deputy director.

A large and prominent board featuring the name ‘Feric Franmalth’ was on the door, greeting Rui.

KNOCK KNOCK

“Who’s there?”

“Squire Falken, sir,” Rui replied. “I believe you called for me.”

“Ah…”

The door opened. Immediately, Rui was greeted by Feric, who was sitting at his table with a document that looked like the one that Rui had filled his report in.

He glanced at the two guardians that were in the room at the door, guarding it.

This was one of the duties of the guardians, providing general security by taking on such roles every once in a while.

Rui could immediately tell that they were grade-nine Martial Squires which meant that they were most likely in the higher ranks of the Floating Sect, perhaps the third or fourth.

“Come in, guardian Falken, take a seat,” The man ushered Rui in, having him sit down before him.

“I was just going through your report here,” He remarked as he skimmed through the many pages, before finally closing it and taking a good long look at Rui.

His mouth curled in a smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “This is quite the report. You can imagine why I called you here.”

“To verify the veracity of the report, to gain more details, and to potentially employ my services on the matter to gain more information,” Rui replied.

“That’s… actually exactly why I called you here,” The man smiled. “Since you already know why you’re here, I will cut to the chase. Your report, if true, is of great importance to us. You have warned us of a significant threat well ahead of time, potentially even saving the Floating Sect, but…”

He paused for a moment. “If false, it would be disastrous, we cannot afford to prepare for a war that isn’t going to happen.”

Rui understood where the man was coming from. A lot rode on the intelligence report being true, and currently, the only existing confirmation came from one low-ranked guardian who had very recently joined the Floating Sect.

The deputy director would be a fool to take this report at face value without any skepticism. Even if Rui wasn’t a planted agent with malicious intent, he could still just be wrong, and that would be nonetheless bad.

“Let us talk about the means by which you obtain this intelligence,” The man began.

Rui immediately knew that he wanted to know more about Rui’s sensory technique that allowed him to spy on conversations happening deep within a military complex armed with anti-espionage tech, from the outside.

“It’s a powerful high-grade sensory technique that can entirely bypass anti-espionage technology,” Rui explained. “It has good range too.”

“And how exactly does this technique function?”

Rui paused for a moment as he considered whether he wanted to divulge. On one hand, he didn’t like divulging his hand, on the other, he kind of needed to if he wanted his work to be valued by the Floating Sect.

He had a decision to make, and he made it quickly.

“It works by sensing through gravity,” Rui sighed.

Although the Riemannian Echo technique was one of his greatest techniques, its relevance to combat in a day-to-day context was rather limited. He didn’t lose much by revealing it.

“Gravity?” The man’s eyebrows rose. “I’ve heard that only Martial Masters are able to do such a thing. Do you take me for a fool, young man?”

Rui’s eyebrows furrowed.

This was the first time he had heard such a thing, he had inadvertently learned more about the value of his technique, and unexpected boon.