The Martial Unity

“This…” Rui’s expression turned solemn as he listened to the Ecologer’s many revelations. “I did not expect that the Beast Incursion would last this long. I did not even consider the problem of the quasi-Transcendent Beasts.”

“I, too, was deeply moved by this revelation.” The Esoterist smiled. “I have tailored some of my solutions to precisely some of the problems that the Ecologer has discovered in her astute analysis of the Beast Incursion.”

“I hope you understand now why we require your services as soon as possible,” the projection of Guildmaster Vaughn calmly added. “Human civilization truly needs all the support it can get, especially if the solution of the Emperor of Harmony truly ends up being executed by all the Sage-level powerhouses as it seems very likely to be.”

Rui gazed at the projection of the Esoterist and the Guildmaster of the Adventurer’s Guild sitting opposite him in a room in the Kandrian Empire. He had been watching a feed of the Ecologer’s presentation while conversing with the other member of the taskforce and head of the Adventurer’s Guild. He wanted to be in on what was happening when it was his turn to present his solutions in the Human Summit.

“My father’s solution is probably the best option that we have at our disposal,” Rui remarked with a hint of pride amidst his analysis. “Really, there’s no other way to prevent the mass destruction of quasi-Transcendent-level beasts from burning human civilization otherwise.”

Beasts and monsters could only equal Martial Artists when their raw power vastly exceeded the output Martial Artists, for Martial Artists made use of their power vastly more efficiently and effectively on a mechanical, technical, and strategic level.

That meant that beasts who were truly able to take on Sage head-on by themselves needed to be more than an order of magnitude more destructive.

That was precisely why Rui, and others, dreaded the emergence of these powerful beasts. Only the solution provided by the Emperor of Harmony could possibly prevent the destruction of all of human civilization.

“But…” His expression grew grave. “That means we Masters will have to deal with Sage-level beasts by ourselves.”

He didn’t think his proto-Tree of Life model could single-handedly allow Martial Masters to take on Sage-level beasts on its own.

“I can only think of two Martial Masters who are able to fight Sage-level beasts head-on.” His voice was firm. “I don’t know how the vast majority are supposed to do so.”

The Esoterist flashed a smirk as he adjusted his glowing glasses that had a screen on them featuring the feed of the Ecologer along with a feed of other information.

It was something right out of sci-fi fiction.

His entire body was garbed in a strange technosuit that had streaks of glowing lines that suspiciously resembled circuitry, and other whirring components whose function Rui was unable to discern.

“That is why there are two solution providers instead of one.” The Esoterist’s tone was composed. “I, too, don’t think that my solutions alone can allow Martial Masters to fight Sage-level beasts and monsters. However, if your solution is able to bestow even a fraction of the power that allowed you to participate and contribute significantly in a Sage-level battle, then together, I believe that we can allow Masters to fend off Sage-level beasts, especially when you consider their lack of flexibility and strategic failures.”

Rui wasn’t sure about that. “Just how powerful are your solutions?” Rui raised an eyebrow. He smirked again. “You’ll just have to wait and see.”

To say that Rui was curious to know what he was going to introduce was an understatement.

Just what could he have developed over the span of a month?

Rui not only had nine months in the manifold, but he was merely finetuning an existing solution to the beasts and monsters. He was not creating something from scratch. In the past nine months inside the manifold, he had divided his attention between Project Forge and the proto-Tree of Life fairly evenly. The former was important to him while the latter was important to the survival of human civilization. He had ended up with a technique that he was confident that, when fully mastered and familiarized, would allow Martial Artists to become astronomically more effective against beasts and monsters through an extraordinary amount of adaptive evolution. The proto-Tree of Life allowed them to become as effective against beasts and monsters as they would be if they had centuries of experience dealing with the Beast Incursion. Together with the solutions of the Esoterist, maybe, just maybe, they could allow Martial Masters to deal with Sage-level beasts and monsters.

“The Era of Darkness.”

The solemn words of the Ecologer caught them off-guard. None of them had expected her to make such a bold and dark declaration.

“She’s right.” Rui heaved a sigh. “The Beast Incursion is having more of an impact on human civilization than Martial Artists are. Thus, it is only fair that we no longer refer to the era we are in as the Age of Martial Art when it very clearly isn’t.”

He hated that Martial Art was no longer at the spotlight in terms of the forces affecting human civilization, but he recognized the truth when he saw it.

After five hundred and fifty nine years, the Beast Incursion epoch put an end to the Age of Martial Art.

Given some of the revelations that the Ecologer had made, the Era of Darkness was a fitting name. The light of globalization had been brutally snuffed as each nation grew fractured and cut off from the rest of the world. The supposed esoterification of human territory would impede remote communication, further drowning humanity in metaphorical darkness.

It truly was primed to become the Era of Darkness.

“And now…” the Ecologer continued. “Having fully understood the true magnitude of the horrors of the Beast Incursion, I now invite upon the first solution provider of the Beast Incursion task-force: the most extraordinary Martial Artist of his generation and perhaps in all of history, the Dawnbringer.”

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