The Martial Unity

Rui smirked as the leaders of human civilization stiffened at his stipulation. There was no way that he was going to offer so much for free. In fact, he considered his current offer quite generous compared to the actual value of what he was offering. In light of the Beast Incursion, he decided to limit himself to demanding just one caveat instead of numerous conditions and actual remuneration.

Just accelerating the development of the Water Sect was good enough as far as he was concerned. The Water Sect served as a source of innovation and perspective on adaptive evolution, perhaps one that would allow him to overcome a bottleneck if he did one day hit one. “Let me explain,” Rui continued as his gaze swept across the leaders of mankind. “Each of you will need to sign franchising agreements with the Water Sect, secure real estate, and purchase the strategic training resources from the Water Sect or licensed manufacturers to set up a branch of the Water Sect in each of your nations. We have a payment and a contribution system where Martial Artists can redeem training resources through different means. With this, your Martial Artists will be able to master the Hellbringer model that I have shown you.”

In other words, he wanted  to increase the demand and value of the Water Sect by making it the sole distributor of one of the solutions needed for humankind to survive the worst of what the Beast Incursion had to offer.

Under any ordinary circumstance, most nations would not be inclined to accept such a predatory agreement, but alas, they didn’t have much of a choice.

“You cannot afford to wait years,” Rui calmly stated the unspoken. “We don’t know when the quasi-Transcendent beasts and monsters will emerge from the depths of the Beast Domain. However, the longer you delay equipping your Martial Artists, in particular Masters, with the power to take on Sage-level beasts, the more likely that they will emerge before you can dispatch the joint Sage task-force to hunt them in the Central Highlands of the Beast Domain.”

They knew this very well.

It was the one reason that they were inclined to accept his caveat even if they didn’t like how obviously exploitative it was. “In the first place, you will need to invest these resources regardless of whether it falls under the Water Sect or your own states.” Rui shrugged. “So really, it’s just a matter of conceding ownership. The Kandrian Empire and Bradt Distribution Network can even aid with supplies through our recently expanded seafaring sector. Thus, everything is already in place for you to accept them.”

A wave of resignation swept across the conference hall. They understood that as much as they didn’t like it, it was more than acceptable as a condition considering the sheer circumstances they were in. “In addition, I promise to personally accelerate the progress of the Masters of each Sage-level powerhouse,” Rui continued. “Although I will be busy for a few months. After that, I don’t mind traveling to each Sage-level powerhouse across humanity and accelerate their hypnotic embedding.”

Unlike Ieyasu who could actively map Rui’s Tree of Life model, other Martial Masters  would need the information embedded in their minds to replicate Ieyasu’s rate of mastery. “My extreme affinity and mastery of hypnosis allows me to do what others can’t,” Rui elaborated. “I can ensure that all Sage-level powerhouses are ready for the absence of Martial Sages in a year at most.”

That was an extremely bold claim.

The Hellbringer model might be something that someone with Rui’s intellect could memorize quickly, but even for Martial Masters who were extremely familiar with systems of thought, it was not easy to master within a year.

This was concerning because nobody knew when the quasi-Transcendent beasts and monsters of the Beast Domain would emerge to wreak apocalyptic destruction upon human civilization.

That was why Rui’s offer to accelerate their growth was extremely welcome. It also made his exploitative Water Sect condition more tolerable and permissible. Forking out for all the training and developmental resources of the Water Sect was painless in comparison to not making it in time to stop the emergence of the quasi-Transcendent beasts.

And thus, the nations and states of the world decided to accept Rui’s caveat in exchange for his solution, training resources, and personal aid. Rui smiled inwardly as his plan worked perfectly. He had been worried that he would not be able to get away with exploiting all the great powers of human civilization, but it was just paranoia in hindsight.

He had randomly thrown out the personal aid for accelerating progress part, but that too was a good decision as far as he was concerned. The Kandrian Empire had grown too small for him. He was too powerful within it. He had fought every single Master in its depths and had made extensive use of its treasure for a long, long time. There was simply no challenge, tribulation, or impediment that could make life interesting, let alone stimulating, as a Martial Artist.

His Martial Art was reactive. It needed stimulation, exposure, and pressure.

He couldn’t really find any of those in the Kandrian Empire anymore.

This wasn’t anything new, either.

The difference was that the third Great East Panamic War made up for the difference. Being able to fight the most powerful Martial Masters of East Panama had been deeply stimulating and enriching. The Beast Incursion was not able to replace that.

Not yet, at least.

It was a grave threat to all of human civilization but not to him individually. It tested his stamina and longevity in battle as opposed to his peak power.

On top of that, with the Yggdrasil System, the beasts and monsters were simply not able to stimulate his adaptive evolution all that much due to the fact that he had already found the solution to them.

It was why humanity desperately sought his solution.

Thus, once he completed Project Forge, he intended to leave the Kandrian Empire for a while.

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