The Martial Unity

There were two forces clashing in Rui’s mind, influencing the decision he would make.

The first force was, of course, Project Water. It was the most important goal, ambition, and desire that he had and the thing that he had dedicated his entire life to fulfilling. Inherited from John, it had very quickly become the foundation of his Martial Path.

This force pushed him towards straightforwardly accepting the deal so that he could get his hands on the powerful bloodwhirler species. With this, he would get one step closer to fulfilling Project Water, allowing him to better adaptively evolve.

On the other hand, was the second force, which was, well, everything else.

A feeling of kinship for his unborn children and a desire to protect them. He knew that his children would suffer their entire lives. And even if they didn’t exist at the moment, he simply didn’t want to subject them to such horrible suffering.

He also had a soft spot for children, having grown up in an orphanage. He recalled how he hunted a child-trafficking syndicate in rage because of what they did to children. He just got riled and hated people who harmed children.

Although the Blood Cult wouldn’t harm children, per se, it was still going to be a horrible life nonetheless.

There was also the disgust at the horrible sin of forcing a potentially unwilling woman to bear his children. There were lines that Rui was absolutely unwilling to cross. Even if it helped with Project Water, he didn’t want to commit such a terrible act to make progress with his goal.

There were also some reservations he had in his mind about fathering children without being there, the disapproval he imagined his mother would have had she learned about what he was considering.

To a lesser extent, there were minor reasons, such as the embarrassment and awkwardness of reproducing in front of everyone and Amare’s disapproval as well. There was also the fact that his genes weren’t the reason that he was so extraordinary. Of course, he was his father’s son, so he wasn’t as though he had poor genes, but he probably wouldn’t rank among the top thousand men in the world in that regard.

All of these forces played a role in his decision as he finally arrived at a conclusion.

“I want the blood evolution treatment…” Rui heaved a sigh. “…but I would like to offer something else in return for it rather than my seed.”

The Blood Lord narrowed his eyes with a hint of disapproval, but he didn’t voice any objections. He simply stared at Rui with some intrigue.

“I call it Hungry Pain…” Rui began explaining the merit of what he was offering, highlighting how it was responsible for the minor commotion it had caused in East Panama many years ago when it became adopted by the Kandrian Empire en masse.

He found this exchange to be much more acceptable and desirable. He didn’t have to commit any evil acts or subject his children to a lifetime of suffering as a test subject, a breeding stud, or a baby-making machine. He didn’t have to act against his reservations at all with this exchange.

The decision reinforced that there were lines he was not willing to cross.

Even if God came down and told him he would bestow upon Rui the success of Project Water if he crossed said lines, he would choose not to. This was not how he wanted to fulfill Project Water. He didn’t want to squeeze people of their value to fuel his ascent to fulfilling Project Water, inflicting untold suffering on them. He wanted to fulfill Project Water of his own merit and capability, as broad as that was, without sacrificing other people for it.

He wanted to feel good and proud about himself as he went about it. At the very least, the Project Water that he envisioned was not stained with such disgusting foundations.

It taught him more about himself.

As long as there was an alternative, he would not resort to such methods. While Project Water was certainly the strongest mental driver in his mind, there were other things that he felt strongly about, to a lesser extent, that he would rather avoid compromising if there was an alternative.

He wanted to have his cake and eat it in that regard.

The Blood Lord grew intrigued at the offer he made. It was indeed true that while he desired Rui to be the father of the children who would spread their mother’s blood across human civilization, what Rui was offering was also quite alluring.

“…Also, let me remind you that I’m just giving you the Hellbringer model and breakthroughs for free,” Rui glared at him. “The least you can do is give me the blood evolution treatment.”

Blood Lord Vrukshus smirked at his words. “…I’m afraid not. I know very well that you need to give us those treasures just as much as we need them. If we fail to partake the Solution of Harmony, then it will cause a chain of events that will not only invalidate all the efforts in past two and a half years or so but also would cause the destruction of the world. Let me remind you that this was not an undesirable outcome.”

Rui glared at him where he stood.

He wanted to pummel the peak Sage where he stood.

If not for the Beast Incursion, he would have been much more ruthless and would have extracted exactly what his treasures were worth.

But alas, this annoying apocalypse had to occur at the worst possible moment.

He heaved an exasperated. “Well, what do you say? The Hungry Pain in return for the Blood Evolution treatment?”

Amare heaved a sigh of relief before smiling at Rui with warm approval.

“…Your proposal is very engaging. I would accept it immediately if I had the authority to accept it,” the Blood Lord Vrukshus admitted.

Rui frowned. “What do you mean?”

“The ultimate authority over our treasures lies with our goddess, you see.” He gestured to the unconscious woman submerged. “Only she possesses the authority to pass judgment.”

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