The Martial Unity

Rui had to admit that the battle with the Devil was telling.

It not only allowed him to test just how strong he had gotten, but it also allowed him to understand just how powerful the pluripotent exotic matter had the potential to be. He understood that he was just barely scratching the surface of what it had to offer. Healing and regeneration applications of pluripotent exotic matter were just the lowest hanging fruit that he hadn’t even fully mastered yet.

“An ocean of possibility and potential…” Rui murmured as he secluded himself in the familiar isolation of the jet hangar, gazing at his arm as he consumed many dense nutrition food pills.

He also understood that mastering the pluripotent exotic matter went beyond just replacing the regular matter in his body with pluripotent exotic matter, as he intended to with Project PluriBody. It went beyond just gathering samples of other esoteric substances and using them as the change subject for his Primordial Core.

He needed to develop a more fundamental mastery of converting pluripotent exotic matter into different kinds of matter. He needed to develop a system of thought on how to make the most strategically sound decisions with the pluripotent exotic matter.

He also needed to gain intuitive and instinctive mastery of the substance.

There was much that he needed to do in order to fully master it. And given that it took him a whole year to just integrate a modest amount of pluripotent exotic matter in his body, he needed to spent a lot of time on this big mega-project centered around the primordial seed.

“This substance is even more challenging than I expected.”

One of the reasons he had avoided pursuing more about the pluripotent exotic matter in the past was that he knew that it was way beyond his ability to harness at that point in time. And his decision was validated despite the sheer difficulty of mastering the substance and integrating it into his body and his Martial Art, even as a Martial Sage. He had no chance of succeeding in the past whatsoever.

“Putting the primordial seed aside…” his eyes narrowed with thought. “My battle with the Devil allowed me to understand just how strong I am relative to other Martial Sages.”

Even his battle against the abyssfeeder was not a good comparison due to the fact that he hadn’t been able to use the SOUL System or the Tree of Life against it. With the Devil, he was able to use his full power to a much greater extent.

It made an absolute conclusion entirely irrefutable.

“I am strong.”

In just eleven years after breaking into the Sage Realm, he had already reached the exalted peak of Transcendent candidates. With each Realm of power, he started at a higher and higher stage inside the Realm and reached heights faster and faster.

In the Master Realm, he had fought three Martial Sages when he fought at his absolute strongest, even going as far as to draw one of the battles against one.

How strong would he be now as a peak Sage if he went all-out and used every ounce of force he had?

He wasn’t sure.

Unfortunately, he didn’t have the time to test it out. His full force came with… caveats.

“I will have to save it for when it counts.” His eyes flared with determination.

A year had passed since the final battle with the quasi-Transcendent beasts and monsters, and now it was finally time. In the past year, while he meticulously integrated the pluripotent exotic matter into his body, the other Martial Sages had honed their large-scale coordination. They were now equipped to fight the Beast that Roared as a singular force, having baked their various battle formations into their bones and completely memorized all the formations and protocols.

Of course, these were hardly battle-tested, but they didn’t have that luxury.

For one, there was nothing left on the continent that could serve as worthy opponents for hundreds and hundreds of Martial Sages who had learned to coordinate with each other extremely well. It was why the Martial Sages had resolved themselves to end this war once and for all without any further ado. In the past year, they had each prepared themselves for all manner of possibilities of what kind of beast it could be. The Martial Sages of the Hive had ensured that the Martial Sages of human civilization were at least decently equipped for all of that. They had at least ensured that the worst-case scenario of friendly fire, getting in each other’s way, and fighting each other would not happen.

This would ensure that, even if not perfect, the force of the Martial Sages would accumulate and superimpose additively and ensure that the net punishment that the Beast That Roared faced far exceeded that of the Sage Realm and entered that of the Transcendent Realm, hopefully.

And he, like the other three pillars of the siege was expected to play an important role in suppressing the Beast That Roared and eventually killing it. Thankfully, the sheer boost to his healing and regenerating that the pluripotent exotic matter gave him in addition to the Transcendent Healing Fruit made him truly confident that he would not go down easily no matter how strong the beast was.

“Fuuu…” he heaved a deep breath. “Soon, this war will come to an end, one way or another.”

If they failed and were wiped out, then human civilization was surely screwed to hell and beyond. If they succeeded, then they would hopefully be able to end the Beast Incursion with the death of the beast that started all of it.

The day passed as the Martial Sages began making preparations for the soon-to-come war against a single opponent, a war that would alter the future of not just human civilization but the future of the entire world.

A lot hinged on the outcome of this battle.

Even the Martial Sages who were accustomed to facing the most important battles felt a tremendous pressure weighing on them as the fate of everything depended on their success in what was shaping to be the most difficult challenge.

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