The Martial Unity

The Martial Sages frowned at his words.

“The best of both worlds?” The Mountain of Fortitude raised an eyebrow.

Rui nodded. “The Martial Path is indeed strong. But it has extremely stiff competition now with the six paths and their resulting hybrids. On top of that, once they gain the power of esoterics, and they inevitably will at some point or another, they will be able to grow astronomically stronger with the power of esoteric matter and technology amplifying their path. In comparison…”

Rui shook his head.

“I’m not confident that conventional technology will help Martial Art as astronomically. At this rate, the six paths are primed for a period of astronomical growth that could undermine Martial Art even more,” Rui continued with a serious tone. “There are solutions, of course. MECHAs are a great solution, but a better and more fundamental solution is to evolve the Martial Path itself. To elevate to a greater height of potential, and the way to do that is…”

His eyes lit up. “…by merging it with this new Blood Path to create a powerful hybrid path that makes the best of both worlds. I think this can be possibly be achieved by tinkering with the variables mentioned before. Environment. Upbringing. Experiences.”

He turned towards Matriarch Nephi.

“You are correct when you say that there are limits to these variables. However, you underestimate them,” Rui continued. “The fact of the matter is that there are already instances of environment having great impact on Paths compared to genes. For example…”

He activated his Realms of power and a breathing technique, manipulating light itself to produce an image of a familiar race of people.

The Sol race.

These people had a strange skin color.

Their skin had a golden tint to it.

The Martial Bodies of this race were further ’purified’ to become a perfect golden color.

“The Sol race can truly be considered to be divergent from the main human species to the same degree that the six species of the true world are,” Rui continued. “Think about it. These people have eyes that are evolved for light. They can stare directly at the Sun without experiencing any strain or pain. They can perceive a greater bandwidth of light than normal human beings. They can even go as far as to absorb light and turn into energy as if they are plants!”

The other Martial Sages stirred at those words as they fell into thought.

Indeed, the Sol people were significantly genetically divergent from the main panamic races.

“Let me ask you,” Rui continued. “Are these people closer to the average human compared to elves? The average elf is very similar to human beings, after all. We have already verified that they are reproductively compatible with us. They have the same internal organs and anatomy, with the sole exception being their ears.”

He tapped his ear. “They have longer ears, evolved to allow them to ’hear’ plants and trees and communicate with nature itself. Compare that to the Sol race, who have a golden tint to their skin color, have superhuman vision, and can absorb light from the Sun. Who do you think is more similar to average humans on this continent, the Sol people or the dark elves?”

It was not clear.

Some of them leaned towards the Sol race being more similar because they were still considered to be part of the same species, just a very divergent race. But others came to understand that there was virtually no distinction to be made in the degree of difference.

Both the Sol and the dark elves were relatively equally far from the average human, genetically.

“It might be possible that if not for the Progenitor spreading Martial Art across the continent, they might have come to develop a different kind of Path,” Rui replied. “It might be possible that the Age of Martial Art was so dominant and powerful that it was a sufficiently major factor on their Paths, causing them to become more Martial than… a ’Light Path,’ for example.”

This possibility shook the Martial Sages, where they stood as their eyes widened with shock.

The idea that they had a nascent Path different from the Martial Path within them the entire time was truly shocking and scary!

The fact that the Sol Race universally developed Martial Paths around the concept of light and electromagnetism lent even more credence to the ideas that Rui proposed.

There was not a single Sol Martial Artist who did not have a Martial Path not related to light.

It was so universal that it was regarded as an absolute rule.

In that case, did they even have a Martial Path?

Was it perhaps something that resembled Martial Paths but was actually some kind of ’Light Path’?

“The more I learn about the true world…” Rui continued with a thoughtful tone. “The more I am convinced of the theory that the Sol people do not follow the Martial Path but actually follow a hybrid path. A hybrid path born from the fusion of the Martial Path and their genetic Martial Path. However, if that is true, it begs the question as to where the Martial Path half came from. They don’t mate with average humans to ensure that the ’blood of Solaris’ running through their veins does not dilute. So where did the Martiality come from?”

It left only one answer.

“It likely came from environment, upbringing, and experience,” Rui continued with a thoughtful tone. “Of course, this is not proof by any means, but it is compelling evidence when we look at the data we have gained about the true world from the dark elves. And the Sol is an example of the best-case scenario. The most optimal outcome that we should seek to achieve.”

He shook his head.

“Banish the thought of exterminating the blood children. It is evil, heinous, and horrible. It is also a waste of a precious boon and a miracle. Instead, help me create a new path.”

He extended his hand to the Martial Sages.

“A Blood Martial Path. A hybrid Path that contains the best of both worlds. One that will empower human civilization for eons to come.”