The Martial Unity

Chapter 2555: The Unknown

As jubilant as Rui grew for having left the Kandrian Empire for the first time in many years, he did ground his personal excitement with the knowledge that this was not going to be an easy

journey.

If there was one weakness that Martial Artists had, it was that their power was not their natural state. This power not only had a strict time limit but also had other harsh consequences for using it.

The Martial Heart and Martial Mind were not endless resources.

They were very much finite.

If he ended up consuming all of them, he would only be as powerful as a Senior-level monster. That left him extremely vulnerable. He needed to source and ration his Realms of power and treat them judiciously now that he was outside the Kandrian Empire.

This was not easy.

Because every once in a while, he ran into a monster or beast that could not be defeated without them. On top of that, the roar of the beast at the very epicenter of the Beast Domain had sent all of them into a frenzy, causing any and all beasts that managed to detect him to go into an absolute rampage to kill him where he stood.

And every once in a while, these beasts just so happened to be strong enough for him to use a portion of his true power.

BOOOM!

A thundering blow crashed into the gut of an iron chimp, permeating the impact as deep as possible with the Yin-Yang Spear.

The frenzied creature never stood a chance.

Rui deactivated his Martial Heart while reactivating his stealth techniques with a hint of indignance. ”Annoying beasts and monsters and their impressive senses.”

This was one area where beasts and monsters were able to compete with Martial Artists. They

had exceptionally powerful sense organs innately, while Martial Artists relied on the additional brain power obtained from each Realm to better process sensory data.

And thus, it forced Rui to be alert at all times.

The Kandrian Empire was so sterile when it came to risks and dangers that he had frankly forgotten what it was like to stay alert at all times. Once the war continued, even Master-level assassins had all but given up on trying to kill Rui after his astronomical power within the Master Realm had become public knowledge.

Only a Sage or an equally powerful Master could possibly assassinate him.

His passive alertness had grown rusty over the course of the war the stronger he himself grew. There were just so few things that could threaten him once he was off the battlefield that it was difficult to bring himself to be extremely alert as though he wasnʼt one of the most secure people in the entirety of the country.

Now, however, his circumstantial and environmental awareness heightened very naturally as a result of his subconscious recognition of the danger in the surroundings. He knew that

beasts and monsters were very dangerous.

A single mistake could cost him his life.

His eyes sharpened as he continued maintaining a steady and solid pace as he navigated through the beast tides that had washed over the Human Domain.

It was only when he put sufficient distance between himself and the Kandrian Empire that the density of monsters and beasts grew from suffocatingly high to more sparse.

”Man, the nations surrounding the Sage-level powerhouses sure have it rough.”

A lot of these nations were weak.

A single Sage-level and often even a single Master-level beast was enough to destroy some of these nations. Sharing a border or even being in the geographic vicinity of a Sage-level nation was surely extremely terrifying for these nations. Sage-level nations attracted armies of beasts that were so powerful that a single one of them could wipe out weaker nations.

The further and further away Rui got from the Kandrian Empire, the more relaxed his voyage became. He also made a mental note to always be high on stamina any time he approached a powerful nation for he knew he would be running into a lot of turbulence in these areas.

An entire day passed as Rui carefully navigated the beast and monster-infected Human Domain.

It was a surreal experience.

What truly moved him was how his perception of the Human Domain had changed.

In the past, the Human Domain was largely ʼknown.ʼ

There were maps and documentation on most of the Human Domain that was covered with human civilization.

If white represented completely known and black signified the complete unknown, then the Human Domain would be a very light gray, on average. Meanwhile the Beast Domain would be a very dark grey, growing darker and darker the closer one got to the center of the Beast Domain, which was pitch black.

Now, however, even the Human Domain had become dark gray.

He had no idea what he was going to run into. He could run into all kinds of beasts and monsters, and with the continuous esoterification of the Human Domain, his senses were impeded more than they had ever been.

On top of that, he was aware that portable remote communication had already been rendered obsolete. He could not just pick up a communication artifact and call back home any more.

He was truly by himself.

And thus, the Human Domain, the very cradle of human civilization, had become an unknown.

It increased his sense of adventure and sorrow.

”The Era of Darkness is truly fitting.”

Perhaps one day in the future when human civilization overcame the Beast Incursion, a second age of exploration would commence as human civilization set out to make the continent theirs once more.

Rui certainly intended to be there, should such an event occur. He had no intention of leaving the darkness of the entire world to fester forever.

With this voyage, he would travel the world and bestow upon all of human civilization the power to resist the Beast Incursion and overcome it with their own power so that they could put an end to this catastrophe.