The Martial Unity

“Damn, this isn’t looking so optimistic.” Rui cursed as he read through a research journal.

He had spent the past week pouring through all the literature on the topic, occasionally consulting Julian when the esoteric scientific jargon went over his head. Turns out Julian was entirely correct when he told Rui that there was a large degree of incompatibility between the field of poison and symbiotes.

One thing he did appreciate was the fact that there was an abundance of research on the topic. This was because a lot of the test subjects that were used to conduct the necessary experiments were actually animals. Since a lot of these symbiotes were able to take root in other animals, the effects of poison-based techniques were easy to observe.

One of the biggest problems Rui had come across was that almost all poison-oriented techniques required the user to actually develop complete immunity to said poison. Such a requirement was almost inevitable, all things considered. After all, how could one integrate poison into the body to use on others if said poison would end up killing them in the first place?

The Mindmirror symbiote was particularly vulnerable since most of its body was brain tissue comprised of neurons that certainly weren’t resistant to poison. The only poisons that it was able to develop immunity to were low-grade poisons that weren’t lethal.

This meant that whatever poison Rui planned to integrate into his Severer Project had to be a minor poison that couldn’t really do active damage to his opponent. He was limited to minor neurotoxins that negatively affected motor control or poisons that affected certain parts of the body. He couldn’t for the big shots that could kill even Martial Squires with just the slightest bit of exposure.

(‘Though that doesn’t necessarily too bad.’) Rui thought to himself. (‘I highly doubt I would have the affinity and the talent to be able to master such poisons in the first place. Poison is supposed to be one of three elements that make the Severer Project a powerful lethal attack. There was also the piercing attack and the friction element to batter the wound.’)

He quickly went through each poison that was viable as he made a mental note of all of them in the mind palace. Each of the poisons that were viable had to be such that they did not negatively affect brain tissue directly or indirectly, which most poisons did, which is why they were incompatible with the Mindmirror Brain. He then further shortlisted them as far as actual utility went.

[Hurndrum Nectar]

This was a poison derived from a special plant that caused a tremendous burning sensation to the applied area of the body that was indistinguishable from the actual sensation of burning. However, it did not actually cause any actual impediments to the functioning of the body. Thus, if the target was able to endure the pain, the poison would not cause any meaningful difference in combat.

The reason that this was considered a low-grade poison was that most Martial Squires had a disproportionately high amount of pain tolerance. After all, every Martial Squire had undergone the mind-crushing hellish torture that was the breakthrough to the Squire Realm. Once one underwent that, almost all other forms of conventional pain were rather trivial in comparison.

[Gangaer drop]

This was another potential candidate that caused necrosis to affected flesh, however, the rate at which it caused necrosis was exceedingly slow, to the degree that it was very unlikely to make much of a difference before the fight ended, and even then, it was not immediately debilitating and healing potions could further slow it down tremendously.

[Serinflow powder]

This was a poison created from the grain of the Serinflow crop. It functioned as an anti-coagulant that prevented wounds from slowing down blood flow through the coagulation of blood. If administered to an open wound, it would cause said wound to continue bleeding without pause. However, pressure on the wound effectively could replace the natural coagulation of the body, thus it wasn’t particularly lethal.

This was a poison Rui had the most hope for. This poison would pair really well with the technique he had in mind, the piercing and the friction in his attack would certainly cause a wound that was quite open and exposed, if he could master the Serinflow powder, then every time he successfully landed an attack, he could be certain it would be difficult for his opponent to endure the bleeding wound he had created.

There were a few other candidates as well, and Rui intended to verify his compatibility with all of them before he could have a much clearer idea of how realistic Project Severer was.

He sighed, putting aside the matter for now. “I should work on the other projects as well.”

The remaining two projects weren’t easy, but he was more comfortable with them since they did not require the comprehension of fields that he did not have a good understanding of. This was especially true for the Sniper Project. Out of all of the three of his projects, the Sniper Project was, in his estimation, the likeliest to succeed. He had fleshed out the technique almost entirely on a conceptual level.

He accessed the model for the technique from his mind palace, going over it once more. The goal of the project was a technique that allowed him accurately extreme long-range attacks that would ordinarily be impossible for a Martial Squire by relying on his ability to process information systematically, swiftly, and accurately.

The three main obstacles to the viability of the technique were the large distance over which he would need to aim accurately, the atmospheric and environmental factors that would influence the trajectory of the attack over such a long distance, and the movements of his target that, over such a large distance, could end up causing a complete miss.

He actually had reasonably viable solutions for all of these problems, and he intended to test them out as soon as he could.