The Martial Unity

There was a very concrete example of this. In his previous mission at Mt Zurtun, he had run into a powerful defensive Martial Artist who could entirely negate the entirety of Rui’s offensive arsenal. He had, to some degree, turned into the motivation and inspiration for Project Bounce.

The man’s defensive prowess came from techniques that were synergetic enough with his rubberized Martial body. Together, his defensive prowess was far greater than that of an all-rounder Martial Squire like Rui, than it would have been had both of them been Martial Apprentices.

Yet, now that Rui had created the Flux Earther technique, he didn’t think there was a significant gap between their defensive prowess at all. Rui was very confident that the Flux Earther technique could replicate all of the feats that the defensive Martial Squire had accomplished in their fight.

One disadvantage that he had was that the defensive technique was an active defensive technique that required his judgment to function while it seemed as though the defensive Martial Squire that he had fought operated with passive techniques.

Still, this could also work out in his favor, since excellent judgment would yield excellent outcomes in the case of active techniques. The same could not be said for passive techniques which were static and largely unchanging generally.

“We’ll just have to see whether that will happen or not.” Rui shook his head, before turning away and taking off.

Yet he didn’t intend to go back to the Quarrier Orphanage. He headed straight toward the town of Hajin. It had been far too long since he had undertaken a mission. Seven months of no real-life action that could make his nerves tingle and his heart pound made him feel like his instincts were dulling. No amount of training could replace the genuine fear of death and uncertainty.

It stimulated a Martial Artist’s potential better than any training could possibly do so. Nothing pushed Martial Artists beyond their limits than the possibility of losing the most important thing to them all.

“Yet before that, I have an appointment to be at.” Rui smiled, as he looked at his pocket watch.

Soon.

He immediately sped up, heading towards the town of Hajin, before arriving and landing outside a little café, of sorts.

He was early, but he didn’t mind waiting.

After all, it had been a while since.

“Hey, you’re early.” Kane greeted him as he descended from the air, skywalking.

Rui wordlessly smiled as he scrutinized Kane’s new form.

The first thing that he noted was the low-end Squire-level sense of threat that Rui felt from Kane with the help of Primordial Instinct.

“You’ve arrived.” Rui grinned, replying with a measured tone. It was intended to be a double entendre. Kane certainly had arrived at their rendezvous, but he had also arrived at the Squire Realm.

“I have,” Kane smirked.

He exerted a faint sense of danger to Rui, yet it was unlike anything he had sensed from a Martial Squire. It was the kind of pressure that one felt when one noticed a viper camouflaged in plain sight. OR the kind of pressure that one felt when one noticed the scales of a croc at the edge of the lake that one was standing too close to.

Kane had called Rui several months ago, informing him of the fact that he had become a Squire candidate, and would be undergoing the breakthrough to the Squire Realm.

He had also mastered the modified Mind-Switch technique that Rui had given him, realizing its use after he had mastered it. However, he only learned of its genuine value after he underwent the seminar explaining the process of breaking through to the Squire Realm.

Several months later, he finally contacted Rui again, informing him he had successfully broken through and had become a Martial Squire who was also in control of his power.

“How was the Squire habilitation process?” Rui asked.

“Tedious and tiring.” Kane sighed wearily. “I cannot tell you how fucking relieved I am to actually be without that suffocating restrictive suit every second of the day. Hell, that was my single best motivation to finish the Squire habilitation phase as soon as possible. More than anything else.”

“I felt the same way, though I did enjoy regaining the feeling of control over my power and my body once more so it was worth it.” Rui nodded. “Though it was still nothing compared to the suffering of the breakthrough to the Squire Realm.”

Kane winced at the very mention of it. “That was mind-shattering.”

“How long had it lasted?”

“About a week.” Kane sighed. “I cannot believe yours lasted for almost a month, how is your sanity not utterly destroyed from suffering and enduring that pain?”

“I think Martial Artists have a much higher fortitude when it comes to mastering these techniques. After all, ordinary people cannot learn even Apprentice-level conditioning techniques because the strain of the pain erodes their mind, but our Martial Path protects us from that.” Rui mused out loud.

“Well, I’m sure your Martial Path did you a big favor with that one,” Kane grumbled. “You might just have suffered less if it hadn’t.”

“Are you saying I was better off dying in that procedure?”

“Hey, those are your words, not mine.”

“What do you plan on doing now?” Rui asked with an amused expression.

“I need to relearn the core of my Martial Art,” Kane replied, shrugging. “Can’t do without certain techniques.”

“Do you plan on re-mastering Void Step?” Rui asked, interested in Kane’s decisions. He was in a bit of a different spot than Rui for whom almost no single technique of the Martial Union was of vital importance to his Martial Art. The same couldn’t necessarily be said for Kane who possessed numerous techniques that defined the core of his very approach in combat.

“Definitely.” Kane nodded. “That and a few others, but I don’t think I’ll be mastering everything. I’ve learned that there are reasons not to fall back into the same learning patterns that I had as a Martial Apprentice.”