The Martial Unity

Rui had plenty to consider on the way back home. He had a huge array of choices to spend his million Martial credits on, and he didn’t want to be too hasty.

(‘I’m not under a tremendous amount of pressure in any regard at the moment.’) Rui sighed. (‘I can take my time to think it through. Hell, I don’t even think it is ideal to spend all of it on one go.’)

It was best to keep a smaller proportion in his account as a part of his savings, or he could even give it to the Quarrier Orphanage and allow them to spend it on things that even the income supplied by both Rui and Julian would normally not allow.

(‘I should prioritize spending the credits on something that will aid my Martial Art and my power.’) Rui decided.

Those two were different, albeit very closely related. Progressing his Martial Art made him stronger, but becoming stronger did not necessarily progress his Martial Art. The clearest example of the latter was the perma-augmentation potion that augmented his physicality but did not impact his Martial Art in any way.

Of course, this was not bad, not by any means at all. But Rui would rather have an option that made him stronger by making his Martial Art stronger. But, of course, there was no straightforward way to make progress in your Martial Art, it certainly was not something that could be purchased. No potion boosted one’s Martial Art.

(‘Still, it is an option worth considering,’) Rui noted.

The Martial World was dangerous. That potion could mean the difference between life and death where he would not have been able to overcome an opponent had he not consumed said potion. Thus, Rui was very open to considering consuming said potion.

(‘Although there is nothing that can straightforwardly strengthen my Martial Art, there’s a variety of smaller things that should be able to aid.’) Rui realized.

Things like being able to purchase a lot of research data surrounding a field to learn more about it were certainly quite useful. He had done just that when he purchased information relating to the compatibility between poison and symbiotes.

The next time that he wanted to obtain information surrounding a field that was relevant to a technique development project that he was working on, he could be much less reserved in the amount of money that he spent on it.

Doing so would increase the probability that he would obtain some degree of success in regard to the project that he was working on, or, if the project was not viable in the first place, then he was less likely to waste time on that avenue of development.

He could also be much less reserved when spending on training resources in the Martial Union, for one. After all, with the sheer number of Martial credits he had sitting in the bank, he didn’t need to worry about spending too many training resources.

Rui could even commission Martial Artists of higher Realms like Martial Seniors to aid him if he ever experienced any difficulty with training or a particular technique.

Martial Artists of higher Realms possessed knowledge and experience that far surpassed that of a relatively young Martial Squire like himself. There were insights and wisdom that came with the sheer quantity and quality of experience in regard to Martial Art that these Martial Artists possessed that could not be replaced by anything else.

Of course, he highly doubted he could commission them too many times before even his expansive reserves of Martial credits emptied up.

(‘It’s probably best to spend a certain degree of Martial credits on immediate boosts such as the perma-augmenting potion while keeping the rest to be available for future expenditure on continuous purchases that can help the growth of my Martial Art in many ways.’) Rui nodded.

Ultimately, this was the most prudent way to handle the way to spend these funds. While the goods and services of the Martial Union were no doubt quite impressive and alluring, ultimately, they weren’t something that Rui was too willing to spend much capital on. He didn’t particularly need or want most of them, and while there were no doubt products that could aid his mission completion, he was content with augmenting his physical prowess.

Anything else was simply too temporal and would grow obsolete as time passed. There was no way that he could retain most of these products when he stepped into the Senior Realm, but the perma-augmenting potion would certainly aid him throughout his entire journey.

By the time he gathered his thoughts on the matter, he had already arrived at the Quarrier Orphanage. As he sky-walked down, he found Max and Mana sparring fiercely outside the Orphanage. Thankfully, he already had the mind mask on, thus his arrival didn’t draw their attention. The two were so intensely focused on their combat sparring that they didn’t even notice Rui descending from the sky.

It was only after they paused of their own volition that they finally saw Rui smiling at them from a distance.

pàпdá-ňᴏνêι.сóМ “Big brother.”

“You’re back.”

“Have you finished your business in the Martial Union? It sure took a while.”

“I did,” Rui nodded. “How is training going?”

“It’s going as tough as it usually does, but we can handle it just fine,” Max replied.

Rui had been paying close attention to them as he has been increasingly putting them through the VOID algorithm training, sparring with them with an adapted style produced by the VOID algorithm, using the bare minimum amount of energy and power that he needed to beat them, while also replicating their own styles against them.

He had watched as time passed, the two of them had gained an immense amount of self-awareness about their fighting styles, learning their affinities and capabilities at a remarkably young age, the kind of thing that one would really learn about only in the exploration stage that students went through in the Martial Academy.