The Martial Unity

If Rael decided to use Rui’s breakthrough to the Apprentice Realm to its absolute fullest, then the stakes for both sides in the war skyrocketed. A greatly enlarged supply of Martial Apprentices meant that in the future, Kandria would greatly surpass all the other Sage-level powerhouses in the quantity of Martial Artists.

In other words, it truly was do or die at that point in time before the additional supply of Martial Artists made a genuine difference.

“Martial Apprentices cannot affect the strategic outlook of an all-out war.”

Neither of them had any delusions in that regard.

“When the war will have escalated to its prime height, the only classes of Martial Artists that will be able to affect the strategic outlook of the war are Martial Sages and Martial Masters,” Emperor Rael remarked, engrossed in thought. “More Apprentices will bring us no real benefits in the war but will alarm our enemies and make them even more desperate to attack and destroy us.”

“…Are you saying that it isn’t worth it?” Rui raised an eyebrow.

“I’m saying that in order for it to be worth it, I need to be damn certain that it doesn’t get us destroyed.”

“…I was under the impression that they would be trying to do that anyway.” Rui frowned. “Might as well go all out. After all, if they are always going to use their net military to take us down, then it literally cannot get worse.”

“There is merit in that.” Rael stirred. “However, you’re wrong. It can get worse. I hope I don’t need to remind you that there is more to the continent than just East Panama. There are Sage-level powerhouses in all four corners of the continent. They might decide that the threat of being able to trigger Apprentice breakthroughs on top of all the other treasures is too much to ignore and decide to participate.”

Rui grew grave at the mention of the possibility of additional Sage-level powerhouses getting involved.

It was bad enough that they were facing the Britannian Empire, the Sekigahara Confederate, and the Republic of Gorteau. That alone was a nightmare, with almost no hope in an overwhelming majority of situations.

If any more Sage-level powerhouses joined the fray, then Rui was deeply skeptical of their ability to not lose, even if they had his father on their side.

“…It’s tolerable.”

Rui’s eyes widened at his father’s words. “The distance between the four Sage-level powerhouses is absolutely enormous,” Emperor Rael remarked. “The distance between us and the other Sage-level powerhouse across the continent is even larger. In other words, it is deeply impractical for them to wage war against us over such vast expanses. That is why the Kandrian Empire has never been involved in conflicts with the Virodhabhasa Theocracy or the Solaris Kingdom in West Panama.”

Rui stirred in consideration of his father’s words. “That makes sense. It’s difficult to project power so far away from their territory. Only Martial Sages can cross such massive expanses in a reasonable amount of time without wasting too much of their stamina.”

Even for Martial Masters, crossing this great distance with the Martial Mind active would take days of actual travel time, while the drawbacks of the Martial Mind would force them to sleep, leaving themselves vulnerable in the middle of war far away from home. It was anything but ideal.

“Not only that, but it isn’t as though these nations are simply sitting around with all the free time in the world to be bothering about things happening on the other side of the world,” Emperor Rael remarked knowingly. “No, they’re embroiled in their own conflicts and local matters, which affect them far more materially and directly than anything happening in East Panama. Thus, I deem the probability low enough to be manageable as long as I keep an eye on the geopolitical dynamics in the other parts of the continent.”

Rui shrugged. “Well, it’s all your headache to handle.”

“Well, more importantly, I need you to send me a report on the limits and constraints of this ability of yours.” Emperor Rael’s gaze shifted to his son. “I will carefully integrate it into my grand plan accordingly.”

“Sure, as long as you don’t forget what I said before. I tend to spend an overwhelming majority of the day on training. I don’t mind offering help on these kinds of matters as long as it doesn’t infringe on my training.”

“I hear you, my son.” Emperor Rael’s rich voice was reassuring. “Now then, why did you come to seek me?”

It was Rui who sought an audience immediately after he was done with training. “Ah, I wanted to borrow the manifold for gathering experience,” Rui informed him. “You see, I just mastered a technique that requires extremely high foresight, which I could get with my systems of thought, but…”

He shook his head lightly, “…there are things gained from experience that no amount of thought could ever hope to compensate for.”

“Hm, well, that is no problem at all, but…” Emperor Rael raised an eyebrow, “…I have a faint suspicion that it won’t be nearly as convenient as you seem to think it will.”

Rui frowned. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Experience, true experience, is not so easy to procure,” his father eruditely remarked. “Then again, I suppose I have no standing to offer advice on Martial matters. However, remember that quality of experience matters just as much as quantity.”

Rui stared at him with uncertainty. The Kandrian Empire had some of the finest Martial Masters across all of human civilization. This was proven by the fact that it was able to cultivate a grade-thirty Martial Master, of which there were only three in all of East Panama.

Unless he meant…

“Like I said, I shall abstain from commenting on matters that are beyond my personal fields of expertise,” he remarked. “The manifold is ready. Now that you have come out of training, I shall commence its operation and accelerate the use of the other treasures.”

His eyes narrowed as his tone grew heavier.

“I have prepared for three years for this day. Kandria’s ascent to greatness shan’t be delayed any longer.”

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