The Martial Unity

Rui’s eyebrows furrowed as his eyes lit up at the mention of the G’ak’arkan Tribe. It had been a while since the topic had earned his attention. However, the fact that Master Ceeran had mentioned that the Martial Union was considering enlisting their Martial power in a war of this scale could only mean…

“They… got a Master?” Rui’s eyes widened.

Master Ceeran glanced at Rui with a quizzical look. “I suppose you haven’t really been following up on their development after we left the island.”

“…Not at all, actually, I didn’t really have the opportunity to. After we returned, I trained for the Shionel Dungeon and only returned to the Kandrian Empire after, I believe, eight years after having been chased out of the Shionel Confederation by Chairman Deacon.”

He didn’t have the time to care about the tribe when he spent most of his time getting stronger so that he could kill Chairman Deacon.

“Ah yes, you did go through all that immediately after your return home from Vilun Island.” Master Ceeran recollected memories of old. “They happened so long ago that it feels it was part of a different era. Regardless, let me fill you up. About a decade after we left, Senior K’Mala broke through to the Master Realm.”

Rui’s eyes lit up with surprise. “But I believe that Vilun Island had never even gotten close to having any of their Martial Seniors to Masters.”

“That’s true,” Master Ceeran nodded. “The concept of systems of thought and Martial Minds did not even exist on Vilun Island. They had no idea that the Upper Realms even existed. According to our analysts, it was extremely unlikely that they would ever break through to the Master Realm.”

“Then…”

“We also believe that you were the one who changed their fates and set them on the path to the Higher Realms that previously eluded them.” Master Ceeran smiled. “I can attest to that since the same thing had happened to me as well.”

Rui had a feeling it was that.

He remembered his time in Vilun Island quite well, even if it had been a long time since he thought about it. He recalled how he traded his Pathfinder technique for some of their most powerful techniques that had gone on to become a mainstay in his Martial Art, increasing his combat power considerably. Things like Might Roar Flash Blast and the successive Transverse Resonance had saved his life many times.

The Pathfinder was a thought technique, however.

At the time, he had no idea what that meant, but now that he was a Master and understood the criteria to breakthrough into the Master Realm better than anybody else, he understood in hindsight that he had come to set a chain reaction of events that had caused the Vilun Island to eventually reach the Master Realm organically.

“Interesting…” He murmured. “So she reached the Master Realm. I suppose that means…”

A smile appeared on his face. “…A student of mine reached the Master Ream.”

“Aha, yes, I suppose that is true, in an unexpected way.”

Rui had taught her mathematics and some physics necessary for the Pathfinder technique. She was technically his student in that regard.

“So, now that the Martial Union has decided to enlist Masters and Sages into their war effort, it has decided to do so with the G’ak’arkan Tribe with K’Mala, is it?” Rui pondered with interest. “That’s quite fascinating. I suppose it is a good thing that our diplomatic mission back then was a success. It has come to be of much use in these trying times.”

Master Ceeran nodded. “We need every Master we can get our hands on. Otherwise, this war is going to be so bloody that not a single person will be left standing by the time the war is over. I need more power, and the inventive techniques of the G’ak’arkan Tribe that have improved in conjugation with ours might serve as useful inspiration for improving my power. I realized just how weak I was in the heat of that battle and that I could not afford to step into another battle without being stronger than I am right now.”

“…Hm, are you also planning to go as a part of the Martial Union’s war enlisting mission?”

“Yes,” Master Ceeran nodded. “If I’m going there, I might as well go and complete some important work for the war. After all, the reason that we haven’t already recruited her is because we need to send a Master to gain her respect.”

“I see…” Rui fell into thought. “I have a proposal.”

Master Ceeran turned towards him with an intrigued look. “Are you interested in coming?”

Rui nodded. “I have a rapport with her. We had a really good relationship all those years ago, and she most likely feels a lot of gratitude towards me for helping her break through to the Master Realm. With those two, I am pretty sure I can convince her to aid our war efforts within a single day of negotiations.”

“A single day is remarkably quick. I suppose you plan on treating this as a quick errand to do before you move on to more serious diplomatic efforts?” Master Ceeran raised an eyebrow. “The Kandrian Empire cannot afford to waste your diplomatic efforts for a single Master.”

Rui was the ideal diplomat, considering his Martial power and political power, as well as his proficiency and experience with diplomacy.

“It won’t take too long,” Rui reassured him. “I just want to see how the seed of thought I planted in her many years has evolved. I wonder what she has done with the Pathfinder technique after all this time and how strong she is. If she’s too weak, then it might not be worth bringing her in.”

Rui looked forward to going to one of the more interesting endeavors in his life and seeing how things had changed since he last knew them. Hopefully, he could also return to the Kandrian Empire with another Master in addition to satisfying his Martial curiosity.

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