The Martial Unity

“Ok, now I’m definitely coming.” She grew deeply enthusiastic once she heard everything she could earn from her merits in the war.

The one that interested her most was, of course, the Sage Realm. She grew deeply shocked at the revelation that a fifth rank existed above the fourth one. It turned out that there was far more to her journey as a Martial Artist than she had expected.

It was the biggest card the Kandrian Empire had to offer to a Master who didn’t know anything about civilization on the main island.

The thing that interested her was the opportunity to upgrade her body with potions and the Divine Doctor.

After all, the Squire evolution process of the G’ak’arkan Tribe was primitive compared to the highly sophisticated esoteric technology that the Kandrian Empire utilized, especially since the Kandrian Empire had gained the contributions of both Rui and the Divine Doctor, making its Squire evolution process the greatest in all of humanity.

She was also interested in fighting other Masters.

Ever since she broke through to the Master Realm, she had yet to fight a single Master and gain even an iota of experience as a Master on the battlefield.

Rui knew that she would definitely be among the weaker Masters on the battlefield, but that was fine as was. Not every Master needed to have a high grade in order to make a meaningful contribution.

Regardless, it appeared that she was quite receptive to his invitation.

Even if he had rejected her before, she could have made an advance on him and used her gratitude to try to pressure her into the war.

“Who are we fighting against?” She asked out of curiosity.

“Other Sage-level powerhouses,” Rui replied. “Nations as powerful or that used to be as powerful as the Kandrian Empire. I can assure you the war will be of a scale that you could hardly begin to imagine.”

“…You said earlier was too weak to contribute. Doesn’t that mean that the third and second rank are entirely meaningless in the war?” She keenly realized.

“Correct.” Rui nodded appreciatively. “Seniors are limited to support roles and can only have significance when Masters overpush and exhaust their stamina; we recently had the fortune of witnessing such an event where the most powerful Seniors of our nation were able to make major contributions to the war. But these are quite rare. Only Masters and mainly Sages will decide the outcome of the war.”

She heaved a sigh. “It’s a much larger world than I had ever expected. To think that strength we used to be so proud of meant nothing in the face of the titans of human civilization.”

Rui stirred. “I suppose that’s true.”

“In hindsight, you lot must’ve laughed at our pride and arrogance despite merely being of the third rank.”

“Well, laugh is a strong word, but yes, I suppose in hindsight, being as arrogant as the tribes of the island used to be was laughable. I especially feel this way, having reached the fourth rank.”

At the time, he respected them due to the fact that he was of the Squire Realm and thus weaker, but now, he could only shake his head at their embarrassing arrogance.

He was just glad that despite breaking through to the Master Realm and gaining enormous power that far exceeded what she possessed in the past, she didn’t seem to develop an ego, even if she developed some degree of psychopathy.

Considering that she had been told that the Senior Realm was the limit, that was quite the miracle. “If I die, do you promise to take care of the G’ak’arkan Tribe and make sure that they continue down the path that I have set them upon?”

Rui turned to her with a serious expression. “That’s a rather pessimistic request.”

“It’s not unrealistic. It is a simple conclusion to infer that I’m deficient compared to Martial Artists of the fourth rank from the continent like you. If all of them are like you, then I’m certainly at high risk of dying.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say that they are all like me,” he coughed. “I’m different. Like very different.”

“Hm, then I will have to judge how I am relative to my peers in person and through experience.”

“Still, I will adhere to your request,” Rui replied. “I’m curious to see the long-term effects of the education system that you’ve set up on the Martial Artists and the children.”

She cocked her head in surprise. “You mean to say that you don’t inculcate thought into your children despite knowing full well that it is fundamental to reach the fourth rank?”

Rui stirred at her words. “Well, I’ve never inquired into the education policies of the Martial Academy, but the prevailing school of thought used to be that there was no need to inculcate thought so early into their development since it was only relevant after they became Seniors. However, in more recent times, thought has been inculcated into Martial Artists at a much earlier phase than ever before.”

He referred, of course, to the voidlet techniques that had been propagated to all of the Lower Realms of Martial Artists in the Kandrian Empire and had begun having a major impact on the rate of breakthroughs into the Master Realm. “Ok, let’s put all those matters aside for now,” she abruptly remarked. “I want to experience my first battle against a Master. I have waited far too long to be denied this. Let’s fight.”

Rui stared at her, amused. “Alright, I’ll humor you. I am curious to see how strong you are. Be warned that your instincts of a Master’s combat power cannot be trusted. Let us see what you have done with my Pathfinder technique over twenty years.”

She smiled with a strange light in her eyes. “Let’s go to a different island; we cannot afford to hurt the people here with our Martial Embodiments.”

Rui felt a kind of peril from her, yet it wasn’t the usual kind.

–

He was just glad that despite breaking through to the Master Realm and gaining enormous power that far exceeded what she possessed in the past, she didn’t seem to develop an ego, even if she developed some degree of psychopathy.