The Martial Unity

He took his time on some of the matters he needed to focus on, and the sect was just one of them, and it was not the only thing that he intended to look into. He hadn’t forgotten that there was a person over whom he had some responsibility.

“So, how is the Kandrian Empire?” Rui nonchalantly asked as he turned to K’Mala. She looked a lot different than she did before.

She didn’t stick out like a sore thumb, for one.

Her attire and garbs seemed to be a fusion of some of the ethnic attire of the G’ak’arkan Tribe and Kandrian attire, which still made her stand out, but it wasn’t too eye-drawing.

“The Empire…this world exceeded my greatest expectations,” she murmured, deep in thought. “I didn’t know how small my home was. I didn’t know how limited my understanding of this world was.”

Rui smiled. “I see. I can only imagine how that feels. To one day learn that the world was much larger than you had ever fathomed it to be.”

She didn’t reply, still deep in thought.

“…Did the G’ak’arkan Tribe never explore the world beyond the island?” He raised an eyebrow. “Even after the Kandrian Empire made contact with it?”

She shook her head. “In the distant past, those who left the island to explore the world never returned. Thus, our ancestors forbade leaving the island to explore the outside world. Even after a century passed and we reached the Senior Realm, we never violated the sacrosanct laws of our ancestors.”

Her expression grew contemptuous. “Now, however, I realize that that blind fear has crippled our destiny. Or at least the destiny of the tribe that I have left behind. I now realize that my decision to leave the Tribe may very well be the greatest decision of my life.”

She turned to him with gratitude in her eyes.

As well as something more.

“Well, I’m glad you feel that way.” He broke eye contact as he turned away. “I had been worried that you would not be able to adjust to the Kandrian Empire due to how radically different it is to the G’ak’arkan Tribe.”

“…It was shocking at first. I had trouble sleeping because of how soft the beds were. Still, once I got used to them, I knew I wouldn’t be able to go back,” she murmured. “In the past two months, I have been slowly learning the language so that I no longer need a team of caretakers like I’m some child who can’t take of herself.”

It would appear that the way she was being treated, while extremely well, rankled her pride.

“I have also been learning more about this world,” she remarked. “It’s history and geography, about the Age of Martial Art, the ages before and the Empty Age, the Panama Continent and the nations that rule its lands and the Beast Domain at its center.”

Rui nodded. “It’s a fascinating world, isn’t it?”

“It is magical,” she whispered. “But what shocked me the most was the Martial Art. I didn’t know how weak we were back when I was in the G’ak’arkan Tribe. I thought the Kandrian Empire was surely more powerful than our tribe, but I had thought it would be a good fight if both sides came to fight a war. Now I realize that we were children, infants who were being humored by the adults.”

She was clearly embarrassed by the delusions she held when she was in the G’ak’arkan Tribe regarding its strengths relative to the Kandrian Empire.

At the moment, the Kandrian Empire had two thousand Martial Seniors in total and was only getting more with immigrating Seniors that had bet on the Kandrian Empire and hoped to gain access to the miracles that the Empire seemed to hold, as well as all the breakthroughs that Rui routinely conducted.

That was a number that had shocked K’Mala to her very core.

At the moment, the G’ak’arkan Tribe only had four Martial Seniors.

That meant that just with Seniors alone, the Kandrian Empire was more than five hundred times as powerful as the G’ak’arkan Tribe. That didn’t include Martial Masters, and it didn’t include the military; it didn’t include the catastrophic esoteric siege technology that the Kandrian Empire harbored.

And it certainly didn’t include the powerhouses that were Martial Sages.

The first time she happened upon a Martial Sage, Matriarch Nephi, she had harbored the delusions that she had reached the pinnacle of Martial Art.

She was humbled upon feeling the endless might that lingered within each of these forces. She couldn’t even imagine how strong the so-called Transcendents were. Considering how strong she had already become, they may as well have been gods in human form.

“I have already begun working on knowing who I am,” she heaved a sigh. “However, I don’t know if I will reach the Sage Realm, considering how few of us succeed.”

He shook his head. “It is not easy, that is for sure. But you must get stronger if you want it. Thankfully, your work is cut out for you. After all, you have access to a wealth of techniques and resources to help you grow stronger that you never had access to before.”

Her eyes sharpened with determination. “I do intend to make the best of them.”

She turned to him. “What do you intend to do?”

“I just exited a training session, so I won’t be training. I have been assigned a mission for the war, and I will be leaving the empire for it,” Rui proceeded to explain his mission to her. “I want to come,” she remarked with determination. Rui frowned. “What for? It’s a diplomatic mission, at first at least.”

“I want to be there as well.”

“What happened to making the best of the Kandrian Empire right here?”

“I changed my mind. Now I want to come as well.”

He stared at her with a dubious expression before relenting.

“Fine, but not right away. Only after the fighting starts.”

“…Deal.”

–