The Martial Unity

“My son…” Emperor Rael regarded with even greater respect than he had before, “you have returned.”

“Yes, Father,” Rui replied as he entered the room, approaching his father’s desk as he took a seat opposite him across the messy table. “I have… handled my personal business.”

Emperor Rael’s expression softened with a hint of melancholy. “…It seems that it didn’t go well.”

Rui’s eyes darkened a little bit.

“…I’m sorry about what happened to her,” Emperor Rael offered his condolences. “She sounded like a wonderful person from everything I have heard. I can sense the depth of your love for her in how far you have gone to protect her. I only wish I could have met her.”

“…I wanted to introduce her to everybody as well,” Rui closed his eyes. “And I will. I have faith that she will return.”

Emperor Rael studied his son carefully up close.

Last time, he had gotten the opportunity to sit down before him and focus on his personal condition due to the other agendas that he had to deal with as Emperor.

Now, however, he faced his son as a father.

He could tell his son had changed.

Although he was clearly sad at what had happened, it was different from the existential crisis that seemed to eat away at him from within. The depths of his eyes were tranquil and harmonious.

His body language and demeanor conveyed an immense degree of stability and certainty. He hadn’t even the faintest hint of uncertainty regarding himself any more. “You seem to be doing better personally,” Emperor Rael offered. “It seems that the breakthrough the Sage Realm has helped you understand who you are.”

His body language and demeanor conveyed an immense degree of stability and certainty. He hadn’t even the faintest hint of uncertainty regarding himself any more. “You seem to be doing better personally,” Emperor Rael offered. “It seems that the breakthrough the Sage Realm has helped you understand who you are.”

Rui shook his head. “It’s the other way around.”

Understanding who he was had led to the power that he had harnessed.

“I see…” Emperor Rael mused. “I appreciate your concern, but I’m fine,” Rui replied with a sincere tone. “I’m sure that you have plenty of questions that have yet to be resolved in your capacity as Emperor.”

Emperor Rael smiled wryly. “That’s an understatement, my son. It’s not just me, the whole world has countless questions for you.”

Rui nodded, having expected. “I will try to clarify as well as I can.”

Emperor Rael leaned forward with interest. “What exactly have you done?”

Rui tilted his head with a hint of confusion. “That should be self-evident. I simply increased the scope of what I normally do to the entire continent. It’s the same thing.”

“Yes, but it targeted normal human beings as well,”

Rui shrugged, “nothing I can do about that. I think they will be glad when they realize what I have done.”

Emperor Rael shook his head. “Ordinary citizens do not think like us. They have no fathoming of the strategic outlook of humanity. They don’t know what the Solution of Harmony is or what your role in the solution is.”

Rui shrugged. “Still, it is for their good. And my reputation is powerful enough to take this hit without much of a problem.”

Emperor Rael nodded. “That is true. Next question, how frequently are you able to conduct this mass continental breakthrough?”

Rui stirred, falling into thought. “Theoretically every twenty-four hours. The only constraint is the price of the Master and Sage Realm, which I will soon handle once we’re done with this conversation. But it’s not worth doing every day.”

“…Because the Martial Artists who can be broken through have already broken through?”

“Yes, it will need time before Martial Artists with the potential to breakthrough will re-emerge. I would say once a year is a good rate. Any more than that and the diminishing returns are not worth the effort. Also…”

His tone grew serious. “You don’t want Martial Artists to grow psychologically reliant on my breakthroughs to break through. We should still ensure that most breakthroughs occur naturally in the long run. It could severely cripple Martial Artists around the world if they develop the mindset that they need me to break through.”

The Emperor of Harmony fell into thought as his son brought up a pertinent point.

Becoming overreliant on this safe method of breakthroughs without risks might cripple the mindset of future generations of mindsets.

“The good part is that being in an apocalypse prevents them from being too spoiled,” Rui remarked. “Having to fight brutal and grueling battles endlessly against an endless Beast Incursion has already increased the quality of Martial Artists produced.”

Emperor Rael nodded. “Breakthrough rates have increased naturally as well, even without your ability.”

This was because the drive to survive and the drive of self-preservation were the most powerful drives in existence. In the past, these drives were not constantly evoked due to human civilization not being constantly ravaged by endless hoards of beasts and monsters.

Now, however, the constant threat of death and destruction had turned the drive for self-preservation into all Martial Artists’ regular Martial Drives, making them extremely motivated to grow stronger. This increased the number of Apprentices that broke through and had the most noticeable impact on the Senior and Master breakthroughs. Rui’s breakthroughs were the cherry on top in this regard. It was why humanity hadn’t collapsed with a ten percent increase in intensity in the Beast Incursion.

A war-time civilization just had a different grit compared to a peace-time civilization. They didn’t just have Martial Artists, they had warriors in every sense of the word.

“Then, putting aside the mass civilizational breakthroughs…” Emperor Rael’s tone grew more serious, “…what about breakthroughs to the Sage Realm?”

Rui stirred as he smiled at his father. “So you figured out, hm?”

Emperor Rael’s expression grew bemused. “I have observed Masters breaking through to the Sage Realm for the past few centuries, my son. I was confident that when you departed from the Kandrian Empire, you were at least a century away from the Enlightenment of Self. And yet you broke through less than four years later exactly when you needed to the most. That has turned not only my head, but that of other sharp and keen individuals who have connected the dots. So tell me…”

His eyes grew more intense. “Can you break Masters through to the Sage Realm?”

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