The Martial Unity

He could tell that this wasn’t just a blood version of the Apprentice Realm.

In fact, the more he studied her, the more he realized that the very concept of Realms might be invalid when it came to describing her Path.

The reason that the Martial Path operated with discrete ranks that had their own lower and upper limits was that the Martial Path tapped into one avenue of potential at a time. Likely because the Martial Path was a Path that focused on control, efficiency, and mastery than some of the other Paths he had seen.

This made it so that they could only focus on one Realm at a time.

There was also the fact that each Realm required the prior Realms to be accessed, creating a natural chronology.

In the case of Arastia, she was born with a Martial Body, effectively. Unlike Martial Artists, who only gained the Martial Heart and the potential for a Martial Mind after one broke through to the Squire Realm.

She had grown up with those potentials.

They had developed alongside her as she went through puberty.

They were also a natural part of her being, from the very get-go.

This appeared to have eroded the barriers between Realms.

Just as with normal human beings, where untapped physical potential and untapped mental potential were not discrete Realms that could be tapped into discretely, they had become blurred into a more general reservoir of untapped potential within Arastia.

She could slightly tap into the potential of what the Martial Heart was in Martial Artists without needing to break through to the Senior Realm.

She could slightly tap into the potential of the Martial Mind without needing to break through to the Master Realm. She didn’t even need to create systems of thought; her mind naturally, but very slowly, began ’annexing’ the Martial Mind.

Rui suspected that this was the consequence of being born with a Martial Body.

Her consciousness was more deeply integrated with the ’hardware’ of untapped neurological potential than it was in Martial Artists, who gained that potential much later in life, and had not integrated it into their natural capabilities from infancy as their mind developed with that potential at their disposal from the very start.

He didn’t, however, sense anything even resembling the Martial Soul in her mind.

There was no widespread neuroconductivity across the entire brain from mind to soul or from cerebrum or cerebellum. He suspected that this likely meant that she would need to achieve Enlightenment of Self to achieve the equivalent of that state of consciousness.

Rui’s powerful observation and deduction allowed him to study her body and understand what this new Blood Path looked like.

It was not going to be a path with a chronology of rankings that followed one after another.

It was likely going to be a slope.

Currently, Arastia was at the very bottom of the slope, having perhaps just taken her first few steps up the slope.

She would need to continue walking up the slope for a long, long time until she made full use of all the potential in her body, in her blood, and in her mind.

He suspected that she would reach a dead-end then, one that could only possibly be overcome by the Enlightenment of Self.

After that, whatever happened was, well, beyond even Rui’s prediction.

He faintly suspected, however, just like he did with the six paths of power of the true world, that she would have the opportunity to tap into the power of Transcendence and beyond. However, if he was right about his power manifesting extremely differently in path after path, then he had no idea how this power would manifest in Arastia.

She and others of the descendants of the Blood Goddess would be the first to explore the unknown fronts of this new Path.

He also suspected that individuality would remain a thing in these new blood cultivators. It was likely that individuality was a more universal condition for making use of one’s potential in general.

“What are you thinking about, Uncle Rui?” she asked with an innocent tone of curiosity.

Rui’s attention returned to her as he smiled gently.

“I was thinking about how strong and pretty you are.”

“Hehehe.”

“Why don’t you go play with the others?”

Rui released her as she ran away to the other kids in the orphanage.

His gaze returned to Amare as well as Max and Mana, who looked exhausted from stress.

“Will she be alright?” Max asked with a severe tone.

“Will the Martial Union do something to her? Like, demand that she becomes a test subject or something like that?” Mana asked with deep concern.

Rui shook his head. “They will not. I have taken care of the issue. She is entirely safe as long as I am alive.”

The twins heaved a deep breath of relief, gazing at him with gratitude and admiration.

“Thank you.”

“You don’t need to thank me,” Rui replied, shaking his head. “She is an innocent child and a Quarrier.”

“That child…” Amare began with interest. “She is not a Martial Artist. I didn’t know that the Blood Goddess’ children would develop their own Martial Paths. But it’s a bit confusing, isn’t it?”

Rui raised an eyebrow. “What is?”

“The fact that she didn’t develop a Martial Path when her mother developed a Martial Path,” Amare reasoned. “Her mother is of the same species as her, and her mother has a Martial Path, but Arastia has a different path entirely. How is that possible?”

“It’s because Arastia was born with her Martial Body while all Martial Artists acquired it much later in life,” Rui replied. “Even considering the youngest Martial Squire, they still gain their Martial Body well after they are born and well after they gain object permanence and the sense of self-awareness. These are the most crucial years that define who you will go on to be. It’s not even comparable. I suspect that we were born with our Martial Bodies, we too would have an entirely different kind of Path.”