The Martial Unity

On a bright morning, he found himself meditating within the enclaves within her vast body.

His presence was engrossed.

His breathing was deep and slow.

His mind was absorbed as a flux of information flowed between it and nature as he whispered to the trees while they whispered back.

His eyebrows scrunched with a hint of displeasure as his expression strained with effort.

Whatever he was trying to do appeared to be extremely difficult.

He gave out, gasping for air as his body relaxed and his expression grew complicated.

“How did it go?”

Opposite him was a mature dark elf woman donning a garb made entirely from leaves that covered her waist and upper abdomen. She was a vessel made from botanical biotechnology containing a piece of the mind of Mother Alicia, designed to interact with people in a more direct and material manner.

Beaming messages into someone’s head when their mind was preoccupied with something important was not the most optimal way of communication.

Rui shook his head, heaving a sigh.

“It is impossible for me to complete the Hymn of Mind and Soul.”

That was what Rui had attempted to do after his mastery had reached a great stage after several months of mastery.

He had attempted to enter an even higher rank of power within the Nature Path, but alas, it had proven to be absolutely impossible.

“All my conscious and subconscious potential is already harnessed,” Rui shook his head. “As a Martial Sage, I’ve made use of every speck of potential that exists in my brain and have already dedicated it all to Martial Art, I can’t really use it for anything else. I certainly can’t use it to harmonize with nature. This is where the Martial Path deviates absolutely from the Nature Path, making them mutually exclusive.”

Mother Alicia’s expression fell.

“I see,” she replied with an expectant tone. “I had anticipated that you would have great trouble pursuing the Nature Path beyond a certain point because you aren’t an elf. There is only so much that your system of thought can compensate for that. As someone who has already walked much of another path and has dedicated all his potential to Martial Art, it makes sense that you’re unable to pursue the Nature Path by making use of that potential for nature. Still…”

She smiled at Rui with an impressed smile.

“You have made explosive progress with the Gate of Harmony and have achieved it at a rate that is almost unprecedented even among dark elves,” she informed him with a sincerely amazed tone. “This is despite the fact that you are a male and are innately inferior in your ability to bond with nature, and the fact that you are infested with a vile death. I must say, I am shocked. I thought this whole process would take you years.”

“I leveraged my power as a Martial Artist, of course.” Rui gazed at his hand with a knowing tone. “I used it to get past certain processes quicker than I would have without my power as a Martial Artist.”

“…Can all Martial Artists do what you have done?” she asked with a hint of curiosity and amazement.

“Haha, on.” Rui shook his head. “You guys have undoubtedly gotten all the information about Martial Artists to know that basically nobody else can possibly replicate what I have done when it comes to mastering nature manipulation. These are abilities that, together, are entirely unique to me. The only one who might be able to replicate my speed of mastery is…”

An expectant, knowing smile appeared on his face.

“Amare.”

Over the past few months, their routine has been largely set in stone. They would spend most of the day focusing on mastering nature manipulation in their own ways, before completing some of their obligations to the dark elves in return. They spend the rest of the day and night with each other, before returning to the same activities the next day.

She had chosen to go about mastering the Nature Path her own way, using her kinesthetic learning to master nature manipulation by living with the elves exactly the way they did.

She had even begun wearing their minimalistic organic clothing and even speaking their language in their day-to-day conversations to try and embody the elven spirit as much as she could.

The craziest part was that it worked.

Rui had been able to sense that she was growing more and more bonded with nature with each passing day, indicating to him that her kinesthetic learning had proven to be quite effective when it came to inheriting other paths.

He truly couldn’t imagine how strong she would be when she mastered all six paths along with him.

“She is indeed quite extraordinary as well,” Mother Alicia remarked with a softened tone. “Like you, she, too, has made considerable gains in just the span of three months of mastery. I suppose human civilization did truly send its best. It would be terrifying if all of you had the same capacity for growth.”

“Well, Martial Artists do grow faster than elves, but that is because we also die faster,” Rui remarked. “A thousand-year lifespan is truly immense in comparison, but it scales with your rate of growth.”

He had noticed when he was training them, but elves truly took time to digest what they had learned. They developed muscle memory slower than humans and Martial Artists did, and that meant that the Martial training that they were undergoing would take much longer.

In turn, Rui could use his traits as a Martial Artist to accelerate growth in certain other fields.

The fact that he had reached the Gate of Harmony and gone past it in three months was quite surreal to him in that regard. After all, he had gotten accustomed to much longer training sessions that involved him requiring many years altogether to complete. His projects began spanning a longer and longer time despite retaining his youth, largely because the complexity and difficulty of taking even a single step forward at his already immense stage of development was much harder than it was before.