The Martial Unity

Rui spent some time with Amare to appease her for just dumping her in the Kiriket Continent and dipping for an entire day. He taught her the Worm Step technique, teaching it to her through their special training methodology designed just for her through the Soul Retcon technique, making use of the ten thousand years’ worth of muscle memory she had to literally embed new muscle memory inside her brain, created from the fragments of her old muscle memory put together to form new muscle memories.

It was like shuffling around pixels of an image to create an entirely new image with a new meaning.

Rui was still incredibly jealous that she was able to learn techniques this quickly due to this mechanism. He taught her not only Worm Step, like she had requested, but also the new gravitational manipulation technique, the Forge of Singularity, that he had created for outer space.

It was a superior method to manipulating space in general, not just outer space. It was vastly more efficient than breathing techniques. It was just that breathing techniques were so ubiquitous and normal that he had never thought to wonder if there was a better alternative for gravitational manipulation in general.

“You really mastered the power of singularities?” Amare gasped. “That’s… that’s truly incredible. I recently fought against someone who wielded singularities, so I know just how powerful they are!”

Her battle against Transentia still lingered in her mind. The latter was truly one of the most powerful opponents that Amare had ever faced after the Dragon Emperor and the Evolutionary Supreme Commander. It had taken her and all her newfound power to actually best Transentia, only for NOVA to teleport her away.

“Mastered is a very strong word.” Rui shook his head. “I have achieved preliminary proficiency in regard to them in one particular application. That is a more accurate description. However, since I’m turning a whopping two hundred and fifty years’ worth of your memories into this technique, you should have a much greater mastery.”

“Two hundred and fifty years is a lot, is it truly worth it to get rid of that much muscle memory regarding the rest of my memories?” she raised an eyebrow.

“Two hundred and fifty years is two-point-five percent of your muscle memory,” Rui replied. “It’s still a small portion of your muscle memory. In comparison, the power that this sacrifice will give you will be truly tremendous. Once you integrate the Forge of Singularity into your space manipulation, you will become unrivaled. You weren’t there for the final battle against Eldritch Chimera, but trust me when I say that Damian’s black holes, when he was still a Sage, were a large reason we didn’t get annihilated by the Transcendent monster.”

Rui thought back to that fated battle. A battle that he could regard as perhaps the most important battle he had ever partaken in his entire life. Sage Damian’s Destruction was one of their greatest weapons against the Transcendent monster and ultimately what won them the battle when he broke through the Transcendence.

“That sounds exciting.” Her eyes lit up with enthusiasm at Rui’s words. “I hope it doesn’t have a very narrow set of applications, however.”

“Space manipulation is versatile by nature. Black holes are also directly useful in the form of destruction, as I mentioned, but also as a defense,” Rui explained. “Nothing can survive a singularity, and thus it becomes an impenetrable defense.”

“It can also become an infinite energy source,” Amare mused knowingly. “If you implant into your body and feed it matter at exactly the rate at which it radiates energy, then you have a limitless energy source.”

Rui raised an eyebrow. “Exactly, that’s rather knowledgeable of you. Have you been studying General Relativity?”

“Hah! As if,” she snorted. “I tried reading through some of the scientific literature, but I couldn’t understand even a single word. All those strange symbols and equations are truly terrifying.”

Rui smiled wryly, unsurprised.

“I learned this from my opponent who wielded black holes,” Amare elaborated. “I learned not just the power of black holes but also their great weakness. They are extremely dangerous and bring with them great risks that no other energy source brings with them. It’s no wonder that many pathwalkers among tekvores, evolutionaries, and therianthropes don’t use black holes as their primary source of energy. It is extremely difficult to not be hampered physically by black holes when you’re fighting.”

Rui nodded. “Correct, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. While some sources of energy are greatly superior to others, they have their advantages and disadvantages. Martial Sages like you and I generally don’t need black holes because we convert matter into energy through Martial efficiency, without needing a dangerous singularity, but it is useful when it comes to other applications if need be.”

She nodded. “I look forward to mastering them and raising my lethality and defenses even more. If the future of combat is that of space, then I do not wish to be rendered obsolete by this development.”

Rui smiled melancholically. “Unfortunately, I think conventional Martial Art is destined to become irrelevant in the long term. The value proposition of MECHAs and their compatibility with outer space, with the Era of Unfolding, and even other paths like the dwarven path of creation, is just too much. You and I may become one of the few Martial Sages still useful in the future, along with the other Transcendent Candidates. Most of the others will either need to master MECHAs or become irrelevant.”

That was an extremely harsh reality, but Rui did not think that even he could turn the tide in this particular regard, having already contemplated this future in the past. There were so many powerful forces acting on the true world that even if he exerted himself, he could only nudge the future, not alter its trajectory.

At least, as long as he was still limited to being a Transcendent Candidate.

“There we go…” Rui heaved a deep breath as he stepped away from Amare. “All done.”