The Martial Unity

Ria grew more attentive at those words. This was the reason that she had come all the way back home, after all. She thought she would have to pry it open from her father, but it seemed that he had already made up his mind to inform her of the truth.

He heaved a deep breath. ”When you were born, my whole world changed. Prior to your birth, the most important thing in my life was Project Water. It was even more important to me than the love of my life, your mother. She was a part of it, as far as I was concerned. But you…”

He caressed her cheek with his hand gently. ”You shattered that reality. You were more important to me than Project Water.”

His tone was warm and affectionate, causing her to soften up. ”I love you too, Dad.”

Rui genuinely lit up at those words, smiling wider at those words. ”When you were growing up, I decided that I was going to be a good father. The greatest. I decided that I was going to give you the most that I possibly could. I decided that I would do more for you than any father ever had or ever could. And, in service of that, I decided to give you talent.”

She frowned. ”What?”

”Talent,” Rui repeated. ”Through a complex amalgamation of vibrations at even the quantum level, I gave you more raw talent for Martial Art than any other human being in history, including myself.”

Ria’s amber eyes widened. ”…You are the reason that I’m so talented at Martial Art.”

He nodded. ”I did it until you broke through to the Apprentice Realm at the age of merely five years old. That is why you are so much more talented than all of your peers.”

She stared at her father with a stunned expression. ”You can do that? Grant talent to people?”

”Yes, but only if I do it personally,” Rui replied calmly. ”And only if I do it from a young age, from infancy.”

”Is that why I’m so special? Because you made me special?” she asked with an astonished expression.

She was so shocked by the revelation that she wasn’t even sure how to feel about it. On the one hand, her father clearly did it for her benefit. On the other hand, she wasn’t sure if it was for her benefit.

Her life had been derailed by the talent, diverging from the otherwise more normal life she might have led. As normal as life for a princess could ever hope to get. Her power only separated her from others her age, making it more and more difficult for her to blend in with them.

On the other hand, her power was also her only ticket away from the suffocating life of being a princess. It was her only hope of ever living even a remotely normal life.

Rui simply waited patiently as he allowed his daughter to process the truth. He had known that there would come a day when she would find out. And that she could very well not take it well, even if he could foresee her reaction.

”You may not appreciate what I have done,” Rui remarked with a calm tone. ”Indeed, your talent that shines like the sun in the sky is… disruptive. It diverges your path from normality. And you, who have craved normality as you grew up, may resent me for what I have done to you, for you, especially when you have to hear what I have to say next.”

Those words made her heart sink. ”…There’s more?”

”More than you could have ever imagined,” Rui replied with a calm but serious tone. ”The reality is that as much as I would love to take credit for the miracle of your power and bottomless potential, it is not mine to take. You…”

His eyes bore deep into hers.

”You are an aberration.”

Those words only made her feel worse.

”What… what does that mean?” she asked with a weakened tone of voice, turning towards him with an anxious expression.

”It means that I tried to replicate what I did with you with other babies after you broke through to the Apprentice Realm at the age of five,” Rui informed her calmly. ”And indeed, they also broke through at a very young age, five, six, seven years of age. Although you are still the youngest despite the fact that I was only a Martial Sage when I engineered your talent.”

”You mean… There are others like me?” Her eyes widened with shock. ”Where? Why have I never heard?”

”They’re only thirteen years old. I’m training them myself in secret.” Rui replied calmly. ”They will form an elite corps of Martial Artists that answer only to me once they are strong enough. But more importantly, what separates them from you is…”

He produced radio signals that transmitted a list.

A list of Martial Paths.

She skimmed through the list with an intent curiosity.

[Dynamic Maneuvering]

[Long-range aerodynamic Targeting]

[Joint grappling]

[Tactical adaptation]

…

They were interesting Martial Paths, certainly, but she understood what her father was conveying to him.

”These Martial Paths are solid, but they are not unusual in power or frequency,” she keenly noted. ”That means that your talent engineering or whatever does not produce diverging outcomes statistically as far as Martial Paths go.”

Her amber eyes widened as the realization dawned on her. ”That’s why you said I’m an aberrant. Martial Causality is an unprecedented Martial Path that deviates from the mean and median of the normality of the Martial Paths your treatment produces.”

”Correct.” Rui smiled, proud of his daughter’s keen observations. ”You are divergent from the norm. The Martial Artists I’m training that have benefited from my treatment have indeed gone on to progress through the ranks at exceptional speeds, but…”

He raised a finger. ”…none of them can punch above their weight class the way you do. None of them can bridge the gap between Realms the way you do. They merely have extreme, but technical talent in virtually all fields of Martial Art, but that manifests in prodigiousness rather than pound-for-pound power. I may have given you talent, but… I did not give you your Martial Path.”