The Martial Unity

Dwight scowled at the Emperor’s words, but didn’t retort. In truth, this was the standard that dwarves held themselves to traditionally. Indeed, dwarves knew that they were weak on a personal basis. If they wanted to avoid getting bullied, then they needed to leverage their creative and intellectual powers and create products that prevented them from getting bullied.

By forcing themselves to meet this threshold on all standards, they elevated themselves to be able to earn the respect and even fear of the other races.

However, Rui was so extraordinary that they permitted themselves to make an exception in their minds for him, as did every other race.

’The Emperor of Water cannot be defied.’

This was the thought process that most people had developed after the overwhelming displays of power he had made to all of humanity.

However, Dwight was also a Transcendent now. Sure, he was not as experienced with the Transcendent Realm as Rui was; it had been eleven days at most since he broke through. But even he had yet to shed the subconscious deference he had shown to Rui for the past thirteen years.

”Fine.” His tone shifted subtly, growing more assertive and defiant. ”We’ll see if you can teleport into my forge that easily next time. I will create an interdiction array so powerful that you will feel as if you have run into a wall the next time you try to teleport.”

Rui chuckled. That was exactly what he wanted to see from the old dwarf. It made things more interesting.

”Anyway, I came here for the Armor of Flowing Wisdom,” Rui remarked. ”I know you have it. I know you finished upgrading it. I want it.”

Dwight hesitated. ”I was going to give it to you but…”

He turned towards the prothanite sample in the scope chamber. ”I was thinking if I could add a physical substrate to the Armor of Flowing Wisdom made up of prothanite, it could be a great physical and metaphysical defense at the same time.”

Rui shook his head. ”Unnecessary. I don’t need physical armor, which is why I rejected all of your previous armors. Materials are too weak in a battle between Transcendents.”

Dwight’s eyebrows rose at those words as he turned towards the Emperor of Water with a stunned expression. ”Battle between Transcendents? You mean you’re going to join the war? Are you going to ambush the Divine Mother you sensed in the arakaian mothership?”

Dwight had been hoping for that. That would drastically improve human civilization’s chances of winning the war. In truth, he didn’t entirely agree with Rui’s decision to stay out of the war. He knew he was doing it to avoid bringing the Divine Mothers into the battle, which would make the entire situation a hundred times more dangerous. But as a craftsman, he harbored greater ideas of how power ought to be leveraged. If one had the ability to help, one ought to.

The craftsman could only protect themselves by crafting powerful weapons for their dwarven soldiers to protect them from the absurd monsters that the other paths produced, like the Dragon Emperor or the Suneater.

”I’m not taking on the commander in chief of the web of war, no.” He shook his head. ”I intend to ambush another Divine Mother in arakai territory.”

He explained his plan in more detail, causing the dwarf to become even more shocked. ”You… you are crazy. Here we are struggling to protect our territory, and you want to launch decapitation strikes on a target deep in arakai space in their stronghold; have you gone mad?”

”It’s the only way to win the war,” Rui replied. ”Although the arakai are facing wars on two fronts, they still reserve that beggar fathoming. Do not forget this is a civilization that has conquered a hundred million stars, depending on the count. The war reserves of a civilization like ours with only ten thousand stars do not compare. We cannot bleed them through symmetric war.”

His eyes sharpened. ”Only by targeting the people who are causing this war, which is the War Faction, and by leveraging that for a deal with the other advanced civilizations to push harder, can we possibly put an end to this war while coming away alive.”

In truth, even with these measures, Rui wasn’t entirely sure that he could achieve the goal that he sought to. That was how astronomical the gap in total power was. Although he was accustomed to punching above his weight class, this time the chasm was truly vast.

Dwight heaved a deep breath. ”Very well, if that is your decision, then I will respect you. Come with me.”

The man led him to the Armor of Flowing Wisdom Mark II.

Fractal geometries made up of glowing matter-energy distributed across quantum fields hovered midair, in the shape of an armor. It was an otherworldly sight with an unfathomable depth that even Rui had a hard time parsing.

The original Armor of Flowing Wisdom that Dwight had fabricated had only managed to stop his Creationverse for a split second with its uncollapsed wave functions and information density.

But now, it had become so dense and information-taxing that it felt like trying to swim upstream in a torrential river with perilous currents.

”Incredible…!” Rui’s sincere appreciation made the dwarven craftsman proud. Indeed, there was nothing more satisfying to a creator than the appreciation of the users of his creations.

”I improved it with my Transcendent powers,” the man replied. ”Not only is it more resistant to verses. But the resistance is also much more regenerative. Because, as you must remember, my verse allows me to imbue harmony even at the informational level, which means—”

VMMM

Sound permeated from the armor, spreading to the environment.

’A worthy wielder.’

Rui’s ethereal eyes lit up as he sensed a whisper rippling through the information dimension. ”…It’s conscious.”

It was a trait that Dwight’s new products had achieved at the height of harmony. Consciousness was integrated information, but a system of integrated information was necessarily harmonious. Harmony was the basis of integration and information. And, at a certain level, it could facilitate an artifact to awaken.

’Come, Rui Quarrier Silas Kandria. Wield me in battle, and I shall protect you from those who dare to infringe upon the essence of your very existence.’