The Martial Unity

Areas of the brain that controlled sensory input such as the cerebral cortex, the visual cortex, the olfactory cortex, the auditory cortex, the somatosensory cortex etc, would all need to adaptively evolve to implement the integrated imaging protocols he had conceived of to have an especially heightened and extremely precise view of the quantum world at the scale of planck lengths.

”I can do that by making these cortexes larger in my brain and also using Soul Retcon to master the protocols immediately.”

Sensory organs. Nervous system. And brain. These were the three aspects of his body that he would have to adaptively evolve if he wanted to master hyperdimensional reality. He could even think of how he could use exotic pluripotent matter to enhance each of these aspects even further.

”In this state, other aspects of my Martial Art will be restricted,” he knew. ”I probably can’t use Neo Godspeed in this state. Or the Metabody for that matter. Also, my general combat skill in other fields will drop a little because of the Soul Retcon. Ah, I also can’t rely Autocorpus to the same extent.”

It was similar to how his body grew weaker when he used Megamind to redirect blood flow away.

”But I will be able to use hyperdimensional principles, the only question is whether I can turn this into a Realm as opposed to simply a field of Martial Art.”

There was a great difference between Realms and fields.

A Realm was a great pool of potential that could become a permanent fixture in a pathwalker’s power. At least for Martial Artists. Other Paths didn’t conceive of progress as Realms necessarily.

Fields were categories of methods to leverage one’s body and Realms to produce outcomes in combat.

”Turning higher dimensions into a new Realm will be much more difficult than turning them into a field,” he admitted. ”However. That’s not a problem. The Corporeal Realm started out as simply an advanced technique that I created; Autocorpus.”

However, Rui managed to turn this technique into a Realm by working hard to create a universal method for everybody to tap into their corporeal consciousness and turn it into a powerful source of power.

Most likely, higher dimensions would be like that.

At first, it would be something that only Rui could harness. And if he was successful, he would be able to turn it into another secondary Realm.

”The only question is whether I should do that.”

The answer might have seemed to be obviously yes. After all, who would say no to more power? But Rui wasn’t so certain.

The answer might have seemed to be obviously yes. After all, who would say no to more power? But Rui wasn’t so certain.

”I don’t want people to get distracted from the Transcendent Realm.”

That was his biggest concern. If a Corporeal got stuck with his or her path to Enligtenment of Transcendence and phenomenological uniformity, then they might just decide to ignore the problem and pursue a secondary Realm.

The Corporeal Realm reduced the extreme difficulty of Transcendence and it served as a way to expose one’s self to the information dimensions before becoming a Transcendent, so it helped. A lot of the new Transcendent Candidates were became Candidates after becoming Corporeals.

However, would hyperdimensional principles help with one becoming a Transcendent?

”They might even make it more difficult.” He shook his head. ”Phenomenological uniformity is hard enough with three dimensions of reality, let alone twenty six or whatever the number is.”

Phenomenological uniformity was similar to that of Enlightenment of Self in that it wasn’t necessarily permanent, but simply a state of consciousness. It was possible for it to go. If he came across something that he couldn’t conceptualize as Water, he would lose his Transcendence.

While he was confident that everything was Water and nothing could ever step out of that framework in his mind, that may not necessarily be true for others who were working to Transcendence. For instance, would telling Bodhisattva Maitreyi about higher dimensions help her achieve phenomenological uniformity?

”Probably not,” he shook his head. ”Maybe I should keep it reserved for Transcendents alone. An auxiliary Realm only for those who have already achieved phenomenological uniformity. Until then, everybody should focus on Transcendence.”

More Transcendents was the most important goal, as far as he was concerned.

He put aside the matter for now. He wasn’t sure he even could convert higher dimensions into a new Realm for everybody, but he could probably achieve it for himself. The way he created the Gene Realm with Anthean genetics, but he never spread the Gene Realm to other Martial Artists. Not even the Water Sect. It was simply too troublesome.

”Alright, enough of tangential considerations. Time to set out and see if I can achieve this ’Hyperdimensional Mode.’”

Project Hyperdimensional commenced as Rui activated his Realms of power, tinkering with his body to adaptively evolve it as he had planned.

The process was smoother than any other such transformation he had started with in the past. His mastery over his body had reached such great heights that even when treading new territory, it was merely walking in a new direction of an otherwise familiar region. He was well within his depths.

His sensory organs shifted as he changed the receptors in the cells while altering the neuron bundles of his nerves to become thicker and more branched out. At the same time, he altered his brain, increasing the sizes of his sensory cortexes so that they would be able to implement a taxing integrated imaging protocol to render images of the quantum realm at the planck scale.

He was careful despite his confidence, not rushing the process. No matter how masterful he was, messing with the brain was always dangerous. If something went wrong, then his brain would not be able to fix it, since the damage was done to the brain.

Of course, in his case he still had the corporeal consciousness, but there was no need to take unnecessary risks in this situation.

Half an hour passed as he created the first prototype for the ’hyperdimensional mode.’

When he opened his eyes, the world was entirely different.