The Martial Unity

Chapter 3221: Strategic Friendliness

Rui shook his head.

”I don’t want to mindlessly make it a staple in my Martial Art, however, there are probably applications of it in my Martial Art that can enhance my power,” he replied. ”As long as it can help in any circumstance, it is worth learning. And if I can tap into even a portion of the elves, I stand to gain a lot. The same can be said for the other five paths and their hybrids. There is so much power they tap into that allows them to rival Martial Artists or even surpass us in some ways. It is worth trying my best to get as much as my hands on their power as I possibly can.”

She heaved an exasperated sigh. ”You are too obsessed with adaptive evolution.”

Rui shrugged wordlessly.

”They said that they are going to show us Genora tomorrow,” she pondered. ”Isn’t that going very far for a civilization that they have just met in the past forty days since the Unfolding? After all, even if they have powerful anti-surveillance measures, we can still sense a lot. We can mark crucial infrastructure and other critical intelligence about the strengths and vulnerabilities of their civilization. Yet, they still welcomed us deep into their civilization.”

”It shows how eager they are to forge a bilateral friendship with us,” Rui replied knowingly. ”They are eager to build a solid relationship with us, not just because of the esoteric treasures of our continent, but also because they hope to bring about a more nature-oriented civilization into the world and make the world more hospitable to them.”

He turned to Amare. ”The insight you made earlier was exactly on point. Elves are indeed screwed if they find themselves in a desert with no vegetation, for example. That is not a small weakness or constraint; it is massive. It means that while they are essentially invincible inside their own continent, they are drastically weaker the very moment they step out. It’s no wonder that the light elves are more insular. They have every reason to be this fiercely protective of their territory, which also serves as their power.”

However, by introducing another pro-nature civilization to the world, they would increase the number of continents upon which they would be able to maintain their full power. This would make the world a more hospitable place for elves than it currently was.

Thus, ensuring that the elves maintained a great relationship with human civilization was strategically crucial. The better the relationship they had, the more they would be able to rub off on the humans and turn them into nature-lovers too.

Rui had no doubt that his father had figured this out too, and none of them had a problem with this, for human civilization desperately needed an alliance and friendship with the elves. Even if the elves were too pacifist to wage war, they were still invaluable as the only superpower that had come to the Panama Continent in peace and was willing to ally with the humans.

”Not to mention,” Rui replied. ”They definitely know more about us than we know about them. Although we didn’t have a choice, allowing them to form a settlement on the Panama Continent was essentially conceding an intelligence advantage to them. Their ability to tap into our flora root networks meant that they could learn a lot about our civilization without needing to step any further or engage in any espionage or surveillance. After all, they saw through our initial original deceit and learned about our relationship with nature.”

She nodded. ”The fact that they still chose to befriend us must mean that they truly seek our friendship.”

”And we have every reason to go along,” Rui replied. ”I, for one, intend to make the most of this friendship. I am especially eager to ensure that human civilization gets its hands on its flora infrastructure technology. The ability to spontaneously create durable wooden constructs is of great interest to human civilization. The economic corridors that my father is planning will require such technology.”

She got up with an eager expression. ”Enough with this boring politics talk. I want to explore this place.”

”We might get lost, you know,” Rui huffed.

”Liar,” she glared at him. ”I know you can memorize everything. You didn’t even get lost when you explored the tunnel network of the Nest of Terra. Now come along!”

She clasped his hand as she took off, literally dragging him along with her as they left the little cottage.

Rui heaved an amused sigh as he went along with her.

He would be lying if he said he wasn’t curious about exploring their surroundings in more detail. Many of the things that the Elder Tree had told him about the nature of flora in West Genora made him more curious to explore and study it in detail.

STEP .

Within minutes, they found themselves in the middle of a forest, drowned in the darkness of night.

The air was silent, except for the chirps of crickets and the hoots of owls.

And yet, the flora of the forest seemed to glow ever so slightly. Comprised of substances that absorbed light from the Sun and tended to release that light in the darkness, causing the green of the vegetation around them to take a profound glow that illuminated them lightly, dispelling just a little bit of the darkness around them.

It was one of the most beautiful, ephemeral sights of nature that they had ever seen.

While Amare admired the beauty, however, Rui got to work.

He knelt as he silently activated his Realms of power, compressing and containing all the energy within him so as to not disrupt the environment and give cause for alarm to the elves.

He even sealed the light from his Martial Heart and his Martial Embodiment with some effort, before directing his extraordinary Sage-level senses to his environment, studying the plants, trees, grass, and shrubs, as well as all the roots that were interconnected into a large network.