The Martial Unity



The same was not true for Hungry Pain. The difficulty of the technique was grade-six. It took immense perseverance, but any Martial Squire had the ability to master the technique fully. Meaning it could instantly boost all future Martial Squires by forty-fifty percent compared to the previous generation.

That was massive for a single technique.

Rui was willing to share it with the Martial Union even as a Martial Squire because he had a greater amount of trust in the organization. He understood it well enough that it was, by design, remarkably meritocratic. The Hungry Pain technique was just valuable enough that it would massively increase his value to the organization, but not to the degree that it would be harmful to him.

This was in sharp contrast to accelerating the breakthrough rates of Martial Apprentices. Rui did not trust anybody with that information. It was beyond revolutionary.

Thankfully, it appeared that Bishop Master Deivon respected his privacy as a Martial Artist. This was the norm within the Martial World, as one's Martial Path and Martial Art were deeply personal to Martial Artists. It was an unspoken rule that one did not cross any lines when inquiring about them.

"Regardless of the cause behind the abnormal progression of the Martial Body, it is not quite yet at the stage where it can withstand the power of your Martial Heart," The man explained, before smiling. "We can aid with that."

Rui grew interested in his offer, just like Master Deivon had hoped he would. Power was everything to Martial Artists, after all. Offering to bring Rui one step closer to a higher Realm power was something that he could not ignore.

"Go on…" Rui relented.

The bishop grinned. "We have potions capable of accelerating the progression of Martial Squires. You're close enough that we can get you past the threshold in one go. Once that happens, you may very well break through any time. They are quite valuable and expensive and are made from ingredients that are acquired by Martial Seniors and Martial Masters from high-danger zones across the continent and in the Beast Domain, we generally do not sell them outside of the faith all that much since they are too powerful a resource. But I am willing to arrange some for you if you agree to become my heritor in the Martial Contest."

Rui stared at him with a deep expression.

He had to admit, that that was a deeply alluring offer. Of course, he was aware that he did not need the potions to break through and become a Martial Senior of his own merits. Still, that did not mean that he was unwilling to save time.

He didn't know how much time it would take for him to naturally reach the threshold. Perhaps Ajanta Island could dramatically reduce the time period, however, even then, diminishing returns were something that was very real when it came to conditioning treatments. The first remaining ten to twenty percent of the journey could last almost as much as the time it took to reach eighty percent.

That was why the potion was alluring, it would allow him to skip through all of that time, and allow him to avoid wasting a few years.

He was always cognizant of the fact that he was running out of time.

Roughly two years had passed since he escaped from the Shionel Confederation. He had made a lot of progress in those two years, no doubt, but it did mean that he only had eight years left before it was game over for his family.

At that time, he needed to become strong enough to protect his family with just the fear of his power. He was far away from reaching that stage. 

Even breaking through to the Senior Realm wasn't going to be enough in and of itself. He was simply going to be a newborn Martial Senior. He knew that Chairman Deacon was guarded by two Martial Seniors at all times, a single young Martial Senior was not enough.

He would need to take strides even within the Senior Realm until he was finally ready to return and put an end to the saga that drove him away from his home in the first place.

Rui heaved a sigh as he considered the matter.

"That's not all," Master Deivon keenly recognized that he was close. "You may have unrestricted access to the Squire library of the Virodhahasa Faith."

Rui's eyes narrowed.

That was a considerable offer as well. He was relatively certain that the Virodhabhasa Faith surpassed even the Martial Union when it came to collecting reservoirs of techniques. It was larger, and more widespread, and had a far greater number of Martial Artists in it. That was saying much since the Martial Union was better than basically every other organization that he had ever seen. He could be assured that the quality of the techniques was remarkably high and they were probably well-rounded in every field of Martial Art there was.

Of course, he did not intend to mindlessly master techniques created by others. The fact that they were not created by him meant that they could not make the most efficient use of his body and Martial Art, they were sub-optimal.

However, they could serve as powerful building blocks for new techniques that Rui would build in the future. 

It was the final straw.

"Alright, fine," Rui sighed. "I'll agree for now. I wish to hash out the details to make sure that there are no devils in them."

"I knew you'd make the right choice," The Master grinned. "You will come to see the wisdom in the choice that you have made soon enough."

Rui hoped so. He was still a little nervous due to his perceived connections with the Virodhabhasa Faith. He knew that he had nothing to do with it and it was all an unfortunate coincidence, but it didn't matter if the religious cultists disagreed and tried to shackle him.