The Martial Unity

The project was incredibly ambitious, but that only excited Rui even more. Whatever would be born from this technique project would most certainly be a different kind of beast entirely. At the very least, he doubted he would see such a technique anywhere in the Senior Realm. 

The reason for that was that the sheer raw cognitive parameters needed to achieve this level of imagination and memory were probably something that no other Martial Senior could achieve. Not only was Rui's mind entirely enhanced far beyond the norm, but he also had the Mindmirror Symbiote which also gave him a boost in the form of parallel processing when Martial Art techniques were concerned.

Thus, whatever misdirection technique unfolded as a result of fully using his capabilities to the best would be cut from an entirely different cloth. 

"Ah..." Rui murmured. 'I came to Master Reina to learn assassination techniques, not mental techniques.'

Well, it was clear that there was a significant overlap between mental techniques and stealth techniques, so he shouldn't have been too surprised. 

"That's a stupid thing to be bothered by." She snorted. "Besides, you said you were going to go to the Hypnomaster to learn more about mental techniques right? You're not going to learn about misdirection-based stealth from that man, he doesn't like hiding his presence. You're better off learning those principles from an actual expert like me. The quality of my stealth training is unrivaled! Right? Right?!"

"...Right." Rui heaved a sigh.

"So don't be too concerned about the small stuff."

"You sounded like you know him, Master Reina."

"Ah, we're friends, though I haven't seen him for thirty years." She remarked. "I actually met him thanks to an assassination commission."

"How did that happen?" Rui frowned. "You don't seem like the type to make friends during missions."

"Well, you see..." She had a difficult expression. "He was my target at the time."

Rui's eyes widened with surprise. "Really? I'm surprised he is still around."

"I had befriended him for a few months before finally getting to the actual assassination part, catching him off-guard but..."

"But...?"

"..."

"..." Rui tilted his head at her difficult expression.

"He was too strong." She sighed, managing to squeeze out the truth.

Rui's eyes widened with shock. He had experienced firsthand just how impressive the Silent Shadow's stealth was. Even his grade-ten Riemannian Echo was powerless before her as if she had erased her very presence from space-time itself.

"...What?" Rui remarked with surprise.

"Don't get the wrong idea. He almost died and was even severely wounded!" She complained.

"You failed? You?" Rui furrowed his eyebrows as he thought about what kind of Martial Master could overcome an assassination attempt from the Silent Shadow.

"Stop fixating on that." 

"How did he manage to make you fail though."

"You're ignoring me again."

"He must be quite incredible at what he does to have made you fail."

BAM!

"Ouch!" 

"Hmph, that's what you get." She snorted. "...But yes, his Martial Art was magical. I didn't understand what happened or how he pushed me back to this day, hmph."

"Woah," Rui murmured. "That sounds incredible. How did you guys become friends after that?"

"Well, he has a soft spot for women. So he forgave me to use that opportunity to get in my pants. That's the kind of person you're trying to learn from. You're much better off learning from me. So don't go to him ok? Stay here."

She put her hands on Rui, unwilling to let go.

"He sounds like an eccentric person," Rui murmured. "I'm looking forward to meeting him."

"Hah!" She snorted. "That's if you succeed in getting accepted by him. You see, he isn't as kind as I am when it comes to anything not related to women. The tribulations he poses to those who wish to gain his tutelage are much harsher than my own."

"I do not intend on allowing that to stop me." Rui calmly replied. 

A quiet confidence brimmed from within him. He truly believed that he would be able to overcome any test that a Martial Master put up as long as they were seriously willing to take in pupils for tutelage.

"Well, you do have a genuine affinity for his field, so who knows?" She shrugged. "But...you shouldn't underestimate the tribulations you'll face. It won't be quite like the cakewalk you had with the Shadow Isles. Do you know? The tribulations he put in place were so hellish for those who undertook them that he was formally reprimanded by the Council of Masters of the Panamic Martial Federation? You should have seen his face when I was the one that served him the official statement! Hahaha!"

She laughed heartily at the Hypnomaster's expense, yet Rui found her tale to be interesting more than funny. 

"When you say tribulations, you're referring to the Great Forest of Hypnonarak, right?" Rui asked as he accessed the intelligence supplied by the Beggar's Sect. It contained the place that the Hypnomaster regarded as his abode. It was said that those who reached his abode at the center of the Great Forest of Hypnonarak would be accepted as his pupils.

"Indeed. A danger zone, as classified by the Panamic Ecological Association." She remarked. "The funny part is that that bastard created that danger zone artificially by spreading certain dangerous monster species of fauna and flora from different danger zones and Lost Cities from within the Beast Domain into the human domain creating what is regarded as a pocket extension of the Beast Domain. Countless people died in the creation of the forest, which is why he got in trouble with a lot of forces."

Rui knew of this thanks to the information that the Beggar's Sect had supplied. Still, he found it interesting that Master Reina was connected to the Hypnomaster, his next target to learn from. It was unexpected, however, he expected the world of Martial Art at the upper echelons of the Martial World to be much smaller. There were only so many Martial Masters and it was not a surprise that many had come to develop connections with each other over the many years.