The Martial Unity

Rui almost wondered whether he should let the Carnil Mafia establish a base in the Great Forest of Hypnonarak. 

'That will definitely piss Master Zeamer off,' Rui mused.

He had come to gain a good understanding of the Martial Master's personality and temperament over the past two years. He was extremely down-to-earth, often underground even, when it came to people who had earned his affection, but he could be ruthless when it came to people he didn't.

He was also strangely possessive and very territorial. Although the elder man never said it out loud, Rui had come to realize that normal humans were hardly more than insects to him.

Unless they were women.

However, Rui discovered a disturbing apathy and detachment to people who didn't earn his affection.

He was the type who was more than willing to slaughter the entire human race if it meant impressing a woman he was targeting.

In his conversations with Master Zeamer, he came to discover that he viewed the narcotics industry surrounding the forest the same way that a human might consider an ant colony or bees being attracted to certain smells in their garden; something that wasn't too worthy of note until it became annoying.

Rui knew if they tried deforesting a region of the forest to grow and harvest narcotic plants, it would definitely annoy Master Zeamer. He would put an end to that before it even started, it would be a brutal blood bath.

That was why he considered letting them relocate and allowing Master Zeamer to erase them. However, there was only one problem.

'It won't count as my payment if I'm not the one doing it.' Rui sighed. 

That was the only reason this was a bad plan. Otherwise, it was perfect, he got to kick back and even watch a Martial Master flex.

'Then again, this plan wouldn't give me a way to test myself.' Rui sighed. 

He had been curious about his power level for some time now. Fighting against Ieyasu didn't tell him anything since he was just as much of an aberrant as Rui. On top of that, they had both been heavily restricted in their fight. 

Rui looked forward to clashing with the various Martial Seniors of the Carnil Mafia, he would finally have a good idea of how strong he was. He was even hoping that he would get to have real fights rather than just engage with them as an assassin.

Of course, he didn't intend to seek that out. He needed to kill them in order to fulfill his commission payment, and that naturally meant relying on assassinations. He could only hope that the battle would unfold such that he could have a real fight.

Thankfully, the intelligence indicated that that might very well be the case. The reason for that was that according to the security protocols of the Carnil operations, all members were to wear protective gear and armor, including Martial Seniors, to minimize casualties and injuries while in the Great Forest of Hypnonarak.

"Even the Martial Seniors?" Rui raised an eyebrow. "Also these armors..."

They were not ordinary armors, they not only were made out of special Squire-grade substances, but they were equipped with energy-consumptive esoteric substances that could protect even the uncovered parts of the body to a certain extent. 

It was a sophisticated esoteric artifact made from powerful technology that Rui would see in very few places aside from the Kandrian Empire. According to the illustration provided by the Beggar's Sect, it partially resembled a high-tech spacesuit while partially looking like medieval armor.

'Only in the Kandrian Empire...' Rui shook his head with an amused smile, recalling the warning that the Silent Shadow had given him.

His Death's Sympathy technique required an exposed target, which was simply not going to happen with targets above a certain level of wealth and power. However, while he knew that, he didn't think that he would run into circumstances where even Martial Seniors in the field would be equipped with such fancy protective measures.

'Part of it is to filter out all the narcotic compounds released into the air by the forest.' He skimmed through the data stored in his Mind Palace.

The forest had a strong narcotic influence on those who entered it. This was part of the risks and detriments of entering it. Only did rich and technologically endowed forces like the Carnil Mafia have the means to equip their teams with such extravagant protective measures on such a scale.

This was another sign of the wealth of not just the Kandrian Empire, but also how lucrative the drug trafficking ring of the Carnil Mafia was.

However, the thing that Rui was most concerned about this was the fact that it could shield against his Death's Sympathy. In fact, by principle, any layer between him and his target with a gap between them could shield against his Death's Sympathy, since it would be detected the moment it crashed against the layer, alerting the Martial Seniors.

'Tsk, Master Reina was right. There are too many circumstances that can impede my Death's Sympathy. It's only a killer if my target doesn't take too many measures to protect themselves.'

Death's Sympathy was actually a Squire-level attack. The reason for that was to minimize the energy density of the attack in order to prevent it from being detectable. Because it collided with things that weren't the target, any significant layer of matter in between him and the target was able to negate the strengths of the technique.

'So essentially, I won't be able to snipe them off one by one even if I get rid of the sensory Martial Senior. I guess these circumstances truly won't be as smooth as the circumstances of the Shadow Isles.' Rui narrowed his eyes. 'Tsk it's a shame but...'

A small smile emerged on his face. 'I guess we'll have to do this the hard way.'

There wasn't too much time before their next large-scale operation, so Rui wanted to make sure he knew exactly what his gameplan was before that time arrived.