The Martial Unity

BOOOOOM BOOOOOM BOOOOOM!!!

Rui evaded a series of infernos one after another as he zipped through a region in the Mellow Manifold.

"ROOOOOOAAAAAARRRRRRRR!!!" The enormous emerald dragon let out a guttural bellow as its eyes remained fixed on Rui.

It hadn't even been that long since the battle had begun, yet the dragon panted lightly as Rui ran circles around it with a pointed gaze in the direction of the creature. Beasts and monsters did not require the same sophistication to adaptively evolve against as Martial Artists did.

This was a good example.

BOOOOOM BOOOOOM BOOOOOM!!!

While the emerald dragon launched blast after blast, exerting an enormous amount of energy. Rui speedily stayed away from its output, ensuring that it never so much as touched him.

It was a very simple strategy that capitalized on stamina by tiring out the dragon. It was hardly even new or creative. Rui actually borrowed it from ancient human hunters back when the human species relied on foraging.

The biggest advantage that humans had over more powerful species was long-term stamina. Tiring mighty beasts was the only way they could fell them.

Rui was more than happy to take a page out of their book and apply the Martial version of the same strategy.

Additionally, it made gathering patterns and SOUL data that much easier.

While the beast foolishly wasted enormous energy in vain, Rui simply waited, collecting data as he avoided it before he proceeded to kill it.

And soon enough, the moment arrived.

"Rrrff…" its eyes grew hazy as it panted heavily. "Rrfff…"

Rui activated Greater Phantomind Void and Hypertrophic Surge, rushing in with maximal momentum.

SPLAT!

"ROOOOAAAAAARRRRRR!!!" A guttural roar of pain emerged from the creature as Rui dung its eye socket with a Metabody-amped Flowing Canon, entering its skull.

After that, it was just a matter of time before he reached the brain.

SPLAT!

The creature's eyes grew vacant as its body grew limp, tilting over.

RUMBLE

The entire dungeon shook as the hill-sized corpse fell backward.

"Gross…" Rui murmured impassively as he emerged from the corpse's eye socket. "Well, dragons: check."

He mentally ticked off the dragon species in his head. He had fully collected all the data that he wanted on this species and didn't need to bother anymore.

He glanced at the corpse with cold eyes.

At that moment, he couldn't help but feel superior.

"All that raw power, yet you were defeated by a creature one- millionth your size. This is why Martial Artists are the strongest."

An extraordinary degree of efficiency and effectiveness in the application of power mechanically and strategically led to vastly superior outcomes than a horrendously wasteful application of it.

"ROOOOAAAARRRR!"

Rui glanced at the many smaller dragons that broke into panicked roars over the death of the leader, shaking his head and leaving.

He didn't care about the riff-raff.

He had reached such a high stage of power in the past three years in the Beast Domain that even Martial Seniors felt like they were a Realm below him. With the exception of the Gatekeeper, none of them could make him feel any sense of danger.

STEP

"Good job." Kane flicked him a thumbs-up. "That was the final one, right?"

Rui nodded. "I'm done with all possible species candidates for the Master-level creature of the Mellow Dungeon."

"Nice!" Kane grinned.

In the past month, Rui had run around Mellow Dungeon, fighting all the most powerful creatures and species in the Beast Domain, from dragons, angels, basilisks, kirins, and many others.

With each fight, he learned everything he possibly could.

He also killed each and every single one of the creatures that exceeded the Senior Realm.

The reason was simple.

In order to reduce the probability that Kane would be unable to guide the Divine Doctor safely to the core of the dungeon while Rui kept the Master-level beast busy. While quasi- Senior-level creatures were not a problem for Rui, the same could not be said for Kane.

Even if he did successfully become a high-grade Martial Senior after two years of rigorous training, he would still be easy prey for creatures of that caliber.

Thus, Rui made sure to sweep them all up.

Additionally, he needed to keep that up over the next two years that he and Kane trained for the escape of the Mellow Manifold.

"How's training going?" Rui casually asked while washing his dirty clothes in the waters of the Mellow Lake.

"Not bad," Kane remarked. "I've been focusing on three different areas: my physical foundations, Martial Art techniques, and my system of thought. It's the latter that's been giving me a lot of difficulty."

"Mmmm…" Rui nodded. "Those are good goals, but focusing on three different avenues of your combat power will mean spreading yourself thin. Over two years, that's only eight months for each of them."

Kane understood what Rui was saying but was firm in his decision. "I'm continuing progress from the Garden of Salvation. So technically, it's three years. I wasn't able to make much progress on my system of thought, so I'm hoping I'll be semi-done when I complete this first one. What I'm not sure about is the division of time between the three. I dunno if I should focus more on my system of thought or my Martial Body and techniques or my system of thought."

"That's entirely up to you. Only you can know whether it's the right choice or not," Rui informed him. "In the long run, a system of thought will bring you closer to the Master Realm, but it's high-hanging fruit for most Martial Artists. But Martial Body and techniques will probably be more useful for getting out of here and low-hanging fruit, but it will not bring you any closer to the Master Realm."

Kane's eyes grew hazy as he grew immersed in thought.

"Take your time," Rui replied impassively. "I did say two years, but that isn't an extremely strict deadline. I would rather delay our escape plan if any of us require more time to be prepared."