The Martial Unity

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!

Kane's dagger flashed through the air in blinding arcs, cleaving through the very molecules that stood in his way.

CRACKLE

It left only sparks of plasma in its path.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOOOSH!

He pirouetted in the air, launching countless spinning dagger swipes.

STEP

"Huff…Huff…" He glanced at his daggers. "Not bad. Though I might need to upgrade these after I get back to the Kandrian Empire."

His daggers were made of Master-level behemoth fang. Only Master-level substances could possibly serve as the materials for the weapons of a Martial Senior. This was because his daggers were razor-sharp. The dagger's edge had to withstand the full power of a Martial Senior being focused through a single point. Senior-level substances, which were defined as substances that would withstand Senior-level attacks with only mild deformation, could not withstand such kinds of pressures.

Kane had to work hard to be bestowed these weapons by the Martial Union and then even harder to forge them into the daggers that he used presently. Yet, the moment he did, he gained a tremendous amount of lethality. Not even Rui could afford to be hit with his attacks, though Rui had reached a stage where Kane could never even touch him with his dagger, even if he wanted to.

Yet, he knew that Rui was the one that was abnormal. Kane had fought many Martial Seniors after Rui broke him through to the Senior Realm which allowed him to gauge just how deviant he was as a Martial Senior.

He knew that he was definitely extremely abnormal, thanks to that. Most of the Martial Seniors he fought were old enough to be his grandparents or great-grandparents. On top of that, Kane's progress in the Senior Realm was truly incredible, which was what allowed him to earn enough appreciation from the Martial Union to bestow him with a loan to buy exceptionally high-quality daggers shortly after he broke through.

The Martial Union had a credit system that essentially allowed Martial Artists with resource-intensive Martial Art, like weapon-oriented Martial Artists, to get all the resources they needed on the promise of making use of the growth they got from it to repay the Martial Union.

Furthermore, it was interest-free. The Martial Union was much more interested in investing in Martial Art than trying to squeeze it for money.

Much to their appreciation, Kane proved his worth right away, reaching extraordinary growth rates within the Senior Realm. He was substantially superior to all other Martial Seniors of his grade in his potential and rate of manifesting that potential.

Of the three generational prodigies of his generation, he was the only one who had manifested that talent into actual power and sustained astronomical growth, being one to shatter the previous two records for the youngest Martial Senior.

He was exceptional. Yet, despite being exceptional, he found it difficult to take pride in it. At the very least, it was impossible for him to grow smug and self-satisfied.

That was because of the cosmic anomaly known as Rui Quarrier Silas Kandria.

Rui made him feel like how normal Martial Artists felt looking at Kane. Everything about him was absurdly unprecedented. While geniuses like Kane were not uncommon in the five centuries of the Age of Martial Art, the world had never seen a reality-defying Martial Artist like Rui.

Up until a year ago, Kane had never understood how Rui's growth rate was so ridiculously high. His innate talent for Martial Art had never been as high as Kane's when they were young. Rui took far longer than Kane did to master existing Martial Art techniques like the Apprentice-level Parallel Walk.

Yet, he somehow managed to rise astronomically and develop absurd systems of thought even as an Apprentice. Later on, he maintained that growth rate by developing techniques with extraordinary individuality and consequently, power.

Only after Kane learned his secret did everything finally make sense.

In the past year, he had been slowly processing this staggering revelation. He had accepted it as the truth, but it was difficult to understand what it meant. A part of him felt like Rui should have told him a long time ago. One of his greatest sources of insecurity and sense of inadequacy was being so slow despite having a prodigious innate talent for absorbing Martial Art.

It had tormented him for long. Had he known that Rui was blessed with otherworldly priceless knowledge of Martial Art and understanding of reality, he would never have felt so inadequate. He could have avoided years of self-torment if Rui had simply told him the truth.

However, he understood why Rui had never told him.

It was impossible to tell.

It was impossible to believe. Kane would probably scoff it off because of how outlandish it was.

Dying and being reincarnated in another world?

If not for the Elder Tree providing such irrefutable proof, he would never have believed such a tale so easily.

It was also impossible to trust.

Especially when Kane, admittedly, grew more immature after entering the academy and Lightning Sect once the pressure of his family went away. The more distance he put between his family and himself, the more he could be the child that he was not allowed to be. He was far too juvenile back then and perhaps even now to be trusted with such a heavy secret. No one in their right mind would bear the deepest secrets of their soul to such a person.

He could only blame himself. Had he been more mature and trustworthy, then perhaps Rui would have voluntarily divulged this secret of his own volition.

Regardless, the past was the past. He had resolved himself to be more reliable from there on out so that Rui would never feel like he couldn't trust Kane. This was especially the case since Kane had been entrusted with an important role in the plan to break out of the Mellow Manifold.

"Huff…" Kane caught his breath, sheathing his blade before glancing in the direction Rui was training in.

"Let's see how much progress he's made in a year."

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