The Martial Unity

Seeing that his options for gaining information were limited, Rui ultimately decided to set it aside for now. It truly was looking to be a long-term project, given the difficulties of even obtaining information on the topic, let alone the actual substance itself.

He wasn't too eager to set out on a massive undertaking such as this. The Master was correct, he had momentum on his side, and he didn't want to stall it with a project that was probably as difficult as his initial Metabody System, and would take a few years to complete at minimum.

"You're right," Rui shook his head. "I do not intend to drag this out. I truly hope the final tournament will be enough to push me to my limit."

In particular, he had high hopes of one particular Martial Artist that would be competing tomorrow.

Master Deivon knew exactly what he was thinking about. "She is a Virodhabhasa seed as well, you know?"

Rui raised an eyebrow in surprise. "That's… interesting.

He wasn't too surprised even. He could feel that her incredibly strange and esoteric Martial Art had the potential to be a Martial Art that could overcome all others. It was no wonder that the Virodhabhasa Faith declared her as a seed when it saw her Martial Art.

"As for her Martial Art…" Master Deivon paused when Rui shook his head, putting his hand up. 

"I don't want to know. It is already hard enough for any Martial Squire to pressure me, the more I know ahead of time, the harder it will be for her to pressure me enough to trigger my Martial Art."

Rui firmly declined any information from Master Deivon surrounding her Martial Art, it was also why he avoided paying too much attention to her Martial Art. He was almost afraid that he would subconsciously create predictive models if he spent too much time observing her. 

"I must say, that is quite the step to take," Master Deivon remarked. "That decision may very well cost you victory against her. Your Martial Art has become a lot less opaque to Martial Masters like myself, as well as the one that is patroning her. I can promise you that she has already learned much about your Martial Art. Especially the body morphing techniques that you have displayed."

Rui shrugged. "If that increases her ability to pressure me, then that's fine. I have already secured the medical treatments that I originally came here for. And now that that matter is out of the way, winning the Martial Contest is no longer a genuine priority compared to becoming a Martial Senior."

Master Deivon couldn't help but smile at the determination that Rui demonstrated. Yet at the same time, he couldn't help but marvel at the ripples that his breakthrough would send across the Martial world.

If Rui broke through any time soon, he would be the youngest Martial Senior in history, and it wasn't even close. He would break the pre-existing record by a whopping decade. 

Rui had informed Master Deivon that he had broken through to the Squire Realm at the age of seventeen. While this was certainly a highly impressive and optimistically young age, it was not groundbreaking. The youngest known Martial Squire ever was merely twelve years old, after all. 

However, the path to the Senior Realm after becoming a Martial Squire was long and difficult. One needed to continue developing a tower of individuality that would eventually reach high enough to touch the skies; the Senior Realm. Ordinarily, even an ounce of individuality required considerable exertion.

Rui was the only Martial Squire he had ever met who breezed through this process with ease in a matter of seven years.

"Assuming you succeed… What do you plan to do when the contest is over?" Master Deivon asked.

Rui considered the question. "…Bid the Floating Sect farewell and then make preparations to grow even stronger."

"…Why do you fight?" 

The air grew a little heavier.

"You originally came here to procure a treatment for that woman. But you have acquired what you want. So what is it that drives you forward?" Master Deivon couldn't help but be curious.

Rui remained silent. This was the first time that Master Deivon inquired about such a personal topic. He wasn't sure whether to humor it or not. 

Then again, Master Deivon had been a comfortable patron this entire time. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing to reduce the distance between them just a bit.

"I… fight for ambition. My Martial Path is my greatest ambition and dream. And I fight for my family, to acquire the power needed to protect them. I am far too weak as I am right now," Rui's voice grew more solemn.

Master Deivon's powerful senses and intuition managed to gain a much deeper understanding of his circumstances.

Unbeknownst to Rui, Martial Masters also possessed the ability to evaluate the quality of the breakthrough procedure performed on a Martial Squire. While the core basics were often the same, the more sophisticated procedures from more powerful organizations and nations resulted in a more powerful Martial Body. 

Rui's Martial Body was incredible. More naturally powerful for his age than any others, he could match older and more powerful Martial Squires, as well as other Martial Squires that had consumed a lot of performance-enhancing potions, despite having consumed only one in his entire life, according to the analytics of his blood that Master Deivon had had the medical department conduct.

Such a Martial Body could only emerge from a particularly powerful nation or organization, almost certainly a sage-level nation. 

If he truly was from such a powerful nation or organization, then it begged the question of why he wasn't relying on them for the female Martial Senior's treatment. Furthermore, his native organization or nation never seemed to be an option when it came to fulfilling his needs such as his most recent one centered around primordial seed.

This allowed Master Deivon to piece together a rough and ambiguous hypothesis that wasn't far from the truth.