The Martial Unity

He ventured to the mountain Rui trained atop, stopping a good distance away to not disturb him.

He couldn't hide his curiosity.

Just what kind of crazy technique was he going to create this time?

He was curious to know since Rui had specifically said he would no longer be working on a system of thought.

That had excited Kane.

The only reason Rui would not work on a system of thought when it was the path to the Master Realm was if he no longer needed to. The implications of that decision were so great that Kane did not dare put it in words for fear of jinxing it.

Furthermore, Rui's training sessions grew more interesting when he wasn't working on a system of thought. Thought training was simply meditating in an isolated location, there was nothing to see since Kane could not read thought.

That was why he was amazed by what he saw.

He saw a realm of fire.

Within its depths, Rui meditated. Yet, he wasn't focusing on a system of thought, no. The entirety of his mind was focused on the maintenance of the Muspelheim prototype.

"Woah…" Kane murmured. "That's crazy. Did he create the domain for the conditioning, or is he conditioning for the domain?"

If he had to guess, it was the latter.

He knew Rui was never a fan of conditioning. So much so that he had only ever gone through one training session of conditioning in his entire life. On the other hand, Kane knew, from the Elder Tree, that this Tree of Life thing that Rui had got was connected to domains. The inheritance was primarily centered around domains as well.

"A heat domain, huh?"

Kane was not an expert on domains, yet he knew that what he was seeing was hardly standard. Most domains were limited to wind and land displacement as those were the low-hanging fruits. The reason he knew anything about domains was because maneuvering and speed-based Martial Art were weak against it because it could not be avoided since they it was omnipresent on a battlefield.

Yet, a domain that super-heated a massive amount of area?

He had never seen anything like it.

He watched as the air boiled, crackling with sparks and minor conflagrations. He watched as the soil and bedrock grew red-hot.

Anything that could burn had long burned away to a crisp.

WHOOSH

The domain abruptly faded away as Rui broke into a gasp for air glancing at his body with a dissatisfied expression.

It appeared that he could only maintain it for a short time.

"Inefficient," he muttered to himself, completely immersed in thought.

Once he caught his breath, he immediately jumped back into training.

WHOOSH

Kane's eyes widened as the world around Rui shifted. It was hardly quick, but within minutes, he understood what was happening.

"It's getting colder…" He remarked, curious. "Way colder."

The previous molten hot rocks cooled down at a truly remarkable rate as Rui breathed out what seemed to be liquid air that rapidly expanded.

At the same time, he could sense the seismic radiation that Rui was releasing in the land beneath him. He could sense Rui manipulating the heavens as heat drifted away from the region as it slowly cooled down the fiery location to normal temperature and then colder and colder.

Within a few minutes, drops of water formed on the ground and even on Rui's body as humidity rates dropped, being unsustainable as the temperature fell.

Yet, it only grew colder.

"Wha-" Kae stared at the domain, astonished as he spotted a snowflake forming and falling.

Yet, it only got colder.

Water rapidly became frost, growing colder and colder. Rui's expression grew increasingly stressed as he pushed himself to the very limit managing the domain, trying to reduce its temperature while also conditioning his outer skin.

He relied on the Martial Heart to ensure that his blood and the water within his body never froze. Especially the water in his brain, he would rather avoid dying.

Kane watched with awe as an isolated sphere of absolute cold formed around Rui. Looking at it from afar, it looked as though someone had choppily photoshopped a region of absolute cold onto an otherwise ordinary environment.

WHOOSH!

The domain was dispelled as external heat rapidly gushed in.

Rui panted heavily, dissatisfaction clearly evident on his face, before getting up and drinking a large bottle of water.

"That was so cool!" Kane exclaimed once he reached Rui.

Rui raised an eyebrow impassively. "You saw that, did you?"

"Well, yeah," Kae sheepishly admitted. "I didn't know you were working on such novel projects."

Rui shrugged nonchalantly. "I just hope they're enough."

"Enough for what?"

Rui's gaze sharpened as he gazed towards the core of the dungeon, wrapped in mist and darkness.

"Enough to let me survive my role as bait for the Master-level beast at the core of the Mellow Dungeon."

Kane immediately grew glum. "Right."

The fascination of the domains he saw momentarily made him forget what those domains were for.

Of the plan that the two of them were going forward with, Rui's role in it was by far the most dangerous.

No, dangerous was an understatement.

To face a Master-level beast as a Martial Senior was downright suicidal. Neither of them had forgotten how they had been left half-dead by the mere roar of a Master-level beast. Now, Rui would be throwing himself to the fate of one all by his lonesome to buy the Divine Doctor enough time to incapacitate the source of the Mellow Manifold and hopefully dispel the trance that it maintained on the creature.

It was an absolute death sentence to any nearly other Martial Senior alive.

Yet, the darkness within Rui's eyes stirred as he gazed at the core of the dungeon impassively.

The light of challenge flickered in their depths.

"I just need to survive."

It was almost as if he was convincing himself.

"Yeah." Kane nodded severely.

"You just need to survive."

A macabre silence brooded.

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