The Martial Unity

Nested missions were missions with multiple objectives and goals. These were typically objectives that could not be separated from the other or were related closely enough that it was more efficient to lump them together in a nested mission.

Rui had noticed that the client of the mission was the Ministry of Ecology and Environment. A ministry established by the Royal Family to maintain and regulate the exotic and esoteric fauna and flora of the Kandrian Empire.

Rui had been initially quite surprised that a society as scientifically primitive as the Kandrian Empire had established a serious environmental government organization aimed at regulating the ecology and environment of the Kandrian Empire when he'd first learned of it long ago, but it had come to make more sense the more he learnt about this world.

The natural environments of Gaia, the Panama continent and the Kandrian Empire were far more dangerous than that of Earth's. Furthermore, they were far more economically important than that of Earth's. These natural ecological environments were the source of the many miraculous esoteric and exotic resources of many kinda that served as the foundation of the technological capabilities of not just the Kandrian Empire, but also all of human civilization.

If the environment was not regulated properly, and were to collapse, then human civilization would collapse immediately after as well. The natural environment needed to be protected strictly because of this.

The environment also needed to be limited. Because the many species that inhabited this land were extremely powerful and could only be stopped by Martial Artists or through the proprietary technological solutions of the Royal Family. If not limited, they were capable of inflicting untold suffering and death upon humans. But they could not be fully exterminated either, because they were part of a delicate ecosystem that needed them.

There needed to be a delicate balance between protection and oppression, which is why the Ministry of Ecology and Environment existed. They ensured the ecological and environmental parameters did not go below a certain level and ensured it did not exceed a particular level.

When the ecological and environmental parameters threatened to exceed the established thresholds, they would usually commission the Martial Union and cooperate with them via the terms and protocols established in the Kandrian Martial Convenant; the contract between the Martial Union and the Royal Family.

This nested mission was one such example. An unknown beast had destabilized the ecosystem of the Shaia Plains, a rich fertile plainland outside of the town of Hajin, and the Ministry had taken action by cooperating with the Martial Union to send a grade-five Martial Apprentice to investigate and potentially eliminate the dangerous beast.

Rui noticed he fulfilled the skillset pre-requisite of the mission, which was not small. He even satisfied the mid-grade sensory technique requirement thanks to having mastered Seismic Mapping. This condition probably existed because the necessity for environmental awareness was much higher in the hunter-class of missions than in the defense-class of missions.

Unfortunately, Rui couldn't gain more information without accepting the mission. This was because of the protection of personal information policy that the Martial Union guaranteed to their clients. A lot of the details of commissions were quite sensitive and confidential. A lot of clienteles simply wouldn't commission Martial Artists from the Martial Union if the Martial union hadn't taken such measures to prevent data leaks. The information that was on public display was merely information that the clients had consented to displaying.

('I guess I'll just accept the mission then.') He shrugged. He had already resolved to take a hunter-class mission. This mission was as good as any to start with in order to diversify his experience. It was even better because the mission sounded quite interesting.

He quickly took the mission bill to the application registrar, and immediately took a seat in the library to read more about the mission.

First traces of ecological destabilization in the Shaia plains had been noted about three weeks ago. The population of the dominant herbivorous species like the six-legged deer and the triple-tailed Gazelles native to the Shaia plains had been decreasing rather abruptly. The sightings had begun sporadically since then as a number of native residents who survived an encounter reported a strange multi-legged creature that had been seen coming and leaving out of apparently nowhere at a distance.

The description of the creature was rather bizarre, it had a mouse like main body, covered in scales instead of fur, with allegedly twelve limbs and a long tail and had a very odd-shaped bite pattern based on elementary surveys conducted by the Ministry. This information alone was insufficient for the Ministry to identify its species.

Thankfully, the combat prowess of the creature was estimated to be at a low-mid grade Martial Apprentice Realm, since it was verifiably unable to hunt certain native apex predators of mid-grade Apprentice Realm combat prowess.

Thus came the mission, the mission was to procure as much intel and relevant information as possible, including but not limited to; Appearance, primary habitat, caloric consumption, travelling patterns, means of travel and diet etc.

At first, Rui found it absurd that a Martial Artist could be expected to perform all these tasks, but the mission specified that the Ministry would provide the Martial Artist with user-friendly tools that made it elementarily simply to record the required information. He merely needed to press the right buttons at the right time for a particular recording function. Meaning he didn't need to actually mentally engage in any boring ecological procedures.

If the combat prowess of the beast was at the expected level, then he was expected to proceed with exterminating the beast as a part of the second objective his mission.

The rest of the mission bill went into the protocols that the Martial Artist needed to abide by, as well as some additional information.

"Alright." Rui shut mission bill. "Let's go for this."

He immediately headed towards the Commission department to begin the pre-mission protocols.