The Martial Unity

This had been one of the reasons that Headmaster Aronian had paid a lot of attention to Rui at a young age. While the Squire teachers were unaware of Rui's capacity and application of thought or its significance in the grand scheme of Martial Art, Headmaster Aronian had understood how incredible it was.

"With a thought technique that is of affordable difficulty with enough of a value proposition to be worth it, available for all Realms, your voidlet techniques have become the sole gateway to gaining some proficiency with thoughtful decision-making," Sage Sayfeel informed Rui appreciatively. "Martial Artists across the Lower Realms have begun mastering it. Ironically enough, the ones to master it the most are Apprentices and Seniors, with Squires being the least to master it."

"Seniors, too…?" Rui grew immersed in thought. "And the rate of progress to the Master Realm?"

"It is difficult to gauge general broad progress," Sage Sayfeel noted. "However, the Martial Union has gained an additional Martial Master after a grade-fourteen Martial Senior broke through a few years after mastering your offensive voidlet technique and then customizing it and individualizing it to her needs with the progress that she had already made prior. She, too, credits you as a reason for her breakthrough to the Master Realm."

Sage Sayfeel didn't miss Rui's demeanor thawing and lighting up whenever the topics came to Martial Art and his Martial Art. While his nominal demeanor had grown impassive and frosty, it appeared that Martial Art returned him to who he once was.

He had no idea what had happened to the Void Prince for such a drastic change in his temperament and demeanor to occur, but nonetheless, there was hope that things would return to normal.

"So it does indeed appear to increase the probability of breakthrough to the Master Realm, then," Rui remarked, engrossed in the matter. "That's good to know; perhaps I ought to expand the number for voidlet techniques wider. My only issue is that a lot of my systems of thought come to the service of Adaptive Evolution. That could potentially disrupt the Martial Paths of other Martial Artists."

Sage Sayfeel stirred at Rui's words. "Your Highness, you mean to say that they haven't told you?"

Rui frowned. "Told me what…?"

"…I suppose it makes sense," Sage Sayfeel remarked out loud. "You were only a Martial Senior back then. But now that you have broken through to the Master Realm at an absurdly young age, I suppose I can take the liberty to inform you."

"Inform me about…?" Rui furrowed his eyebrows.

"About the fact that Martial Minds embody the principle Adaptive Evolution." Sage Sayfeel's tone was certain. "Including my own."

Rui's widened with surprise. "What?!"

"I can understand why it comes as a shock, but think about it, Your Highness," Sage Sayfeel calmly stated. "The Martial Mind is about optimizing decisioning. However, is it possible to optimize decisioning without taking into account one's opponent and circumstances?"

Rui had never given deep consideration as to what other Martial Masters' Martial Minds looked like. He had assumed that they had come up with their own ways to empower thought without considering opponents or circumstances as relevant parameters.

"The only way for conscious, systematic thought to empower a strike via decision is to ensure that the decision for the timing and placement of the strike yields optimal energy. This simply cannot be done without adapting your decisioning from opponent to opponent to yield the maximal output for each opponent. In other words, adaptive evolution is the normative progression for Martial Minds," Sage Sayfeel said knowingly. "While you might have thought that your mysterious Squire evolution breakthrough method was more valuable than the voidlet techniques, that is because you were unaware of the contextual importance of adaptive evolution for the Master Realm. In other words, you are more valuable than you think you are."

At that moment, Rui couldn't help but recall Master Zentra's words to him a long time ago.

We need you. More than you realize.

At the time, Rui had waved it off as simply an expression of their regard for him. But now he wondered if this was what Master Zentra was referring to.

A Martial Artist whose Martial Path was the very essence of what Martial Minds were. That same Martial Artist also happened to possess an unfathomable affinity. Assuming Rui lived up to his potential, the Martial union must have assumed that Rui's Martial Mind and progress in the domain of thought could potentially revolutionize systems of thought.

"And as I stand before you, I can see that we were right to believe that." Sage Sayfeel's voice grew more intense. "In all my time, I have never ever seen a Martial Mind as absurdly powerful as yours. If other Martial Minds were dim stars in the night sky, then yours may as well be the very Sun itself. As far as thought goes, I can say with extraordinary confidence that you are the very pinnacle of what Martial Art has to offer. No Master and no Sage can compare to the sheer depth and power of thought that you possess. If you are able to impart even a minute fraction of your thought to others, you will change the Martial landscape forever."

The weight of his words hung in the air.

It pressed down on the atmosphere, making it heavy.

Rui stared at the Martial Sage, stunned, speechless. "…I didn't know that my Martial Path had such significance in the Master Realm. I feel rather silly not coming to this conclusion prior."

"Don't be, Your Highness." Sage Sayfeel shook his head lightly. "This is a conclusion that the Martial Union and other organizations in the world have come to after studying and researching Martial Minds for centuries now. It is not something that can be derived in the mind a priori, even for you."

Still, Rui was stunned to know that his Martial Path had secretly been of such interest to the Martial Union this entire time.

-