The Martial Unity

Rui had begun making preparations for his next training stage and for the eventual breakthrough to the Squire Realm. Of course, he wasn't even a Squire candidate yet. He had hoped that the next training stage would lead to the maturity of his Martial Art as a whole.

Maturity was partially a nebulous concept, to begin with. Although Rui knew his Martial Art had not yet reached maturity, he had been told that when it did, he would feel instinctive certainty regarding the matter.

So far, he had felt no instinctive certainty of any kind yet.

Regardless, he could ensure that whenever the second condition would be fulfilled and the Squire evolution breakthrough would come around, he would be prepared.

"Alright now..." Rui murmured as he opened a document with the emblem of the Martial Union. "Let's see..."

The list of symbiotic techniques that abided by the conditions Rui had laid out had arrived. Once Rui made his decision regarding this matter one way or another, he would immediately delve into his next training stage.

The first page inside the document was an index page. The techniques were divided into intrinsic and extrinsic techniques as well as by offense, defense, maneuvering, or supplementary. Each section was further divided into sub-categories.

Rui whistled. This made things convenient.

He started skimming through the extrinsic section, pausing every time he came across a cool technique.

The techniques were grouped together under the core symbiote species with which the techniques could be performed.

[Silverstreak Winged Louse

Grade: 8

Difficulty grade: 7

The Silverstreak Winged louse is a parasite that can be found in rare portions of the mountain ranges in the north of the Kandrian Empire. This symbiote enters the bloodstream and makes its way to the cervical spine of a vertebrae creature. Once at the cervical spine, the creature burrows itself into the vertebrae of the host. After an initial period of gestation and gathering of the genetic information of the host, it begins the growth of wings outside of flesh. Within the span of two weeks, the pair of wings are fully grown and connected to the spinal cord and brain.

It placed a significant mental and nutritional burden on the body and mind.

Techniques associated with it include;

Tempestuous Whirlwind Sword: A wind projectile technique generated by the wings and a breathing technique performed by the user to manipulate the air density of the air around the wings to match that of the solids. The wings then generate a powerful flap that projects powerful wind blasts with great range and power.

Silverstreak Tautfirm Conditioning: A special kind of training designed for the Silverstreak Winged Louse. Increases tensile strength and rigidity of the flesh of the Silverstreak Winged Louse.

Aerial Flickering...]

A variety of techniques were listed under the Silverstreak Winged Louse.

('This is quite similar to Fernan's wings and techniques.') Rui noted, recalling the techniques he had seen when facing off against Fernan.

Fernan used techniques not too dissimilar to the techniques of the Silverstreak Winged Louse.

As for whether Rui was willing to insert the symbiote into his body, the answer was most certainly a resounding no.

Although wings were certainly useful. They ruined the balance of his Martial Art. Reducing his close-quarters combat flexibility and nimbleness in exchange for long-range aerial maneuvering. This would reduce his ability to adapt to Martial Artists whose prime weakness was close-quarters combat.

He had long disqualified symbiotes such as this one as potential candidates for the symbiote he was willing to insert into his body.

The other extrinsic techniques were all similar. Extra limbs, extra appendages, and all sorts of external growths would all ruin his balance and dampen his inherent potential.

He shook his head, dismissing all of them. He had more or less expected it, but indeed he would not be choosing even a single extrinsic technique.

('Hopefully, the intrinsic symbiotes and techniques will be better.') Rui sighed.

Once he opened them, however, he was surprised.

"Wow." His eyes lit up in interest.

Intrinsic symbiotes were certainly more along the lines of what he was looking for.

[Freshwater Skincreeper Symbiote

Grade: 7

Difficulty grade: 6

The Freshwater Skincreeper Symbiote is a symbiote that burrows itself into the outer flesh of its host and grows, spreading outwards, becoming a layer in the outer flesh of its host. It increases the resilience of the outer flesh of the host and increases the durability of the host as a whole. It is a static symbiote and does not have much of a scope for techniques beyond concentration and density adjustment and some amount of conditioning.]

"Not bad." Rui nodded. This symbiote increased his defense significantly. The best part was that its difficulty grade was below potency grade. Which meant he would get even more power from it than he would from a normal technique with the same amount of difficulty.

"But it's not what I'm looking for." Rui shook his head.

He wanted a symbiote that could do more than just provide him with mundane boosts. What he wanted was a symbiote that could provide him with special utility that normal techniques could not. Perhaps it could mitigate some of the drawbacks of his Martial Art or empower its strengths.

There was no point in going out of his way to get a symbiote that merely boosted his offense or defense. Those were things that even ordinary techniques could provide him. What he was looking for was a unique exotic solution that ordinary techniques couldn't provide him.

Ideally, it would be a symbiote that could enhance the viability or effectivity of the VOID algorithm. But he did not know whether such a symbiote existed.

He skimmed through the list with hopeful eyes, speeding past the offense, defense, and maneuvering pages, until he reached the supplementary section.

"This seems more promising." He murmured as he carefully went down each technique one by one.

That was when he came across something rather interesting to him.

"The Mindmirror Worm?" He frowned. "What the heck is that?"