The Martial Unity

The issue was that seven million Virodhanas were not something a Martial Squire could earn in a short amount of time. He used to only earn the equivalent of a few thousand Virodhabhanas back when he was completing missions in the Kandrian Empire through the Martial Union.

('Tsk,') He tutted.

He was running out of options. He didn't want to spend years grinding on missions through the church, he simply wanted to make sure he got what he wanted as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, he saw very few ways to make it happen.

He briefly considered selling some of his techniques. It was possible that he could earn millions if he sold all of them.

But he instinctively decided against that. His techniques, especially his grade-ten techniques, especially his Metabody techniques were something he was too possessive of to sell to outsiders at the moment. He would need to sell his entire Martial Art if he wanted to close that gap, just selling grade-ten techniques that he was less caring towards such as the Pathfinder and the Riemannian Echo would be far from enough.

('I could probably close the gap if I offered the service of causing breakthroughs and creating Martial Apprentices with my Martial Art.') Rui mused.

But this option he instantly dismissed. Revealing this was as good as signing off his freedom for the rest of his life. The Virodhabhasa Faith would never let him go if he revealed he was capable of such a thing.

It's why he was quite wary about voluntarily divulging the depths of his Martial Art and its techniques. It was one thing if the Virodhabhasa Faith merely observed his Martial Art with no greater context, it was another thing entirely if he revealed that his Martial Path was something that easily fit the description of the Virodhabhasa. Things could end either too well or too bad depending on his luck.

It was yet another reason why he ruled out selling techniques for now. It's not that he was principally opposed to spreading his work, barring Project Metabody for now, but it was too risky and massively increased the amount of insight they would get into his Martial Art than if they just observed him. The probability that they would interpret his Martial Art as one that is connected to the Virodhabhasa was not low enough for Rui to ignore it.

It didn't help that Rui was from another world too. If they found that out with a mental sensory technique, it was game over.

He would rather do such trades with an organization that has more credibility and one that he had greater trust in, such as the Martial Union rather than a delusional, but incredibly powerful Martial religion.

He would rather engage in something that was more innocuous and one where he could be more assured that the Virodhabhasa Faith was not inclined to cross lines.

"Is there anything else you would like to ask about the patient, Squire Falken?" The doctor asked.

Rui glanced back at him.

All of these thoughts had flashed across his mind in just a moment, no time had passed from the perspective of the doctor.

"This is a bit out of the purview of your briefing, but… if I perform well in the Virodhabhasa Martial Contest, then will I gain enough favor from the Virodhabhasa Church to gain access to the treatment."

The doctor reacted with surprise. He did not expect to be asked non-medical questions. Still, he maintained his composure and graciously answered it.

"Yes," The doctor. "However, such a feat will be extremely difficult, the Martial Squires that partake, to my knowledge, are among the best of the best."

"…I see," Rui sighed.

The choice became more alluring by the second.

He had already been attracted to it from the very start, but as every second passed, he couldn't help but consider the choice increasingly seriously.

The prospect of being able to test himself against the best Martial Artists in his Realm was something that Rui couldn't resist.

He had finally reached a stage where he could fight against the very best of his peers head-on and potentially prevail nonetheless.

Had sort of experienced something like that in the Shionel Confederation, however, back then the circumstances heavily favored him over every other competitor. With the Riemannian Echo and Kane's Void Step, he was invincible in a game where the rules worked heavily in his favor and heavily against all of his competitors.

This allowed him to far surpass what he, and everybody else, was otherwise capable of.

However, this would not be the case in the Virodhabhasa Martial Contest, he would have to face all his competitors in a fair setting head-on without any advantages of any kind.

And frankly, he looked forward to such a contest.

Needing to rely on extraneous elements to dominate was the same admitting he couldn't do it on his own merit.

Perhaps he was fine with that when he was a grade six Martial Artist walking into the Shionel Confederation, but that was no longer the case.

More than three years had passed since he had first set foot in the Shionel Dungeon, and he had grown tremendously since then. He hadn't gotten officially checked, but by his own estimation, he was probably a baseline grade-ten Martial Squire.

However, once he finished Project Metabody…

He didn't think grade ten would be able to do his power justice.

As long as he finished the defense and offense Martial Bodies of Project Metabody, he would achieve a level of power that would be breaching new territory within the Squire Realm.

Rui glanced up at the doctor. "Thank you for your services, doctor."

"Not at all, Squire," the man bowed.

Rui had plenty of thinking to do now that he parted ways with him. He had much to consider and think about. His circumstances and situation had grown more complex than anything he had ever experienced before, he needed to make sure that he properly thought things through instead of just giving in to his urges.