The Martial Unity

Yet this man had three on hand that he claimed to have created himself. This was hard to believe, yet, on the off chance that this was true, it would be of great value to him.

He recalled the first time that he set eyes on Rui. It was a experience.

Normally, Martial Squires were transparent to him. Their Squire-level Martial Art usually were individualistic and were synergetic with their Martial Bodies, which in turn was synergetic with their Martial Paths. It meant that their Martial Bodies possessed a lot of information about their Martial Art and Paths.

That in combination with their ticks, demeanor, personality, temperament, and movements allowed experienced Martial Masters like himself to see right through them.

Yet when he laid eyes on Rui, he was unable to see through anything. He was as opaque as a mountain.

No, not quite a mountain as much as…

('…An abyss…') He narrowed his eyes.

It was as though he was staring at a limitless void. His eyes, despite being silver, reminded the man of two swirling vortexes, vortexes of information that saw the world for what it truly was. He felt as though he was the one that was being judged.

He had only ever felt that way when he interacted with Martial Sages. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. He hadn't come across anything like this in the ninety-three years that he had been a Martial Artist. Thankfully, it appeared that Martial Seniors were not perceptive enough to notice the oddities surrounding the young Martial Squire, since he was the only one who seemed to notice them in the first place.

That was a boon since it meant that hiding the young man as a trump card was easier since no one noticed how much of one he was.

It wasn't clear whether the young man himself was aware of just how much of an aberrant he was. He casually talked about how he developed grade-ten techniques with 'quite some difficulty' in just a year, as though that wasn't an absurdly herculean task to expect out of any Martial Artist.

The technique evaluation department responsible for testing and grading techniques that were offered for sale strongly suspected that these techniques weren't developed by him, not that they reduced the value of the techniques, and that he was lying to impress them. Yet Master Deivon knew better. He could sense the sheer amount of compatibility between him and those techniques and the individuality that the young man had imbued in the techniques by virtue of creating them from scratch.

It was an incredible sight to behold.

Master Deivon needed to contain himself and play it cool as if it wasn't too big a deal. But in reality, he was willing to go to great degrees to get to Rui. Unfortunately, it appeared that Rui had long deduced the advantageous position he was in, and continued pushing for more advantages when they were hashing out the finer details of their contract.

Unrestricted training resource privileges, a remarkable amount of growth resources, a custom high-grade Senior-level anti-espionage mask that would conceal his appearance and would not be damaged in the Martial Contest, stabilizing treatment for the Martial Senior for whom he had negotiated the detoxification treatment for with the highest guarantee of covertness.

He had also attempted to ask for the assassination of an international powerhouse in the esoteric supply and esoteric technology sector of a sage-level corporatocracy nation, but that was too far as much as Master Deivon wanted him. One Martial Squire was not worth making an enemy out of a Sage-level nation. The Virodhabhasa Faith had strict guidelines of not entering political disputes frivolously, as doing so would make too many enemies that would significantly hamper its reach, and thus its Divine Mission.

Thankfully, he realized how absurd the demand was, and relented with what he had managed to get.

In the short time that they had conversed, the boy had revealed an incredibly sharp intellect and managed to come out the winner in negotiations. However, it wasn't as though Master Deivon was losing. The resources were of the church, not his. And the more time he spent with the young man, he was sure that his performance in the contest would be something special, and would earn Master Deivon enough credit to make it a win-win.

And to his greatest joy, his hopes had been validated yesterday when Rui destroyed equipment that was expressly designed and manufactured with the express intent of not being destroyed by any Martial Squire.

He had done it and even replicated it after to prove that he was the one responsible for the commotion. Master Deivon did not know how Rui had managed to accomplish this, but he truly looked forward to seeing it in action in the preliminary contest and the Martial Contest.

"If I'm not wrong… this young man is cut from the same cloth as the previous reigning Virodha Champion," Master Deivon murmured, recalling the most powerful Martial Squire that he had seen prior.

('Even if he isn't… He's still a great catch.') The man shook his head. He had the pleasure of being acquainted with the most powerful known Martial Squire, one who had been the previous reigning champion prior to the current one. One who had given up his title because it wasn't even worth guarding it.

"Hehehe…" Master Deivon grinned again. "This year's Martial Contest is going to be a blast. I predict that the Squire-level contest is going to be the most entertaining out of all three Martial Contests that are going to be held during the Martial Festival."

He was sure that many people were going to lose their minds when they saw Rui bust out his Martial Art and Path. He himself felt the excitement that he hadn't felt from a Martial Squire since the previous reigning champion of the Martial Contest.

If things went well, then there was a good chance that be able to get access to the Celestial Soul Mirror pill. A Master-level esoteric drug made out of esoteric ingredients procured by Martial Sages, capable of aiding Martial Masters in their journey to the Sage Realm.