The Martial Unity

"You think I'm not using my mental talent properly?" Rui frowned.

"It's a good technique for an assassin, but assassins in the first place do not seek to maximize the application of any given affinity to its full potential in all aspects. They only care bout killing. Thus they'd only apply things in order to aid covert killings. Mental techniques are capable of much much more than being a convenient tool for murder!"

"Right..." Rui considered.

"Going through all that effort to misdirect people so much only to then get them to ignore you is the most wasteful application of principles of mental techniques, but what more can you expect from assassins," He crinkled his nose. "Hypnosis, which is my chosen sub-specialty makes far greater use of the mind and misdirection."

"Hypnosis..."

"It is the art of manipulating the subconscious mind," He remarked. "In this case, anything that you have no control over consciously, normally speaking. Generally, speaking this includes memory manipulation, senses, and sabotage. Hypnosis isn't limited to Martial Artists. Normal humans can also hypnotize people. However, they are much more limited. For one, normal humans cannot hypnotize people against their will."

Rui nodded. Hypnosis was a proven phenomenon back on Earth, although it was not too very well understood. It was often used to aid with mental issues as a part of therapy.

"Not much can be said about the subconscious mind, but one thing about it is certain. It can be impacted, influenced, and even rewritten by external influences." The Master informed him. "There existed an extremely powerful barrier between consciousness and subconsciousness, which prevents the former from directly manipulating the latter. Furthermore, the conscious mind serves as a guard dog against external influences, preventing anything from impacting the subconscious mind. That is why normal humans cannot hypnotize their targets against their will."

Rui nodded. He was aware that Martial Artists were not nearly as helpless.

"Martial Artists can bypass this guard dog through multiple ways, but the most common way is through misdirection," The man explained. "We distract the guard dog with something. A toy or a treat. And while it is distracted we sneak past it and attack our target. Simply, isn't it?"

Rui had heard about this mechanism before, but he understood why the Master disliked his hypnotic technique.

"Your technique distracts the guard dog, but instead of actually going to the treasure room, you run away from the prize to ensure that the guard dog never saw you. What a waste!" The man snorted. "Instead of running away, you should go to the control room and do some real damage!"

Rui liked the sound of that. "That sounds very powerful. What are the most combat-relevant applications? Manipulating memories sounds fun, but it sounds like it is much less combat-applicable than some of the other applications."

"Hm, sensory sabotage, illusions, and involuntary sabotage might be right up your alley then," The man speculated. "Those are the most easily combat applicable principles. However, rather than learning the principles and constructing basic techniques, it would be best to attune the technique to your Martial Art. Perhaps even consider making it an integral part of your Martial Mind."

Rui had also considered that. The Martial Mind was categorically separate from mental techniques, but he could increase the scope for thought if he had more tools at his disposal.

Of course, just learning mental techniques would be in line with his Martial Art, since there surely were Martial Artists that were particularly weak towards mental techniques, allowing him to adapt to them better.

His Martial Art also relied on information a lot, so mental sensory techniques that supplied him with information were also something that he had his eyes on.

However, there were a lot of possible things he could do, and he had trouble choosing. He was firmly on the side of quality rather than quantity, so he didn't want to engage in more than three projects at once.

Rui shook his head. "Just hearing about it in a superficial explanation isn't enough to give me a good practical understanding of what is possible. Especially when mental techniques have such a bad framework. Can I get demonstrations of the several tentative categories of mental techniques and hypnosis to see what they look like in combat?"

He didn't think that he had a particular affinity for one over the other, if that were the case, then he was more inclined to see which field was more useful, and which field was more useful to his Martial Path.

These were the two parameters that he was focusing on when considering what kind of mental technique he ought to venture towards. Powerful but difficult to attune to adaptive evolution would be unfortunate. As would being easily attuned to adaptive evolution but not powerful in general.

Ideally, he would find something that was both powerful, and also highly relevant to mental techniques.

"Demonstrations hm?" The man stroked his beard. "Alright, I guess we'll have to go disturb Ieyasu. It would be better to demonstrate it on Martial Seniors."

Rui smirked. "Yes, I have lots of things that I would like you to demonstrate. That is why I want you to please demonstrate everything."

"As expected of my pupil, you're so motivated!"

The two of them quickly made their way to a meditating Ieyasu.

"Demonstrations on me?" The man coldly asked.

"It will be quick, I promise."

"I refuse."

"That's not fair, others have been used to demonstrate for you, you remember? All my students must be treated equally. You may leave if you disagree!"

"...In that case, I too would like some demonstrations."

"Hm? I thought you already knew all this stuff."

"My memory is failing me," Ieyasu replied. "I want you to demonstrate to me everything you to demonstrate to him."

"Hm, then so be it. Looks like you'll also have to help him out." He turned towards Rui who was glaring at Ieyasu.

"Alright then! Let us indulge in a session of studies of mental techniques as Master and pupils!" The Master declared.