The Martial Unity

Once Rui explained the basic mechanism and principle of the technique, the main purpose of the lecture had already been fulfilled, as far as he was concerned. Not it was just a matter of appeasing the questions, doubts, and personal concerns of the Martial Artists of various sects.

And also the more technical questions of the scholars that had been brought with them.

"…and that is more or less about the benefits and limitations of ordinary autophagy in normal humans," Rui concluded the first phase of the lecture after going over all the general and broader information about autophagy that he had to offer, just to give everybody a good idea of how the process worked outside of the technique."

He turned to the audience. "Now then. Let us go for a round of questions. Again, I have yet to go into the depth of the details of exactly how the process actually works on a sub-cellular level, thus I ask you to please abstain from asking questions that probe into the depths of the sub-cellular mechanics."

A few hands went down, most of them from scholars who undoubtedly wanted to get into the nitty-gritty of what Rui was saying.

Rui skimmed through the Martial Masters present, finding Ceeran having raised his arm too.

"Master Ceeran, please," He nodded at the man with a smile.

"I appreciate the opportunity, Senior Quarrier," Ceeran smiled warmly. "Now then, my question was whether there were any limitations to the distribution of the surplus stamina supplied by the autophagy process of the Hungry Pain technique. Is it easier for certain parts or muscles of the body to access this power better than other parts of the body?"

Rui shook his head. "Not at all, it occurs across the entire body at an evenly distributed rate per cell per capita. Some of the nutrition and energy is absorbed while certain other kinds are released into the bloodstream which does not discriminate between any body part or Martial Art technique."

He knew that this was the concern for most of the Martial Sects. They were worried that the Hungry Pain technique could rapidly shift the balance of power between certain fields and techniques with how impactful it was.

Rui quickly quelled those concerns to a certain degree for the time being.

He skimmed across the crowd, spotting another Martial Master with a raised hand, reading the name tag on the table. "Master Sera."

"As a representative of the Poison Sect, I wish to ask you about any potential clashes between the poisons of our sect and this Hungry Pain technique of yours. Is it possible that the field poison itself is not compatible with this technique?" She asked, sounding as neutral as possible.

"No, that's not possible," Rui shook his head. "In the first place, the field of poison techniques works by having the Martial Artist grow immune to the effects of the poison through repeated exposure and conditioning. Once the user reaches a state where their cells are not affected by the poison anymore, then it can be said with certainty that autophagy too won't be negatively affected. But until then, yes, it will likely interfere with the process to a certain extent during training."

"I see…" She replied thoughtfully. "I appreciate your valuable insights on this topic."

What followed were sequences of questions from each Martial Sect that essentially inquired into how the Hungry Pain technique would affect their particular given field of Martial Art.

Rui could sense that Martial Artists of the smaller and weaker Martial Sects were hoping that the Hungry Pain technique would disproportionately benefit their field of Martial Art, while the Martial Artists of the larger sects were hoping that the status quo would be maintained, at the very least, if not tilted even more in their favor than it already was.

Of course, there was one Martial Sect that benefited the most from the Hungry Pain. The Stamina Sect, also known as the Tree Sect. Why did they call themselves the Tree Sect? Rui didn't know, or care to know.

But it was undeniable that if the Hungry Pain technique benefited anybody, then it was the stamina-oriented Martial Artists.

"By what factor what you say stamina is increased thanks to the Hungry Pain technique?" Master Milan of the Tree Sect asked him.

"Hmmm…I'd say about a factor of two," Rui replied. "Though there is plenty of variation depending on several other variables."

"I see," She replied. "That is quite the remarkable boost considering the ease of mastery, barring the fortitude, and universality of such a technique."

Eventually, he managed to get around to more or less every Martial Master before it was finally time for the next part of his lecture.

"Now that I have answered the first set of questions, I will move on to the next half of my lecture where I will break down the precise sub-cellular mechanics of the autophagy process. Those who don't have a taste for the details may consider leaving the lecture at this point, I cannot promise that the next half won't bore some of the…less academically-inclined members of the audience to death."

None of the members left the lecture hall, awaiting the remaining part of his lecture.

Rui heaved a small sigh. "Very well then. Let us begin with diving into the three types of autophagy; microautophagy, macroautophagy, and chaperone-mediated autophagy. As well as the four steps of autophagy; Sequastration, lysosome transportation, degradation, and consumption. Please refer to the chart for the definitions of the various terms. Now then…"

It turned out that the Martial Masters had underestimated just how detailed the lecture would get. As he explained the detailed biochemistry of autophagy, he could have sworn he saw smoke coming from the ears of some of the Martial Masters who were the least 'academically inclined' out of everybody in the crowd.

Thankfully, this was why the scholars were brought, while the Martial Masters were lost in the sea of explanations that Rui offered, the scholars grew more immersed in his lecture.