The Martial Unity

"Don't worry." Rui grinned. "I intend to tackle them and more."

"Uh huh," Kane stared at him skeptically.

Rui sat down and began fleshing out the concepts of his new idea for a technique.

The objective of the new technique was dual. He needed it to be able to help him read the memories of the catoblepas and give him more intelligence on the Divine Doctor so he could find the madman and get him to heal his father.

This was more immediate and urgent.

Secondarily, he hoped the technique would allow him to read the inception of intent that occurred within the subconscious mind.

He would rather not compromise on either objective. Thus, he needed a technique that perfectly catered to both of them.

Memory and intent were not neurologically comparable phenomena. The former could be characterized as neuron pathways formed by neuron plasticity. The latter was the set of electrical impulses that were to be sent from the brain to the rest of the body through the central nervous system.

This made the development of the technique to read both of them trickier than if he focused only on one. However, it was not unsurmountable.

"The subconscious mind is the avenue of the inception of intent, and while memories do not originate in the subconscious mind exclusively, they can be read through the subconscious mind in a trance state as long as the person believes that they are actually experiencing those memories in real life."

It was the same principle as the Phantomind Void.

"Reading the subconscious mind is the key solution to reading both triggered memories of the Divine Doctor. As long as I can accomplish that, it's game over," he realized.

His initial idea was to read the subconscious mind by putting the person in a trance. In this state, the subconscious would take more primacy in the body, allowing for deeper non-verbal communication from it to anybody listening.

"How do I put people in a trance mid-combat?" Rui wondered.

He had learned the principle of trances from Master Zeamer. Trances were states of semi-consciousness that could be triggered through hypnosis, which, in turn, was simply impacting the subconscious mind by diverting the conscious mind away from it through misdirection.

The latter served as a guard to the former, requiring it to be misdirected momentarily to leave the subconscious mind open and vulnerable to influence.

There was only one issue.

"Trances are… the most difficult hypnosis to trigger in the middle of combat," Rui heaved a sigh with uncertainty.

They required not just that the conscious mind be misdirected but also be dimmed to a semi-conscious state such that the subconscious mind took some primacy. Because of the additional requirement that trances had in comparison to hypnosis, triggering them mid-combat was impossible through regular hypnosis.

If Rui tried to trigger normal trances mid-combat, even with his evolved mind, a hundred-percent success rate was doubtful at best.

"I could spend many years training and heightening my mind, but…" Rui scratched his fuzzy chin. "I don't have time for that."

He needed to bypass the hurdle through a less time-

consuming solution.

"Trances," Rui uttered the word like it was an incantation. "Ordinary humans can cause them too."

The difference between human hypnosis and Martial hypnosis was that Martial Artists could trigger hypnosis against the will of the target, while humans could only do so with the active cooperation of the target and in environments with minimized sensory stimuli.

They needed an environment with dimmed sensory stimuli because the greater the sensory stimuli, the more active and awake the conscious mind was. It was also why the targets were instructed to close their eyes. It was almost impossible to put someone in a trance when their eyes were constantly bombarding their conscious mind with visual sensory data.

This was another reason why putting someone in a trance mid-combat was implausible. Martial Artists could not ask their opponents to close their eyes and take them to an environment with no sensory stimuli.

"Or can I?" Rui's eyes widened as a thunderous realization dawned on him. "What if I use domains to dim sensory stimuli to massively ease the difficulty of putting people in a trance?"

He froze as his eyes wandered around, deeply engrossed in thought.

Domains were regions where users were able to manipulate heaven and earth and the skies and the lands by manipulating their breath.

If Rui could create a domain that was opaque, in that it completely obstructed all light to the target's eyes, then it was no different from the target closing their eyes, was it not? It would be complete darkness in both cases.

He could also have the domain completely mask all sound and scent and prevent all touch, further sealing three more senses.

"If I employ such a domain while simultaneously hypnotizing them into a trance, then…" Rui's eyes widened even more. "The success rate will be far higher!"

It would instantly turn the trance into a viable technique, allowing him to then start reading their non-verbal communication and decoding their language with a new system of thought, which would eventually allow him to read their intent much ahead of time.

Once that was accomplished, the combined power of the VOID algorithm and this new intent-reading model would give him such enormous predictive power that even the Silas Clan would drool!

"Damn!" Rui cursed, rejoicing. "This is going to be so awesome."

He had to physically exert control to stop himself from vibrating with excitement. Yet, no matter how much he tried, he could not prevent the elation from leaking out.

"Why are you tweaking?" Kane tilted his head confused.

Rui turned to him with sparkling eyes.

CLASP

He put his hands on Kane's shoulders. "From this day forth, you shall be my new test subject."

It was at that moment that Kane remembered that Rui was more similar to the Divine Doctor than he would care to admit.

He braced himself for a rocky voyage ahead.