The Martial Unity

They were like newborn infants. They could not walk on their own the moment they were born, but many months later they would finally be ready.

Furthermore, there were more concrete reasons to be secretive about this fact.

If finding a true name for one's Martial Art was a measure of how uniquely original one's Martial Art was, which would in turn indicated how cognitively boosted your brain was, then the young brash fools would hastily name their Martial Art in the hopes that this was a sign they had made a lot of progress!

They would be putting the cart before the horse.

If naming one's Martial Art was a profound and important act, and it certainly was, then young hasty and greedy Martial Apprentices would certainly screw things up for themselves.

Rui's eyes widened as he recalled something Squire Dylon had told him. Squire Dylon had told him that they did not inform Martial Apprentices of the breakthrough process to Martial Squire because it ruined their development because they didn't handle the important information maturely.

That information Squire Dylon had inadvertently revealed back then was oddly similar to the revelation he had just had right now.

The similarities between the two strongly suggested that the breakthrough to Martial Squire was linked to the originality and uniqueness of one's Martial Art.

Rui felt he had reached something significant. He glanced up at headmaster Aronian, who had simply been watching him intrigued.

"But why tell me this if you do not tell the others?" Rui frowned. "Aren't you afraid that I might simply not be ready."

"No." Headmaster Aronian simply answered.

"..."

"..."

"No?"

"No."

"Why not?" Rui asked.

Headmaster Aronian glanced at Rui with intrigued eyes. "You don't know?"

"I wouldn't be asking if I did." Rui sighed exasperatedly.

"Hoho, I see I see." Headmaster Aronian laughed. "It's rather odd you don't know. How could you possibly be unaware of this fact I wonder."

"What fact?"

"...The fact that your Martial Art is one of the most uniquely developed Martial Art I have ever seen in the hands of a Martial Apprentice." Headmaster Aronian grew a bit more serious. "It's truly a wonder. Your case is unheard of. How did you give your Martial Art such a high degree of personal uniqueness in the span of a year and a half?"

Rui tilted his head, incredibly confused. "I've only developed my Martial Art with the techniques of the Martial Academy. I don't know wha-!"

His eyes flew wide open as he understood.

The VOID algorithm!

The VOID algorithm was something he himself had created over the span of more than a decade!

He had brought it over to this world with himself in his mind and had made it the core of his Martial Art.

From the very start, his Martial Art was extremely uniquely personalized!

The VOID algorithm had been the solution to Project Water, his personal ambition. He had been by far the largest contributor to the project and had been the brains of the entire research project. His researcher colleagues were much younger and were mainly executive researchers, executing his directives on the matter, handling the documentation, data processing and documentation and the more technical aspects of the research project.

The VOID algorithm was truly a child of his own, that he molded into shape after years and years of dedication.

Never had he realized that this would be counted as unique development of Martial Art in his second life!

He simply hadn't realized it. He knew his mind was cognitively superior to everybody else's, however he had assumed that this was only because of the double-growth it had undergone, now he realized that there was another minor factor contributing to it!

"Ah, so you've realized it." The headmaster noted. "The fact that you realized it only now just makes you an even more bizarre case. Truly, I cannot even begin to imagine the ridiculous circumstances that led to this outcome, though I am curious."

Rui shook his head. He could not tell the headmaster about his past life.

More like, there wasn't any point. No one would believe such a nonsensical story. Hell, even Rui himself had wondered once or twice whether it was real.

"...No matter." The headmaster stated. "The Martial Union and Academy have a habit of respecting the right to personal privacy. However, it is a fact that your personal Martial Art has been immensely uniquely developed. That is why I brought the issue of naming your Martial Art in the first place and why I revealed all of this to you."

Rui pondered a bit. "Does the uniqueness of one's Martial Art have something to do with the breakthrough to Martial Squire?"

"..." Headmaster Aronian merely gazed at him. "Hmm. I suppose you're privy to this information at your current level. Yes, yes it does. Your Martial Art needs to be uniquely developed to a high enough degree for you to even be a candidate for Martial Squire. It is one of two pre-requisites needed to be a Martial Squire candidate."

"Candidate?" Rui asked in surprise. "All this and one more additional condition all to be merely a Martial Squire candidate?"

"Hohoho..." He chuckled. "The breakthrough to Martial Squire is not as simple as the breakthrough to Martial Apprentice is, young man. I cannot tell you the breakthrough process to Martial Squire just yet, but I can tell you the second condition needed to be fulfilled in order to become a Squire candidate, you are eligible to hear it."

"Please do." Rui requested.

"There are two things needed to become a Squire candidate; Uniqueness and Martial Maturity." Headmaster Aronian told him.

"Martial Maturity?" Rui tilted his head in confusion. "What's that?"

"Every Martial Art has a shape and a form. What it ends up looking like. Its parameters and attributes. Its strength and weaknesses. Its distribution of resources as far as techniques go." Headmaster Aronian. "A Martial Art is said to have reached Martial Maturity when the 'shape' of their Martial Art is no longer in flux and is no longer shaping. You can think of it as after the Martial Art has undergone puberty and becomes an adult."