The Martial Unity

"You look rough." Kane noted.

"I've had a rough a day." Rui replied. "My mission was hard, and I failed."

Kane glanced back at Rui. "Oof, that must be rough. But hey, it happens to everyone. Chin up." He put an arm around Rui's shoulder. "What mission did you choose?"

"Bodyguard." Rui replied with a single word.

Kane's eyes widened as he realized why Rui had been looking so down, and why the failure had hit him so hard. "...Damn."

"Yeah, it was rough." Rui sighed. "I had chosen a bodyguard mission of grade one, looking to take things slow with an easy mission to break the ice. Turns out the mission was actually a grade five mission, at the very least." Rui paused.

Kane jerked his head back in shock. "Grade five?? Those are only for missions that are able to threaten the lives of Martial Apprentices. You and I shouldn't even be allowed to take missions of that grade."

"Yeah, the mission's difficulty was severely underestimated by the Martial Academy, apparently." Rui sighed helplessly. "My target of protection was being hunted down by a huge local behemoth of an esoteric supplier, we were being pursued by gangs and even a Martial Apprentice."

"That's actually insane, what the fuck?" Kane was entirely in disbelief. "I'm impressed you survived."

"I only managed because their prime target wasn't me, they managed to hold me back with a Martial Apprentice who pulled me away from my target, and my target was killed after she was eperated from me."

"That's messed up."

"Yeah."

silence, before Rui broke it

you undertake?" Rui asked. "You were gone

Kane shrugged. "Had to hunt some highly elusive species of

"Deer?"

pre-requisite as far as maneuvering techniques went. So I chose the

it?" Rui asked

and sustained effort, but of no threat to life." Kane replied. "The perfect mission to ensure I

Kane's words. Talking with Kane really did put him to

do more missions right?" Kane asked. "Since you must not

"No, I did."

tilted his

that the Martial Academy took full responsibility for the failure of the mission, and would be

awesome. How many Martial Credits

total of fifty-seven

purchase a somewhat not-bad

wanted to set out to grow stronger

suggest amassing some more credits as

too impatient. He had really only been a Martial Apprentice for less than half a year, and had joined

he was sure his growth trajectory was extremely optimistic. What he needed was a well-founded, stable growth. Rashly picking some

get a 'somewhat not-bad' technique with that, which was a polite of way of

strong as he was not because his techniques were super powerful, but because he used them much better than Martial Apprentices of his age and growth level. A large portion of his strength came

constrained way. This meant accumulating enough martial credits to be able to buy higher grade