The Martial Unity

"I see. Well, the Martial Union doesn't have anything to worry about." Rui told the commissioner. "Almost everything I do, I do to progress my Martial Art. I am extremely motivated and recently have gained clarity on how I want to proceed with that."

"That is great to hear, Squire Quarrier." The man nodded. "The Martial Art has a vested interest in your Martial Art for more than just strengthening the Martial Union with another Martial Artist. One of our interests is actually analyzing what makes your Martial Art and opening up the opportunity for the next generation of Martial Artists to obtain a piece of that power in the form of techniques."

Rui's eyebrows rose at the commissioner's statement. "Hmmm... I don't know how I feel about that."

"Of course, the Martial Union never coerces its Martial Artists to divulge anything." The commissioner chuckled. "We cannot claim to be a haven for Martial Artists if we're constantly attempting to rob a Martial Artist of their Martial Art. The Martial Union offers much in return for valuable contributions. These include unpublicized techniques, resources, appropriate aid and advice from Martial Artists much stronger and elder than yourself, power and influence."

"Hm..." Rui considered the matter, before shaking his head. "I do not like relying on others unless I genuinely have an absolute necessity to. Unfortunately, I'm not particularly attracted to what the Martial Union offers in return at this point in time. Techniques would have been an attractive offer had I been a Martial Apprentice, but as a Martial Squire I have recently resolved to pursue a path where I develop my Martial Art with individuality to progress it and make it stronger through the intrinsic synergy that comes with techniques customized for myself."

the commissioner offered in return. Power and influence? He had never given a damn about such things, in this life or his previous one. As long as he had the power to do what he wanted, he didn't care. Resources were also not

pursued Martial Art truly and purely for his love of Martial Art. Much to his surprise, this wasn't a particularly common sentiment based on his experience as a Martial Artist among other Martial Artists. When he first joined the Martial Academy, he had a very pure and idealistic image of Martial Artists, one where Martial Artists immersed

her Martial Family. Even people like Nel pursued Martial

was realistic. The kind of Martial Artists he had seen in fiction was just that; fiction. In reality, Martial Art was simply power. That too truly individualistic and personal power held by Martial Art that originated from themselves.

the commissioner smiled. "You have correctly identified an important element in the progression of one's Martial Art. Still, the Martial Union is also most certainly aware of this. There

developing a reliance on others. Perhaps if I come across a barrier that is difficult to

aid him in the further development of the VOID algorithm. It would be nearly impossible for the organization to aid him with something they do not understand. When it came to developing individualized techniques,

cooperation was bad. If there was a time when he wanted more reliable data or measurements while developing a technique, there was no harm in accepting the help of the Martial Union to perform the measurements and convey the data to him. It would be purely acting in an assistant role, and nothing

by Martial Squires in exchange for Martial credits, he did