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."

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 too attractive, although they could be useless. Rui didn't

necessary. Ultimately Rui was an extremely pure Martial Artist. He 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

free of his shackles with his own power. Fae pursued Martial Art for the prestige that it brought her Martial Family. Even people like Nel pursued Martial Art out of their love for fighting and battle, rather than his Martial Art itself. Fiona was just mundanely going with the flow that came with being a prodigious genius. Every Martial Artists he had come across had motivations and

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. People chased after power, and thus people chased after Martial Art and the

Martial Art. Still, the Martial Union is also most certainly aware of this. There are ways

admitted. "However, as I said, I do not like developing a reliance on others. Perhaps if I come across a barrier that is difficult to surmount, I may consider this option, but I certainly do not need to rely on others when it comes to progressing my Martial

something they do not understand. When it came to developing individualized techniques, it was almost even more fruitless. If he relied too much on

didn't mean any and all aid or 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

these services could be procured by Martial Squires in exchange for Martial credits, he did not need to sell the VOID algorithm to