The Martial Unity

"Not the best strategy?" Rui raised an eyebrow. "Why do you say that?"

Rui was sure that the strategy, although infuriating, would definitely appeal to their pride. He wasn't able to think of a singular better way to do so than to give their techniques greater esteem.

"Although it does leverage their pride well, it does so at the cost of the perceived value of our techniques," Carl explained. "If they perceive our techniques to be much less valuable than their own, then their trade will inevitably become far too skewed in their favor. What we desire from the G'ak'arkan Tribe is an equal and fair trade, not a scam."

"That definitely makes sense," Rui nodded.

"Besides, Senior Ceeran will never tolerate the downplaying of the long-range techniques of the Martial Union and, by extension, all of the techniques of the Longranger Sect. As one of the upper echelons of the Longranger Sect, he would rather declare war against the G'ak'arkan Tribe than tolerate the techniques of his sect being diminished. If he hears you go in that direction during the negotiations, he may even pick a fight then and there."

"You make it sound like he will be part of the diplomatic team that will be deployed to the G'ak'arkan Tribe," Rui raised an eyebrow.

"You need an expert on long-range techniques with you. You are far from sufficient; you have only mastered three long-range techniques in your career as a Martial Artist. If the negotiations proceed favorably, then we need someone who can demonstrate the techniques that we will be trading." Carl explained patiently.

the previous diplomat who failed

for this role is up in the air. However, Martial commissioner Derun was the one who made the decision. I was told that you and Senior Ceeran have a good relationship, which probably factored

appointed as the long-range expert and consultant. Martial commissioner Derun was probably aware of the submission of the Pathfinder technique that Rui had given to the Longranger

did Senior Ceeran undergo when he was chosen

to his credit." Carl sighed.

not gone through any training or briefing," Rui chuckled, saying what Carl was reluctant to say out loud. "Well, putting that aside. I guess we should place just enough weight on their techniques to tickle

things you can that will incentivize their cooperation with us," Carl said, before continuing. "For example, and this is risky if misapplied, if you make it so that their pride compels them to master our techniques, you could make a fruitful exchange

won't be easy to

their pride in their Martial

actually quite lacking from our perspective. I think rather than bombarding them with our most powerful techniques to impress them, they would likely be more receptive to techniques that may not be the ones we're most proud of, but would actually address some of their shortcomings.

Carl sighed. "Your tactic sounds quite useful. You should flesh it out more when

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