The Martial Unity

Rui was ready to give his technique a new name.

('Though is it really a new technique if it's just a result of using three techniques simultaneously?') Rui wondered.

That was an interesting question. Rui did not think that it mattered in the grand scheme. Regardless of whether he considered it to be a separate technique or not, it was something that expanded his Martial Art that also individuality.

There was no point in speculating too much.

('Still, it feels nice commemorating it as a technique,') Rui shrugged. ('Even if it can barely be considered one.')

Rui knew that he wasn't missing much either way. Instead, he shifted his attention back to the Thundering Valley.

It was time for a test. He wanted to see how much more knowing the destination of the lightning would help him avoid them.

('There's a good chance I can use Forestep to a much higher degree, if not the entire way,') He grew enthusiastic at the thought.

He quickly got up, stretching as he warmed his body up. All that time spent meditating made him feel as though his body had gotten a little stiff. Not even Martial bodies were exempt from the requirement of activity to maintain their peak form.

He stretched every muscle in his body to the limit, groaning in comfort as he felt the blood flow to the various muscle groups increasing.

hopped lightly on his feet as he activated the Forestep

deeply, immediately feeling his body grow lighter as a surge of power

technique. Immediately as he walked in, he could identify the patterns that corresponded with the presence of streaks of charged

BOOM BOOM BOOM!

he gracefully avoided them. He didn't even feel the need to stress his mind by forcing his reflexes to keep up with his movements. The current system that he was working with, to a certain extent, mimicked what he had done against the Root. The difference was that he had straightforwardly used

BOOM!

a difference, now that I think about it in hindsight,') Rui thought to himself as he casually dodged a

the predictive model of the VOID algorithm worked. He gathered

difference is that this is a natural phenomenon as opposed to a person,') Rui mused. ('The biases and patterns that normal people have are part of their individuality. However, the patterns in natural phenomena in

Rui in a strange mood, even as he dodged lightning bolts with greater ease than ever

understand the nature of not just my opponent's fighting styles, or strengths and weaknesses, but also the nature of

STEP

fact that that possibility seemed like it

something that he had created for hand-to-hand combat. That was all. Nothing

Gaia, right?') Rui wondered to himself before his eyes

something important, a deep and

BOOM!

grimacing as he handled the mind-numbing pain coursing through his nerves. A big lightning bolt struck his entire body, he had failed to

immediately retreated back outside the valley, groaning in pain. "Note to self, store all epiphanies in the Mind Palace when in urgent situations

had even forgotten the train of thought that he was on prior. It was as though the coursing lightning had burned