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.

feet

grow lighter as a surge of

was time, he activated his new technique, focusing on specific parts of the three constituting the new sensory technique. Immediately as he walked in, he could identify the

BOOM BOOM BOOM!

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 the VOID algorithm against the Root and

BOOM!

of a difference, now that I think about it in hindsight,') Rui

lightning by analyzing patterns of preceding events. That was essentially how the predictive model of the VOID algorithm worked. He gathered data, noticed patterns,

a person,') Rui mused. ('The biases and patterns that normal people have are part of their individuality. However, the patterns

strange mood, even as

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

STEP

fact that that possibility seemed like it might

something that he had created for hand-to-hand combat. That

in Gaia, right?') Rui wondered to himself before his eyes widened with an idea. ('Maybe

on the cusp of something important, a deep and sharp sense of

BOOM!

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

retreated back outside the valley, groaning in pain. "Note to self, store all epiphanies

thought that he was on prior. It was as though the coursing lightning had burned the very thought from his brain when