The Martial Unity

The moment the contestants were affected by the Heavenly Pathos technique Master Carian employed to put all the contestants in a dream of their ideal lives led to an interesting circumstance for the spectators.

All of the remaining contestants had fallen to the ground unconscious then and there. No efforts had been made to cushion their fall given that such an impact was not at all a threat to the like of Martial Squires.

Many expected to get bored watching the contestants simply lie down on the ground unconscious, after all, where was the fun in that?

Yet it soon became evident that the contestants were literally acting out their actions in their dreams on the ground, it appeared that they retained full control of their bodies even while they were in this dreamlike state.

What unfolded was an amusing set of circumstances where the unconscious contestants began putting on a bit of a comedy show for the spectators. There were some whose actions revealed exactly what they were dreaming about, and they were not safe for work, to say the very least.

The Martial Master had mentioned they could break out of the illusion in a brief amount of time, thus many expected that this would continue for a while.

That was why the first break-out surprised everyone.

Their eyes widened as they noticed Rui opening his eyes, groggily getting up to his feet in just a matter of two minutes!

Master Carian furrowed his eyebrows, clearly surprised.

Although he had drastically lowered the intensity of the technique to even allow the Martial Squires to break out of it, it was still something that should have been far from easy.

As Rui came back to his senses, he glared at Master Carian. At that moment, he did not care about the man's identity, status, or power, he was about to rebuke the Master with strong words when something drew his attention, interrupting him.

up just

eyes as he

youngest Martial Squire contesting

had succeeded far earlier than the

her long flowing hair aside as she realized Rui was already standing, before pouting mildly. "Second… How not

did not know what that meant, but he did

Master Carian, with a unpleasant expression behind

truly displeased by this test, young man," The Martial Master

all due respect, I believe there are less invasive and humiliating ways of testing fortitude,"

to entertain Rui's complaints. "But do you think reality

the question for

it, compared to this harmless first round. Here you lose a bit of dignity, but reality will take your life, and the lives of everyone you care about. Ask yourself if you are prepared for the hard reality of this world

He had already experienced it after the fiasco of the Shionel Confederation. His own life and the lives of his

his expression

to that predicament, this first round was nothing,

angered because the illusion that he had been shown touched more than just a nerve. It rubbed more than salt in his wounds, it was nothing short of acidic in its pain. It showed him everything that he wanted, that was so far away. He often coped by not thinking about it deeply and focusing on developing his Martial Art, walking his Martial Path, and pursuing

the illusion forced him to confront

after the challenge had begun. "The two of you have done well, there is no question that you have faced much, and overcome much. I am not surprised that you, Squire Meera, managed to accomplish this feat as the reigning champion of the Martial

said a lot of things that Rui would have drawn Rui's interest ordinarily, but not this time. Master Carian studied Rui with piercing eyes. Rui immediately grew

was nothing he could do at the