The Martial Unity

Julian stared at Rui's forlorn figure for a few seconds, before smiling, shaking his head. "Forget about it. It was not my intention to unfortunately sour the mood. The fact of the matter is that you did successfully protect the orphanage with an exorbitant amount of protection. The fact of the matter is that you have undoubtedly worked extraordinarily hard for nearly eight years all for the sake of your family. To eliminate the threat to your family. Your devotion is admirable and heart-warming, that much cannot be denied."

He walked up to Rui putting an arm around his shoulder. "Chin up. I have missed you."

"As have I…Julian."

"Tell me about your time away," Julian remarked. "You have become a Martial Senior in record time. That is an astonishing accomplishment that will undoubtedly ripple across the Martial World. It is a great sign of progress in Martial Art."

Julian seemed particularly enthused by this. As a researcher in Martial Art, this was undoubtedly a good thing for all of Martial Art.

"I'm surprised you can tell," Rui keenly noticed. "I haven't told any of them that I'm a Martial Senior yet. It seems you have become much more intimately familiar with Martial Artists than I'd have expected. As expected of the deputy director of the Martial Art department."

Julian smiled with pride at Rui's praise. "It means much to hear that from you of all people, Rui. I have grown very familiar with Martial Artists of the Lower Realms. I've led many teams that have made progress in improving the existing training program models meant to help novices discover their Martial Paths. I've also applied my background in esoteric material science to improve the configurations of the filtration evolution processes during the Squire evolution breakthrough procedure to produce more powerful Martial Bodies, and in the past four years, I have been working on developing on a research project that studies the development of the Martial Mind."

as a non-Martial Artist, had been authorized to learn about the Martial Mind showed just how much the Ministry of Research and Development had recognized his

a researcher needed to accumulate and how many contributions he needed to make in order

and need to," Julian smiled knowingly. "I'm sure you've made a lot of progress

knew better than anybody just what kind of a monstrous talent for

did learn about it from a Martial Master more than two years ago, Rui responded, before smirking. "And you're damn right

to hear the adventures you've been through," Julian's curiosity got the

long of a story to repeat over and over," Rui sighed. "I'm more curious about yourself. You… don't

expression fell as Rui pointed out his less-than-healthy appearance. "…I was actually doing quite well, until recently,

Rui waited silently, curious.

by the name of Marin Vilmentine" Julian stated. "She's the chief of staff of Princess Raemina's faction.

narrowed at

I say large, I do mean large…before inviting me

out the intentions behind such actions, even if it did,

has begun revving up…" Julian nodded. "I'm surprised you are already aware of it, but yes. It had been more of a slow cold war in the past five years, but it has begun escalating in both intensity, pace, and openness. More and more ordinary civilians are becoming aware of the brewing tensions between the Royal Princes and Princesses. If that was just the one happening, it wouldn't matter much. But my department