The Martial Unity

She heaved a deep sigh after a minute of thought. "Your words are…hard to refute. However…"

"I understand." Rui closed his eyes, leaning back. "It is extremely difficult to change your nomadic ways after centuries of living in such a manner. It will be extraordinarily difficult to adjust to such a drastic change in life and lifestyle."

She nodded, deep in thought.

"However, think about what you lose if you don't choose to go this route," Rui replied, staring at the ceiling. "I just sparred with Senior Huldah. I wonder how many years of her lifespan she lost in a simple short spar?"

Matriarch Nephi winced at his words. "That…"

"Besides," Rui spoke. "I haven't even told you all the benefits of joining the Kandrian Empire and the Martial Union. There is a realistic chance that you will find a way to mitigate or possibly even erase the price of the forbidden technique with the Martial Union's Martial Art techniques, principles, and training resources."

Her eyes widened with surprise. "What?!"

"Think about it, Grandma. I don't mean to be rude, but the Silas Clan only has a handful of Mindforgers," he replied. "On top of that, you don't have any resources to train because you're disconnected from human civilization and are constantly migrating and resettling over and over. The Martial Union receives techniques and contributions from across the Kandrian Empire and even beyond. Many Martial Artists sell their techniques and an exclusive license to the Martial Union. You cannot even begin to fathom the ocean of Martial Art techniques and principles that the Martial Union has. That's not all…"

doing this for centuries. There

in absolute fact. She knew that because she did have some understanding of the Kandrian Empire and the Martial Union, but also because she could plainly see that he was uttering the

greatest shortcoming of the Eye of Prophecy did not excite her. Unfortunately, he was right in that their circumstances made any research and

so many in addition to the benefits that I have already told you about. Just the fact that you are reconnected to human civilization is an enormous blessing. Medical services, education, Martial resources, technology, and quality of life. There are so many benefits

was so overwhelmingly favor in joining the Kandrian Empire in so many dimensions that she did not even bother

was how the clan would handle

any organization in the entire world, I think," Rui lightly remarked. "Even

hand. "I have

stared at her

she stated officiously. "Your reasoning is deeply compelling, I admit. However, this is not a decision that can be committed

You have a week to make your decision unless you are willing to approach the Kandrian Empire without me guiding the deliberations. I wouldn't recommend that, personally. But it is an option if

She wasn't.

anybody in the Silas Clan had ever needed to employ diplomacy. The very concept didn't even exist in the Silas Dialect, which was how foreign it was to the Silas

certainly need your help to navigate the diplomatic negotiations with the Kandrian