The Martial Unity

"Huff…" Rui's cold eyes narrowed, staring at the Mellow Dungeon in the distance. "It's a shame I wasn't able to come here before I inherited the Elder Tree's knowledge."

Rui wasn't lacking self-awareness. He knew that he was different from before. He felt as though someone had dialed down his emotions. He recalled the fascination, awe, and wonder he had experienced when he beheld the magic of the Garden of Salvation.

He was unable to experience a fraction of that emotion when looking at an equally exotic phenomenon.

The revelation that very few things could trigger the same kind of experience was not pleasant.

While, before, a series of things could have triggered positive emotions, it was as though someone had drastically increased the threshold for those same experiences to bring him the same amount of happiness. Only the ecstasy born from his Flowing Void Style and Adaptive Evolution had been able to cross that threshold consistently.

"I mean, we could have."

Kane's voice interjected, cutting through his own thoughts.

"No," Rui replied stoically. "We couldn't have."

"Was it worth it?" Kane's voice was sharp. "Was breaking your own mind worth it?"

Rui turned to Kane with a detached gaze.

A single remark escaped him.

"Yes."

Kane shook his head, heaving a sigh. "I figured. It's your best and worst trait, man. It might get you killed. Thankfully, you have me. Now, are we ready?"

"Soon."

fruit were gone. Now, it was time to subject himself to danger if he wished to learn more about the

the operation into the Mellow Dungeon

that barricaded the way to the center of the dungeon and get rid of as many as possible. Ideally, Rui hoped to learn the identity of the creatures

he could instantly gain a deep understanding of

out a specific plan, but he was absolutely certain that knowing the environments that were most antithetical to each of them

need to hurry," Rui sharply remarked, turning to Kane.

it

replied. "We need to get there before he does, and the travel time alone

spend thirty-six

goal to be able to adaptively evolve to overcome any force that sought to defeat him. In order to grow, he needed to be exposed to

required him to train and grow stronger by adaptively

for a lot of the progress that he had made

challenges with his Martial Art. This had been the case when

exodus away from Kandria, hiding from Chairman Deacon. He created Greater Phantomind Void, Death's Sympathy, and similarly powerful techniques for the sake of killing

of adaptively evolving to the challenges and forces aligned

able to find much of that in a prison as

that it was a worthy place to train his foundations. It was a shame that he

"Done."

the instruments, artifacts, and tools that he had brought along with him to the Beast Domain. They would just get

got

"Any time," Kane remarked.

"Let's go."