The Martial Unity



"I can prove it if you want," Rui shrugged. "Not necessarily the gravity part but bypassing anti-espionage techniques with my technique."

The man eyes him carefully. "I'll take you up on that. The chambers of the Floating Sect are lined with anti-espionage technology. Are you able to peer through those?"

Rui could suddenly feel the two guardians standing guard at the table had grown more alert and focused on the conversation.

Of course, they would.

If Rui could spy on all the guardians while they trained, that was a serious breach of their privacy that the chambers were supposed to secure.

"No," He shook his head. "The gravity of the island is extremely overpowered. It's like trying to hear whispers in the middle of a hurricane. My technique is unable to function normally on this island."

"Making it unavailable to be tested on this island, seems rather convenient."

"Given that it is true, I find it decidedly inconvenient," Rui retorted calmly. "I am willing to prove it on land."

"Hm," The man considered. "That offer will be taken into consideration. If we find that your technique and report are exactly as you say they are, then are you willing to aid us with a full-blown investigation of the alleged weapon?"

"No," Rui shook his head unhesitatingly.

"Why not?" The man's eyes narrowed.

"Because it will take away far too much time from my training," Rui simply replied. "I came here to grow stronger. I cannot do that if I am engaging in covert intelligence operations."

"Even if it's for the sake of the Floating Sect."

"I came here for my sake, not for that of the sect," Rui calmly replied.

"Hm," The man didn't take any issue with that. "However, engaging in operations with real stakes can be of benefits that mundane training cannot provide."

Rui cringed inside at the terrible attempt to persuade him. While the man appeared to be a competent intelligence officer, it was clear that his understanding of Martial Artists was not the best.

"My Martial Art and Path are not centered around fields relevant to covert operations," He sighed. "I will not make any gains by simply executing such operations. Furthermore, I am aware that the Floating Sect does not require my aid beyond this point. Just the fact that the Floating Sect was able to acquire the intelligence that the Graheria Kingdom was commissioning Frigga Industries means that the Floating Sect possessed an intelligence network that penetrated mid-level executives and officers of the executive government of the Graheria Kingdom. The fact that the Floating Sect was unable to find out what the commission was means that it has not penetrated the level of clearance needed to gain information on the commission."

The deputy director remained silent. Yet his silence was loud, he could not deny Rui's sharp deductions.

"However, now that I've pointed you well in the right direction, it should be possible for you to gain more information to either prove me wrong or right, correct?"

Rui had given them many details including locations, names, and details surrounding the transaction and the package.

He knew that these details, while not something that the Floating Sect could have acquired by itself were something it could look to verify now that they had become aware of it.

There were many things the Floating Sect could do with the sheer amount of detailed information that Rui presented to them

The man smiled. "You appear far more impressive than I gave you credit for, guardian Falken. Between this, the sheer information density and volume that you somehow recorded and documented, and your smooth means of infiltrating and spying, you've been of great service to the Floating Sect. You are eligible for all the training and growth services from the Martial Seniors once we verify your technique off Ajanta Island."

Although the man was gracious, he still insisted on Rui proving his ability to sense past anti-espionage techniques.

Rui was fine with that, it meant that he had achieved what he wanted and could now focus on the sparring training with the Martial Seniors of the Floating Sect.

In the following days, the deputy director kept up his word and made sure to test the veracity of Rui's senses. The test occurred in the sky, distanced from the island where Rui was asked to identify the objects within boxes that were heavily lined with anti-espionage technology.

Rui easily answered all of them, giving detailed answers on the objects within the boxes.

Once Rui had proven his technique, even the deputy director had to admit that Rui's tale was far more credible and believable after that.

The Floating Sect's intelligence department moved in accordance as it mobilized to dig deeper into the truth of the matter.

As far as Rui was concerned, he had washed his hands of the matter. The best thing he could do now was grow stronger. He intended to remain in the Floating Sect long enough to fulfill at least one of the conditions to becoming a Senior.

With that in mind, he entered the arena with a determined expression. Around him were dozens of Martial Squires of the tenth class.

At the center of the training arena was Senior Xanarn.

"Position yourselves." She simply instructed.

Various Martial Squires stood away from her at various distances. Kane stood closer to her while Rui chose to stand at medium range from her.

Rui had prepared quite well for this occasion, he had held nothing back as he adapted to everything that he saw about Senior Xanarn's motions, developing a predictive model while also organizing all the counters that he had developed for Xanarn's movements from the counter-adaptive model.

Although the sound nature certainly threw the Earth-based system off, he compensated by replacing the incompatibilities with more appropriate responses.

He had but one goal for this sparring session; he wanted to see if he could force Senior Xanarn to use her Martial Heart, the way the guardian of the first chamber did.