The Martial Unity

If that was the case, then he just needed to refine his ideas a little bit more and tie them back to the observations he made.

"Ah, the intelligence you requested has arrived." Professor Carl remarked as the staff member entered the office, with a pile of documents.

Rui's attention was drawn towards them. Even if they did not contain information on those that were successfully accepted, he could look at those that definitely failed, and avoid making their mistakes.

Those that failed seemed to continue going down that path. From their point of view, their lack of failure was due to the difficulty of the test, not because they were going down the wrong path.

Their lust for obtaining a legacy of one of the most renowned Martial Master assassins in the world was extremely high, it had clouded their judgment, making them choose to go about it in ways that were perhaps unbecoming of an assassin in the eyes of the Silent Shadow.

Or at least, that was what Rui had come to suspect after giving it some deep thought. 

"I should mention that you cannot take these documents away with you." Professor Carl remarked, drawing his attention. "They contain too many sensitive details of our investigative process. You may refer to them here at any time, or you may rely on that handy memory trick of yours."

Rui did not recall ever having disclosed that he had a handy memory trick, but he wasn't even surprised that the Beggar's Sect had come to learn of this. They had proven their ability to learn information many times at that point.

"That's not a problem," Rui remarked, before taking the large pile of documents over to a different desk as he began scouring them.

The Beggar's Sect had systematically begun searching for her through various means and avenues, each assigned its own division. There was an entire division dedicated to gathering and analyzing second-hand intelligence of all kinds, from other intelligence brokers to even rumors and testimonies of various individuals on the Silent Shadow. 

There was another division dedicated to profiling every individual in the Shadow Isles and evaluating the probability of them being the Silent Shadow in disguise. Rui's eyes widened in shock as he read through the details and the degree to which the Beggar's Sect looked into every single person who was in the Shadow Isles.

They had systematically looked into millions of individuals within the Shadow Isles and conducted analyses on every single one of them. The sheer manpower needed to even dare to go to such lengths was something that was probably unique to the Beggar's Sect.

Thankfully, they hadn't included a report of every single individual inside the Shadow Isles. As big as his Mind Palace was, not even he was sure if he could contain that much information in it.

They also dedicated an entire division to an extremely precise and accurate layout of the Shadow Isles as a whole. Based on the investigative reports that he was going through, the Beggar's Sect allegedly had mapped every square meter of all the Shadow Isles.

Another absurd feat, yet one that also did not yield any clues about the location of the Silent Shadow. 

It showed the degree to which the Silent Shadow had obscured herself, making it impossible to find her using brute force unless one possessed especially potent resources. 

Perhaps there was an exceptionally powerful Master-level esoteric resource, or another Martial Master or Martial Artist of a higher Realm that decided to exert themselves to locate her in one go, then it was not something that could be brute forced.

If the Beggar's Sect truly wanted, they could probably find her by expending such powerful means. But the issue was that it probably wasn't worth it. In the first place, the Beggar's Sect predominantly relied on the power of ordinary people. Esoteric or Martial resources were reserved for matters that were both important and were impervious to their main modus operandi.

The case of the Silent Shadow fulfilled the latter condition, but it did not fulfill the former condition. There was no burning need for the Beggar's Sect to find her. The reason that they were collecting intelligence in the first place was because this was their business.

They collected intelligence and sold it for a profit. Given how much work went into it, the intelligence on the Silent Shadow would have been worth a fortune, and given the sheer number of powerful assassins in the Shadow Isles that desperately wanted it, they could have made an even greater fortune selling it.

But alas, the failed venture did not justify using strategic resources. It didn't matter anyway, since Rui himself would never gain access to such resources as he currently was.

Besides, even if he did use them to find her, he highly doubted that she would accept him as a pupil. There was nothing alluring about a Martial Artist who relied on esoteric technological artifacts instead of his own personal capabilities.

He put those thoughts aside as he skimmed through the detailed compiled progress reports over an established timeline. Essentially, the Beggar's Sect tried many approaches to finding her and came to the conclusion that she may as well have not existed on the island.

It also gave him an overview of the state of progress of other aspiring candidates. Interestingly enough, the various Martial Artists that came to the Shadow Isles had tried many approaches themselves. Many had decided to show off powerful techniques by accepting commissions. Most decided to go on an active search for the Martial Master, under the impression that not being able to find her was the reason that most people failed to be accepted.

Most Martial Artists sought to find her through their own efforts, while some banded together in order to pool their efforts. All the while completing commissions from the Derschek Region to sustain their investigations. 

Rui noticed that the intelligence mentioned kept mentioning a name in all their reports.

Area Crina.