The Martial Unity

This was not the first time that she had mentioned that to him. The Hypnomaster resided in a forest known as the Great Forest of Hypnonarak. The man had surrounded himself with a hazardous forest that was actually quite dangerous to enter and exist within.

Rui had access to the intelligence that the Beggar's Sect had supplied him with, he knew what he was getting into.

However, soon enough, it was time for him to leave the Shadow Isles. 

He had achieved everything that he came here for. He had become an incredibly competent assassin in one go and was confident that he had acquired the tools that would allow him to kill Chairman Deacon.

He was half tempted to run over to the Shionel Confederation, sneak past all the security, and kill the man on the spot. However, even he knew that it was wiser to wait for the intelligence supplied by the Beggar's Sect. There was no harm in learning everything there was to learn. 

He could take his time to plan out the perfect assassination, perhaps even one that satisfied him if he had that leeway. Regardless, that would take time, and it would also require him to fulfill his commission payment to the Beggar's Sect. Clearing out the assassination industry cleanly wiped out a huge chunk of the payment, easily completing many years' worth of normal commissions and operations in one go.

Even the Beggar's Sect's commission payment for their services was rather manageable if Rui maintained this rate.

He would need to find a good way to pay off the remaining with some operation in the region of the Great Forest of Hypnonarak. 

It wasn't long before it was time for him to bid farewell to Master Reina.

"Kill him good." She threw him a thumbs-up.

"I will. Goodbye, Master." Rui bowed his head before taking his leave, exiting Area Crina.

He immediately activated the basic version of Phantomind Void, quickly making his way through the people as he made his way through the Shadow Isles. It was annoying that he couldn't just sky-walk away, but that would give himself away to the Beggar's Sect.

He intended to abide by his word to Master Reina and ensure that no one learned that he had gained the tutelage of the Silent Shadow. 

It wasn't long before he made his way out of the Derschek Region. 

"Alright then..." Rui accessed a map in his Mind Palace. "Time to get going."

He had no reason to delay his trip to the Great Forest of Hypnonarak. It was located further east of the Shadow Isles, and it would take a while for Rui to get there.

Yet even as Rui began his journey towards his next target, his mind accessed the intelligence of the Beggar's Sect, sifting through what he had learned from them as well as Master Reina.

The Great Forest of Hypnonarak was an artificial danger zone that Master Zeamer Ger-Vil had created to obscure his abode. Just that fact alone told Rui that this Master probably had a few screws loose.

Then again, Master Reina created an infested assassination industry in the Derschek as a consequence of her choices.

It appeared that Martial Masters were incapable of just accepting students like normal teachers, for some reason. 

Regardless, the Great Forest of Narak was an especially strange kind of danger zone because it was graded abnormally. Normally, danger zones corresponded with Martial Realms to convey how strong a Martial Artist needed to be to not be in danger of dying.

However, things were complicated with the Great Forest of Hypnonarak. It didn't have a standard grade. Martial Artists across all three of the Lower Realms could survive and thrive in it.

Apparently, the danger that a Martial Artist experienced in the forest was dependent on their Realm. Martial Seniors experienced more danger than Martial Squires, who experienced more danger than Martial Apprentice.

Rui initially had trouble understanding how such a thing could naturally unfold. But the intelligence documents he had stored in the Mind Palace actually contained the reason for how such a thing was possible.

It had to do with the reason why the forest was graded a danger zone in the first place. 

Most danger zones were classified as danger zones because the threat level of the flora and fauna had reached a level where normal humans could no longer sustain life. In the case of the Great Forest of Hypnonarak, the forest appeared to be engineered to contain a kind of threat.

The threat to the mind. 

The Great Forest of Hypnonarak was dangerous because it afflicted the minds of all creatures within the forest. It was said that the flora of the forest consumed the mental energy of all those who entered the forest.

This also made Rui scratch his head. Mental energy existed in a colloquial sense when talking about mental stamina, but it was not a kind of energy that existed in a physical sense like kinetic energy or heat energy.

'Maybe it absorbs or inhibits bioelectric phenomena or just electromagnetic phenomena in general.' Rui mused as his interest in the forest grew.

According to the intelligence of the Beggar's Sect, creatures with greater mental energy experienced proportionally greater consumption and consequent suppression of mind, which was why Martial Artists did not experience any difference in the suppression they faced from the forest regardless of the Realms they belonged to.

From that Rui could infer that whatever was causing the consumption of mental energy was not a static phenomenon. It was neurodynamic, it changed depending on the neurological parameters of the target.

It could either be an evolved trait in the flora of the forest that the Hypnomaster had put together, or it could be due to an esoteric substance whose absorption of bioelectric activity increased exponentially the greater the bioelectric activity present in any given creature.

Rui's scientific mind kicked into action as he curiously reread all the intelligence that the Beggar's Sect had given him.