The Martial Unity

Rui hadn't expected that he would be indirectly entangled with the Throne War in such a fashion.

The Beggar's Sect was basically hoping that he would wage war against the Carnil Mafia inside the Great Forest of Hypnonarak.

That was something that Rui was not sure was too good of an idea.

The Kandrian Underworld was a force that Rui was not qualified to take on under normal circumstances. However, the narcotics operations of the Great Forest of Hypnonarak were sort of limited to the Senior Realm, even if its importance exceeded that Realm.

The reason the limit existed was because the Hypnomaster did not tolerate other Martial Masters in or near his domain. According to the intelligence supplied by the Beggar's Sect, this was enough of a deterrence to prevent any force from deploying Martial Masters.

"He once eliminated four Martial Masters in a single fight," The executive explained. "In the first place, the Hypnomaster is a highly experienced and powerful Martial Master over four hundred years old. Furthermore, the Great Forest of Hypnonarak is his domain not just in a political context but also in a Martial Art context."

Rui had already come to figure that part out. "A stronger mind will prevail in a battlefield that weakens the mind. This place is perfect for him."

The man nodded. "That is why you can rest assured that you won't be running into Martial Masters and certainly no Martial Sages."

If that was the case, then the plan was a lot more viable than he had expected. Although he was quite wary of the powerful Martial Seniors of the Kandrian Underworld, he was also confident in the recent gains he had made under the tutelage of the Silent Shadow.

He was not afraid of them discovering his identity thanks to the Master-level mask, and the disguise ability that he had gained. Furthermore, his Phantomind Void technique was something that would work well in the forest. Although the technique was not as smoothly combat-applicable as Kane's Void Step due to the much greater mental burden, it was still something that would be highly useful when eliminating his targets.

"Alright, that's enough on that matter," Rui heaved a sigh. "I want all the intelligence that the Beggar's Sect had gathered on the Hypnomaster and the Great Forest of Hypnonarak, just put the price on my tab."

"We will be sure to procure that for you." The man smiled before fiddling with his terminal. 

It wasn't too long before Rui got his hands on a large stack of documents. he quickly took his pile away, before scouring through the detailed reports and analyses.

The intelligence that he had purchased from Sian in the Derimont Bazaar was preliminary, to give him a good idea of what he was going up against, but it wasn't everything.

The intelligence offered by the Beggar's Sect was quite detailed and pertinent, as he had expected. It went into even greater detail than the information he had prior. It went into the many challenges that all of those who sought to travel the expansive forest in search of the Hypnomaster.

There were special monsters and creatures in the Great Forest of Hypnonarak that had specifically adapted to the mind-consuming nature of the forest, allowing themselves to be sustained in its depths. They were few and far between, but it was true that they were quite powerful.

[Illusionary Dragon] 

This was a special species of dragon, one of the apex predators of the Beast Domain that had the ability to generate illusions by manipulating both, the senses of its victim as well as its environment. It was capable of applying its ability to generate illusions to obscure itself in a stealthy manner, or to confuse its target in combat while also exploiting openings to kill its target.

it was particularly dangerous within the environment of the forest that compromised the mind.

[Nightmare Oases] 

Apparently, even the water sources in the forest were compromised with mind-suppressing and hallucinogenic esoteric substances. Drinking water from these sources was highly inadvisable, yet they had a strange psychological effect of greatly increasing the physiological urge and thirst for water, causing people to become unsuspecting victims of it, only to be consumed by the surrounding predatory flora.

Rui wondered what possessed the Hypnomaster to create something that cruel. It appeared that Master Reina was right when she said that the Hypnomaster was not as kind as her.

This was especially the case when the intelligence provided by the Berggar's Sect went into great detail as to how nearly every species of flora within the forest was predatory and carnivorous in nature.

The sheer amount of meat that the entire forest as a whole needed to consume meant that unless it got a regular supply of food from the outside, it was not something that could be sustained very easily.

'Ah, that's why there is so much narcotic flora.' Rui realized. 'He wanted to incentivize as many people to enter the forest in search of the drugs, or him, and thus feed the forest's voracious appetite.'

It was the only way to sustain such a large carnivorous forest. If that was the case, then the Hypnomaster was truly a ruthless man who had no qualms about the misery that inevitably unfolded from his desire to have a convenient system in place. 

He especially felt so as he skimmed through the intelligence on the various threats that existed within the Great Forest of Hypnonarak. 

From a relatively small number of creatures and species that had managed to adapt to the conditions of the Great Forest of Hypnonarak, the Hypnomaster's own residence was apparently something that was not constant and changed every day, making it harder to track him based on existing information.

Furthermore, the forest as a whole caused one to lose their sense of time and direction within sufficient depths due to the mental energy consumption, causing people who were otherwise capable of surviving to die due to being unable to gather their bearings and get out.

It was a forest that had claimed the lives of many a Martial Artist, including Martial Seniors.

"Great, sounds fun," Rui murmured unhappily.