The Martial Unity

Rui did not want to run into a swarm of Senior-level hornets. The fact that they had almost caught up to him prior was quite a close shave. Unlike in the Shionel Dungeon where he had come up with specific targeted solutions towards the monsters, he didn't have that here. 

His goal wasn't to massacre monsters in the first place, it was to avoid them while he searched for the Hypnomaster. Wiping out monsters and animals the way he had in the Shionel Dungeon would merely drain his energy for no real purpose, even if he did have the means.

He was sure that his Phantomind Void technique would work on the hornets but it was not a viable long-term solution. Furthermore, he figured it was best that he didn't rely on any particularly mind-consuming techniques. In an environment where mental stamina was compromised, mental energy was something that he ought to avoid spending.

Another thing that worried him was the fact that because of the mental energy loss, the time taken for mental energy to be restored was quite long, longer than normal. That included necessary sleep time to rejuvenate the brain.

Rui heaved a sigh as he made himself, as one could be, inside the little hole that he had carved for himself inside the gigantic boulder. He heaved a tired sigh as he closed his eyes, drifting away almost instantly. 

His mind jumped at the opportunity to rest, entering a deep slumber very rapidly. Even the part of his mind that was trained to remain alert even when sleeping was more subdued, even if still active. Rui refused to go to sleep without knowing that his body and Heart would awaken at the first hint of danger.

Regardless, many an hour flew by before he finally woke up, much more relaxed and fresh.

'Well, it appears that I'm not quite dead yet.' Rui mused, getting up before taking out some things from his utility belt. One of the things that Martial Artists carried with them was a means to cleanse themselves without having to make themselves vulnerable by relying on an unknown source of water in a dangerous place or making themselves more vulnerable while they cleansed themselves.

A simple and convenient tool that allowed him to rub off any and all sweat and dust across his body rather conveniently. While it was not as satisfying as a shower or a bathtub, it got the job done.

Rui immediately continued his journey to the center of the Hypnonarak forest. It was a simple objective and the best way for him to find the Hypnomaster at the moment. It was believed that the Hypnomaster resides within the core of the forest, even if he avoided the exact center.

The probability of him being found randomly by chance simply rose remarkably the further away from the center he was, for the density of Martial Artists in the forest increased exponentially the further away from the center he was. It wouldn't matter how much his home migrated across the forest, even if the actual number of Martial Artists that made it into the inner section of the forest wasn't all that great, each Martial Artists possessed superhuman senses to varying levels.

Thus in order to maximize the difficulty of finding him, he needed to stay within some distance of the center of the forest.

Rui walked for quite some distance. He took every step cautiously as the strain on his mind and the odor of narcotic drugs rose significantly. So much so that even he felt like he was being affected by the drugs at hand.

That was astonishing considering that he was a Martial Senior, but it explained why being a Martial Senior did not increase the probability of finding the Martial Master all that much.

One thing that Rui was constantly mindful of was his food supply. The food pills that he had stockpiled were quite handy and nutrition-dense, but they were insufficient to sustain him the entirety of the long journey to the center of the Great Forest of Hypnonarak.

Since that was the case, Rui needed to start hunting soon enough. He didn't even want to wait for his reserve of food pills to finish. The reason for that was that it would be quite convenient if he was unable to hunt for some reason. It was best to save the easy and convenient source of food for when he genuinely needed it when there were other options at hand.

This was especially true since he had become a remarkably competent and flexible assassin. Although there were crucial differences between hunting and assassination, there was enough of an overlap that the skills of one transferred over to the other.

It wasn't long after he had begun traveling that he decided to procure some food. Thankfully, the information that he had gotten from the Beggar's Sect distinguished which of the small critters and other animals were safe to eat and which one was something that he ought to have avoided even as a Martial Senior.

Once that was done, it was but a simple matter to hunt them and take them out effortlessly with the Phantomind Void and a Mighty Roar Flash Blast. The only issue was that he needed to fulfill his voracious appetite of a Martial Senior, requiring him to hunt much more than he had expected. 

He normally ate food pills, and they were universalized dietary supplements available both in shops and stores as well as in most places that served food. They usually cost as much as a hundred normal meals, though.

He didn't have those here, however, but it didn't particularly matter since he did have an abundance of available prey that he could target to eat. He made do with simply roasting them over a fire to cook them, leaving a giant pile of bones behind him when he was finally finished. 

The difference in the size of the meat he ate versus the size of his stomach were quite large, yet he hardly felt heavy.