The Martial Unity

Rui's eyes widened when he heard that name.

Yet, the Divine Doctor wasn't done.

He removed his mask, inhaling the fear in the air.

That wasn't all.

Rui watched, stunned, as the man subjected himself to his own fear-hallucinogen!

"This should do," he remarked.

His non-verbal communication and body language shifted drastically, conveying endless fear from within him. It conveyed that, deep in his heart, he was utterly horrified.

Yet his eyes and expression never changed a shade.

It was as though he had somehow managed to barricade his conscious mind from the biochemistry of his body.

If that was the case, then Rui had to admit that he was impressed. Given the Divine Doctor's specialty, it was undoubtedly a feat accomplished through his mastery of medicine and the human body.

This was the power of a man who cured death.

The memories of the obsidian wyvern of the Divine Doctor ended there as the man set off from the Forest of Fear, heading deeper into the Beast Domain, never to be seen in this region again.

What followed after was madness as the devastated Forest of Fear was soon unable to sustain the fear-inducing drug in the air. Once the fear-inducing effect eventually dissipated, every creature native to the Forest of Fear lost their sanity.

They had evolved specifically to the environment of the Forest of Fear. They had evolved to have almost no innate fear of anything all so that the Forest of Fear would induce only a healthy amount of fear.

Without it, they were absolutely insane.

No fear of pain.

No fear of death.

No fear of anything led to mass death as creatures jumped off cliffs and courted their predators, only to be eaten alive. The Divine Doctor stole their fear and, in turn, deprived them of life.

Rui had been correct in identifying that this particular obsidian wyvern was one of the few survivors, while the rest of his kind had met all kinds of nasty deaths. This wyvern alone survived long enough until the Forest of Fear eventually regrew after years, returning back to a state of healthy amounts of fear.

Rui dispelled the hypnosis before following through on his word and giving it just enough of a general healing potion to help it recover from its internal wounds.

"What did you learn?" Kane asked.

"…He's off to the Garden of Salvation," Rui replied, narrowing his eyes.

It was a name that Rui was familiar with. He had done a pretty thorough broader research into the Beast Domain, and it naturally came up.

"The what?"

"…The Garden of Salvation," Rui answered, sharpening his gaze. "A land of legend. Said to be a world of wonder and a place of paradise. It is said to be a haven of safety for those who need it. Those that it accepts."

"That sounds like a myth." Kane furrowed his eyebrows skeptically. "Where is it?"

"Its purported location is said to be deep in the Northern part of the Beast Domain at the precipice of the Master-level region," Rui replied. "However, no one has ever been able to find it. Many have searched, yet none have succeeded. It's one of the reasons that some experts on the Beast Domain believe that it is a myth, while others think it is real."

"Has anyone actually seen it?" Kane raised an eyebrow. "What is the origin of this story?"

"…Martial Artists," Rui murmured thoughtfully. "Many Martial Artists, from Apprentice to Master, have independently spoken about the Garden of Salvation. They have shared their stories passionately, insisting on their truth."

"Well?" Kane urged him. "What do they say?"

"…They talked about how, on the brink of death in the Beast Domain, the world around them shifted in the blink of an eye, and they found themselves in a region that could only be described as paradise," Rui continued. "They described how the very air they breathed healed their wounds. They talked about how the light that fell on their body soothed their exhaustion. They recounted how even the very soil beneath their feet gently supported them. They went on and on about how the very world around them nourished their very being."

"Sounds like a beautiful place," Kane muttered. "But how did the world around them shift to the Garden of Salvation? That sounds impossible."

"No one knows. They described it as an instantaneous shift. As if they had gone off to another world in the blink of an eye. Many of the Martial Artists who claimed to have been healed and nourished by it spent their entire lives desperately looking for it," Rui closed his eyes. "Yet none of them… Not a single one of them ever set foot in the Garden of Salvation a second time."

"I'm glad you know about it because I have never heard of it in my entire life," Kane quipped carefreely.

"I wouldn't expect you to," Rui huffed. "It's a more niche case study relating to the countless mysteries of the Beast Domain that humanity has yet to figure out, just like lost cities and many other more prominent unknowns. I didn't expect that the Divine Doctor would be looking for the Garden of Salvation."

"Do you think it's real?" Kane asked, raising an eyebrow.

"…I believe that the Martial Artists who have shared their experiences with the Garden of Salvation are sincere and earnest in their accounts," Rui explained, considering the question. "However, that does not necessarily mean everything they say is objectively accurate. It is possible their experiences are hallucinations in their mind and not real. Of course, considering that there are some Martial Artists who make such claims, that's less likely but far from impossible."

"Hm…" Kane absorbed Rui's words with a hint of curiosity. "That's interesting. But regardless of whether it is actually real or not, it sure feels like the Divine Doctor thinks it's real."

"It does appear to be the case, yes," Rui remarked.

"In that case, tell me more about the Garden of Salvation."

"Sure…" Rui began. "I only skimmed through the summaries of the extensive accounts of the survivors, but I did make sure to keep them in my Mind Palace, thankfully."

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