The Martial Unity

The Mind Palace technique did not have these limitations.

The Mind Palace technique relied on conscious associations rather than subconscious associations. The imagined location that served as the mind palace was the association between memories and thought. It made the mind palace a mental databank and database of sorts that hosted all kinds of information that could very systematically be accessed.

The Mind Palace technique made the user's mind closer to that of a computer!

It was exactly what Rui needed.

The training regime focused on largely ensuring the mind palace that the user imagined inside their minds was absolutely perfect. There could be absolutely no room for ambiguity, vagueness, imprecision and inconsistency. The user had to be able to quickly imagine it in high-definition, and it had to exactly the same each time otherwise the technique simply wouldn't work.

Rui nodded. It wasn't easy, but this technique was right up his alley, it was literally built for his enhanced cognition.

He put the Mind Palace technique aside as he read through the Tempestuous Ripple technique scroll. This was definitely the wildest technique in his roster thus far, he was quite curious to see what the training was like.

"Oh, it seems I'm lucky." His eyes lit up.

The first part of the training regime largely overlapped with a part of the training of the Flame Breathing technique, increasing the power of his respiration. The second part however, required him to master the body motions needed in conjunction with powerful exhalations and inhalations to create pockets of high-density solid-like air that could be launched with strikes.

He glanced at the Flow Flux technique after he poured over the Tempestuous Ripple technique.

He quickly realized that this technique might actually have been the hardest to master of them all. There were several training stages that involved growing familiar with balance and learning how to manipulate balance by applying the right amount of force at the right time, place and direction.

Once he finished reading up on all of them, he immediately headed to the training facilities to get a taste for the training regimes.

The first training facility he went to was the offensive training facility, he looked forward to training with Squire instructor Dylon after a long time.

Yet he wasn't exactly the most ecstatic to see Rui.

"How many techniques is it this time kid? Spit it out." He said with a disdainful look.

"...Six."

"You-" He facepalmed, sighing. "It would be insane if it came from anyone else."

"I'm here to learn the Tempestuous Ripple and the Flow Flux techniques." Rui waved the two scrolls.

Squire Dylon whistled. "Good techniques. Good choices, especially for your Martial Art, it makes sense."

Rui nodded.

"Let's begin with Flow Flux." He said. "It is the harder one of the two. I presume you're familiar with the training regime?"

Rui nodded. "Yes sir."

"Flow Flux training requires you to develop an intuitive understand of the fragility of balance. Unfortunately, there's no singular trick to doing this. You'll have to start with the basics, understanding the best ways to imbalance your opponent via interceptions in the most basic positions, and master them. You should be able to execute the basic misbalancing interceptions maneuvers with zero delay, you'll have to engrave them in your very bones."

Rui nodded, already familiar with it.

The training regime forcibly hastened the process of developing up a strong intuition on how to imbalance one's opponents when intercepting attacks. To some degree, it was compatible with the maniacal manner in which Rui trained.

The training regime soon began and Squire Dylon had him training in basic misbalancing maneuvers. A lot of these maneuvers resembled a fusion between Aikido and Krav Maga techniques from Earth. It had taken him a while to be able to get the hang of the interception maneuvering forms. Furthermore, he was still too slow in his identification of what manner he needed to imbalance his opponents.

"It's going to take you a while to be able to develop the reflexes in the execution of this technique." He said. "A few months atleast, I imagine. Actually, considering you're training six different techniques, maybe even half a year. Your potions tolerance can only help you so much. You're in for the long grind."

"I know." Rui squeezed out between his huffs, having completed hours of training. "I knew that when I chose six techniques, I've set the second condition of Squire candidacy as my most immediate and important goal. Developing my Martial Art is what I'm prioritizing now."

Squire Dylon shrugged. "You do you. Anyways, four hours are up. Are you ready to move onto the Tempestuous Ripple technique?"

Rui had given each technique an equal amount of training timing across a day; four hours.

He nodded as he consumed a rejuvenation potion quickly.

Squire Dylon tossed him a breathing apparatus.

"Wear that and breathe." He told Rui. "Try not to pass out."

The breathing apparatus hindered breathing to a rather large degree, even more than it did when he trained for the Helical Breathing technique long ago.

Rui could feel his diaphragm straining as it struggled to push air or in and out of his lungs.

This feeling reminded him of when he used to have severe asthma attacks back on Earth, it was truly an unpleasant training regime that brought back unpleasant memories.

"You're not going to be able to master the Tempestuous Ripple technique unless you're breathing returns to normal despite having the apparatus on." Squire Dylon told him. "Keep pushing yourself, the harder you push, the less time it will take for your breathing to be strengthened to the point where you can even begin mastering the actual Tempestuous Ripple attack."

Rui could barely hear him as he struggled to breathe in the necessary amount of air his body needed to sustain himself. He felt as though if he stopped for even a handful of seconds, he would simply lose consciousness and pass out.

('This is going to be one hell of a training stage.')