The Martial Unity

A large number of Martial Apprentices left the Serevian Dungeon as the cope for conflict in that territory had gone almost completely. Each of these Martial Apprentices was simply no longer necessary.

"What do all of you plan to do when you get back?" Rui asked.

"I plan on increasing my ability to cope against a greater number of Martial Apprentices," Fae replied. "The Serevian Dungeon has shown me that I'm ill-prepared to handle such circumstances, and that is quite concerning. In the real world, it's not impossible to run into such scenarios. I might end up perishing due to my inability to handle it."

"That's a good initiative." Rui nodded. Fae was a powerful close-quarters palm striker. Increasing her ability to handle multiple opponents was something she had mentioned before.

"I think I might leave the Academy," Kane replied.

Rui raised an eyebrow in surprise. Not because he didn't think Kane was ready. Kane was incredibly powerful as he was right now, stronger than he might have been able to deal with prior to his last training session.

However, if Kane left the Academy, he would have to return back to his family, in all likelihood, something Kane would despise having to do.

"Are you sure?" He asked cautiously.

"I'm seriously considering it." Kane sighed. "The Academy is becoming stuffy and suffocating, I don't want to hide in there forever."

Kane had initially entered the Martial Academy to get away from his family. It would have been the first time he would be living outside their grasp. However, now he was no longer satisfied by that enough for him to force himself to remain there.

"I understand that feeling, the Martial Academy had begun to feel small and shackling to me as well." Rui nodded. "But it's a big decision your you, leaving the Martial Academy. Have you thought about what you want to do?"

"Well, I've become an adult legally." Kane sighed. "That alone isn't enough for me to break away from the grasp of my family as easily, but I have also joined the Wind Sect which is opposed to the Fire Sect that my dad and several other prominent Martial Artists of the Arrancar family belong to."

"Wind Sect, eh? Makes sense." Rui nodded.

The Lightning Sect was the Martial Sect that was surrounded by speed and maneuvering-oriented techniques. However, Rui wasn't surprised that Kane had chosen to join the Wind Sect, a sub-sect of the Lightning that focused on evasive maneuvering specifically.

"Can the Wind Sect help you?" Rui asked.

"If I'm valuable enough, it certainly can." Kane nodded in response. "But only if I'm worth the expenditure of the political capital."

"Fortunately for you, you're a genius with a high affinity for maneuvering, speed, and specifically evasive maneuvering techniques and stealth as well," Rui noted. "Which means they'll probably be willing to go far for you. Is that your plan?"

Kane nodded. "The more I accomplish, the greater the value I am of to the Lightning Sect, and the more and longer they will be willing to accommodate my needs for political protection from my family."

Rui nodded. "That's a realistic and pragmatic plan. You're in no position to resist your family as a Martial Apprentice who just barely is an adult. Your plan gives you a reasonable way to resist."

"Yeah, that's the plan, for now." Kane sighed.

"You've thought it through, have faith in yourself." Rui nodded. "Besides, you've got me, for what little it may be worth. I'd suggest frequently taking long-term missions outside the Kandrian Empire."

"That makes sense. The more time I spend away from the Kandrian Empire, the less I'm incurring from the Lightning Sect, and the less pressure I'm in. Ironically enough, I might actually be able to more relax on foreign missions than I might be able to in the Kandrian Empire." Kane sighed.

"You should also move to the other side of the Empire, just put as much ground between you and your family," Rui noted.

"That won't help all that much to be honest." Kane shrugged. "Distances don't matter to them."

"I suppose that's true."

In truth, Kane just did not want to move away because he wouldn't be able to interact with Rui if he did. Communicating through their communicators or accounters was just not the same, he would feel quite dull if he could not interact with his friends physically.

Even Fae, as much as he would not admit it out loud, had grown on him in the past three years.

"This was an incredible mission." Fiona sighed. "I'm going to be going back to Vargard though, no big changes."

"Same here." Hever calmly replied.

"I want even bigger missions!" Nel grinned.

"Are there even bigger missions of the Apprentice grade?" Kane wondered.

"Most certainly not," Fae added. "The Serevian Dungeon mission is an extremely rare kind of mission in so far as the scale and the difficulty went. Even grade eight Martial Apprentice were merely barely above average in such circumstances."

Many of the high-grade Martial Apprentices that had participated in the Serevian Dungeon wars had forgotten that they were high-grade Martial Apprentices that stood far above the average Martial Apprentice. It was difficult for them to hold the opinion that they were special after having fought in wars in the Serevian Dungeon. The mission had shown Martial Apprentices from not just the Kandrian Empire but all nations just how small and insignificant they were in the grand scheme of things.

There was only one Martial Apprentice that had the right to disagree with that. Yet he didn't care about such things. He had already forgotten all about the Serevian Dungeon as he laid his eyes on the Realm above him. He could almost feel it await his arrival.

The time had finally come. He was quite certain that his Martial Art had achieved a certain degree of maturity. It would not change in its shape all that much even if he mastered several more powerful techniques.