The Martial Unity

The training sessions went smoothly, due to the fact that he already knew how they went. Of course, there were varying degrees of difficulty. The easiest among them was the Adamant Reforging technique. His tolerance of pain had risen tremendously thanks due to the breakthrough to the Squire Realm. The sheer amount of agony and suffering the procedure put him through was shocking.

The pain hadn't reduced, but his tolerance of it was high enough that the training phase for the Adamant Reforging training technique was both easy and simple.

The more difficult techniques were the techniques that had the highest demand for accuracy and precision. The most difficult of them all was the Phantom Step technique which required extremely accurate and precise timing and placements.

The Phantom Step technique allowed extremely convincing feints that were so effective that the target of the technique momentarily experienced a brief illusion of the projected motion of the feint. This involved actually beginning the motion but freezing it at just the right moment for the feint to be convincing enough.

It was the most mentally challenging training phase of them all.

However, it was only a matter of time before he mastered it.

And as enough time passed, he did.

Half a year later, Rui had completed his training.

"Fuuu..." He exhaled deeply.

Unadulterated energy coursed through his body. A full-fledged Squire-level aura descended upon the world, declaring his presence.

Rui's clenched fist tightened as he adopted a striking stance, opening his eyes.

He was in an uninhabited natural environment. A lush forest surrounded him, peaceful just a moment ago until his power scared the fauna in the vicinity. Yet his eyes were fixed on what was before him.

A boulder. One the size of a building.

"Fuuu..." Rui exhaled once more, before inhaling. A surge of power flowed through his body as oxygen rushed across all his cells.

It was then.

With the sharpest abruptness, his wound fist launched forward with tremendous speed and momentum. The atmosphere recoiled away in shock as he produced a sonic boom with just the sheer velocity of his motion, exceeding even the sound barrier.

Yet, that wasn't the only barrier that he broke.

BOOM!!!

The sheer power of the blow was tremendous, with Outer Convergence drawing power from every muscle and directing it into his fist. The power of the impact spread across the entirety of the boulder due to the Reverberating Lance technique.

CRACK CRACK CRACK

The boulder cracked, shattered, and crumbled into chunks and pieces that were launched some distance away.

Thorough destruction.

"Fuuu..." Rui exhaled as he took it upon himself to inspect his handiwork.

"How many full-powered attacks would it have taken me to do that when I was a Martial Apprentice?" Rui murmured as he scrutinized the debris.

Dozens, realistically.

"And despite just beginning my climb in the Squire Realm, I can already exceed anything I was capable of before with the simplest of ease," Rui murmured.

He glanced down at his palms with incredulity. He had become so much stronger that it was hard to believe, he half-expected to wake up, realizing all of this was just a dream and he was still a Martial Apprentice.

He glanced at his pocket watch, noting the time. "I should get going now, I don't want to be late to my next rendezvous."

Ever since he became a Martial Squire, his perspective of time had changed. He was capable of accomplishing a lot, especially mentally, in a shorter amount of time. His evolved and accelerated metabolism was to blame of course.

Thus, he was more wary of the passage of normal time.

He immediately began sprinting back towards the town of Hajin. Right now, he was well outside the town of Hajin in the Drunfil Forest, testing himself in isolation. He had only just finished his training and had left the artificial and engineered environment of the training facilities of the Martial Union to test his own power.

Thankfully, Drunfil Forest was only four hours away by carriage.

Or about five minutes on foot with exertion for a Martial Squire. The power he gained was certainly the highlight, but the ease of traveling to distant destinations and back was quite amazing. The entire nation was well within his reach with a minor amount of exertion.

Though, he didn't return to the town of Hajin. He instead made his way to a remote but barren flat plain. It was one of the farmlands that were not being used for the season.

Soon, he sensed a presence approaching his location, reaching it swiftly.

"Rui." Squire Kyrie addressed him. "Congratulations on becoming a Martial Squire. It's truly hard to believe that a little under five years ago you were merely a novice student among hundreds of others."

"Squire Kyrie..." Rui smiled. "Thank you for accepting the commission."

"It is a commission." She replied blankly. "You are paying me to be here."

"Yes, but I know you don't accept commissions anymore, so thank you for humoring me."

"It's not that big of a deal, really." Squire Kyrie dismissed his words lightly. "I can't say I am not curious. I wouldn't be human if I wasn't."

Rui smiled at those words.

This would be the third time he would be fighting Kyrie. The first time felt like a lifetime ago, he had just entered the Apprentice Realm and had mastered some weak foundational techniques. The second time occurred after he had obtained a significant amount of power, and after he had mastered the pattern recognition viability problem of the VOID algorithm.

And this would be the third time after he ascended to the Squire Realm. He was still a newbie Martial Squire, as far as techniques went, but he was by no means particularly weak. His Martial body was boosted by the Mind Switch technique that boosted his stamina and allowed him to expend greater energy and power. Furthermore, he still retained other advantages like the Mindmirror brain that aided battle cognition and of course; the VOID algorithm.