The Martial Unity

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Mastery of techniques, as well as the quality of the Martial Artist mastering them, were two variables that severely impacted the evaluation of the power and potency of a technique. It was impossible to separate the quality of a technique from the mastery of it when judging the results that a Martial Artist produced when executing that technique.

"Correct," Rui nodded. "However, we have accounted for this. It will require both sides to be forthcoming, however."

Rui was the one who had realized this problem a long time ago and had already thought of several solutions.

"What do you mean?" Senior K'Mala frowned.

"I mean that it is possible to gauge the power of a technique, as long as we have enough information on the Martial Artist executing them," Rui replied. "We can evaluate the competency of the Martial Artist at hand based on available information at hand, such as the time it took to train that technique, and the time that the Martial Artist has used that technique in combat. The speed at which that Martial Artist mastered other techniques and the general competency and skill of that Martial Artist."

"I see…" She realized his point. "You wish to understand the limits of the Martial Artist to gauge how much of the results of their execution of a technique is because of them and how much is because of the technique, correct?"

"Correct," Rui smiled. He was pleased that she was caught on to his intentions quickly, it was clear that even if she was uneducated by the standards of the Kandrian Empire, she was very intelligent, and furthermore, she had a great understanding of Martial Art as a Martial Senior.

This made his job much easier.

"However… that would require both sides to be honest…" Her eyes narrowed.

"Correct," Rui nodded.

This was an inescapable requirement. This gave both sides a lot of power since it was possible to deceive the other side by presenting false facts regarding the information that Rui suggested was needed to truly evaluate a technique's power.

"Then how can you guarantee that the trades will be fair?" She asked skeptically.

"Because such lies will inevitably come out and would trigger war," Rui replied calmly. "Would let the Martial Union get off lightly if and when it became clear that we have blatantly lied to oversell a technique's grade?"

"No…" She shook her head resolutely. "We would definitely annihilate all of you."

Rui felt his nerves tingle at the sight of a Martial Senior announcing their demise if they were to deceive the G'ak'arkan Tribe

That caught him off-guard. The intelligence that the intelligence team had gathered on Senior K'Mala suggested that she possessed a much more rational temperament compared to her brethren. Yet it was clear that she did not deviate too much considering she said something so undiplomatic in a diplomatic meeting.

Of course, considering how diplomatic the Martial Artists of the Martial Union have been, he still had to admit that she was doing a much better job than Senior Ceeran did.

"And that would be a highly undesirable outcome for us," Rui smiled pleasantly as though she just hadn't said what she had. "I can assure you that the Martial Union will be very infuriated if it turned out to be the case that you have deceived us, and I think we can both agree that a successful trade of techniques that will strengthen both sides is more desirable than an all-out war with no gains."

She did not deny that, simply considering his words.

There was a brief period of silence as Rui let her consider the matter.

"I cannot make a decision here and now…" She eventually said, shaking her head. "That being said, I am personally in favor of this successful trade. You have been reassuring in your replies to our concerns and issues. I can promise you that I will do my best to convince those that need to be convinced for this trade to go through."

"I see, that's good to hear," Rui smiled, he wasn't surprised. The moment he saw Senior K'Mala deliberating with him all by herself, he knew that he would not get a handshake on the deal today. A matter as important as disclosing their sacred techniques to outsiders was something only the chieftain could make.

The chieftain N'Kulu had chosen not to deal with Rui alone probably because his ego and pride refused to allow him to speak to Rui as an equal, regardless of if Rui represented an organization exponentially more powerful than the G'ak'arkan Tribe could ever hope to be.

He knew that she would have to take back his words to the Martial Seniors, although he was absolutely certain that the two Martial Seniors and several Martial Squires had been listening to their conversations. Their sharp senses would not be stopped by clay and stone.

They would probably deliberate, then approach Rui and give him their response.

"Please take your time," Rui smiled, getting up before Stemple and Zeyra followed suit. "We understand that this is an extremely important matter to you. Feel free to visit our village if and when you have any further queries or concerns or wish to proceed with the discussion. I can assure you that you will be treated with hospitality."

"Thank you," She replied straightforwardly, before turning to the Martial Squires in the room. "Please escort our guests."

And just like that, the second audience between Rui and the Martial Union came to an end. The three of them entered their carriage before it began taking them down the mountain.

"Submit the preliminary reports," Rui ordered his two assistants, speaking in the Kandrian dialect to prevent the scouts who were following them potentially listening from understanding.

"Yes sir, congratulations on succeeding,"

"We'll celebrate after the deal has been concretely established," Rui replied. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves, we are still some ways away from achieving our goal. Still… it is true that we have achieved preliminary success.