The Martial Unity

What would it look like if he stacked three sonic bullets on top of each other in constructive superposition, creating an attack that could be thrice as powerful as what he would normally be able to dish out in a single impact?

Of course, he could also release those three same bullets normally in a barrage, but singular impacts were often more desirable than barrages. This was because damage was not necessarily linearly related to power.

That meant that three equal attacks did not cause an equal amount of damage as one attack thrice as powerful as one of those three attacks. There were many exceptions, such as piercing attacks and other means of inflicting damage.

But by and large, the damage rate of barrages of smaller attacks was lesser than that of one large blunt force attack.

One could clearly intuitively understand this when considering a feather following on one's head one million times, or a boulder that weighed as many as one million feathers following on one's head one time.

The former would not cause even an ounce of damage while the latter could potentially kill an ordinary person.

Rui could use this principle in his favor when it came to his Pathfinder projectiles, by summing up attacks that would do less damage than if he summed into a single attack. He was basically increasing the efficiency of the power he spent versus the result he obtained, and increasing the effectiveness of every single attack that he could potentially deal if he truly mastered what he was looking for.

The reason that he needed the Mighty Roar Flash Blast technique was that he could not have superposition happen at all if his attacks were of the same speed, with the reason being relatively obvious. In order to superimpose, they needed to overlap the same location at some point. This was not possible if they were moving at the same speed when launched one after the other, obviously. The distance between them would never shrink.

Thus, this technique that allowed him to increase the speed of his sound projectiles was absolutely vital to Rui if he wanted to master constructive resonance and use this principle of physics to augment his attacks.

The day moved agonizingly slow as Rui waited for the appointment with Senior K'mala. He even made sure to ensure that they were well-prepared ahead of time to ensure that Rui would be ready to handle the negotiations with her even if she showed up an hour earlier insisting that dawn had already broken back home.

"Senior K'Mala, I'm glad you're here," Rui smiled when she finally arrived. "Today is going to be an important day."

"Mmm," She nodded wordlessly, uncaring for etiquette. Such a concept did not really exist in their culture, since they almost never had any meaningful diplomatic relations with anybody in their entire lives prior.

Once Rui led her to the conference hall, they immediately began.

"We have an issue with the information that you provided us," She straightforwardly began with a stern expression.

Rui frowned. That was a rather bold accusation. They were basically implying that the Martial Union was lying and engaging in deception.

"You people are lying and engaging in deception."

…And now she straightforwardly declared what was implicit earlier.

Rui remained silent for a few moments.

Had this been another country, Rui would have responded strongly and sternly. He would have accused them of defamation and would warn the other side to avoid making statements that are patently false. Although it would lead to friction, maintaining a strong front was generally the right move to go for. Any half-hearted response to slanderous claims would be a sign of weakness that others may seek to exploit.

But this was not another nation that operated within the same framework of international political engagement where the perception of the Martial Union's tolerance, or lack thereof, was extremely vital for the deterrence of deception.

This was an entirely different situation. If the G'ak'arkan Tribe accused them of lying, it was almost certainly genuine earnestness and sincerity rather than a deceptive ploy. The G'ak'arkan Tribe was much more trigger-happy than other nations, thus Rui needed to change his approach.

"I can assure you we have done no such thing of the sort, K'Mala," Rui calmly, yet confidently stated. "I'm sure this is a misunderstanding, can you tell us what exactly you believe is a lie?"

"It is you,"

"…Sorry?"

"You are definitely lying about yourself," She tossed the document with the information of the Martial Artists of the Martial Union on the table. "This says that you have been a rank two Martial Artist for eight seasons. This is impossible!"

She snorted as she folded her arms as she stared at Rui with a stern expression, albeit calm.

Rui on the other hand was putting in effort as he resisted the sheer amount of pressure and fear.

That was until he heard an explanation.

"I'm sorry?" He frowned. "I have been a Martial Squire for eight seasons, this is an absolute fact."

"Do you think I'm a fool?" She growled as she leaned forward. "You are stronger than every rank two Martial Artist we have ever seen. Including those that have been in the second rank for decades! How is it possible for you to obtain such power so quickly? How can someone so inexperienced exert such kind of pressure? It is impossible!"

Rui's eyes widened as understanding dawned upon him.

It was the Mind Mask, as well as Rui's thorough preparations before battle that allowed him to convince them that he was an extremely high-grade Martial Squire. When they read that he had only been in the Squire Realm for a little under three years, they undoubtedly that the Martial Union was trying to sell them nonsense to deceive them to make his techniques more valuable.

('Fuck…') Rui cursed inwardly. Not even he, with all his foresight, had considered the possibility that the decision to make himself seem stronger would come and bite him in the ass this late in the game.