The Martial Unity

It wasn't long before Rui had completed his sparring session with his latest mentee. "You're truly amazing," Prince Raijun heaved a sigh. "How are you so versatile?"

"It's a consequence of the nature of my Martial Art," Rui replied with a composed tone. "More importantly, I have gained some insights I wish to speak to you about."

The prince eagerly nodded.

"Firstly, your Martial Path is dynamic redirection, correct?"

"Correct," The prince nodded.

Rui had figured it out from the very first strike. The man possessed an incredibly high ability to control and manipulate momentum. His own, as well as that of his opponent. This allowed him to alter the direction of his attack mid-strike nigh instantly, and redirect them towards his opponent.

"Your fundamentals are quite solid," Rui remarked clinically. "Your control over the flow of power is quite exquisite even, you're a fine sparrer."

Prince Raijun frowned. That was an odd choice of words.

"Sparrer?"

"I mean what I said," Rui replied. "It would be difficult to call you a fine Martial Artist because you are unfortunately not a fine Martial Artist."

The Martial Prince narrowed his eyes, yet he was completely composed and calm. "Please elaborate."

"I think I have discovered the reason that you have stagnated," Rui replied, continued. "While your Martial Path is decently above average as far as its grade goes and your foundations, and body are all quite solid, there are issues. I can even say that you're doing a very good job with your approach to individuality, I can sense that your Martial Art is decently attuned to you and your body."

"Then…"

"You really have just one main issue," Rui replied. "Your Martial Art is highly unrefined."

Prince Raijun stared at Rui, listening to his words intently. "Individuality is necessary for attunement," Rui replied. "And attunement is necessary because it is only because a Martial Art and the techniques, principles, and patterns, that constitute it, are attuned to your mind and body that they are able to squeeze every last drop of potential and power from within the body and employ most efficiently and effectively possible, producing results that are far superhuman."

Prince Raijun nodded, curious about where Rui was going with this. "The issue is that the individuality you imbue into your Martial Art that increases its attunement is never refined," Rui calmly informed him. "Refinement, or lack thereof in this case is in reference to the umpteen number of micro-flaws in the techniques, principles, and patterns of your Martial Art, that reduce its attunement to your Martial Art."

"Micro-flaws…?" Prince Raijun murmured, absorbed into Rui's words.

"Indeed. Slight deviations, slightly mis-optimized shifts that are not the most suited for your body," Rui replied. "One or two don't make a difference, but when there are many, they can greatly reduce your combat prowess. It is also difficult to consciously and actively detect them. It is also the reason that you haven't yet reached the Squire Realm."

The prince widened his eyes in surprise at Rui's words. "But…the Martial Masters I have consulted have told me that my individuality hasn't reached the threshold to survive the Squite evolution breakthrough process. That's why I have been working hard to imbue my Martial Art with as much individuality as possible, but progress seems nearly impossible. I get stronger, but I don't feel like I've made too much progress down my Martial Path."

"The Martial Masters certainly did not lie," Rui reassured. "The issue is that the core problem goes far beyond that. Their analysis was, well, shallow, for a lack of a better word."

Prince Raijun stared at Rui with surprise. "Shallow? Martial Masters?"

Rui nodded. "Indeed."

"I don't understand," Prince Raijun shook his head with a little frustration. "What exactly is happening, why can't I reach the threshold of Squire candidacy?"

"The truth is nuanced," Rui replied. "Bare with me. I promise it will make sense. First, let us begin with the Apprentice Realm, what is the source of power of the Apprentice Realm?"

This question alone was more complex than anyone would suspect.

"…The Apprentice Realm harnesses the untapped cognitive potential of the brain, allowing the user to use that additional kinetic and dynamic battle cognition to employ physical power in a manner that is exponentially more efficient and effective than normal humans," The prince carefully replied.

"Correct, this process doesn't stop after you break through to the Apprentice Realm," Rui replied. "The more of your individuality you imbue into your Martial Art, the more attuned it is to your mind and body. The more attuned it is to your mind, the more untapped cognitive potential it draws out from it. That is why the more individuality you add to your brain, the stronger it grows until it eventually crosses the threshold where your consciousness can survive the simultaneous destruction and regeneration of the brain that happens in the Squire evolution breakthrough process."

The prince nodded, having been educated about this a long time ago.

"Thus, individuality is at the root of it all," Rui concluded. "But what if the individuality is unrefined?"

Prince Raijun's eyes widened as he realized what Rui getting at.

"I the individuality is unrefined, then the attunement with mind and body that the Martial Art gains from said unrefined individuality is greatly reduced," Rui replied. "You can think of it mathematically even. If X amount of refined individuality gives you X amount of attunement, then X amount of unrefined individuality will give you 0.5X. Depending on how unrefined it is, it can even yield only 0.1X, or 0.1X, or even 0.0000001X. That is why your attunement is lacking even though your efforts are high."

This revelation shook Prince Raijun.

Over the years, many Martial Masters and even a Martial Sage had rarely gone beyond telling him he lacked individuality, and when they did, their explanations grew more abstract and vague, often becoming rather metaphorical puzzling.

They often said things like 'Porous rock breaks easily while solid rock doesn't' or 'Weak is a sword whose metal isn't beaten ten thousand times when forged.'

This was the first time he had heard such a clear-cut, precise, and concise explanation of exactly what the problem was.