The Martial Unity

Thus, historians lazily marked the history of humanity prior to the previous thousand years as the Empty Ages.

Nobody knew what happened during the Empty Ages more than a thousand years ago because there was no evidence of any kind that they could work with. Rui recalled that his father had told him that the Scrier was a historian immortal sage who sought to uncover the truth of the Empty Ages.

Just what had happened to humanity prior to the previous thousand years of recorded history?

Did the lost cities have anything to do with the Empty Ages? What was their correlation to the Empty Ages and what could be inferred about history from them? Where did the lost cities of the Beast Domain fit in the truth of the world?

"Unfortunately, as I said, not even the brightest minds of humanity have found an answer to these profound questions. Nobody knows the tantalizing truth about this world," Rui quietly concluded his little seminar while they recuperated in a ruin in the lost city of Nagarojin.

"…That's crazy," Kane remarked, immersed in what Rui had told him.

"Yep," Rui nodded.

"If the lost cities are this significant, then shouldn't the Adventurer's Guild take to doing better job of protecting it?" Kane asked, curious.

Rui snorted mirthlessly. "In the Beast Domain? Really? The expenditure is not worth it from the perspective of a commercial organization like the Adventurer's Guild. This is not a revenue-generating asset."

"…Shame."

"If you're worried about precious history being lost to time, then don't be," Rui remarked. "Lost cities are scrupulously scanned, surveyed, and recorded thoroughly, the moment they are discovered, by the Panamic History Association and the Council of Archaelogy and Anthropology," Rui reassured him. "They probably recorded every single detail about the Lost City of Nagarojin decades ago. It's more practical to gather all the information that they would ever need than to try to fight against time vainly and the Beast Domain."

"That feels better," Kane nodded. "Still, it's a shame that these ruins are not being preserved. They're priceless history!"

Rui heaved a sigh. "It's how the world works. If there's no money, people don't care."

"So you studied about lost cities before you entered the Beast Domain?"

"Among other things, yes," Rui nodded. "I knew that the Divine Doctor was in the Beast Domain, which would almost certainly mean that I would need to enter it to find him. Thus, it's worth doing your homework before you enter. I am well-prepared for literally everything we might need."

He gestured to his portable little backpack and many belts featuring instruments, artifacts, and items that one might need in the Beast Domain.

"What even is all of that?" Kane furrowed his eyebrows.

"Antidotes and anti-venom for the most common types of poisons and venoms in the Beast Domain," Rui began. "Also, extremely versatile first-aid for any and all wounds and afflictions one can have in the Beast Domain. Weeks worth of extremely dense Martial food pills. Also, a whole slew of cutting-edge navigational artifacts made from proprietary Kandrian technology. Also-"

"Alright, I get it." Kane gestured for him to stop with an exasperated expression. "I'm glad you're well-prepared since I sure as hell am not."

"I got you covered."

The two of them bantered for a bit before their conversation returned to more pertinent matters.

"How far are we from the Valley of Prisms?" Kane groaned.

"Weeks worth of travel far. Probably well over a month, even at a brisk pace, as Martial Artists. The distance is huge even if we can travel extremely fast easily," Rui remarked. "But traveling through the outskirts of the Beast Domain means that this is still shorter than it would have taken had we gone through the Human Domain."

After all, they would still have had to circle around, but the circle would have been much longer.

"Sure, but aren't we slower in the Beast Domain?" Kane raised an eyebrow.

"Only if you try to stray too deep and start running to Senior-

level danger zones more frequently," Rui replied. "As long as we stick to the outskirts where the danger zones are not that much of a threat to Martial Seniors like us."

"Hmmm…" Kane shrugged. "Once we reach there, you're immediately going to work on deducing where the Divine Doctor went on from there, right?"

Rui nodded. "I'm sure that it's one of the three: the Caves of Penance, the Sea of Solitude, and the Forest of Fear. I just need to find clues for what I seek to find."

"Honestly, finding people in the Beast Domain sounds utterly impossible," Kane remarked. "If someone told me that they were going to find not only any random person but someone that is known to be hard to track, in the Beast Domain? I would not believe them. But…"

He turned to Rui. "I know better than to bet against you."

Rui smiled wordlessly. "Let's catch some sleep before the next stretch. It's better to do extended travels than to constantly and frequently take short breaks."

"Alright," Kane yawned. "I'm really sleepy after all that exercise, so I'll eat up a bit and head to sleep."

The two of them quickly consumed some dense food pills that were condensed heavy pills with everything that their body needed before heading to sleep. The two of them needed to ensure that they were at their peaks when they resumed traveling through the Beast Domain.

While traveling, they needed to be extremely alert at the first hint of danger; otherwise, they could be taken down faster than they could react to. With the Beast Domain hampering senses to a certain degree, the importance of alertness was extremely high. One could not be half-asleep when traveling through the Beast Domain. That was a recipe for disaster and asking to get killed. Thus, as unnerving sleeping in the Beast Domain could be, it was even more unnerving and dangerous to be sleepless while traveling through various danger zones.