The Martial Unity

Thankfully, the training regimens for all of the techniques weren't all that different from the Apprentice-level versions of them.

Outer Convergence had three training stages, just like it did in the Apprentice-level version.

The first stage was some elementary form of training, that had the user go through a set of motions that involved all muscle groups simultaneously. These were intensive dynamic workouts that focused on priming the user's mind to get used to delicately coordinated muscle group expansion and contraction rhythms.

This was the very first step to eventually paving the way to converging the power generated by all those muscle groups, the end goal. There were a total of thirteen elaborate dynamic exercises in total. Which Rui noted was equal to the number of broad muscle groups in the human body.

The second stage of training was sparring with equipment that restricted the motion of certain muscle groups. The user would have to rely on muscle groups that would normally not be used to a high extent. Rui had instantly realized this was to ensure that the process of regularly and routinely drawing power from each muscle group would become part of muscle memory. The more rigorously trained each muscle group individually, the more smoothly and timely one would be able to use it.

The final training stage was actually wearing a suit that heavily resisted the motion of the body. The suit was carefully configured to ensure that the user's raw strength was not enough. This was done by conducting a series of weight-lifting tests to measure the physical strength of the user, and the suit was configured accordingly. The user was then supposed to utilize the gains made from the previous training stages simultaneously to be able to move past their physical limit.

Inner Divergence had two training stages. The technique required that attacks be landed as close to the center of the body as possible, otherwise, it wasn't possible for all muscle groups to absorb the impact as shock absorbers did. The first training session was dedicated to learning how to intercept strikes closest to the center of mass of the body.

The second stage involved learning how to time the gradual stiffening and tensing of the muscles to be able to absorb the impact. If the muscles were stiffened taut to slow, then the technique would be ineffective. If the muscles were stiffened too fast, then the impact wouldn't be absorbed very well and the body would suffer harm.

Wind Breathing required increasing the intake of air first. The first stage of the technique was a demanding regime of breathing exercises that would increase lung capacity and strengthen the diaphragm. The second stage of the training regime for the technique was mastering the timing for Wind Breathing. The rush of oxygen that all the cells received from deeper breaths needed to be timed with the initial acceleration of the body. This ensures that the body has all the energy it needs when accelerating at speed. Since the oxygen from inhalation does not instantly reach the cells upon inhalation and takes a brief amount of time to travel to the various cells across the body, it needed to be done ahead of time.

Mastering the timing of the deep inhalations such as that the incoming surge of energy matched the acceleration of the body was the key part of Wind Breathing.

Adamant Reforging was the simplest for Rui to undergo, he merely needed to resume the conditioning process for his new body and he would eventually obtain flesh that was tough even for Martial Squires.

The final technique was reverberating Lance. The training regime of this technique was centered around learning to vibrate and then learning to apply the vibrations to permeate the impact deeper into the body. The Squire-level version of this technique was the closest to its Apprentice-level version, which is one of the reasons he picked it. All he needed to get used to was the differences that his new center of gravity and other physical parameters that had changed in him would cause in his execution of the technique, and he will have mastered it as well as new.

Once he completed the training regimes of these techniques, he will have obtained six new techniques. Of course, this didn't mean he only had six techniques, after all, he retained his mental and sensory techniques.

This meant that he still had his Mind Palace, Mind Switch and Mind Mask techniques, as well as his Seismic Mapping and Primordial Instinct techniques. This meant that he was going to start off with eleven Squire-level techniques.

('Can't wait.') Rui grinned. He felt like it had been a long time since had seen any real action, he couldn't wait to master these techniques so that he could go ahead and undertake Squire-level missions. He couldn't wait to test his combat prowess against another Martial Squire once he got out.

('All of that comes after.')

He intended on finishing the training regimes as soon as he humanly could. Normally, six techniques weren't something that he could finish in a short amount of time, especially ever since he got the Mindmirror brain, however, his immense familiarity with these techniques and the fact that he had already mastered the Apprentice-level versions of these techniques made the task a lot easier. He would be able to speed through the training a lot quicker than he would have otherwise. What would otherwise have taken a year could be finished in six months, perhaps even less if he worked particularly hard and efficiently.

He immediately headed to training. The Martial Union had training facilities that he had already paid to use. He had only paid for some basic aid from assistant staff members who would be aiding him with anything that required more than one person. There were training regimes that required the remote operation of training equipment by another person such as the Outer Convergence and Reverberating Lance techniques.

He had reached the training facility just as he wrapped his thoughts.