The Martial Unity

Rui had known about the Beast Domain for a long time. Since he first heard about it as a Martial Apprentice, he had gone on to learn how the central and core of the Panama Continent was one that was still occupied by nature and a natural ecosystem that was almost entirely untouched by human civilization.

He had heard stories.

Seen a few images.

He had even done a deep dive into the Beast Domain when preparing for it, learning even more about the fantasies and mysteries this domain, devoid of humanity, held.

Yet, nothing could have prepared Rui for what he saw.

Standing atop the edge of a cliff, he beheld the Beast Domain for the first time.

An ocean of alien-like flora of myriad colors stretched as far as the eye could see. Yet, not even the enchanting symphony of colors it created could distract one from the many miracles that seemed to unfold right before his eyes.

Islands that magically floated in the air, overshadowing the dense forests.

Rivers that defied gravity, flowing from the earth to the heavens above beyond even his enhanced depth of vision.

A transparent sky that did not scatter blue light. It was a sky that betrayed a universe filled with stars in broad daylight. The visage of the cosmos was a sight more profound than anything Rui had ever seen in his entire life.

There were colorful flashes of light, unlike anything one would ever see in the Human Domain. Fantastical Aurora Borealis spectacles danced across the transparent sky and the background of the very universe.

It was a magnificent fantasy that could paralyze one in awe for a thousand lifetimes.

RUMBLE

Mountains shook.

"No…" Rui's eyes widened with shock as he stared into the distance. "Those aren't mountains."

They were so enormous and resembled rock that Rui had thoroughly taken them for mountains, but he had seen this species before.

"Golems," Rui murmured with awe. "Golems the size of mountains."

Yet, as shocking as they were, they weren't the only fascinating species of flora. A myriad of creatures flickered in the air and the atmosphere in the distance. Their strange shapes resembled a fusion between birds and fish.

Yet Rui could only grow stunned when he realized that creatures swam in the air, identical to how fish swam in the ocean.

The very skies were their ocean.

Mis mind struggled to parse all the fantasies of the very fabric of the Beast Domain. The human mind had not evolved to be able to adapt to such drastic and radical shifts in reality.

"You good, bro?" Kane tilted his head towards Rui.

Kane had spent more than a month in the Beast Domain when he went there to get an alibi for his breakthrough to the Senior Realm. He had already gone through what Rui was currently going through.

It broke Rui out of his reverie.

A single whisper escaped him.

"…Incredible."

His voice was sincere.

No amount of studying could have ever prepared him for this.

No amount of preparation and research could have ever allowed him to maintain his composure.

"This…" Rui muttered. "This is a miracle in the flesh. The Beast Domain is unlike anything I could have imagined."

"Yeah, it's crazy," Kane concurred, nodding as he appreciated the scenery. "It's like I say, man, if not for the dying part, I would migrate and start a new life in the Beast Domain."

"Well, as a Martial Senior, you're not dying in an Apprentice-

level Region," Rui remarked.

"Yeah, but they're boring. Things get even more crazy the deeper you go."

"Crazier than this?" Rui gestured to the supernatural scenery before them.

"You have no idea," Kane grinned. "Let's go. The Pave of Graves is over there."

He pointed distantly in the direction that they were walking.

It was buried under the canopy of the dense forest, but Rui's senses did allow him to make out a road in the Beast Domain.

The two of them descended from the cliff, sky-walking down to the Beast Domain as they headed toward the Pave of Graves.

STEP

"My first step into the Beast Domain," Rui murmured aloud.

"Quit being so melodramatic bro," Kane snorted

"This road…" Rui inspected it. "It hasn't been maintained in forever."

The material used to construct it had been subject to immense wear and tear over the decades. It appeared that the British Empire had completely stopped caring about it for many years now.

Rui narrowed his eyes. "Probably since the Second East Panamic War."

The Britannian Empire had become a lot more passive than it ever used to be after the Emperor broke through to the Transcendent Realm.

It clearly had some correlation to what Master Krakule had told him. For whatever reason, Martial Transcendents abstained from interfering in the world. Being the authoritarian state that it was, the Empire followed suit as it soon abandoned much of its previous hawkish warmongering aggression to the rest of East Panama.

"Still, it's good enough since we're on foot," Rui remarked. "The path was constructed to allow for carriages to pass through it without running into too much danger or losing their way through the Beast Domain, so we should be fine as well."

Direction was extremely important in the Beast Domain.

Rui knew it was extremely important, not just because he had thoroughly researched its importance but also because he could feel it at that very moment.

The Beast Domain hampered the natural sense of direction inclined to the planet's magnetic field.

Every species in the animal kingdom had evolved an inherent ability to maintain direction that was known to be correlated with the earth's magnetic field. Yet ever since Rui stepped into the Beast Domain, Rui felt as though he was lost.

He felt directionless.

He felt like he was drawn into an endless spiral where directions had lost meaning.

It didn't hamper his body or reflexes or reactions in a manner that would weaken him. But one could walk around in circles in a small region for years and never find one's way out.