The Martial Unity

"It continued attacking even after you flexed a Master-level aura," Kane replied, recalling that moment. "That was such an absurd decision. It's a Senior-level beast. Any Martial Master would eradicate it effortlessly. I'm guessing that retarded decision is related to what you said earlier."

"Yep, like I said," Rui tapped its head. "It was intelligent but slave to its aggression. You're going to run into some more beasts like this that do utterly insane things. That's what animals do. That's why deterrence doesn't always work. I'm sure you noticed that in the past month and a half."

Kane nodded.

The two of them had run into all manners of beasts and animals in the past month and a half. Different species had different genetic temperamental traits that often overrode any and all rationality.

Of course, even Rui had to admit that the rabbit king was a special case. He did not expect a Senior-level beast to leap aggressively against someone it clearly perceived to be a Martial Master. It was the height of irrationality that overcame even self-preservation.

"Another reason that humanity is able to bully the Beast Domain is because, as much as we fight amongst ourselves, it does not even remotely compare to the internal conflict between monsters of the Beast Domain. They view each other with as much hostility as they do humans," Rui replied. "If they were united then…"

He narrowed his eyes. "That would be a hellish situation for humanity."

"Meh, that's never going to happen as long as they continue to have territorial disputes," Kane replied. "Right?"

"Maybe…" Rui considered his question. "The issue is that humans are responsible for the continuous increase in territorial disputes. Though most lack the intelligence to learn that. That's why I'm not particularly concerned. A unity amongst the beasts of the Beast Domain is basically impossible, as far as I am concerned. I'm just hoping we don't run into intelligent beasts and monsters in the Beast Domain while we travel to the Valley of Prisms."

Kane nodded. "Speaking of which, how far are we from that place?"

Rui was the navigator between the two of them. On top of that, he was the only one with a map stored in his Mind Palace that he could access mentally.

"About a day or so," Rui replied. "We've covered most of the distance to the Valley of Prisms in the past month or so."

Rui was glad that he was finally nearing the first place that the Divine Doctor had visited in the Beast Domain.

"Honestly, the more time we spent in the Beast Domain, the more I'm shocked that the Divine Doctor managed to survive in the Beast Domain all by himself," Kane remarked.

"He's an extreme example of what I mentioned earlier, though I don't know if he can be considered particularly rational. He is extremely intelligent and extremely knowledgeable. He uses his knowledge to survive in places that ordinary humans have absolutely no business surviving in," Rui continued. "Frankly, I would be lying if I said I wasn't curious about how he did it. I strongly suspect we'll find clues about this in the Valley of Prisms."

Rui had not forgotten that according to the intelligence from the Beggar Sage, the ecological and environmental data from the Adventurer's Guild indicated a rather abrupt disruption in the Valley of Prisms around the same time that the Divine Doctor had entered it.

Somehow, the Divine Doctor had caused a mass exodus of various fauna species from the Valley of Prisms further deeper into the Beast Domain.

If the Beggar Sage's information was right in that the Divine Doctor had spread chaos through the Beast Domain, then Rui could be quite confident that the Divine Doctor had been responsible and had almost certainly left clues that Rui could use to understand exactly how he had managed to do it and survived in the Beast Domain.

Once he got that, he would be able to better identify which path the Divine Doctor had gone down after.

That was part of Rui's plan for eventually finding the Divine Doctor.

"Come on, let's get going," Rui informed Kane after they ate and recuperated enough. "I don't want to waste any more time than we have."

He had an original five years when his father fell back into a coma from the Eternal Dream disease. He had spent around a year fighting the Kandrian Throne War and, after that, another two months to recover from his battle with the Gatekeeper. A total of two more months had passed since then. He only had three years and eight months left to find the man that he was looking for.

He was not eager to waste any more time than he already had.

The two of them immediately departed, traveling through the outskirts of the Beast Domain. The topography changed slowly and steadily as the forest they were in grew thinner and thinner on a gradient, and the lands beneath their feet slowly began growing drier and coarser.

"Any information on what we might be running into next?" Kane asked.

"The Adventurer's Guild's information doesn't have anything specific on this region," Rui replied, narrowing his eyes. "Stay alert; you never know what we might run into there. Once we cross this region, we'll have reached the Valley of Prisms."

The topography of the coming region became increasingly apparent. A desert began emerging over the horizon as the amount of sand beneath their feet slowly began increasing.

"Deserts are good," Kane nodded. "They are open and transparent and all. As long as you look for the sand, you're safe. With our senses, that should be all fine, right?"

Rationally, Rui was inclined to agree with that analysis. Yet, his instincts tingled as his eyes fell on the sands in the distance.

They drew his attention especially strongly. For some reason, he felt uncertain as he headed towards them. He could not feel any overt danger or peril from Primordial instinct. But something nagged at his instincts.