The Martial Unity

"It's true," Rui admitted. "Personal commissions are quite interesting and unique many a time."

"Indeed. They're generally quite lucrative." The headmaster added. "Though their difficulty is usually higher too."

"Although I enjoy personal commissions, I prefer international missions more." Rui chimed.

"Oh?" Headmaster Aronian raised an eyebrow in interest. "Why is that?"

"Well. I learn more about this world through them." Rui replied. "It's a big wide world out there, I don't want to limit myself to the Kandrian Empire. I also want to visit the Beast Domain on a mission this if possible."

"Adventurous, aren't you?" The headmaster smiled, amused. "The Beast Domain is quite dangerous. Be prepared, or else you will die."

"I will, headmaster." Rui nodded.

The jovial headmaster humored Rui for some time before their conversation came to a halt. They discussed a few more things of greater note, such as Rui's graduation, before the headmaster concluded their talk, bidding Rui farewell.

"Thank you for all your help not just with these matters, but also for everything in the past three years." Rui bowed deeply with sincere respect and gratitude.

"Hoho, not at all." Headmaster Aronian. "Be careful and never forget; always be true to your Martial Path."

"Yes sir." Rui nodded. "Goodbye."

He turned around, leaving the headmaster's office as he sighed in relief, massaging his head. Headmaster Aronian was a pleasant person, but as a Martial Master, the pressure he exerted on Rui was not small. Rui felt like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders.

"What now?" He wondered aloud.

He strolled around the Academy aimlessly as he immersed himself in his thoughts. "Hm..."

His mind fell back to the spar with Squire Dylon. He had learned a lot about his new combat prowess in that sparring match thanks to facing an opponent who could actually take him on and defeat him soundly, although he was defeated more soundly than he had hoped for.

Still, there were plenty of conclusions that could be drawn from it. "The Mindmirror brain really is something else. It was an absolutely perfect move on my part to purchase that technique."

He didn't normally toot his own horn, but the Mindmirror Symbiote had turned out to be such an extraordinarily powerful and compatible technique that purchasing it was probably the second most important purchase of a technique he had ever made. The top spot, of course, went to the Mind Palace technique which was the only reason the VOID algorithm was viable in the first place.

He had cleared most of the difficulty of the grade-ten difficulty of the technique as well. The only existing negative impact was his sleeplessness tolerance. He sighed as he painfully recollected that this would be the last time he could purchase and master six techniques in six months.

He could quite clearly feel the strain that the Secondary Brain permanently exerted on his brain from the moment he finished his Mind Embed fully. Normally, the host of the symbiote would need to sleep for an extra few hours so that the brain could use that rest time to recover from the fatigue caused by the strain that the Mindmirror Symbiote exerted on his brain. However, his mind was capable of bearing the strain without needing extra sleep. However, he would no longer be able to go for long periods without sleep now.

"Still, it was worth it." Rui shook his head. The sheer boost in the perfection with which he used the VOID algorithm alone was worth it. But the general overall boost to his combat prowess was not small. With his current prowess, Rui was truly a cut apart from his peers.

However, the Mindmirror Symbiote wasn't the only thing he had mastered in his training stage. Although it had certainly stolen the spotlight, it wasn't the only technique he had mastered.

The Mind Mask technique was also a spectacular success. It was a shocking success. At the very least, he had come prepared with what to expect with the Mindmirror Symbiote, but he had been absolutely shocked by the results of the Mind Mask technique.

How on Earth could he have known he would have projected Squire-level danger and pressure? He had simply done his best. The interaction between the Mindmirror Symbiote and the Mind Mask techniques was almost unfairly effective.

"Putting those two freaks aside, the other techniques were also quite solid." Rui nodded.

The Shadow Step techniques was a very good technique by itself, however, when he paired it up with the Mind Mask technique, its effectivity rose significantly. Together they were on par with grade-nine techniques rather than the grade-seven technique that it originally was. Furthermore, if used in combination with Blink, then it was truly a force to be reckoned with. Although it still felt short of Kane's Void Step technique, Rui could take pride in his stealth capabilities.

"The Final Breathing technique was also effective." Rui nodded. He had used it when Squire Dylon had walloped him away with a Squire-level attack, it had mitigated the damage significantly even after he lost consciousness. It was a technique that could be used even when unconscious.

"The Reverberating Lance was certainly good... But unfortunately, Martial Squires aren't the right opponents to get a good understanding of it." Rui murmured.

Martial Squires were essentially hyper-evolved human beings as far as physique went. Unlike Martial Apprentices, their inner body wasn't weak and easy to hurt as a Martial Apprentice. Therefore the Reverberating Lance technique did not have too much relevance when he, a Martial Apprentice, used it against a Martial Squire, it simply wasn't as effective as it was. Thus, he didn't get too good of a grasp of how strong the technique was.

"Should I hit Nartha up?" He wondered, before shaking his head.

The Martial Apprentices of the Martial Games weren't weak in general, but they certainly weren't a threat to him at his current level.

"People are either too strong or too weak." He sighed. He wondered if there were other Martial Apprentices out there who were also perhaps quasi-Squire level like he was.