The Martial Unity

He highly doubted that the Kaddar Region possessed the wealth to purchase a weapon that powerful, given that the nations weren't exactly economic powerhouses in a broad sense, they probably did not have access to the means to build or acquire such a super weapon.

Since that was the case, Rui was inclined to stay. The benefits of the Floating Sect were great, he hadn't even been there long but he felt as though his body had grown stronger after being strengthened and nourished under extreme conditions.

One of the reasons he was especially determined to make the best of the Floating Sect was because of the reveal of the breakthrough to the Senior Realm. He now knew that one of the conditions for reaching the Senior Realm was having a body capable of withstanding the power of the Martial Heart.

Blood did not glow naturally, it had no ability to glow, yet the Martial Heart caused it to glow. He couldn't even imagine the sheer amount of energy that was pumping along with the blood for it to glow in that fashion.

If the body could not withstand that power, then it would just explode under all that power. Although he knew the Martial Heart improved durability with the power supplied to muscles and flesh, it could not allow the body to sustain the power of the Martial Heart by itself.

The body needed to grow to a certain degree and mature allowing it to withstand the full power of the Martial Heart.

Ajanta Island was definitely a place that could greatly accelerate what would otherwise be a lengthier process, which was Rui had grown a new-found appreciation for the location. The extra gravity forged his body into something stronger. The longer he spent there, the stronger he grew, the closer he reached the threshold of being able to withstand the power of his Martial Heart.

('Guess we'll just have to weather through and fight for our chance to stay there,') Rui mused.

He didn't mind that.

Soon enough, he was well away from the military area. He simply stopped his carrriage some distance away, before simply leaving. It was half a day before he finally returned to the Floating Sect.

STEP

The moment he returned, the familiar sensation of crushing gravity, and liquid-like atmosphere returned to him.

He quickly headed to the intelligence department of the Floating Sect, hidden away deep in the human environments of the island.

"A mission report, is it?" The staff member at the counter replied to him, before pulling up up some documents. "You can fill it out here."

He was familiar with this process, the Martial Union had a similar albeit more sophisticated system going on.

However, he certainly flustered the staff as he continued writing endlessly. He requested extra paper every five minutes.

He was there for three hours.

"Phew…" He huffed. ('That took forever, but at least it's off my shoulders now. The Floating Sect isn't incompetent enough to fumble the bag after the clear-cut information I've provided them.')

It wasn't long before he finally left, immediately heading for the chambers.

"You're finally back!" Kane exclaimed. "That must have been one hell of an investigative missions.

"Most of the time went into travel," Rui grumbled. "Because the Kaddar nations are so hostile to us Martial Artists, they indiscriminately force us to go through tedious paths."

"Tell me about it. Deliveries are nightmares."

They chatted about it a bit more, before Rui inquired about his attire. "You're going somewhere?"

"Yeah, the sixth class' sparring sessions with Senior Xanarn are about to begin," Kane replied.

"Ah," Rui's eyes lit up. "Right, we get to watch. I'm definitely coming for that."

The two of them quickly made their way to the arena. Rui could feel the pent-up power within the relatively small area. Dozens of Martial Squires, and one Martial Senior.

('They're all strong for sure,') Rui noted as he eyed the Martial Squires of the sixth rank. They possessed a sense of very solid power, the kind that would not budge easily. Rui wasn't too confident whether he could many of the strongest ones.

"Align yourselves," Senior Xanarn instructed simply.

She wore simple Martial attire, her appearance was ordinary, barring the fact that her eyes were perenially closed.

Yet she was without a doubt the strongest person there. Her power eclipsed all of them, and Rui subconsciously tensed up when he tried peering at the depths of her power.

The Martial Squires arranged themselves quickly. Close-range Martial Squires were just meters away from her in every direction, while longer-range Martial Squires put considerable distance between themselves and her.

Unlike duels, she allowed them to choose whatever distance they were most comfortable with.

After all, it did not matter, they couldn't beat her.

"Take your stances."

The tension in the room grew higher as all of the Martial Squires got ready for battle. Yet, Senior Xanarn still stood in place nonchalantly.

"You know what this reminds me of?" Kane asked.

Rui thought for a moment, before smiling. "Back when we were Apprentices in the Academy, training with Squire Kyrie."

"Nailed it," Kane grinned. "Good old days."

The nostalgia from the memories was heavy, he hadn't thought about those training sessions in a long time, yet they bore an unmistakable resemblance to what he was currently witnessing.

"Begin." She instructed them, and all hell broke loose.

Ten Martial Squires rushed in towards her as the longer-ranged Martial Squires took to the air to bombard her with attacks from above.

Yet none of them reached her.

She breathed deeply, employing a breathing technique as she gestured a powerful wave of sound with her movements alone!

The close-range Martial Squires looking to land some strikes were completely swept away by the attack!

They tried their best to resist, yet none of them could. The long-range Martial Squires began bombarding her from across the arena. Yet she gracefully evaded all of them as she began targeting all of the hapless Martial Squires one by one.