The Martial Unity

He was not wrong.

Rui's contribution ended up being in the top ten percent of contributions, by taking down a powerful weapon-wielding Martial Artist down, he received much appreciation from the sect when he reported back.

However, he wasn't too interested in sparring with Senior Xanarn, it was not fun to fight the same person over and over, nor was it particularly beneficial to his growth as a Martial Artist.

It was actually the opposite. He needed to exercise his ability to execute the VOID algorithm, not grow content and be complacent with predictive models that he had already created in precious instances.

It's why he didn't go out of his way to spar or duel with Kane very often.

Of course, he wouldn't mind sparring against one of the other two Martial Seniors, he wondered if he had the ability to beat them in the manner that he beat Senior Xanarn with Kane's help.

That certainly would be interesting.

But he was more keen on victories that were won fair and square.

When they beat Senior Xanarn, she was already sufficiently drained enough against dozens of high-tier Martial Squires. That was why that victory did not mean too much to Rui. It was a cool accomplishment, but he didn't put too much stock against it.

What he was more focused on instead was beating his peers who were within the same Realm as him, and taking their chamber to better forge his body in a stronger environment within the Floating Sect.

He had already identified several candidates, and now he simply needed to pick one for his Weaving Blood in a more elaborate fashion. He had specifically chosen Martial Artists where he would certainly be forced to use it more extensively while adapting.

It would not only allow him to gain data on the actual effectiveness of the solution that he had created.

It was one thing for him to daydream about how powerful and effective it would be, it was another to actually have proof that would add weight to the speculation of how effective it was.

It was also important because it would set expectations for how much he could expect from Project Metabody.

That was also something he didn't have any idea of how to quantify. He had thought about it to no end, but at the end of the day, he had nothing. He had retained the approach of a scientist and a developer, which caused him to be skeptical of things until there was empirical data that suggested otherwise.

In this world, he could not conduct a research and development project with external test subjects in large sample sizes to verify things that he needed to know, he could only rely on his own experience since he was the only available test subject in the entire world.

That was why he was scouting multiple Martial Artists that he could gather data from. Now that he had done that, he was ready to conduct the actual test.

"Huh?" Squire Drekiole's eyebrow twitched. "You? You dare to challenge me?"

"That's right," Rui calmly replied.

He had not minded the insulted expression that the man had on his bearded face because he found it rather hilarious. He also somewhat understood where the man was coming from.

Rui was of the lowest class of guardians of the Floating Sect. While Squire Drekiole was of the fifth class, middling out among the classes and ranks in the Floating Sect.

He was decisively stronger than the Martial Squires of the lowest class.

"Ah… I remember you," The man growled. "You were the kid who beat Serokin. Did you really think you're qualified to beat me just because you took down that snake, and got in a few lucky hits against Senior Xanarn?"

Although many in the lowest class had seen Rui and Kane taking on and beating Senior Xanarn, many Martial Squires of the higher classes simply could not believe it. It simply was too hard to believe that two Martial Squires of the lowest class could possibly hurt her let alone beat her.

Even if they did believe it, they assumed it wasn't because of their merits but due to other factors. The cognitive dissonance that came with refusing to believe that someone who was supposed to be far below them was actually quite strong, was quite strong.

Senior Drekiole was an example of such a case.

Rui didn't care either way. He was not doing this for his pride or for respect.

"Do you accept the duel?" Rui ignored his question asking him again. "Might I remind you that the last duel to undertook was more than ten days ago, thus you are obligated to accept my duel."

"I'll accept your little duel, alright," He growled. "I'm going to skin you so badly you wouldn't even be able to resign. You're dead!"

"Then let's get going," Rui replied simply, turning around and heading to the colosseum.

"What… Now?" The man furrowed his eyebrows.

He couldn't understand why Rui was so eager to get his ass kicked by someone stronger than him.

Regardless, he was pissed off.

"Very well, if that's what you wish, then that's what I'll give. Don't blame me when you lose. I already warned you."

"Yes yes," Rui sighed.

He didn't understand how people had an ego that was bigger than their heads. Where did these people get such an immense amount of pride from?

He wasn't even as impressive in the Floating Sect, he was decisively average by their standards. Furthermore, he was of the Squire Realm, just like Rui was.

The Squire Realm was only the second of six Realms of power. How could someone remain so arrogant when confronted by the fact that they were not even in the upper Realms?

Hell, they weren't even at the top of the lower Realm. It was just a bizarre sight for someone like Rui. If he ever did gain such pride, it would certainly not be as a Martial Squire.