"Your problem is actually not uncommon amongst newborn Martial Seniors," Sian remarked once Rui explained his predicament to his liaison in the Beggar's Sect. "Many Martial Seniors have no idea how strong they are until much later in their time in the Senior Realm."
"Well, given how the Beggar's Sect prides itself on information and data analysis, shouldn't you be able to give me an accurate overview of my power relative to my peers?" Rui asked with a resigned expression.
Sian immediately shook her head. "We are not a Martial organization like the Panamic Martial Federation or the Virodhabhasa Faith. While we do have some amount of internal Martial Artists, we rely on the power of the invisible common man, woman, and child. We do not possess the off-hand expertise to give you an accurate gauge of your Martial prowess. In the same way, we do not possess the off-hand expertise to evaluate any and all technological advancements or inventions properly. We largely outsource such matters to trusted allied partners who do possess the relevant expertise."
Rui sighed dejectedly. He had expected such an answer, of course. In the first place, only another Martial Artist or an extensive observation laboratory with relevant Martial scholars and scientists were qualified to evaluate him. The Beggar's Sect did not carry around such resources in the base of operations of their foreign affairs department.
Sian was most certainly not qualified to give him an accurate gauge of his power in the Senior Realm, either. It looked like he would have to figure it out the hard way after all.
"What I can tell you is that because the starting point of Martial Artists in the Senior Realm are completely different and because that consequently results in an extremely wide range of power levels within the Senior Realm, it is actually not easy for even Martial Art organizations to accurately evaluate the power level of an unknown Martial Senior." She replied. "They largely rely on the power that the Martial Senior possessed before breaking through to the Senior Realm to gauge how strong they would be as a Martial Senior. Thus even if you visited a Martial organization, they would find it much more challenging to evaluate you if they do not have access to a thorough record of your history and background."
This was, of course, unacceptable to Rui. Still, he appreciated the free tidbits of information that Sian was giving to him.
"Because the Senior Realm is divided into fifteen grades in most Martial Artist evaluation and grading systems, such problems naturally arise." Sian casually revealed.
"What?" Rui blurted out in surprise. "Fifteen grades?"
Sian nodded. "I assumed you were aware of this."
He had not been. He had heard from multiple sources that the Senior Realm was even wider than the Squire Realm, but only now did he realize that they weren't exaggerating in the slightest. The fact that organizations felt to add an extra five grades to the Senior Realm evaluation system showed that the gulf was truly gigantic.
"Damn..." He couldn't help but subconsciously murmur.
No wonder only a fraction of Martial Seniors took several decades at the bare minimum to reach the Master Realm, the path forward was truly long and could easily take the average Martial Senior half a lifetime to cross.
"It is not easy crossing the barrier between the Lower and the Upper Realms," She remarked. "I do not know the details as the few beings that do possess the information are extremely secretive about it, but it is said to be among the hardest of hurdles to overcome for Martial Artists.
The Martial Artists who ascended to the Upper Realms had already transcended mortality to a certain extent. It wasn't just that they were far stronger than Martial Seniors, which they also were. However, in addition to that, Rui also felt as though they had ascended to a higher state of life.
They were simply cut from a different cloth from ordinary mortals. Rui got the impression that their vision and understanding of reality were simply higher than his own. Their minds seemed to be able to see things that no Martial Artists of the lower Realms could.
Rui couldn't even imagine what it took to evolve to such a state of being.
"It can't be helped. I'll figure it out on my own." Rui shook his head. "I appreciate the information. Now then, coming back to business, I wanted to undertake the mission relating to Senior Minneson and the Minneson drug trafficking ring."
She considered his words for a moment, before nodding. "Given your crushing performance against Albus, it is safe to say that you are at least qualified to take on Senior Minneson. However, be warned that he is much stronger than Albus. It was said that when Albus tried to confront the Martial Senior to put an end to the man's trafficking operations in the Ferendul Republic, he was forced to retreat, having almost died against him."
Rui nodded. It appeared that at the very least, Senior Minneson wouldn't go down too easily. "That's just fine by me. I'm looking forward to a challenge. Can I gain access to all the intelligence related to the case?"
She nodded, fiddling with the beaded bracelet on her wrist. "I have already arranged for it to be delivered to you."
It wasn't long before Rui not only gained access to all the documents that detailed the reports and analyses on the man's movements and locations, but also memorized it, before leaving the book market empty-handed.
The gathered intelligence on Senior Minneson was vast. It appeared that despite his best efforts to limit data leaks, the Beggar's Sect was still easily able to gather immense strategic information on him. It once again solidified the Beggar's Sect's capabilities in his mind.
More importantly, however, Senior Minneson was a lot more formidable than Senior Albus from the available reports. He had once fought off two young Martial Seniors from a nation in the Saiful Region simultaneously and emerged victorious in the confrontation.
