1540 Revelation
"Wow…!" Nel murmured with amazement.
"You can't do that when we're surrounded by people!" Fiona chided. "Do you want to be penalized with reckless negligence by the Martial Union?!"
Nel was not even listening. He simply stared at Rui with sharp eyes, trying to gauge his power before a shocking realization dawned on him.
"You…" His eyes widened, stunned.
Rui smirked, aware of his thoughts, turning to Hever studying him. "Wow, you feel even more like a mountain than you did before. Looks like you've made solid progress in your Martial Path."
"I can say the same to you, can I not?" Hever smiled knowingly, shaking his hand. He too had made the same realization that Nel had.
"Maybe. Maybe not," Rui smiled, turning to Dalen and Milliana with a particularly interested look. He had already realized the truth, but he went to confirm it nonetheless.
"You too…"
"We got married two years ago, and now we're expecting our first child in half a year," Dalen smiled as Milliana was content nodding.
His demeanor was a lot looser and more relaxed than Rui recalled, as if he had found a sense of inner peace. Milliana had changed even more, obviously due to the fact that she was pregnant, but her normally blank neutral temperament seemed to have gained more femininity.
Rui could tell that Dalen was a grade-three Martial Squire, while Milliana was only a high-grade Martial Apprentice.
The two of them were a good representation of the progress of normal Martial Artists. Kane and Fiona were generational prodigies, Nel was a generational physical freak who had a few screws loose, while Fae and Hever were highly talented and even more driven.
Dalen, on the other hand, was much more normal, having made modest progress over greater time. The same could be said for Milliana. Rui's progress was so different and distant from them that they may as well have been different species.
Yet Rui didn't feel a sense of superiority, especially when his sharp senses could pick up on their non-verbal communication and demeanor. He could sense how content and satisfied they were with each other. They would probably go on to raise a large family of Martial Artists and live a good life with each other.
His conversation with Xanarn had happened too recently for him to not feel envious in that regard.
"I see…" Rui smiled. "I'm happy for you guys. I'm sad that I missed the marriage, but a belated congratulations nonetheless."
It wasn't long before the seven of them took a spot in a nearby cafe, ordering some beverages.
"You…" Nel started off. "You're a Martial Senior now, aren't you?"
"Yes." Rui didn't deny the truth.
He was accustomed to at least tempering his aura, making it harder to pinpoint his level of power, but Nel and Hever had managed to sense that he was in a higher Realm of power than them.
Fae, Fiona, Dalen, and Milliana on the other hand were shaken, stunned by this revelation.
"What?!" Fae exclaimed, shocked. "You're not even thirty!"
Fiona simply stared at him with utter bewilderment and shock. She was particularly personally impacted by this revelation, considering that the two of them used to be the peak of Martial Apprentices back in the day.
She knew that her progress as a Martial Squire was humble. Unfortunately, drive mattered far more than talent did the higher the Realm one was in. She was unable to surf through the Squire Realm the way she had in the Apprentice Realm.
Still, she hadn't thought that she was too far behind, perhaps several grades at most, but still within the same Realm of power.
Reality had hit her like a boulder.
What she didn't know was that Rui had already made more progress in the Senior Realm than she had in the Squire Realm.
"You…are a Martial Senior?" She stammered weakly. "Really?"
Rui smiled wryly, before undoing the Mind Mask he had on, unveiling his power.
A wave of pressure pushed down on each of them. The five Martial Squires felt extremely uncomfortable under the mountain of pressure that Rui unleashed for merely a moment before he sealed it once more.
Milliana had physically winced under the pressure, and considering her delicate condition, he did not dare go too far.
"Sorry about that," He commented. "But, there you go. Get it out of your systems."
The six of them were shocked. They had realized the sheer magnitude of this revelation. Although this knowledge was not common, all Martial Artists knew the youngest ages of breakthroughs in each Realm. This was common knowledge within the community and industry.
Each of them had come to realize the sheer significance of Rui being a Martial Senior at the age of thirty.
He was undoubtedly the youngest Martial Senior in existence.
"Hehehe…" Nel grinned being the first one to break out of his reverie. "Now we definitely need to fight!"
"Later," Rui waved him away.
"My…this news is going to send ripples across the Kandrian Empire…" Fae murmured. "Congratulations on your breakthrough to the Senior Realm. I must commend you for accomplishing this incredible achievement."
She smiled. "If one had told me that that kid I pummeled in the entrance exam would go on to become the youngest Martial Senior in history, I would not have believed them."
"Yeah, I don't know if I would have believed it back then either," Rui chuckled as her words dug up a distant memory.
Fiona struggled to muster up any words even while the others congratulated him heartily after shaking off their shock. "Truly unbelievable. Congratulations."
She felt particularly inadequate after hearing this accomplishment. In the time that they had been apart, Rui had gone leaps and bounds beyond her while she had taken steps, at most.
She didn't particularly want to become a hardcore Martial Artist, but knowing that she had the potential to accomplish such feats, and hadn't, made her feel like she was making poor use of her talent and potential.
