He had already computed several potential solutions from all the Martial Art techniques he had ever known off.
"Poison, piercing, heat, friction, and permeation are the prime candidates." He murmured.
Poison was attractive, it inflicted damage in a manner that completely bypassed the physical durability of the target. It didn't matter how tough one's muscles or bones were. Poison would inflict damage all the same. However, it was less effective the larger the target was. This was because a greater amount of mass meant a greater number of cells that the poison had to attack.
Piercing was a solid candidate as well, but he already had the Stinger. Although the Stinger had piercing depth limits that made it less lethal against larger targets, Rui wasn't sure it was worth getting another technique of the same kind. He was looking to expand the diversity of the fields his Martial Art covered, not build up more on a single field.
Heat was certainly a potent field. Ferlicia had gone incredibly far in the Martial Contest thanks to it. However, it had its problems. It was not a light field to delve into and would require an immense amount before it would become lethal to larger creatures. The size problem worked against it as well.
Friction was also a lethal field. Byron Harth had been chosen as the representative of his Martial Academy in the Martial Contest. However, it wasn't lethal enough to deal critical damage to mammalian creatures that had an incredibly thick amount of flesh and fur.
"That leaves permeation," Rui noted.
Permeation was a powerful field. Rui had personally fought against Servil Bisha who had given a long run for his money. Permeation was a field of striking techniques that allowed an impact to permeate deeper into the body of a target via vibrations. This allowed the power of a strike to bypass the strong flesh, bones, and muscles of the target to a large degree and inflict on the more vulnerable inners of the target.
It was quite perfectly suited for larger creatures. It allowed him to hurt them with every strike and even knock them out the same way he could knock out Martial Artists. It was perfect and especially suited to handling them. It lacked the same level of lethality as some of the other options but gave him more stability in his ability to hurt them.
It didn't even take him long to find a technique that suited his needs.
[Reverberating Lance]
A general formless technique that used high-level vibrations to permeate the impact of a strike deeper into the body to inflict damage more so onto the internal organs of the body rather than the tougher exteriors of the body.
It was a grade-seven technique, which was right at the sweet spot balance of potency and difficulty where Rui could absolutely guarantee that he could master it. Once he mastered that, his offensive prowess would probably approach the level of Fae.
He grinned, eager to master the technique.
"Four down. Two more to go." He noted. "Alright then. What else should I get?"
The past four techniques had strengthened his ability to adapt to a greater number of opponents and also handle shadow and hunter-class missions.
"Since I'm going to be embarking on the most difficult of missions, the danger will also be proportionally higher. I should get an endurance technique that will increase my survivability." He realized.
He hadn't purchased even a single endurance technique to date. Part of this was because he always had a healing potion at hand. However, not only were his missions getting increasingly dangerous, he was undertaking a lot of foreign missions. This meant that he was far and away from the safety nets that the Kandrian Empire and the Martial Union gave him.
Out there, there was often no support. This was especially true in places like the Beast Domain. Out there, he was truly on his own.
Getting a supplementary technique that could empower his endurance and survivability could be the key difference between life and death.
"Better safe than sorry." He concluded.
He skimmed through the supplementary techniques until he ran into something that met his needs.
[Final Breathing]
"What an ominous name." He raised an eyebrow.
It was a breathing technique that eased the pain by triggering an increased release of hormones that allowed for the pain to be less hindering than it normally was. It also accelerated the clotting of wounds, preventing the user from losing much blood. It was a breathing technique that minimized the shackles of damage as much as humanly possible and allowed the user to operate with the best they possibly could.
It was a grade-five technique, which meant it would be quite easy to master.
"This is pretty good." Rui nodded. He plucked the technique out of the slot and placed it in his pouch.
"One last technique." He mused. "What should I get?"
He had no idea. He strolled around the miscellaneous section aimlessly until he ran into a rather bizarre Martial Art technique. In all the time he had spent in the Academy, it certainly was one of the most unique techniques.
[Fauna Flow]
This was a technique that allowed Martial Apprentices to be able to communicate with the more intelligent creatures of the animal kingdom!
Rui raised his eyes in wonder.
Intelligent creatures often communicated via a form of non-verbal language since they certainly hadn't learned any human language. This allowed humans to be able to engage in the same kind of non-verbal language, effectively allowing humans to communicate with these creatures.
Rui found this technique fascinating. Yet at the same time, it wasn't as absurd as it initially came off. Research on Earth in the field of human behavioral science had shown that more than half of communication was inherently non-verbal. If that was the case, Rui could certainly see how that could inherently become the single form of communication between intelligent species who didn't have any other means of high-level communication with each other.
