The Martial Union was an immensely powerful organization in more than just one way. Its most powerful asset was, of course, its tremendous Martial power. As an organization that retained almost eighty percent of all Martial Artists in the nation, the Martial Union was unmatched when it came to individual power. To the point where it could match and perhaps even surpass the military power of the Royal Kandrian Family in some circumstances.
However, that wasn't the sole extent of its power. It had a large and extensive intelligence network and had unique intelligence-gathering methods through Martial Art that only an organization as Martial Art-centric could possibly have. Information ranging from mundane reports on the state of affairs to extremely significant information that would cost a small fortune to purchase. These were also part of the goods and services that it was capable of offering.
Beyond that, it could offer many highly useful and attractive benefits that would certainly appeal to Martial Artists. The tutelage and wisdom of high-ranking Martial Artists, reserved confidential techniques that were not publicly available, extremely effective and valuable yet rare training and growth resources.
Furthermore, as an organization with a tremendous amount of influence over society, it was also capable of offering power and authority. Martial Artists already passively possessed such influence, but with a high-ranking position inside the Martial Union, the entire nation was within your reach.
That was why Rui didn't underestimate the potential recompense that the Martial Union could offer him in return for the Pathfinder technique.
The two of them chatted a bit more before Rui was guided to another facility and made to sit at a table as he was given a typewriter to document the development process of the Pathfinder technique.
Yet before he could begin, he felt a Squire-level presence approaching him.
"Hm?" Rui glanced up as his eyebrows furrowed.
"Squire Quarrier, this is Squire Friedrich." An assistant staff member. "He will be ensuring that the development procedure and the information surrounding the technique is sincerely being documented."
"A mental sensory technique?"
"More than one, actually." Squire Friedrich replied casually. "Ensure you're conveying the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, else I will find out, I assure you."
The man issued a warning in a blank tone to Rui.
Rui even believed him. The man was concealing his mental pressure, but Rui could still sense that he was still not someone Rui wanted to make an enemy of.
Funnily enough, that made him want to fight him even more, to test his Martial Art against him.
Instead, Rui wordlessly turned back to his work and began describing the development process of the Pathfinder technique as well as all the information associated with the mechanism of the technique.
Within an hour, he finished, having managed to pump out a large amount of information thanks to his super speed.
Squire Friedrich had not voiced out a single complaint the entire time, which Rui found interesting. It appeared that the 'whole truth' was not necessarily a strict demand. The Oda system was partially inspired by the way that he developed the VOID algorithm, though Rui did not mention that, yet Squire Friedrich either did not notice or did notice but didn't deem it significant enough to reprimand him for.
It was half an hour before he met Senior Ceeran.
His demeanor was a lot less restrained than in their first meeting.
"I have gone through your report and I just feel the need to say, if even half of what you have described is accurate, then your mind must work in ways that I cannot even fathom. To be able to obtain such a high degree of accuracy not through intuition and muscle memory as nearly everybody else does, but through mathematical calculations is unheard of! There is no Martial Artist on the damn continent that I know of that can replicate your feat!" He excitedly exclaimed.
"I'm glad you recognize its value, I would have been a lot more concerned if you didn't seem to," Rui smiled.
"How could I not?!" he exclaimed. "In fact, I can't wait to try mastering this technique and incorporating its principles into my own original techniques!"
Rui raised an eyebrow at those words. "I take it you have a long-range centered Martial Path?"
"Correct," He nodded. "My Martial Path is long-range trajectory manipulation. It's a very niche subset of long-range offense, making me one of the few of my kind."
"Interesting," Rui furrowed his eyebrow. "What exactly does your Martial Path and Art actually entail, in practice?"
"My Martial Art is centered around a style of fighting where I manipulate the trajectory of my attacks once they've been launched to suit the situation. I accomplish this using various mechanisms and principles, some of which I myself have developed." He stated with more than just a hint of pride.
Rui's eyes widened. "Manipulating the trajectories of long-range attacks after they're already launched? Is such a thing even possible?"
"Of course it is!" He laughed good-heartedly. "There are a few means to do so. Manipulating the atmosphere is the most common way. Things like heat, air currents, and such can be used to alter the trajectory after release to dramatically increase the probability of the attack hitting the intended moving target."
"I see..." Rui furrowed his eyebrows as he considered the implication of the man's words.
The man was probably a medium to long-range fighter and fighting him was probably a pain in the ass. Avoiding attacks was extremely difficult, and with the knowledge that he had the ability to land his attacks thanks to this homing feature, he probably had several lethal long-range attacks that made defending against them very difficult!
"Truly incredible... Considering that this is your Martial Path and the fact that you're the Martial deputy-director of the long-range research department... You must surely be part of the Martial Sect surrounding long-range techniques. Am I right?"
"Of course," The man nodded, before turning to Rui. "I am most certainly part of the Longranger Sect."
