Thus, he decided that the goal of the second project would be to develop a technique that would allow him to drastically reduce the threat of beasts and monsters.
It was a general goal, but it was vague as far as what he wanted the technique to look like. Even more so than Project Eyespy, after all, project Eyespy at least aimed to develop a sensory technique.
He had no idea what category this technique would even fall into. It would require a huge amount of work regardless.
As for the third project, he couldn't necessarily think of anything too great right off the bat, the biggest two problems were already addressed by the previous two projects. While there were other smaller issues, there weren't any that were on the magnitude of the previous two problems that he dedicated a project to.
('I should create a technique that is centered around maneuvering,') Rui scratched his head, as he realized it had been a long time since he had improved his maneuvering.
The last time that he had improved his maneuvering was back when he completed his first training phase in the Squire Realm a few years ago. He hadn't improved his maneuvering since he had mastered Wind Breathing and Phantom Steps.
His speed and agility were definitely more important in the Shionel Dungeon than his striking power or any other offensive parameter. Even his long-range offensive was not as important as his ability to outrun his enemies.
('Furthermore, if I'm too slow, I'll hold back Kane as well,') He sighed.
Kane was extremely fast. Barring the absolute fastest creatures in the dungeon, none of the creatures would probably be able to keep up with him, especially when his stealth came around.
However, this was not the case with Rui. He was not a particularly high-speed Martial Artist, as unfortunate as it was. And Kane was not the type to leave his comrades behind. Especially when it came to Rui, the two of them were really close and Rui knew that Kane was willing to die fighting by his side than run away by himself.
It was precisely because of that that Rui had to come up with a way to ensure that at the very least he wouldn't hold Kane back too much. He refused to be the reason that his best friend died, he would rather die alone.
('Thus a technique that improves my speed and agility is worth looking into,') Rui nodded.
He sighed.
All three of these projects were born out of necessity, rather than an idea. This made them more difficult to go through with than his earlier projects.
('It's hard to know where to begin,') Rui sighed.
Suddenly, his comms device began ringing.
[Fae]
Rui's eyes lit up in delight. ('She made it!')
While Rui and Kane had gone away for his mission, Fae had reached the peak of the Apprentice Realm before finally achieving the conditions for Squire candidacy and going for the Squire evolution breakthrough procedure during the end of Rui's diplomatic mission.
Rui had long supplied her with his customized Mind Switch technique that he had chosen to dub Hungry Pain, and after mastering it she had immediately gone for the Squire evolution breakthrough process.
"Fae!" Rui greeted her with a delighted smile. "Long time no see, how did it go?"
"Hello Rui," She smiled at him. "According to the doctors, the process went flawlessly, all of my tests and results have come back just fine with no issues or complications, it seems."
Rui could sense the relief in her tone, he could sympathize too.
The Squire evolution breakthrough process was not perfect. The possibility for complications, minor and serious, as well as death, existed. Furthermore, the Martial Artist was utterly helpless in this situation, and could only trust the medical team and hope for the best. A single stroke of bad luck could end a career.
Rui took a good look at her new Martial body. Even though they weren't face-to-face, he could sense tremendous power within her entire body. She most certainly chose a configuration that maximized her striking power, more than anything else. Furthermore, with the Hungry Pain version of the Mind Switch technique, she had access to far greater power than a baby Martial Squire like her ought to have access to. Rui had the power of a grade-two Martial body of his configuration from the very get-go due to the extra energy and power that the autophagy process had naturally supplied to the body.
There was no doubt that despite breaking through to the Squire Realm extremely recently, her Martial body probably had the power of a grade-three body even as of this moment. When she finally got around to mastering techniques, she would probably blow the minds of everybody in her Martial Family, her status as the heir of the Dullahan Family was guaranteed.
"That's great to hear," Rui nodded. "So what are your plans from here on out?"
Rui was glad to have contributed a little to her cherished dream.
('She's grown more beautiful too,') Rui noted. ('Good for Kane, hehe.')
"I have the need to master new techniques, of course," She replied. "But before that, I need to finish the Squire habilitation phase."
"Right, good luck with that," Rui smiled, noting her wearing the power suppression suit that she needed to wear for her training. "What about after that?"
"I haven't entirely decided, however, I do suppose the basics would be to start undertaking basic Squire-level missions, correct? I do need experience with combat in the Squire Realm, so I should focus on sparring a lot as well."
"You're going to need to develop your own techniques as well," Rui reminded her. "No more simply learning existing techniques verbatim, not if you don't want your rate of growth to stall, and lose any chance of becoming a Martial Squire.
"True," She nodded at him. "I have learned of the importance of individuality in one's Martial Art once one becomes a Martial Squire."
