The Martial Unity

"Individuality... and maturity?" She frowned.

"That's right." Rui nodded. "Individuality and maturity. Your Martial Art needs to obtain enough of both, otherwise, you won't be able to even survive the breakthrough process to the Squire Realm."

"What exactly do both of those terms even mean?"

"I was getting there." He nodded. "Individuality is a measure of how much your Martial Path diverges from others, and how much of its depth comes from you."

She wordlessly stared at him with a skeptical expression.

"Your techniques and the way you apply them, that is what need to possess individuality. They need to possess a measure of uniqueness and originality."

"So... I need to create my own techniques?" She frowned. "That's super difficult!"

"If it were easy, everyone would be a Martial Squire." Rui snorted. "But you don't specifically need to create a technique from scratch, and all kinds of viable modifications and alterations to suit yourself, newer applications of an existing technique, combinations that you yourself derived from existing techniques, and really anything that originated from you that sets you apart from the others will be one step deeper into your Martial Path."

"I see..." She hummed as she processed her words. "So that means your Martial Art is much more unique than any other kind of Martial Art that exists out there?"

"You can say that." Rui nodded.

In reality, one could say much more than that. The fact that he inherited the VOID algorithm from his past alone meant that his individuality was on another level. He wasn't even sure how much of it he had, in all honesty. He knew he had more of it than any other Martial Artist his age, without a doubt. It would be rather shocking if there was.

"So, my Martial Art just needs to gain enough individuality, hm." She nodded. "Will do. But why is that necessary?"

Rui paused for a moment, considering whether he could answer her question, before shrugging. "To survive the procedure."

"Hm?" She frowned.

"The greater your individuality, the deeper your Martial Path, and the greater your mind can withstand," Rui told her, arriving dangerously close to the limit of what he could tell her.

"How much individuality do you think I have?" She asked him.

He once ran his gaze across her.

It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from 𝗯𝐞𝗱𝐧𝐨𝘃𝐞𝐥.𝗼𝗿𝐠.

"Hey!" She complained, covering her chest and crotch again. ｂ𝚎ｄｎ𝚘ｖ𝚎ｌ.𝚌𝚘ｍ

"I'm just observing you." Rui sighed, shrugging helplessly.

There was an awkward pause before she finally relented.

"Alright then." Uncovering herself, she even puffed her chest out a bit, as if that would somehow make his job easier.

It didn't.

"No, I'm good." Rui turned away. He felt too self-conscious, especially with all the attention on him. Furthermore, while his mind was pure, his seventeen-year-old hormonal body had other thoughts as blood gushed to his groin, awakening little Rui from its slumber down below.

"Hey! This is beneficial to my Martial Path. Just... get it over with." She looked away with a miffed expression, yet her blushed expression revealed her embarrassment.

Rui turned back to meet her eyes.

('She's hot.')

She looked to be in her early twenties. He wasn't even able to look at her body without his cursed hormonal teenage body revving up, ever since she perverted the conversation.

"Forget it, this method isn't all that reliable anyway." He sighed. "It relies on my instincts, which are unfortunately clouded right now."

"Clouded?"

"Forget about it." He growled.

"Well, how do I know how close I am to fulfil the individuality condition to be able to survive the breakthrough to the Squire Realm?" She asked him.

Rui shrugged, before freezing.

He recalled when he went through the evaluation examination where a Martial Squire evaluated whether he had indeed fulfilled both conditions for Squire candidacy. The way she had verified whether or not he had fulfilled the individuality condition for Squire candidacy was by stressing him with her mental pressure and noting how much he was able to withstand.

If a Martial Apprentice was able to withstand pressure above a certain degree, then that Martial Apprentice would at the very least not die due to being too mentally weak.

He even recalled how much pressure she exerted on him, and since he was also a Martial Squire, he was capable of generating that mental pressure and more.

He looked around, recalling the dense population of normal humans around him. He couldn't perform that here, not in front of all these normal people, they would be too disaffected by the psychological stress.

"What happened?" Vemy asked him, noticing his demeanor.

"I have a way of answering your question, but I can't do it here." He told her. "You need to come to my personal quarters, it's detached enough from the main camp that others won't be affected."

She threw a skeptical glare at him.

"What?" Rui raised an eyebrow, confused.

"You know what."

"I haven't the faintest clue."

"You're just making all of this up so you can lure me to your personal quarters where nobody can see us and where you can try to do something to me, aren't you?"

Rui just stared at her wordlessly, speechless.

"Never mind." He turned away, a hint of exasperation creeping into his tone.

"I'm kidding. Kidding!" She laughed. "Come, let's go."

She got up, trying to pull him up, unable to even budge him.

"I said I'm good." He grumbled lightly.

"I said it was a joke, I'm serious!"

He turned towards her with skeptical eyes.

"This is really important to me, okay?" Her tone grew soft, yet serious.

Rui sighed, relenting. The two of them scurried to his personal quarters quietly.

"Alright then." She turned towards him once they entered.

"Why did you zip it close?"

"I don't want anybody else knowing what you're going to do to me." She innocently replied.

Rui narrowed his eyes at her wording, shaking his head. "Sit opposite to me."

"Sit?"

"Yeah. Sit." His voice grew heavier, as she sat opposite him.

The air grew taut. The world shivered ever so slightly. Vemy gasped as a profound amount of weight crashed onto her mind.