BADUMP

A profoundly deep avalanche of pressure swept over Rui and Kane, yet it didn't stop there. It rushed forward, untethered, bathing every sentient lifeform on the entire island.

THWOOM!

A wave of sound blew Rui and Kane with overpowering force, expelling them helplessly.

BOOM!

Rui crashed into the arena walls, coughing some blood as he quickly used Final Breathing to increase his pain resistance.

Yet he grinned as he beheld her Martial Heart.

"Twice in a week," She murmured. "Sarak and Leonil will never let me hear the end of it."

She sighed as she deactivated her Martial Heart, lessening the stress she exerted on the Martial Squires. "This sparring session has come to an end."

Soon enough, several medics and nurses entered the arena, tending to the wounded guardians.

Soon enough, Senior Xanarn went on a round speaking to all of them one by one. She did not ramble in her feedback and criticisms of all of them, she was concise and to the point, offering several short pointers before moving one.Content is property © .

Although it wasn't personally impressive to him, he respected the fact that she kept track of the various Martial Squires throughout the entire session.

"My initial feedback to you was to participate more, but I suppose I ought to scrap that," She said once she reached Rui. "I truly did not expect you to be able to accomplish forcing me to use my Martial Heart. Frankly, the level of performance you two demonstrated shows that you're more than qualified for higher Realms."

She wasn't wrong, but what she didn't know was the degree of preparation that went into the fight, not just for analyzing her patterns to build a predictive model, but also the deep familiarity he had of Kane.

"Were you actually gaining insights on me when you came to spectate on my previous sparring training with other guardians?" She asked with curiosity.

"Why else would I be there?" Rui raised an eyebrow as he got up, having consumed a potion.

"…Never mind."

"Any tips for me?" Rui asked.

She made an awkward expression. She had just effectively lost to Rui, so she wasn't even sure whether she had much of a footing to be able to coach him.

But fortunately, she did have an idea pop into her head. "Your manipulation of sound is rather rigid and unflexible. I'm surprised that a Martial Squire is able to merge sound, that too a Martial Squire that isn't even specialized in sound."

Rui nodded. He had also realized that compared to Senior Xanarn's more flexible manipulation of sound, his was certainly more limited.

However, he wasn't too keen on addressing this issue at the moment. His long-range techniques were good enough for now, they were not at the top of his list.

"Other than that, honestly, I don't have much else to offer," Senior Xanarn sighed. "I did not realize how deep your insight was. I have almost never come across such a degree of understanding of one's Martial Art before."

Rui raised an eyebrow. He recalled her saying something similar before, where she said that his Martial Art was the second most potent she had ever come across.

"Almost?"

She smiled. "Almost. You'll see for yourself when you reach higher classes."

Rui considered her words, gauging what she meant.

"Good luck," She turned around walking away, before suddenly pausing. "Ah, one last thing."

"Hm?" Rui raised an eyebrow.

"The Floating Sect can bring you infinitely close to breaking through, however, those that come from afar cannot break through just by spending a greater amount of time on this island," She told him. "Be sure to remember that."

Rui already knew this. The insights he had into the trigger that broke one through to the Senior Realm were enough to show him that simply training here on the island was not good enough.

It was a nexus and a haven that offered a place of tranquil growth and empowerment, but he already knew that it could not provide the trigger to the Senior Realm.

('I only intend to stay here to reach the peak of the Squire Realm and nothing more.') Rui mused.

He didn't want to take too much time doing that either. He only had nine years left before time was up.

('One thing that I can do to speed things up is upgrade to higher ranks as a guardian to get more favorable spots for training that will hasten the growth of my body as a Martial Squire.')

He did not intend to stay as rank nine-hundred-and-one forever. But there wasn't an immediate urge to upgrade ranks at the moment, he did want to strengthen his Martial Art.

('More like broaden it, at this point,') His foundations were rock solid in the Squire Realm, he was doing pretty well in all of the fundamental fields of combat. However, in order to be able to adapt to all kinds of Martial Art, he needed to be able to counter all kinds of Martial Art. It meant that he had to go far beyond the basics to find counters to things that were beyond the basics.

Fortunately, he already had several ideas about how to grow stronger. The environment he was in had given him several ideas on what he ought to grow stronger.

Individuality was the name of the game, and it was a game that Rui was pretty good at.

"Hey," Kane walked over to him with a crooked grin on his face. "We succeeded. Good job."

The two of them smacked their hands against each other in a high-five before heading back to their dorm.

Rui expected a bit of peace from then on, intense training, yes, but monotonous and peaceful intense training.

He was wrong.

As they walked through the corridor to their chambers, they stepped to the side evading a crowd of guardians barging past them. The two of them exchanged a glance in confusion as they avoided getting trampled by the stampede.

"Hey, what's going on?" Kane stopped one of his new-found friends.

"Didn't you hear the news. The Kaddar Treat Organization has just declared open war with the Floating Sect!"