CHAPTER 1254 DEPENDENCE

"Correct," The man nodded. "This is not an uncommon approach among powerful organizations and nations that have a Martial Sage on retainer. Primordial seed is an extremely bizarre and absurd substance that is highly inscrutable, and difficult to understand. I do not possess a good understanding of the current state of research, but from what I understand, there still isn't a single consensus on what exactly is happening with this substance or a leading theory. That is why the scientific community turned to the power of Martial Art to aid them where their own capabilities failed them."

There was a smug expression on his face. 

Rui understood his sentiment. It was good to know that the scientific community depended on Martial Art instead of the other way around.

"So the information that the Virodhabhasa Faith does have on the primordial seed is derived partially from a Martial Sage's insights? Hence making it extremely valuable?" Rui raised an eyebrow.

"That is correct," The Master nodded. "Much more valuable than if the information was acquired through more grounded means."

"I see…" Rui sighed, shaking his head. "It's fine, I guess it will have to wait. I did not know that Martial Artists played a role in the upper echelons of esoteric material science."

Master Deivon smirked. "It is one of the ways that we strive to gain and maintain leverage over the lab geeks and nerds, you see. Many discoveries and breakthroughs have only occurred because of the aid of Martial Masters and Sages."

As someone who has spent his entire previous life as one of those lab geeks and nerds, Rui was unable to partake in the humor.

"Well, it is good that we have some form of leverage, because there is no doubt that they have a lot of it over us," Rui remarked lightly. "The Squire evolution breakthrough process is a marvel of technology, and improving it is also a field of technology, not Martial Art."

Master Deivon sighed with a complicated expression, betraying the the severity of the issue within the Virodhabhasa Faith. 

"It is unfortunate that the Martial Path ends at the Apprentice Realm without this wonderful technology," Master Deivon sighed. "One of Theocracy's greatest fears is that there may come a day where it may be used to control Martial Apprentices across the world. Gaining such leverage so early will forever allow one side to dictate the relationship. Ensuring that such a future does not come to pass is one of the missions that the Virodhabhasa Faith has undertaken. We have employed many secretive and hidden measures that serve as a failsafe to ensure that Martial Artists never lose control of the breakthrough to the Squire Realm."

Rui nodded, when he recalled something prudent.

"Hidden measures like… Spreading the Squire evolution breakthrough to insular Martial Art oriented groups that are disconnected from the greater human civilization?" Rui asked, raising an eyebrow.

That immediately drew Master Deivon's focus. "How did you know that? It is clear that that was not a guess."

Rui couldn't believe that he actually hit the mark on the head.

"I've come across some groups like that in the past," Rui explained. "I was rather surprised that such primitive and insular groups possessed the breakthrough to the Squire Realm. I had always felt this was a bit engineered."

Rui did not specify that he had visited Vilun Island, there was a good chance that that would give away his identity.

Considering the good relationship between the Shionel Confederation and the Virodhabhasa Faith, he did not want to risk a data leak to people he had made an enemy out of.

"Hm," Master Deivon considered his words before nodding. "We do spread the breakthrough to the Squire Realm to certain groups to ensure that they don't get controlled by an organization that does possess the breakthrough method. If we allow technocratic powers to manipulate Apprentice-level forces, then we will be sowing the seeds of our destruction, they will be able to manipulate and indoctrinate an entire generation of Martial Artists." owns this.

Rui was actually glad that the Virodhabhasa Faith took this possibility seriously. Prior to the age of Martial Art, Martial Apprentices were strong enough to be assets, but too weak to resist being controlled by the power of many; militaries, states, and organizations. He did not want this relationship to ever return. 

The only way Martial Artists could ensure this never happened was through dominant power and independence, and both of those were not easy to achieve. Martial Art was quite powerful, but he knew better than anybody else what science was capable of. In a way, the people of Gaia were actually restricted by esoteric substances because it made it difficult for them to formulate comprehensive scientific theories about the nature of reality that allowed for truly sophisticated technology.

Earth's technology could accomplish things that the esoteric technology of Gaia could not, due to the difference in the sophistication of technology. Earth was much more limited and was forced to make the absolute best of what it had, squeezing the most utility and potential out of compounds and elements because of how limited they were. Gaia, instead had too much, there was no drive to make the absolute best out of every single esoteric substance when there were so many esoteric phenomena that the scientists of Gaia could barely keep up.

It was not inaccurate to say that the world was still in a phase of exploration rather than refinement.

When Rui thought about the wonders that would be possible if one fused the sophistication of Earth with the magic of Gaia… He could not help but be worried whether Martial Art would be able to keep up in such a hypothetical scenario.

If it could, it would be left to the Martial Artists of the Upper Realms. It would be up to Masters, Sages, and Transcendents to prove that Martial Art could keep up with the growing powers of esoteric science. 

Ideally, he preferred a civilization where they were equally balanced and cooperative given that he still retained his scientist mindset to a certain degree, but the clash of interests made it hard for such a thing to be truly feasible.