"Zenshin..." A woman remarked, approaching a burly man deep within a training facility. "What are you doing?"

"Nereau..." The man growled. "How many times have I told you to not disturb me while I'm training?"

"If you train twenty-four hours a day, then it is impossible to speak to you without disturbing you," She snorted. Stop doing that, or stop being a leader, if you want to be undisturbed."

The man didn't respond immediately. Instead, he continued sharpening his nails against a particularly strange ore, sharpening and hardening them the more he went at it.

"What do you want?"

"We got an order from Master Haishi," Senior Nereau remarked. "She is ordering us to double our output over the next week."

Senior Genshin paused his training. "...What?"

"They're going to be rapidly stepping up supply to spread the product more in the Mantian Region of the empire," She sighed. "She wants us to hasten our freelancer hiring so that we can expand the scale of our operations rapidly instead of waiting for HQ to send us the labor we need."

"...Hmph. Relay that to the manager. I don't handle managerial duties. The only thing we are here is to do is to lead and ensure that the operations proceed according to Lord Carnil's desires, and protect them from those that seek to sabotage us." The man snorted as he went back to sharpening his nails.

"That's not even the main message. They want to establish a base inside the Great Forest of Hypnonarak and grow narcotic plants as crops within this shielded facility," She heaved an even deeper sigh. "Master Haishi said that Don Carnil himself has decided to invest and go all out in this venture."

Not even Senior Zenshin could remain unmoved when greeted with such an ambitious plan.

"...Ambitious, as expected of him," Senior Zenshin muttered with a hint of admiration.

"Hah," She snorted. "You are the one that's going to shoulder the burden of this absurd plan. Even putting aside the countless practical hurdles and impediments that will need to be overcome, the sheer amount of funds such an ambitious project will warrant, the biggest problem is the Hypnomaster."

She clenched her fist. "We can deal with any Martial Senior, but that being... We cannot deal with him. This is his forest, one that he created. I don't think we should provoke him."

"If we are threatened with a Martial Master, then Lord Carnil will send Martial Masters. Simple as that," Senior Zenshin gruffly declared. "Most likely Master Haishi herself will take action since she is monitoring our progress."

"You know it's not that simple," Senior Nereau gritted her teeth. "I don't question Master Haishi's formidable prowess, however, the Hypnomaster is not someone to be trifled with."

Senior Zenshin paused, glancing at her with a dangerous glint in his eyes. "Are you implying that she can't win?" owns this.

"I'm implying that she shouldn't try to," Senior Nereau narrowed her eyes. "I don't know who is stronger, however, even if she is stronger, this is the Hypnomaster's domain, and the mental consumption of the forest works in his favor. We already supply dozens of tons of narcotic substances annually, isn't that enough?"

"It's not enough," Senior Zenshin growled. "it's not enough because Lord Carnil says it's not enough. That's all you need to know. You're not a strategist or a leader. You're a Martial Artist, you don't need to think, you need to fight."

"Are you saying Martial Seniors don't need to think?" She raised an eyebrow. "If that is your philosophy, then it is no wonder you've remained a high-grade Martial Senior for centuries."

Senior Zenshin paused his conditioning training once more.

She had struck a nerve.

It was not a secret that despite training non-stop for centuries, Senior Zenshin was still some ways away from the Master Realm. As a Martial Artist who had reached the upper ends of the Lower realms, he strongly and gravely desired to reach the vaunted Upper Realms.

Every Martial Senior knew that Martial Masters were cut from a different cloth. It wasn't just that they were stronger, it was as though they had attained a higher state of life. It was as though they had attained a touch of godhood.

It was as though they were fundamentally different beings from Martial Seniors.

While Martial Seniors simply wielded more raw power than Martial Squires, Martial Masters wielded the same power. They wielded the exact same physical power in seemingly mystical ways that resulted in magical outcomes.

Of course, it wasn't genuinely supernatural. He had long been informed of the truth of the Master Realm and the path forward towards it.

However, the path forward to the Master Realm was more difficult than he had ever experienced.

Using the power of thought to astronomically empower and elevate one's combat? What kind of nonsense was that?

How could thinking harder make one stronger in the middle of combat?!

He didn't understand.

He didn't understand how thought and mind could be such a powerful force. It made no sense to him. If thought were such a powerful force, then wouldn't all those combat researchers also be very strong? Didn't they spend most of their time thinking about the science of combat?

He didn't understand.

He knew that he wasn't alone either.

Most Martial Seniors felt this way. Most of them received basic education so that they wouldn't make utter fools of themselves, many of them did not even receive a proper education. They trained their damndest from a young age to get into the Martial Academy and were set on the path of Martial Art.

That was why when the few of them reached the Senior Realm and were confronted with the Martial Mind, they were dumbfounded. It had taken Senior Zenshin more than a decade before he could even begin taking a step, and then several more decades to make even the first hint of progress.

"Don't go there," Senior Zenshin growled as bloodlust oozed from his demeanor. "Not if you want to die."

"Hmph, you bestial oaf," She snorted. "Last thing I came here to tell you. It's time for the operation, let's go."