Those words intrigued Rui even after he departed from the lecture hall, bidding all the Martial Masters farewell.
He glanced up at Master Zentra, the Surgeon. The tall man had an appearance that seemed extraordinarily well-groomed. Rui's senses as a Martial Senior allowed him to deer into microscopic depths.
At that depth, most people were shabby and ungroomed, although that was certainly an unreasonable standard to hold anybody to.
Yet this Martial Master seemed to be extremely well-groomed even on a microscopic level.
This was a level of care that would most OCD patients to shame.
Rui wondered what relation it could possibly have to his Martial Art and Martial Path since they were almost certainly connected.
"Is it possible for me to create a Martial Sect, Master Zentra?" Rui asked the man.
"Theoretically, anybody can create a Martial Sect," the man replied. "It's just a semi-informal group centered around a field of Martial Art with the common interests of developing or spreading said field of Martial Art. In the context of the Kandrian Empire, Martial Sects also aim to secure as much support and capital for development from the Martial Union's fiscal budget allocation. So in order to qualify as a Martial Sect within the Kandrian Empire, you would need to have a seat in the Martial Union's annual budget allocation meeting."
"I see…" Rui mused. "So theoretically I could lobby for the Martial Union to invest more in, say, my Martial Path?"
The man glanced at Rui with a hint of amusement. "Generally, only Martial Artists of the Upper Realms are allowed into the meeting, though there are ways in which Martial Artists of the Lower Realms can partake in it, the circumstances leading to such an event are highly extenuating. You need to get the votes of more than fifty percent of all Martial Masters to be allowed into the budget allocation meeting."
"…" Rui had to admit that was indeed extraordinarily difficult.
"Still, I am personally of the opinion that you are worthy of partaking in the meeting as a voting constituent, I would be willing to raise the motion if you wish," The Martial Master informed Rui.
"…That is rather generous of you," Rui remarked.
He stopped before a guarded door, opening it and ushering Rui in. "It isn't. I believe that we need to invest in the future, rather than the past. You, young man, are the most promising element of the future that I see at the moment. It would be foolish for the Martial Union to hold back with you, regardless of whether you're an internal member or external."
Inside was a rather bland office with a set of documents on the table, one that did not befit a Martial Master of his renown.
"You flatter me," Rui remarked.
"That is incorrect," He remarked. "Regardless, we are not here to speak about that. Come, sit."
They took their seats. "The reason I was assigned this case was because it was relevant to my Martial Path; Maximized Physiological Control."
That was an interesting Martial Path, one that piqued Rui's curiosity.
"It is quite literal. I have an enormous amount of control over my body's metabolism, processes, and tissue, I also have informed myself on human anatomy and physiology, though nowhere near as much as yourself," He remarked with appreciative expression. "I was also tasked with deciphering your Hungry Pain technique, a task that I failed."
Rui wasn't sure what to say to that. Anything he could say only sounded like gloating to his ears.
"This document contains both our evaluation and your remuneration for the contribution that you have made," He remarked. "Headmaster Aronian informed me that he already went over the evaluation of the technique's value, thus I will limit myself merely to your remuneration. It is multi-faceted, so I will go over them one by one. Firstly and most straightforwardly, the monetary reward." This belongs to : ©.
He put a sheet of paper on the table, pushing it towards Rui. It was an itemized list that added up a bunch of numbers to the total reward that Rui would get.
His eyes widened when he read the number.
"Six hundred and thirty million Martial Credits…?" He murmured. "That's…"
That was far more than he could earn through missions within a reasonable timeframe. He was earning hundreds and thousands of Martial Credits as a Martial Squire, even if he earned a hundred times more as a Martial Senior, this would still require many, many years worth of completing missions to ever hope of reaching.
It was enough to buy a small country!
"It's the bare minimum," Master Zentra calmly informed him. "However, the value of Martial Credits decreases at the upper echelons of the organization. There are some Martial Masters who withdraw from the matters of the Martial Union and don't care about it. Martial Sages certainly don't care. At most, you can earn their time through the Martial Union, but they are unmoved if you try to leverage Martial Credits in any personal interaction. However, it is extremely useful everywhere else on the continent. The Kandrian Martial Union is a highly accredited powerful organization."
"…I see, still, this is quite substantial," Rui murmured. "I can do a lot with this, actually."
He already had a plan for what to do with the money he earned.
"Let us move on to benefits that may appeal more to your Martial Artist identity," The man remarked. "We can offer strategically valuable resources, such as high-grade potions that will enhance your Body and Heart by a significant percent. These resources are usually reserved for Martial Masters like myself, to ensure that our Bodies do not fall behind the newer and superior Martial Bodies of the younger generations that benefit from techniques like the Hungry Pain. These are usually created from extremely rare and powerful esoteric resources and would never be available for transaction under ordinary circumstances, but we have seen fit to give you this opportunity."
Rui's eyes flashed with interest. A weak Body and Heart had been his biggest shortcoming, one that he was simply powerless to fix, but he had already run into a solution.