Rui stared at him, meeting his intense piercing eyes. The weight and the presence that this man commanded pushed down on the air, making it grow taut.
"You're the third person to have said something along those lines in the past week," Rui replied, turning forward, and gazing into the distance. "I am not unfamiliar with the reasons behind it, but I find it curious that important and powerful people have been interested in a Martial Sect centered around adaptive evolution."
"Your Martial Art is more important than you profess," The Minister replied. "If we are able to spread even elements of it across the Kandrian Empire and Martial Art as a whole, we can empower Martial Art in ways you would not have imagined impossible."
"Well, if I wouldn't have imagined it possible, then I wouldn't have reason to support it, would I?" Rui replied pedantically.
"Hear me out, young man," The Minister grew more serious. "We have reason to believe that your Martial Art can improve the probability of the breakthrough to the Master Realm in the future."
Rui narrowed his eyes, turning to the minister silently. He had already deduced the reason for this belief from just the man's words alone.
Still, he wasn't inclined to be cooperative over a matter that he had no personal interest in.
"This is a consensus that Chamber of Masters and I have come to agree upon," The man remarked. "The state of Martial Art is such that Martial Seniors struggle to break through to the Master Realm because the potential of thought is a power that is not only alien to most of them but even opposite to the potential of the body in many ways. The affinities of Martial Artists are more often than not slanted overwhelmingly towards the body than the mind. There are very few truly defiant exceptions."
He turned to Rui. "Exceptions like yourself. We believe that we can improve the rate of breakthroughs to the Master Realm eventually if we spread diluted elements of your Martial Art in the lower Realms with a lowered barrier of entry. Doing this will increase the familiarity and affinity of Martial Artists for the Master Realm, allowing them to break through with much less difficulty."
"Is the breakthrough to the Master Realm that much harder than the breakthrough prior?" Rui wondered. "Most certainly," The Minister confirmed. "It is the most difficult breakthrough barring that of the Transcendent Realm."
Rui grew interested and apprehensive by what he heard. Master Reina had already informed that his breakthrough to the Master Realm was going to be particularly difficult due to how powerful his mind and thoughts were.
It wasn't going to be easy, but the gains were going to be extremely worth it.
"So if I'm to understand you correctly…" Rui began. "You wish to familiarize Martial Artists with the power of thought by spreading diluted and simplified elements of my Martial Art, to increase their affinity for thought and make the process of breaking through to the Master Realm easier?"
"Precisely," The Minister remarked. "We were first alerted to the possibility of this plan when Master Deriol Ceeran broke through to the Master Realm last year. He had informed us that you had imparted to the Ranger Sect a technique that harnessed the power of thought that was unlike anything he had ever seen in his entire life. He told us about how you helped him master what was otherwise impossible for him. After you left, he worked on it, adapting it to his needs, imbuing it with his individuality, and eventually forming the rest of his Martial Mind atop it and broke through to the Master Realm in combat." owns this.
Rui's eyes widened.
No wonder Master Ceeran had been particularly driven to see Rui again!
The Pathfinder technique that he had given the man had been of extraordinary help to him, allowing him to actually worm his way to the Master Realm when he had been struggling previously.
"Naturally, we conducted our investigations on you, examining past data, and found his already credible claim to be supported based on our profile on you. Since then, the idea to spread elements of your Martial Art has gained a decent amount of support."
"No wonder…" Rui murmured. It had been a little over a week since he returned, yet the Martial Union had already expressed a lot of very unusual interest in his Martial Art and particularly the idea of creating his own Sect.
He recalled when Master Iskan randomly brought up the idea of creating his own sect after his presentation ended. In hindsight, that was not spontaneous at all. That was most likely an intended suggestion from the Fire Sect that he represented. The Surgeon too had been quite supportive of him forming his own Sect despite him being merely a Martial Senior. He even went as far as to offer to raise a motion to allow Rui to be a voting constituent in the annual fiscal budget allocation meeting.
Everything clicked into place with the revelation that the Minister revealed to him.
Rui breathed deeply as he glanced back at the Minister of Martial Art who faced Rui head-on in his proposal. "So the idea is that you'll aid me in the creation of my own sect to secure more resources for the spreading of my Martial Art?"
"Precisely so."
"And what exactly do I get for all of this labor?" Rui raised an eyebrow. "I assure you that I alone am the only one who is capable of creating the diluted and simplified elements of my Martial Art that you intend to spread. What do I gain from all this effort? It may be for the good of Martial Art, but as you are aware, I have already done more than my fair share of doing for Martial Art."
He implicitly reminded the Minister of the Hungry Pain technique. There was a limit to Rui's generosity, as far as he was concerned, they should be grateful for the fact that he went out of his way to submit the Hungry Pain technique to them.