CHAPTER 2296: AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE
"It has truly been a long time, Your Highness," Charles Diviliers smiled as he shook hands with Rui. "The last time we met, you were just an Apprentice of some note. Now however..."
His pleasant smile deepened, "you have become one of the most important and significant figures of the entire nation. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect you to rise to the levels that you have."
Rui narrowed his eyes as he peered into the man's eyes and into his mind.
He could only sense sincerity.
"I see you haven't changed one bit despite your fall from grace, Chairman Diviliers," his tone was frosty.
He recalled how he used to partake in the Martial Games hosted by the man a long time ago; he had run into the now-deceased Prince Rajak back then, which tipped him to the fact that the man was associated with the Underworld.
"Ah, call me Charles," the man offered a humble smile. "I have, as you pertinently pointed out, from grace. I am no longer a powerhouse in the development industry, merely an appointee to my own company after it was absorbed by the government. Someone of your status need not pay me any regard."
The Royal Acquisition Act passed by his father allowed him to absorb companies found to be exceeding a certain threshold of crime with the intent of salvaging the parts of the company that were of too much value to the nation to be dissolved.
The once mighty Diviliers Industries that dominated the Martial tech development landscape as an oligarch had been cut down to size and absorbed into the Ministry of Commerce and Industry as a governmental program.
"Well then, Charles, you seem to be doing well, almost too well, in fact," Rui remarked as he sized the man.
His glorious long hair and beard were still immaculately groomed as he wore custom- tailored business suits that fit him like a glove, his left eye adorned a silver-gold monocle over it while he carried a cane with him by his side.
His words had been humble, yet his presence had not diminished by any means.
"I have been doing well," he readily admitted. "We live in an exciting age in changing times. I look forward to witnessing and contributing to the growth of the Kandrian Empire as the first nation to overcome The Great Limit."
He smiled at Rui. "I have a feeling that I can do so even more if I heed you. That was why I hastily accepted your appointment when I had the chance. I'm deeply curious about what the vaunted Dawnbringer wishes to do with a mere governmental servant like me."
Rui disliked people like him. Just listening to him speak irked him as the manner of his conduct was laden with deception.
Unfortunately, he was the best developer for Martial resources in the Kandrian Empire by far.
"I'm starting a sect around Adaptive Evolution."
Charles' eyes widened with surprise as his smile deepened. "You have my undivided attention and interest."
"My Martial Path is not the simplest to train. It isn't as simple as that of the Fire Sect or the Earth Sect," he began. "Thus, the resources needed to train them are also not so straightforward. I need the aid of an accomplished developer to create the training resources needed to train Adaptive Evolution efficiently."Exclusive content © by Nô(v)el/Dr/ama.Org.
The man fell into thought as his eyes flashed with interest and curiosity. "Indeed, Adaptive Evolution is not that simple as a concept, proficiency in it will be much more difficult to measure compared to other Martial Paths."
"On top of that, it is not mutually exclusive with other fields. In fact, it may very well be that to adapt to everything, one must master everything. Thus, you will need to create training resources for different parameters that I will go into at a later date."
"In other words, you need resources that can test and train Adaptive Evolution as an emergent field born from multiple other fields."
Rui nodded. "This is why I cannot go to the average Martial resource development company and make a demand like this. They simply lack the competence to get what I need to be done."
Charles nodded, still immersed in thought. "You were right to come to me. I can assure you that of the few people who are even qualified to undertake such projects, none of them are competitive with me. Share with me some of the details of what your vision is for Adaptive Evolution. Training resources are objective-oriented, which means that your vision for Adaptive Evolution is highly important."
Rui paused for a moment as he fell into thought.
His vision for Adaptive Evolution might sound like a simple question; however, in reality, it was extremely complicated.
"I...envision Adaptive Evolution as the application of one's self to maximize the probability of victory," Rui began. "In practice, that involves employing mind and body in a fashion that is most effective against any given opponent. It also ends with possessing the means to take them down while also being able to avoid or defend against their means of offense. It requires making the most optimal choices at any given moment. It tends to entail having balanced bodies. Thus, if I were to train Adaptive Evolution, it would be by subjecting myself to a variety of external forces and evaluating how I Adaptively Evolve and then mitigating any shortcoming with training."
"Hm, that was a clear and well-defined explanation of your Martial Path," he noted. "I'm accustomed to receiving many vague and unclear explanations from Martial Artists. It makes my job a lot easier. It means that the training resources need to be dynamic and able to subject the user to different kinds of forces and pressures that would force them to Adaptively Evolve in response, and their success rate can serve as some form of objective evaluation of their capacity to evolve adaptively. Repeated use will serve as training as they grow accustomed to growing adaptively evolving Martial fluently."
Rui nodded. "That is a good point to note."