The Martial Unity

The students of the academy had been puzzled when the headmistress of their Martial Academy had suddenly halted all their activities and summoned them to inform them that they would be carted off for some special training.

Much to their surprise, the Martial Academy didn't even tell them where they were going. After they stepped out of their carriages, they were assembled in a training field and told to await further instruction.

It was truly puzzling.

Normally, the Martial Academy was a lot more transparent with any and everything that they wanted the students to do. Thus, it was highly unusual for them to act in such a manner.

Many of them wanted to leave, yet they didn't even know where they were.

"Tsk, did they just bring us here to while away time?!"

"I'm sure they have something in mind."

"I wish they would tell us," another complained. "It's super boring doing nothing here!"

Eventually, however, something changed.

They grew stunned as an army of clones appeared before them out of nowhere.

Clones of themselves.

They were identical in every conceivable fashion in not just physicality, but in terms of mannerisms too.

"What the-?!"

"What is happening?"

"This must be part of a test."

They took their stance with uncertainty as the army charged toward them aggressively. Each clone sought its original, picking a fight with them immediately.

The students soon got embroiled in a rather brutal battle with themselves.

Much to their shock, their clones not only looked and acted like them, but they fought identically to themselves as well!

On top of that, their combat power was identical as well.

This meant that each battle was entirely symmetric and brutally even. Not a single person was able to emerge dominant in their battles, while it took them every ounce of their power to not be overcome by their own clone.

Struggle as they did, the fights continued without pause.

"I see." An elderly feminine voice remarked at a distance, watching what unfolded amongst the students. "I understand how this can increase the probability of breakthroughs substantially, Your Highness."

Her eyes shifted to Rui, who stood in the sky beside her, operating his hypnosis on the unsuspecting students that tussled with his hyper-realistic illusions.

"This exercise will instill deep amounts of self-awareness in them," she continued with a knowing tone. "After all, seeing one's self from the outside is a perspective that has the most to offer yet is the hardest to attain. You are able to give it to them in abundance. No wonder His Sagehood, the Flashing Flier, informed me that you would be able to significantly hasten their discoveries to the Master Realm."

Her attire bore the crest of the Martial Academies, signifying her position as headmistress of one of the sixteen Martial Academies of the Kandrian Empire. Rui nodded silently, focusing on his hypnosis.

"Your gifts are priceless," she murmured faintly as she fully comprehended the ramifications of Rui's ability. "This can elevate the Kandrian Empire to unprecedented heights along with the manifold and the Divine Doctor."

Rui smiled wryly, instantly understanding exactly how much she knew and what stage his father was when it came to disseminating all the information about his plan.

"You know," she continued. "Had anyone told me that the runner-up from the Apprentice-level Martial Contest nearly twenty-five years ago would go on to change the country as much as you have, I would have laughed in their face. Yet, here we are."

Rui recalled that she had been the headmistress of her Martial Academy even back then, just like Headmaster Aronian. That was undoubtedly the first time she had ever heard of him.

From her point of view, it was jarring to see an ultimately insignificant Apprentice rise through the years to the heights that he had.

It made her feel old and outdated, reminding her of her own stagnated power.

She had long given up on reaching the Sage Realm. Any Martial Drive that she once had had long fizzled away, leaving behind a person without any more ambition or desire for any more power. It was why she had stepped away from the battlefield, and instead taken on the important mantle of headmistress, assuming the duty of ensuring that Martial Art constantly received a fresh supply of new Martial Artists each year. Yet, now that she had seen one of the students far surpass her in every dimension conceivable, she had to admit that she hadn't taken it as well as she would have liked.

It couldn't be helped, after all. This was the first Martial Master to emerge from the Martial Academies since she had taken office seventy years ago. Reaching the Master Realm took an enormous amount of time; thus, she had always thought that this significant event would require decades more.

"Headmistress."

Rui drew her attention, gesturing at the crowd of students down below with a smile.

"We have our first breakthrough."

Her eyes widened with shock as she sensed the faint yet unmistakable aura of a Martial Apprentice down among her students. "…That is far earlier than I anticipated!"

Her stunned gaze shifted back to Rui.

"If you can trigger breakthroughs with this little time working on the subjects, then…"

The ramifications were scary to even consider.

"We're not done yet, headmistress," Rui smirked. "I hope you're able to secure a greater budget of expenditure from the Martial Union because you're going to need it to expand the Martial Academies when they're overflowing with Martial Apprentices, I'm afraid."

A moment later, several more students discovered their Martial Paths in the heat of battle, breaking through to the Apprentice Realm.

They added weight to the veracity of his words.

Rui grinned as he pushed each student to their very limits as they learned more about themselves in the past five minutes than they had during their entire time at the Martial Academy. As long as Kandria could persist, it would reach unprecedented heights of power.

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