The Martial Unity

The question was abrupt.

"No." Emperor Rael sighed. "Your grandmother insisted it was for the better. Perhaps she was right. Perhaps not. Only time will tell."

Rui stirred at those words.

"So grandmother Nephi knew…" Rui muttered. "She knew that I would go berserk and get myself into a lot of trouble."

He would need to speak to her later.

"Yet, not even she knew why what happened, happened." Emperor Rael gazed at Rui with an intrigued look. "She just inferred that it was necessary to allow you to make your choices rather than get rid of the freedom to choose in fear of its consequences. Not even she knows what drove you to do what you did."

"…I didn't do much," Rui quietly replied. "Just put to bed some demons of the past, that's all. In the process, I learned that I wasn't as grounded in my rationality as I liked to believe."

He glanced at his hands. "It objectively was a blunder of a decision by all metrics of cost-benefit analyses. However, I did it nonetheless. I didn't even hesitate."

Rui heaved a sigh with a displeased expression.

"People are irrational," Emperor Rael remarked. "You are no different. Neither am I or anybody else. Even your sister Rafia is no different, as much as she seems that way on the surface."

Rui snorted at the recollection of the Corporate Princess that he had eliminated from competition during the Kandrian Throne War. He had no idea what she or any of them had been up to since then, and he couldn't be bothered.

"It is good to know that you have been made aware of your capacity for irrationality," Emperor Rael cajoled him. "Only a fool comes to believe in the strength of their rationality. Such people often suffer the most for underestimating their ability to defy rationality. The more you are aware of it, the more you can avoid falling prey to it. The more you can make use of it."

Rui stirred. "Make use of it…? I don't know about that. Rationality is pretty important to me."

Rationality was simply a measure of how logical one's thoughts and actions were. In other words, some measure of rationality was needed to be able to use systems of thought effectively. The more irrational one was, the lower one's affinity for the Master Realm was.

That was why this recent revelation had shaken Rui a bit.

He hadn't known that he was this capable of knowing an action was entirely illogical and doing it without any hesitation nonetheless. Although he had known that he was irrational in his pursuit of Project Water, he hadn't been aware that it extended to matters beyond that.

He hadn't known that he was this capable of knowing an action was entirely illogical and doing it without any hesitation nonetheless. Although he had known that he was irrational in his pursuit of Project Water, he hadn't been aware that it extended to matters beyond that.

That was scary. He couldn't trust himself as much as he used to.

It also applied to his Martial Mind and systems of thought. If such a degree of irrationality appeared in battle when he was using his systems of thought, then it could impede their execution, making him weaker.

Of course, he wasn't unstable. He wouldn't randomly grow irrational out of nowhere without any particular reason.

"Irrationality is not a liability," the Emperor of Harmony explained calmly. "If anything, you're already aware of your lack of prowess in that regard. After all, your instinct and awareness are atrophied in comparison to your experience."

Rui stirred at his father's words. "I didn't make that connection. Hmm…"

"Most people depend on 'vibes.' They rely on their intuition and instinct," Emperor Rael continued. "They do not engage in chains of deductive and inductive logic to infer truth. For most people, the former is easier and something they grow increasingly well-accustomed to over time. But you…"

Emperor Rael smiled. "Things are the exact opposite."

"In other words, I have yet to make use of my irrationality." Rui raised an eyebrow with a dubious expression. "Outside of intuition and instinct, I find it hard to believe."

"Now that's irrational." Emperor Rael chuckled. "Tell me, why do you think we, as a species, are irrational? Why did we come to evolve to be this way? Why does any creature come to be this particular way instead of another way?"

"…Because it helps us survive and reproduce," Rui answered knowingly.

"Does it not follow that irrationality helps us survive?" Emperor Rael smiled. "Survival is important to Martial Artists, if I'm not wrong. Thus, irrationality is an asset to Martial Artists, as long as you are able to harness it."

Rui considered his logic as he fell into thought.

It was sound.

Different systems comprised what broadly was recognized as human irrationality. Emotions, in that regard, were incentive and disincentive systems that existed to discourage one from some actions while encouraging other actions. Pain and fear served as the stick while joy and pleasure served as the carrot.

"I don't see how most of this is going to help me in a battle, though. Or help me adaptively evolve," Rui muttered. "But I suppose the point of instinct and intuition stand. Although I literally have a technique called Primordial Instinct, it has failed more recently. Due to a lack of experience, I'm told. But I have already taken steps to rectify that. I have fought most of the Martial Masters in the Kandrian Empire. What I need is a war so that I can fight other powerful Martial Masters."

He directed a pointed look at his father.

"I'll see what I can do." Emperor Rael chuckled. "Now then—"

"Wait," Rui stopped him. "I have something important to talk about."

His father simply waited for him to continue.

"Tell me." Rui stared at him. "Did you once seek to genocide Martial Artists?"

His father seemed remarkably unperturbed by that question.

"Yes."

Rui narrowed his eyes, staring at his father with a piercing gaze.

He figured that the Panamic Martial Federation probably hadn't been lying when they chose to reveal that to him. It would be so easy to verify such a shallow falsity that it wasn't even worth engaging in such a crude measure of propaganda.

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