He could tell why the Martial Squires that led him to the meeting room eyed him carefully, frowning mildly. He had carefully stuffed this makeshift with the same insulating esoteric substances that jammed sensing in the Shionel Dungeon.
He was not stupid, he was certain that the Guildmaster of the Shionel Merchant Guild would make at least one attempt to figure out his identity. He was pretty sure that there existed Martial Squires that could track his identity or his location through their senses. Thus Rui had gone to great lengths to ensure that that was not possible. He had taken multiple measures to ensure that there was no way that they could figure out his identity otherwise.
CLACK
They opened the door, before gesturing inside. "The meeting will be conducted inside,"
Rui found two other Martial Squires inside, as well as a strange and sophisticated contraption at the end of the room.
There was no sight of Guildmaster Bradt.
"Is this a trap?" Rui asked calmly and openly.
The two stared at him for a moment before one walked forward, pressing a few buttons.
FVOOM
Suddenly the device projected an image of an elderly man sitting on a chair on the other side of the table.
"If it was a trap, Voider, what would you do?" Guildmaster Bradt's projection asked.
('Three-dimensional projection, eh?') Rui's eyes widened as he admired the technology. This was definitely extremely advanced esoteric technology that probably required rare and powerful esoteric substances. He wouldn't be surprised if it had high-energy demands. That would explain why he had literally never heard of such technology before.
Still, he wasn't too taken aback. Three-dimensional technology was abundant in the vast fictional media industries of Earth.
He had predicted that Guildmaster Bradt would not be personally arriving, that was extremely dangerous, to an unnecessary degree
"Threaten you," Rui replied.
Guildmaster Bradt narrowed his eyes. The obvious question that was presented was how Rui intended to threaten him if he wasn't in the room, but it became evidently clear, that he was confident enough for whatever he had in mind.
"With what?" Guildmaster Bradt's stared at him sharply. "Are you hiding explosives under your thick full-body attire?"
"Hah, you already know that is not the case, don't you?" Rui chuckled, before shaking his head. There was no way that he had already undergone covert security checks the second he entered the guild branch.
"True," Guildmaster Bradt admitted. "It's also curious as to why I shouldn't order my men to capture you for tax evasion and breaking into my office illegally. Anything you have to say to me, I can hear after you're at my complete mercy, don't you think? I could legally make you my slave and force you to work for me against your will."
"You could," Rui admitted. "But you would lose a lot in the process."
"Like what? Enlighten me,"
"The Shionel Dungeon, and all of the Martial Squires inside," Rui replied.
"What?" The man's eyes narrowed.
His expression did not betray much emotion, but Rui could feel the tension in the room instinctively.
"Did you know… that there are a lot of special Martial Art techniques in this world?" Rui asked lightly. "They can do all sorts of things, you won't believe the kind of things that they allow us Martial Artists to do."
"Get to the point," The man growled.
"Among the many techniques that I have mastered. I have a technique that allows me to increase my projected power and sense of danger to other creatures that have an evolutionary sense of danger to them," Rui explained. "It allows me to project danger that exceeds the limits of the Squire Realm."
"You…" Guildmaster Bradt's eyes widened.
"Here's a question, Guildmaster Patrick, do you know what happens to a dungeon, when it faces a significant enough threat?" Rui asked as a smile formed under his mask.
The two Martial Squires grew increasingly tense as Rui began mounting a great amount of pressure reaching, reaching the peak of the Squire Realm. The sheer pressure he exerted was stronger than anything that they had sensed in the Squire Realm.
"When a dungeon faces a perceived threat that is evaluated to exceed its acceptable threshold… then it triggers a retaliatory response, it throws everything towards the threat until it's out of range, or eliminated. In doing so, it warps its structure, inevitably causing a lot of damage," Rui explained some common knowledge as he noted the increasing tension in the room, turning towards Guildmaster Bradt. "It would be a shame if something like that happened right now, wouldn't it?"
Then, for just the briefest of moments, he put on the most powerful Mind Mask that he was possibly able to produce. The ten months of continuously using this technique during his time on Vilun Island massively increased his proficiency with this technique due to the continuous usage of the technique.
On top of that, he had grown much stronger than he was when he first joined Vilun Island. Having mastered a technique and undergone strength training for the G'ak'arkan technique that he had mastered as well as the development of the Transverse Resonance and the new set of techniques and tactics that he created had put him well above where he was a year and a half ago.
If his strongest Mind Mask back then produce a grade-ten Squire-level aura, then what would his very best be currently?
For less than a millisecond, a powerful Senior-level aura descended in the area. The Martial Squires in the area shuddered as they felt a sense of danger that transcended the Squire Realm!
It disappeared as quickly as it appeared, yet before the Martial Squires could even feel relief, they felt a wave of light tremors through the ground.
RUMBLE
"You…!" Guildmaster Bradt's expression had turned severe as he understood what had happened from the tremors, as well as the reaction of his Martial Squires.
"Heh," Rui chuckled lightly. "That was dangerous. I only maintained it for the briefest of moments to prove I could do it, but it still reacted nonetheless. Looks like the Shionel Dungeon did not appreciate that. No sir, it did not."
He turned towards Guildmaster Bradt, leaning forward. "Now then, what was that about making me your slave?"
