It was not a bad plan, not at all.
('Most Martial Squires do not get this opportunity,') Rui mused.
A good chunk of all Martial Squires was in nations with few or no Martial Seniors, the probability of them being able to earn a Martial Senior's time was far too low.
Even in nations that possessed Martial Artists of the upper Realms, it was not easy to gain the time and attention of Martial Seniors.
That was why the leaders of the Floating Sect dangling that as a carrot was effective. There were Martial Squires who would most certainly complete missions in order to get the insight of Martial Seniors.
This was especially true for the Martial Squires of the Floating Sect, who were driven enough to go out of their way to do things that they believed would be beneficial to their growth.
Martial Seniors were those Martial Squires who had successfully broken through, and thus knew what it took to break through to the higher Realms. Their insights were invaluable to Martial Squires.
"What do you say, 'Falken'?"
"Sounds good, 'Nake',"
The two of them were most certainly interested in this. Rui especially didn't mind spending more time with Senior Xanarn. She was definitely thoughtful and insightful, and she was definitely stronger.
He didn't mind getting closer to her either.
The two of them quickly fixed themselves some food as they were about to sit down at an empty table.
"Nake!" Someone called Kane out.
Rui furrowed his eyebrows, turning in surprise.
"Come here!" A young woman invited him to sit at a table with several others.
"You made friends?" Rui raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, they're fellow speed and maneuvering-oriented Martial Artists, what, are you jealous you don't have anything in common with anybody else asides from that one guy you broke mentally?" Kane smirked.
"Ouch," Rui huffed with a resigned smile.
The two of them proceeded over to the table.
ραndαsΝοvεl ƈοm "Hey, Fera, mind if my friend 'Falken' here joins us?"
"Everyone knows his name, it's no problem,"
"Pleasure to meet you all," Rui offered.
The two of them sat down while the conversation proceeded. Rui felt strangely nostalgic, this was something that he had experienced in the Academy, and also to a little degree in his previous life. It was like hanging out with friends at lunchtime.
"Speaking of which," Fera interjected, drawing his attention. "Who's going to apply for the round sparring training with Senior Xanarn?"
"I am, I want to see how the new technique I modified does against a Martial Senior."
"I also wanted to get her input as to why I feel like I haven't been getting stronger."
"I want to see if I can evade her attacks," Kane mentioned. "I might do better than almost everybody, maybe I'll even last the longest even if I do not contribute to the fight at all haha."
"You probably will," Fera raised an eyebrow. "I believe you're the only evasive maneuverer in our tenth class, no?"
"True... But there are other guardians who can be truly troublesome to land a strike on," Kane glanced at Rui meaningfully, throwing all the attention on him.
All of the guardians at the table grew silent as they grew confused.
"You're not a maneuvering-oriented Martial Artist, are you?" One man spoke up.
"I saw his fight against that bastard Seronin, he's an all-rounder, I think."
Rui sighed inwardly. He did not like being the center of attention. "Yes."
"You're selling yourself short," Fera turned back to Kane. "All-rounders are not specialists. He definitely is strong, but he cannot beat a specialist in their field of expertise."
"Perhaps, but I have learned never to bet against him." Kane smiled wryly. "Anyways, what do you think about this new maneuvering technique idea that I came up with..."
The maneuvering gang got absorbed into a conversation as Rui got absorbed into his thoughts. He did feel as though the stronger he grew, the less he was able to relate to other Martial Artists. The way he trained was different, the way he developed his Marital Art individualistically was different. His mental age was different from that of his peers, and correspondingly his maturity as well. On top of that, the depth of his Martial Art, and his entire thought process was just alien compared to theirs.
He had already experienced how different he was when he had Kane explain the way that he created the Fulminata technique. Listening to these Martial Squires talk about Martial Art and techniques just further drove the difference between them for him.
('They're kids,') Rui sighed as he felt tired just listening to their energetic and juvenile banter. He felt like an uncle being forced to watch his nephew and friends playing. He just wasn't able to get invested in their conversations, try as he might.
He would rather spend this time talking with someone his own age, mentally.
('Someone like Xanarn...') He couldn't help but recall last night.
She was still much younger than he was, of course, but she was still definitely leaning towards older nonetheless. Of course, she retained her youthful appearance by virtue of being a Martial Artist, so he wasn't able to tell. However, just by being a Martial Senior, he knew that there was no way she was old.
The conversations that they had were much more to his speed. His mind delved back into pleasant memories of the night just as he was interrupted
"Hey, are you listening?" Kane poked at his head.
"Hm?" He furrowed his eyebrows, turning towards Kane. "What."
"Do you want to join them in a mission for the Floating Sect to be able to partake in the Senior sparring sessions?"
Rui glanced at the four Martial Artists around the table. They certainly weren't weak, they couldn't be by virtue of being part of the Floating Sect, so he wasn't too concerned about that.
"It depends," Rui shrugged. "If there is a mission that suits six Martial Squires of our Martial Art, then sure."
