"There are solid advantages to symbiotic Martial Art." Fernan explained. "For one, it's easier to master powerful techniques once you obtain basic mastery of the symbiote."
Rui raised an eyebrow at those words, waiting for him to continue.
"There are symbiotic techniques with grade-ten potency but only grade-nine or sometimes even grade-eight difficulty!" He said, grinning smugly.
Rui's eyes widened at those words. Grade-ten potency techniques like God Speed, Void Step, All-Seeing Eye and Heart Permeation were all extraordinarily potent techniques with extraordinary difficulty. They could not be mastered without extreme talent, high affinity and immense amount effort. All of the grade-ten potency techniques that Rui had come across in the Apprentice library also had grade-ten difficulty. All grade-ten techniques were grade-ten in both power and difficulty
However, Fernan just told him that it was possible to obtain grade-ten potency techniques with lower difficult grades in symbiosis Martial Art!
Meaning it was possible to obtain that absurd power with significantly lower difficulty.
"That's... impressive." Rui admitted.
"Indeed." Fernan replied. "There're also other advantages like a greater diversity of utility. Surpassing your biological limits gives you options to do things that would be unfathomable otherwise."
Rui nodded. Flying with wings was one of them. He wondered how fast Fernan would become if he ever became a Squire, Martial Squires had all reached a level where they could propel themselves by simply stepping on air. Surely someone with wings would be able to do far more.
These two advantages alone were worth looking into symbiosis Martial Art when he had the time.
('Next training session for sure.') He noted, excited.
He didn't know what kind of symbiotic Martial Art technique he would pick, if he would even end up choosing one in the first place.
The two chatted for some time more until the event finally ended and guests and their representative fighters dispersed and returned.
Rui returned the Martial Academy that day, deep in thought. He had many things to consider. His most immediate goal was fulfilling the conditions of Squire candidacy. Missions helped him stabilize his growth so that he could bolster the new techniques he learnt with real combat experience rather than mediocre sparring experience he would have if cooped himself in the Martial Academy. It was also one of the reasons the Martial Academy had the learner's license provision.
It was so that Martial Apprentices could go out in the real world and understand where their true combat prowess and competence laid.
Rui could feel that he had grown just a bit stronger in the span of a week since he came out of training. Purely because he had grown more and more comfortable and familiar with his own strength. He wouldn't mind continuing missions until he felt himself stagnating.
However, he had an instinctive feeling that he was close to achieving Squire candidacy, just one last step away. When he had come out of training, he wasn't sure whether his Martial Art had achieved maturity or not. He was told he would be certain of it one day, but after the recent bit of experience he had accumulated, he could feel his Flowing Void Style only needed a bit more of growth before it reached maturity.
('Probably just one last training stage.') Rui mused to himself.
That was why he needed to have serious considerations about the notion of mastering symbiosis techniques in his next training stage. It would be quite crucial. Was it wise to try and delve into an exotic field like symbiotic Martial Art?
Thankfully, he still had some time. He wanted to enrich his experience and ensure his master over his current power had peaked. Not just in a sparring scenario, but in real combat as well.
When he returned, he had wanted immediately to jump into another mission, when he suddenly found Kane running up to him.
"Hey Rui, where you've been?" He asked hurriedly.
"Just came back from a mission, about pick another, why?"
"Well, you don't need to pick another." Kane shook his head. "It's been picked for you.
Rui's eyebrow lifted. "A mandatory mission from the Royal Kandrian government?"
Kane shook his head. "Not the government, the Martial Union itself."
"How do you know of this?" Rui frowned.
"Because you're not the only one who was picked." Kane replied.
"And Fae, Nel and Hever."
Rui frowned. "A mission involving the top five Martial Apprentices of the Martial Academy? What kind of mission is it?"
"Don't know yet." Kane sighed. "The mission breakdown will apparently occur at the Martial Union headquarters by an official Martial commissioner."
Rui's eyes widened at those words. The fact that the mission was being personally delivered at the Martial Union by a Martial commissioner meant that it was likely quite a lot more important to the Kandrian Martial Union than just standard mission. That also reflected in the Martial Artists that were chosen to undertake the mission.
"Well, let's go then." Rui urged.
The two boys immediately met up with the other five and they all dispersed for the Martial Union Hajin branch headquarters.
"What do you think the mission is about?" Fae wondered.
"Hard to say." Hever replied. "I've never been commissioned by the Martial Union itself."
"It's definitely a mission that affects the interests of the Martial Union itself." Rui murmured thoughtfully. "However, they commissioned Martial Apprentices. Even if it's distinguished Martial Apprentices like us, it means that the difficulty of the mission does not exceed the Apprentice-Realm, that's for sure."
He paused before continuing. "The fact they're hiring Martial Artists at all means that there's a conflict of interests that is affecting the interests of the Martial Union. That actually limits the possibilities by a lot. For starters, it's not a hunting mission, those are commissioned by the Ministry of Environment and Ecology. It's not primarily a covert mission, only Kane here is suited for high-grade shadow-class missions. That leaves offense-class and defense-class missions, maybe some weird miscellaneous mission. As well."
"So basically, we're going to be protecting somebody or attacking somebody." Kane concluded.