"You two are back already?" Squire Ferilwal glanced at the two of them with an expression of shock. "It hasn't even been ten minutes!"
She felt something was wrong. She recalled how strong the two of them were when she tested their prowess. Although Rui was strong, she didn't get the impression that she was this strong. He was either holding back or had gotten stronger.
She had a feeling it was both.
However, what truly surprised her was Kane. Kane's performance had long become known in Crexeet Town. What surprised her was that she recalled that Kane was definitely nowhere near as strong as he was these days back when she first tested him. He had grown much stronger in a very small span of time.
Both of these Martial Squires broke common sense in different ways, they were a pair that she was unable to understand.
"Would you rather we took longer?" Rui snorted as he dropped the corpses of the enemy Martial Squires. "Inform the mayor that this is our last deployment."
"Eh? You're leaving?" She asked with an alarmed tone.
"Yes, we have accomplished what we came for," Rui replied. "And now we're done."
"But…" Her voice faltered as she realized that their remarkable prowess had been something that they had begun depending on to a certain extent.
She considered trying to persuade both of them to stay somehow, but she quickly realized that that was hopeless that was.
They did not need anything, nor was there anything particularly alluring to the two of them. Rui especially felt like he would fair just fine without the town.
"Thank you for your services," She sighed.
The two of them quickly gathered their things before leaving. Rui did not want to give the wishy-washy mayor of the town a chance to try and convince them otherwise. He was fine without having that conversation, even if it meant skipping out on the gratitude of the town and whatnot.
"Where to next?" Kane asked with a cheery smile.
"You seem happy to leave," Rui remarked. "Do you dislike the town that much?"
"It has nothing to do with the town, I'm just glad I accomplished what I came to accomplish," Kane replied. "It's a great sensation of accomplishment and satisfaction."
Rui smiled, he could definitely relate.
He had created multiple grade-ten techniques capable of incredibly great feats, and each he succeeded, it was an incredible feeling of deep satisfaction. He had felt that way when he created the Pathfinder technique, the ODA System was nothing short of a highly sophisticated mental software that extrapolated trajectory, allowing him to accurately batter his opponents from ranges that were otherwise something that only a Martial Senior would be able to do.
The greatest satisfaction he got was from the VOID algorithm, although he hadn't entirely realized it. He recalled the first time that he had used the pattern recognition systems of the VOID algorithm, it was truly one of the most euphoric moments of his life.
"Where do we go next?" Kane asked. "I know that it is further west, but surely we have someplace to go before we hit the western end of the continent, yes? Traveling straight to the other end of the continent will take far too long even with our speed."
"True," Rui nodded. "However, I do have some places in mind. There are all the prior places that I mentioned. We could start with those."
"Ahhh… the mountain where people go to endure weight in their body…" Kane made an odd face. "I'll pass."
"It's a mountain that sits on mist though," Rui's eyebrows furrowed. "That's an unbelievable phenomenon, don't you want to witness it?"
"Witness, sure," Kane admitted. "But I have no interest in training my raw durability."
Rui sighed, shaking his head, amused. "You can't avoid training your body to be tougher forever Kane, you shouldn't. I could save your life one day."
"Hey, I'm an evasive maneuver, I avoid things that could threaten my life. I'd rather focus on that," Kane huffed.
"Uh huh," Rui sighed, resigned. "Well, I have good news. I found a good place where it will soon be a good time to be a Martial Artist."
"Oh?" Kane glanced at Rui with interest. "What do you have in mind?"
"You remember the floating Ajanta islands?" Rui asked.
"Yeah, I sure do," Kane's eyes lit up in interest. "I would not mind going there at all, that sounds fun."
"Indeed it does," Rui nodded. "That will be our next location."
"Nice, anything to note about the place?" Kane asked.
"Plenty," Rui replied. "It is said that the gravity atop the island is extremely high, making even standing atop the island a form of training. It is said that air pressure is unbearable due to that, so it also serves as a place to train one's breathing techniques there."
Breathing techniques were extremely common across all fields in Martial Art. Breathing as an action was extremely fundamental to the sustenance of the human body. Thus the floating Ajanta islands were extremely attractive to all Martial Artists within a certain range of power.
Just like the Umiana Trench, and the Thundering Valley, the island was a place that was restricted solely to Martial Artists due to the sheer inhabitable conditions of the island.
"Still," Kane shrugged. "That doesn't sound very fun, honestly. That sounds like it could get dull very quickly, a boring place beyond the initial awe."
Rui furrowed his eyebrows as turned towards Kane with a disapproving expression. Perhaps it was because Kane was born in a fantastical world that such things were not nearly as shocking to him. His 'normal' was fantastical and exotic compared to the things that Rui had been exposed to when he considered his first life. A floating island was something that the people would have killed to see or have back in his previous life.
"That's not the only thing one will do in that place," Rui told him. "The floating island is not a place of peace… It is a harsh place where even entering is said to be a challenge."
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