Once the two of them had their evaluations done, Rui abstained from heading to purchase a training slot.
"You're not going to train?" Kane asked, frowning. "What was the whole point of getting that evaluation done?"
"I don't just want to jump into training for the sake of training," Rui told him. "I do intend to use this training opportunity to hone existing techniques, don't get me wrong. Sharpening the use of my existing tools is definitely important. There was an incredibly wise and awesome martial artist who once said 'I fear not the man who has practiced ten thousand kicks once, but the man who has practiced one kick ten thousand times.'"
"Ok…" Kane scratched his head. "So what's holding you back?"
"I would like to take this opportunity to accomplish more than just honing my existing techniques," Rui replied. "I would like to take this opportunity to learn something new."
Kane looked at him with raised eyebrows. "You intend to create a new technique? Here?"
"Sure," Rui nodded. "You shouldn't waste opportunities to explore your Martial Art."
"How are you even going to come up with techniques without training resources?"
"I've done it before," Rui shrugged.
"You took like half a year with training resources and my help for learning the Godspeed technique," Kane pointed out.
"True, but the Godspeed technique is grade-ten," Rui reminded him. "Not every technique needs to be grade ten."
"That is true," Kane admitted.
Rui had created multiple grade-ten techniques, and each of them was a hassle. They were huge projects of great difficulty and none of them were simple. Rui did not think that engaging in such a project was possible in these circumstances. Furthermore, he didn't want to get dragged up into a mindset where he thought that techniques other than grade-ten techniques were worthless.
This simply wasn't true. The grade-ten technique certainly granted the user prowess above the conventional limits of the Squire Realm in some way or the other, without a doubt. However, they usually came with drawbacks and requirements that other techniques did not have. They also had grade-ten difficulty in mastery and utility, which meant that they were taxing to use.
Furthermore, most of his combat prowess came from more normal, albeit still high-grade Squire-level techniques that he had learned over time. If he had to choose between his more ordinary techniques and grade-ten techniques, he would choose the former. They were the ones that he used the most and the ones that constituted his normal fighting style.
"You go on ahead," Rui told Kane. "I have some things to figure out."
Kane nodded. "See you,"
Once Kane left, Rui introspected. What kind of technique could he look into creating today?
('Obviously, it has to be an offensive technique,') Rui mused.
The next thing he had to figure out was whether he ought to create a long-range technique or a close-range technique.
('I have enough long-range technique unless I'm working on a brand-new concept that will give me an edge that my other techniques cannot, it's just not worth pursuing at the moment,') He shook his head inwardly.
It had been a while since he developed a short-range technique. The Forestep technique ended up being a supplementary technique that was applicable to techniques of all ranges. Thankfully, he had already gotten a concept in mind from his time in the Shionel Dungeon. He had gotten inspiration for many techniques in the Shionel Dungeon. He hadn't had time to realize them in his previous training arc, after all, he was focused on creating the Forestep technique that allowed him to deal with the Root, but even that battle had given him inspiration for new techniques.
It was just that he didn't have any time to consider the potential techniques that he had come up with ideas for. Immediately after the fight ended, he had been focused on not dying, and once he finally healed, he noticed the escape of one of the Martial Squires. Only now, several days later, had he had the chance to think about new techniques.
He recalled the time in his fight against the Root when he used the Flux Earther technique partially to aid his evasion of the Root. By converting the kinetic energy of the Root's attacks into the kinetic energy of his own body in an elastic collision, he could use the Root's kinetic energy to propel him forward.
That had him wondering about something.
('Can I use my attacks to propel my opponents away instead of hurting them using the same mechanics?') Rui wondered.
In his mind, he imagine launching a powerful attack at his opponent, but instead of hurting them, he instantly sent them dashing away at extremely high speeds like a rocket. Normally, he would be inclined to just hurt them with his attack rather than launch them away, but there were circumstances where he couldn't afford to waste time dealing with them, it was convenient to be able to simply get rid of them, giving him a chance to disengage and get away from them.
('It would also be useful in this situation,') Rui glanced toward the ocean that the Martial Artists were keeping at bay. It would be perfect if he could create a technique that used his power and efficiently converted it into kinetic energy for the water of the waves, exclusively propelling them backward.
In fact, if successful, he suspected that he would be extremely effective at dispelling the water of the incoming ocean. After all, he would be efficiently converting all his power into momentum for the ocean water in the opposite direction. While other techniques would have to rely on inelastic collisions with water where the transfer of power was inefficient and ineffective.
Rui grew excited at the prospect of it, now all he needed to do was come up with the mechanics of the technique and iron out the theoretical framework of the technique until it was ready to be applied in practice for the ocean.
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