Chapter 1404: Path Forward

Rui heaved a sigh when he returned to the cliff from where he had embarked on the mission. The mission was a perfect success. Not a single guard had noticed him even as he ran right past all of them.

It was magical.

A genuinely surreal experience.

He came and went.

He was there and he wasn't.

The murder was so perfect that not only did nobody notice it, but nobody would ever know that the warlord was assassinated instead of contracting a disease that prevented him from waking up.

"Good job..." A voice from behind him startled him.

He glanced back to find Master Reina behind him.

To this day, he was unable to sense the substance of her body. It was as though she was a hologram. And it was only because she allowed him to see and hear her that he could.

While his newfound stealth with the Phantomind Void was incredible, he was still humbled by her ability to evade the mind and the senses. It was on another level entirely.

"...If not for the fact that you didn't kill him." She frowned. "Why is he still breathing? Did you go all that way to give him a good night's kiss?"

Rui smiled wryly before shaking his head. "I crushed the part of his brain that serves as the seat of the consciousness, he's as good at dead. I left him breathing and his heart beating because they're specifically looking for that while they monitor him. Now he's still dead as a sentient human being, and no one will know I killed him."

"Hmmm...there it is again," She noted keenly. "Your absurd familiarity with the human body. As far as I am aware. Not even the best researchers and scholars have learned the relationship between the brain and the mind. Why do you know the answer to the biggest questions, assuming you're not bullshitting?"

Rui glanced at her. He couldn't just tell her that neurology had come to a pretty certain consensus on the matter back on Earth.

"You'll see whether or not I'm bullshitting soon enough. Anyway, I completed the test you gave me. We're done here, right?"

"...I suppose we are." She glanced back at the fortress. "You have exceeded my expectations. Return for now, we have much to talk about."

She disappeared right before Rui, who immediately headed back for the Shadow Isles, passing through the Derschek Region as he did.

The Derschek Region experienced a period of stability once the assassination industry collapsed a year and a half ago. Rui could feel the increased sense of security in the air as he traveled through.

The many Martial Seniors, Squires, and Apprentices had either left the Derschek Region to escape the Voidreaper or had died at his hands. Either way, the Shadow Isles had become a barren wasteland that was largely devoid of any activity.

This allowed the forces of the Derschek Region time to breathe and catch their breath as the endless chain of assassinations of political leaders and their successors hadn't ceased since it began until eighteen months.

On one hand, many forces found it a shame that they lost access to a powerful weapon that could be used to get rid of their political enemies, while also being relieved that the same weapon could not be used to get rid of them.

Rui's actions led to the emergence of peace and stability in the region. Yet he didn't particularly care about that moment. He had arrived at the end of his time under the guidance of Master Uma with this.

She had given him a test to measure his capacity to kill, a particularly difficult assignment for even Martial Senior assassins. Not only had he completed it, he would have gotten an A+ had he been graded on the matter.

That signaled the end of their time together, yet Rui was relatively unperturbed. Although he did enjoy the time that he spent being guided by her, it would be time to move on very soon.

It wasn't long before he found himself in the secret chamber below Area Crina.

"You've come, sit." She instructed. "You've completed my assignment perfectly. It's almost time for you to leave. There are still some things I have to say and give."

"This is proof of your pupillage under me." She said as she presented him with a simple locket with a crest of darkness on it. "Only those I trust wholeheartedly know that about it. And it can come in handy should you ever run into them. You can choose to wear it or keep it aside, regardless."

Rui nodded, accepting the locket. "Thank you for this, I will cherish it."

She nodded. "And now, the thing that I'm sure you have been dying to know about for nearly a year and a half now."

Rui's eyes narrowed as he instantly grew more attentive.

"Tsk tsk, impatient, aren't you?" She tutted at the sight. "Relax, I'm not going anywhere."

Rui simply stared at her. He did not want to delay what was to come by replying.

"The truth of the Master Realm." She stated. "I know you've been wanting to hear about it for quite some time now. The fact of the matter is, just as Martial Seniors are entrusted with the duty of informing qualified Martial Squires of the truth about the Senior Realm, so too are Martial Masters. It's an even more important duty. The Master Realm is such that breakthrough rates to it will plummet substantially if Martial Seniors don't know about the truth."

She paused for a mind. "As you may have realized, the body has nothing else significant left to offer. As powerful and packed with potential as it is, all of that potential has been squeezed out and manifested with the Squire evolution process and the activation of the Martial Heart. While it will grow stronger, slowly and steadily, over time, that is not something that can be hastened or drawn out by additional techniques."

She stared deep into Rui's eyes with her own. "That begs the question that plagued all Martial Seniors at the time. What was the path forward?"