Rui’s eyes raised his eyes in interest. It was possible for him to exchange lesser version of the VOID algorithm to the Martial Union for things he truly needed in the future. As far as potency went, the VOID algorithm was very easily a grade ten level technique as far as difficulty and power went. Rui wondered what he would get in turn for lesser versions of the VOID algorithm.
“Train my daughter well.” Master Frial. “The head butler of the family will handle the matter of the contract.”
Rui nodded.
“Our time ends here.” Master Frial bluntly told him. “Leave.”
Rui got up, bowing before leaving the room.
He had a lot to think about. He quickly signed the contract before leaving. He would begin the weekly training immediately.
What he found interesting was that his daughter attended the Hrava Martial Academy branch. This was a bit bizarre to him. But technically, Rui supposed he could enter other Martial Academies if it was for the sake of a mission. This made him feel a bit strange, sparring in other Martial Academies as a sparring partner while he was a student of the Hajin branch.
“Also… If she’s in the Hrava branch…” Rui pondered. “I might run into Arjun Erigaisi.”
Arjun Erigaisi had been the representative of the Hrava branch in the Martial Contest. Rui had only met him once before the commencement of the first round of the contest.
Furthermore, the same was likely to occur with the other Martial Apprentices he was supposed to serve as a sparring partner to. He wondered which branches of the Martial Academies they belonged to.
Having concluded his business with the Frial Family, he left for the Academy. He still had two more sparring partner personal commissions from the Distak and Shamik Families. He intended to visit both of the to iron out his details.
And so he did.
Over the next few days, he visited them both. Almost unsurprisingly, the Masters of both Martial Families extended him an offer to join the Earth and the Lightning Sects respectively. Although they went about it differently than Master Frial did, what they offered effectively boiled down to be the same.
“In exchange for some higher commitment to defensive techniques.” Master Gillian Distak had told him. “We offer you a greater amount of techniques, resources, benefits and privileges for a lesser amount of cost. Your defense will undoubtedly grow should you accept our offer, becoming your strongest parameter. Saving your life. Join the Earth Sect.”
“Furthermore, you’re a rare talent with a unique and powerful Martial Art.” Master Verlen Shamik had told him at a separate occasion when he had visited the Shamik Family. “We are willing to extend a certain amount privilege to you in particular. The Lightning Sect will undoubtedly facilitate your speed and maneuvering to rise significantly, you have much to gain and very little to lose
Both Masters expressed a degree of sincerity, however they did not fret at all when Rui did not seem to keen on accepting their requests. They simply wished Rui to take care of the Martial Apprentices he would be training, and did not push him further.
Of course, Rui understood their perspective well enough. While he was probably promising potential asset in their eyes. At the end of the day, he was but one Martial Apprentice. The Fire, Earth and Lightning Sects were the three largest Martial Sects of the Martial Union, since they encompassed offense, defense and motion in combat.
Regardless, Rui learnt a lot about the politics of the Martial Sects from the explanations of the Martial Masters. For starters, the relationships between Martial Sects wasn’t exactly straightforward. It wasn’t even necessarily competitive, it all depended on the relation between fields the Sects advocated research for.
Apparently, there were smaller sub-sects that advocated for smaller fields that fell within the big fields. Field such as the Fist Sect that advocated for research on fist-striking techniques. The Palm Sect was a sub-sect of the Fire Sect that advocated for palm centric techniques.
Apparently, these Sects came together under the Fire Sect for securing budget allocations for offensive techniques, however once budget allocation for the offensive techniques was secured, they immediately competed with each other for which sub-sect gets the bigger share for the new offensive-technique allocations.
Apparently, a similar thing happened across all of the broad and larger Sects.
Then there were Sects that weren’t mutually exclusive. The Fire Sect and the Grappling Sect overlapped a bit with offensive grappling techniques, for example.
There were numerous power struggles that were in deadlocks for such reasons. It was a messy and complicated relationship.
Frankly, to some extent Rui just wished to stay away from Martial Sects entirely. It seemed like a tiring matter to be involved with the Martial Sects at all. This was especially the case when there was no definitive need to be involved. Even if he wasn’t a part of them, he could still work hard and purchase techniques from the Martial Union the good old-fashioned way.
The only thing he would be missing was the prospect of many benefits and convenience, which could help accelerate his growth.
Then there was the matter of the conflict of interest between his neutral path and the Sects requirement of him to put a greater weight and emphasis of the techniques of their Sect above others.
Rui shook his head; he would not do that.
Another thing he confirmed was that there was no all-rounder Sect.
Of course, this made sense and he had predicted it, after all, a Sect that advocated for the research of all fields and techniques was a meaningless and pointless Sect. Sects advocated for research allocations in specific fields over others, an all-rounder Sect would advocate for all fields, rather than one field over another.
“Maybe I can create my own Sect to suit my needs some day.” He muttered out aloud, thinking to himself, before chuckling mirthfully and shaking his head at the notion.
Rui creating his own Sect? There was no way such a thing would ever happen.