Of course, Rui was merely curious. There was basically no chance of him failing the Squire habilitation phase. Part of this was due to the fact that he was most certainly a fast learner thanks to the enhanced nature of his brain and mind.
A little over three months passed. Extensive and difficult training regimens allowed him to finally completely adapt to his new body.
By day hundred, the suit was off and his accuracy and precision were incredibly high despite using the full power of his Martial body.
BAM!!
A tremendous strike crashed against a wall. The full unshackled might of a Martial Squire crashed into the barrier.
“Fuuuu…” Rui exhaled.
“A perfect strike.” Squire Fernin told him. “You’ve mastered your Martial body. How does it feel to finally be a full-fledged Martial Squire?”
“Incredible,” Rui admitted.
He felt like a god.
Without any technique, with just the slightest exertion of his body, he was already able to output power that far exceeded most Martial Apprentices. The fact that he could defeat his previous self without a single Squire-level technique was something that boggled his mind.
“You have far exceeded the necessary level of control needed to successfully pass the Squire habilitation phase.” Squire Fernin informed him. “Congratulations.”
“Can I begin undertaking Squire-level missions immediately?” Rui asked out of the blue.
“Yes, but it is highly recommended against.” Squire Gerd chimed in. “As you are now, you would lose handily to any Martial Squire. Undertaking any mission as you are right now is risky. It is recommended you master a few Squire-level techniques, be they Squire-level versions of techniques you mastered in the past or new Squire-level techniques that are more suited to your Martial Art.”
“People do that?” Rui frowned. “Abandon old techniques for new techniques?”𝗏𝗅xt.𝗇t
“It is common.” Squire Fernin told him. “Squire-level versions of Apprentice-level techniques are often not as good as techniques that were created for the Squire Realm. At the end of the day, techniques created for a purpose will generally be better than techniques that were created for another purpose originally, but are adapted for yet another purpose.”
“That makes sense.” Rui nodded. “At the end of the day, the only reason Apprentice-level techniques are adapted to Squire-level is to allow Martial Squires to retain the progress that they made in a lower Realm.”
“Correct.” Squire Fernin nodded. “Most Martial Squires find a balance between old and new. There is no shortage of techniques that can’t be applied to Martial Squires.”
Rui nodded, thinking of Blink. The technique was not only useless but also detrimental in Squire-level combat.
“Furthermore, each Martial body is unique due to the starting point of each body being unique. The necessity for originality and individuality in your techniques rises a lot now that you have become a Martial Squire. You will need to become truly separate your Martial Art from that anything that exists or has existed. Remember, every Martial Path is unique, and that needs to reflect in your Martial Art as well.” He told Rui.
Rui nodded. He had heard this before as well. In order to walk down a Martial Path that was unique, the individuality in his Martial Art needed to reflect, otherwise, he could not ascend to a higher Realm.
Of course, this was easier said than done. There was a reason the population of Martial Artists of higher Realms was exponentially lower than those of Realms lower. Martial Apprentices accounted for an overwhelming majority of the population of Martial Artists. Part of this was because most Martial Apprentices of previous generations simply failed to imbue their Martial Art with the necessary amount of individuality needed to elevate it to a higher Realm.
It was an incredibly difficult task to create one’s own technique, after all.
“It is worth it in more ways than one, however.” Squire Fernin informed him. “Techniques successfully created by Martial Artists generally have an extreme amount of compatibility with one’s self than other techniques.”
Rui turned towards Squire Fernin, deeper in thought.
“The physical variation among bodies of Martial Squires is far greater than the variation among Martial Apprentices. Martial Apprentices are normal humans as far as physicality goes. There is variation among normal humans, of course, but ultimately, they are within certain limits. Humans on a broad scale are quite similar to each other.”
“The same cannot be said for Martial Squires, I presume?” Rui asked, understanding the point Squire Fernin was trying to make.
Squire Fernin shook his head. “At least, not to the same degree. Martial Squires deviate from humanity on a fundamental level, there is greater variation among us. This ends up affecting Squire-level techniques as well.”
“I see.” Rui quickly pieced it together. “Because Squire-level techniques have to cater to a wider variety of Martial bodies, it is more difficult to find techniques with satisfactory compatibility with yourself in particular.”
The further away Rui was from the Martial body type that a particular technique had complete compatibility with, the lesser the compatibility he had with that technique.
“That’s right.” Squire Fernin nodded. “Most Squire-level techniques are created with some combination of the Martial Union and a Martial Squire. The larger pool of types of Martial bodies has caused more techniques to be too incompatible with a lot of Martial Artists.”
“The best solution would be to create your technique, but that’s too difficult for an overwhelming majority of Martial Artists. Perhaps it is feasible for a few techniques, but no more than that, surely?” Rui wondered.
“What matters is individuality.” Squire Fernin told him. “It is very rare that a new technique is conjured from thin air. Gaining inspiration from other techniques, from the world around you, and creating techniques that borrow from already existing phenomena is the norm. Even simply modifying a technique to suit your needs involves individuality. You will find that inevitably, you will need to engage in individuality as a matter of inevitability, not just necessity.”
Rui frowned at those words.