STEP
Rui landed before the Jenken residence gently, facing the guards. Though his commission from Colonel Geringan had ended, the guards opened the gate for him immediately.
"Hahaha! Look who's here!" Colonel Geringan's voice was uncharacteristically boisterous. "If it isn't the man who helped my daughter become a Martial Artist!"
He shook Rui's hand vigorously with a wide grin.
"I merely offered guidance." Rui smiled modestly. "She is ultimately responsible for breaking through her limits, that too in the middle of a crisis, from what I hear."
Rui played down his contribution and impact on her growth. He didn't want to accept credit that could land him in hot water that he was not equipped to handle. If he truly did contribute to her breaking through, then he did not want people to know that.
Funnily enough, if he was sure that he didn't actually contribute anything, then taking credit looked more attractive.
"Have a seat." Colonel Geringan told Rui as he sat down himself. "Crea will be here soon enough, she's just preoccupied with a few matters."
"It seems to breaking through has put a lot on her plate." Rui chuckled.
"You have no idea." Geringan laughed. "Just entertaining our various acquaintances, in the Martial community and otherwise, who called in to congratulate us alone has taken up hours of her free time, she has been quite cranky because of that."
"That does sound like a pain." Rui smiled wryly. "When I broke through, I only had to deal with my family, thankfully."
"It was actually the same for me." Colonel Geringan nodded. "What little I had of a family back then, anyways."
That implied he wasn't part of the Martial community when he broke through. Rui did recall reading that the Jenken family wasn't part of the Martial community, or even a Martial family before Colonel Geringan.
What that meant was that all of the success, power, money, and prestige that Colonel Geringan had today was earned by Colonel Geringan himself. Rui's respect for him had grown knowing that. The fact that he was a Martial Colonel despite only being a Martial Senior was rather impressive, for the rank was normally given only to Martial Masters, from Rui's understanding.
It was among the special rank hierarchy of the army given to Martial Artists. It conveyed authority without much of the management and leadership responsibilities and duties that normally came along with the normal equivalent of those ranks in the regular Kandrian military hierarchy.
Martial Apprentices were usually promoted to the Martial corporal rank.
Martial Squires were usually promoted to the Martial sergeant rank.
Martial Seniors were usually promoted to the Martial major rank.
Martial Masters were usually promoted to the Martial colonel rank.
The fact that Geringan Jenken was a Martial colonel despite only being a Martial Senior meant that he had likely accrued a large number of merits in his time in the military allowing him to be promoted to a higher rank.
Just then, another individual entered the room.
"Teacher Rui!" Crea exclaimed as she arrived, rushing towards him.
"Alright, take it easy." Rui laughed as he caught her dive at him. "Congratulations on becoming a Martial Artist, Crea."
"It's all thanks to your training," Crea replied with a grateful tone.
Rui shook his head. "I may have helped, but that is what I was brought here to do. The actual effort, among other things, that one needs to put to break through is something only could have put."
"Hehe..." Crea accepted his praise with a beaming smile.
"So, tell me about your Martial Path." Rui casually said. He hadn't yet gotten any details from colonel Geringan, probably because he wanted to let his daughter be the one to explain it to Rui.
Crea nodded. "My Martial Path is counter-offensive deterrence. My greatest defense is sacrificing defense but using that opportunity to inflict more pain and harm than my opponents do on me."
She explained the details with a sadistic smile.
"Interesting..." Rui replied with a measured tone once she finished explaining the details.
He had come across counter-offensive Martial Artists before, many of them. In his time serving as a representative fighter, in other missions, and also in the preliminary tournament of the Martial Academy. Yet he was relatively certain he had never seen a counter-offensive Martial Art this extreme. This Martial Art truly took counter-offense to its most extreme interpretation.
A Martial Art that abandoned defense and scared away attacks with even more lethal attacks that made use of the spontaneous holes in opponent's defenses when the latter attacked? That was verging on insanity.
In fact, Rui could see the anxiety hidden behind colonel Geringan's joyful expression. Such a Martial Art was very mutually destructive and was such that she was guaranteed to get really hurt every time she fought.
Frankly, Rui was worried too, for the same reason. Although this was just a job, he had grown to have attachments to Crea in the past three months. He did not want any harm befalling her.
('Maybe... I can get her to learn the Autophagy Mind Switch technique that I created.') Rui noted inwardly. It would be particularly useful to her when the time came, though he didn't need to take that measure for now.
He also wanted some more empirical data on that technique as well, so that he could extract maximum value with all the proof he gained of its effectiveness from the Martial Artists that were going to master it. Though for now, she didn't need it.
"Well, I'm looking forward to how you're going to develop your Martial Art." Rui had many thoughts, but he kept them to himself, it seemed that colonel Geringan was also doing the same, the man clearly withheld the many thoughts he had regarding what he believed she ought to do.
This was because Martial Artists of higher Realms ought not to interfere with the Martial journeys of lower Realms, this was a philosophy that was well upheld in the Martial Academy.