The Martial Unity

Chapter 3262: Means to Interface

The dark elves clearly did not expect Rui to succeed, which was likely one reason that they had agreed to teach him the Nature Path and some of their secrets. They had no idea about what Rui intended to do to overcome this impossible hurdle of not having the genes that allowed for nature manipulation to whatever extent.

Unfortunately for them, Rui had already come up with several options.

“I could just alter my genes to become partially elven,” he murmured. “That is feasible and would even save me on having to use my immortality technique.”

’…That sounds disturbing. Is your attachment to humanity that low?’ Mother Alicia asked with a touch of concern.

“It is that low,” Rui replied. “You may already know this, but I’m technically not of the same species as the other human beings in the Panama Continent. I am of a different, evolved species. A Martially evolved descendant of human civilization. If not for the fact that my reproductive DNA is still that of when I was human, I would even be able to spawn a new species with my offspring as long as I was reproductively compatible.”

He didn’t mention that this had happened with the Blood Goddess. The blood children were too revolutionary to let the true world know of. While it was impossible to hide in the long term, Rui wanted to delay that for a less critical time in history.

’…So you don’t think of yourself as a human being at all?’ Mother Alicia asked with a hint of curiosity.

“I am a Martial Artist,” Rui replied. “That is my most central identity. My body exists to serve my Martial Art. That is what a Martial Body is. If I have to include elven DNA into my Martial Body to master the Nature Path, then so be it. However…”

He shook his head. “…I probably will not do that unless it is the last resort.”

’Why not?’

“Well, the simple truth of the matter is that you elves are weak,” Rui replied. “Weak in your body. And even your Inner Realm does not really compensate for that. You are so weak that if I add eleven cells to my body, my body will break the next time I throw a punch. I can withstand the recoil of my own attacks because I have a honed constitution, among other reasons, and elven cells will comprise my Martial Art. I can’t have that.”

’Your reasoning is not pleasant, but I cannot deny the truth. We elves are not physically gifted like the giants. Our power lies in our manipulation of nature,’ she admitted without too much of an issue. ’If not for integrating elven biology in your body, what do you have in mind?’

Rui fell into thought. “…I think creating an active technique, perhaps even a system of thought, is the only way to go.”

’What is a ’technique’ in the context of Martial Art?’ she asked with a curious tone. ’It is interesting to come across the terminology of new Path that is so different from nature manipulation.’

“Techniques are… a systemized set of actions and movements burned into our muscle memory that make use of principles of the universe to bring about a certain outcome in combat,” Rui replied. “I know that is extremely broad, but Martial techniques are also extremely diverse.”

’…I see, so you seek to create a systemized set of actions and movements that are burned into your muscle memory, that make use of the principles of the universe to manipulate nature the way we elves do?’ she pondered. ’Are there any set of actions and movements that can possibly replicate that?’

“There should be.” Rui’s tone grew more confident. “For one, you elves communicate with nature using your brainwaves. Your brainwaves are very different from those of human beings. They’re more discrete and less scrambled than human beings. I suspect that this is the fundamental means of communication between elves and nature, no?”

’It is one of the most important for the Nature Path, but it is not fundamental,’ the Mother of Nature explained. ’We elves do not communicate with nature only using brainwaves; we also communicate with them using all our senses. Our brains are wired to be able to extract the messages of nature from the information our sensory organs give us, and our sense organs have evolved to be able to understand nature extremely well.’

Their eyes had evolved to pick even the smallest changes in a tree from the outside, and their minds had evolved to interpret it accurately. Even their sense of touch was geared towards communicating with nature, for the sensory neurons across their skin and flesh, as well as the neurons in their brain, could pick up on faint electromagnetic activity that trees had.

Their ears had evolved to pick up on the extremely low frequency sound that flora was known to produce, which their noses and tongues had evolved to pick up on the chemical signals that nature produced.

All of this collectively made for the communication interface between elves and nature.

“Hmm…” Rui’s expression grew complicated. “Replicating all of that will be tricky. Using so many techniques to recreate the elven-nature interface will demand my attention, although I can easily handle the load. Ideally, I’d prefer to have one technique. Even if the other sensory organs also serve as a means of communication, surely the elven brain is the most important means of communication, is it not?”

’You can say that, yes. In the midst of combat, our brains are the most important medium of communication. What set of actions could possibly replace this medium? Your brain is not evolved to transmit or receive signals from nature, and your mind isn’t evolved to interpret and process them. How can you possibly overcome these two hurdles?’

“It’s actually quite simple in theory,” Rui replied. “In theory, I can just create a highly sensitive electromagnetic sensory technique. Or even just use my senses as a Martial Sage if I’m willing to redirect enough of my attention towards nature at all times. This way, I can track the signals coming from nature. As for interpreting… that is even simpler, in theory.”