"Alright, we'll rendezvous at the quasi-Sage-level battlefield when the next shift is due to get ready in a few hours. Goodbye until then."
Rui left Ieyasu standing on the border fort wall as he leaped away in a hurry.
He had things to do.
"I need to check up on my family."
The entirety of the Kandrian Empire was still in evacuation until the results of all three shifts were complete and things were proven to be safe for the citizens without any shadow of doubt.
Rui simply hadn't had a chance to speak with his family since he left for the Shionel Confederation.
Things had simply begun escalating and accelerating in the war as Pri Minister Edward had thrown more and more Masters like the Convergence and Master Brigsby and, eventually, Ieyasu.
Then he had fallen into a two-week coma as he unsealed his mories in a horrifyingly painful process.
Then, the mont he had woken up, the Beast Incursion had begun.
He had simply been swept by the flow of ergencies and urgent events that he simply hadn't had ti to speak to his family. Even though this rationale was sound, he still felt guilty about not checking up on them nonetheless.
He knew that they were in the Hajin evacuation shelters built in the outer districts of the town. He imdiately jogged through the empty streets of the Kandrian Empire at extraordinarily high speeds.
It wasn't long before he reached the outskirts of the town of Hajin, ready to head to the shelters.
"Help… help…!"
He paused as he heard the choking pleas of an old man from many kiloters away with his superhuman sense of hearing.
In an instant, he spotted the old man.
He sat in an alleyway of an impoverished outer district of the massive Town of Hajin, and, yet, Rui was able to identify his exact location.
WHOOSH!
In a single leap, Rui crossed the massive distance between them.
STEP He arrived before the old man with a soft step.
The old man was clearly malnourished, not having eaten food in what appeared to be several days or perhaps even a week. Using his mind sense, Rui could sense fear, pain, hunger, and misery from within the old man's mind. His clothes were tattered and dirty while his body was grimy and dirty.
With a single glance, Rui could tell that his legs were paralyzed, rendering him unable to even move.
He could further infer that that was why he had not been evacuated yet. The authorities had simply missed him. He was not in a good condition.
"Old man…" Rui kneeled down before him. "Just hold on, I'll get you to urgent dical aid imdiately. I will ensure that they will take care of you very well."
"Ah…" A single murmur escaped him. "That won't be necessary, deluded inheritor, you see…"
He grinned. "This vessel will be dying soon anyway."
Chills crawled across Rui's skin as he leaped away, earning a chuckle from the old beggar.
"Co now, Void Prince." He grinned widely. "A Martial Artist of your caliber has naught to fear from an old beggar like , now does he?"
Rui's eyes narrowed. "You… Who are you?"
The old beggar smiled at him. "Why do you ask questions to which you already know the answers to?"
Rui simply stared at him with a piercing gaze.
"Go on," the old beggar sage teased. "Say it. Who am I?"
Rui stared at him with sharpened eyes. "…You're the Beggar Sage."
The smile on the face of the old beggar widened. "You're goddamn right I am."
Suddenly, Rui was unable to sense his mind any more. He didn't understand how.
But it beca evidently clear that the only reason he had been able to before was because the man had allowed him to. Rui eyed him with a serious expression. "What do you want from ?"
There was no way that this was a coincidence.
"We need your power, Dawnbringer." The Beggar Sage grinned with amusent at his solemn deanor. "We need your Martial Path."
Rui narrowed his eyes. "You want my breakthrough ability."
"Hah, good guess. But, no. That is not why I seek you out, although I'd love to have that as well if you were willing and able."
Rui simply stared at him wordlessly.
"We need you," the Beggar Sage continued. "You are the fourth expert that Beast Incursion Strategic Task Force founded by the Adventurer's Guild needs. We need your Adaptive Evolution. We need you to spread as much of it as far as possible throughout all of human civilization and the Martial World as soon as possible."
Rui frowned as the Beggar Sage dumped a lot of information on him suddenly. "We do not make this request of you lightly." The Beggar Sage grew serious. "Nearly a trillion human lives are at stake, young Master. The Ecologer, one of the three experts on the task force, has uncovered so truly horrifying realities of what is to co. Do not think that the first wave of the Beast Incursion is the worst of what is to happen."
His eyes grew intense. "What is to co will make what has already co look like a walk in the park. If you think the Kandrian Empire will be safe from it, you are sorely mistaken."
Rui's eyes narrowed with a severe expression. "…What do you require of , specifically?"
"I know that you possess an extraordinarily powerful ability to adaptively evolve to beasts and monsters," the Beggar Sage answered him. "The fact that you were the only Martial Master to participate and contribute to the Sage-level battles could not have possibly slipped by . That ans that you have gained so extraordinary ability to adaptively evolve to monsters and beasts even of a higher Realm than you. Yet, that is not the only reason I have faith in your prowess."
A hint of respect entered his eyes. "You were chosen by none other than the Divine Doctor himself. The original sage of humanity himself chose you and only you to aid him in his glorious ambition. That alone ans you are extraordinarily able. We require you to pass on just a small fraction of that ability to the rest of the world, or I fear the destruction of human civilization is all but nigh."
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