Rui grew intrigued by her perspective.
One of the things that wasn’t entirely clear was the psychological differences between the six pureblood species of the true world and the human species. However, it appeared that the elves were more social with each other than humans were.
Everything that he had seen indicated that they had tighter bonds with each other.
They were also more feminine in their temperant and their physicality.
He wasn’t surprised that he was hearing a rather strange take on Project Water that he had never heard from any Martial Artist in human civilization. Every Martial Artist who was aware of his general ambition rely respected him for it or even celebrated it.
Ambition for Martial prowess alone was hardly uncommon, especially in the Upper Realms that filtered out more materialistic desires such as wealth and prestige that naturally ca with being a Martial Sage and Martial Master.
Mother Alicia, however, appeared to find Project Water aningless because it didn’t involve a connection with people.
"Probably one of the fundantal differences between humans and elves," Rui remarked aloud. "I don’t see the need for Project Water to have an elent of human connection. Although..."
His eyes grew hazy as he dug into mories of old.
mories of another lifeti.
Of another person.
"Project Water did originally start out as a benevolent project," Rui remarked. "I had started the project to create a Martial Art for everybody else. To give them what I wasn’t able to have. But once I gained the ability to have it, then..."
He gazed at his hand, clasping his fist.
"I was finally able to fulfill my heart’s desire. I was more satisfied than I had ever been."
Mother Alicia apparently found that to be even more objectionable.
’Does it truly satisfy you to pursue power for yourself rather than to help others?’
"Of course it does," Rui huffed with a hint of ridicule in his tone. "The only reason I helped others get it was because I wasn’t able to have it myself. It was the only way to remain close to my ideals and my dream. But now..."
He felt a surge of power erging from deep within him.
"Now that power is mine to take."
His pitch-black eyes sharpened.
"Nothing will stand in my way anymore."
’You...’ she spoke with a stunned tone. ’If you were an elf, you would be considered a monster and a psychopath.’
"Well." A wry smile erged on his face. "Good thing that I’m not an elf. I’m a Martial Artist."
’Interesting, this has been a little educational. One of the most important things that we must learn about each other is not each other’s technology, but each other’s nature,’ she continued. ’If tendencies such as yours are common among humans, then we might have to re-evaluate to what extent you can adopt our technological paradigms, because our technological paradigms are suited for our way of life and our nature.’
"Well, Martial Artists are different from humans," Rui replied. "We are evolved for combat and war. And we are highly individualistic. Human beings are not as extre as we are and are probably a lot closer to elves than you might think. We also care about people and love, and find ourselves in a depressive spiral of nihilism without it."
’I hope that is the case. We would be apprehensive about befriending a civilization of psychopaths,’ Mother Alicia remarked.
"Well... considering that you guys have had no civil wars and dostic conflict is frankly quite shocking," Rui remarked with a bewildered tone. "Human history is ugly. I don’t know how you have like a trillion elves and none of you pick fights with each other. That’s creepy."
’We do not fight because we are connected. We are connected as a people. We are connected to nature. We are connected to each other through nature and even outside of it. We seek to live in harmony above all else, and that involves putting the interests of people above our desires, greed, and ego.’
"Like I said, creepy." Rui shook his head, huffing lightly.
Still, the elves had a picturesque civilization, but it ca with its flaws.
They were shackled to their continent.
They grew slower than other civilizations, and their power was deteriorating in ti due to an absence of conflict and a highly pacifist mindset that made innovation for the sake of conflict and war extrely scarce. It was one of the reasons that they had sought the help of human civilization and Rui in particular.
It was one of the things that Rui had been busy with in the past month.
’Speaking of which, the elven troops are ready for your training.’
Rui heaved a sigh as he got up, dusting his Martial attire.
"In that case, it would be rude to leave them waiting for too much longer."
It wasn’t long before he found himself before a large squadron of long-eared won in a large empty field, brightly illuminated by the light of the morning Sun.
He could feel the hostility from the won in their sharp gazes.
Their ruby and erald eyes were filled with disgust.
They shirked away from him like he was covered in sewage.
"Today we will continue your training in the Martial Foundation," Rui announced to them as if there was nothing wrong. "And, as always, the one leading this training session will be none other than Amare."
He turned around, having already sensed the distant figure sky-walking towards them as fast as she could.
WHOOSH
Amare descended from the skies in a smooth, graceful step.
Her cheeks were flushed with effort, while her amber eyes were lit up with an enthusiastic eagerness. "Sorry I’m late."
The mont she arrived, the elven won began flocking around her like grains of iron around a magnet.
"Wow, you are even more in touch with nature today!"
"I sense you have harmonized with flora more since yesterday!"
"Please co and stay with our tribe today, we would love to have you!"
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