His conversation with his father finally ended after they had briefly discussed everything of importance, covering all topics relevant to the survival and future of human civilization and the Panama Continent. By the time he departed from the Royal Palace, he had a much clearer idea of the future.
"I am going to be spending a lot of time in the true world."
The very thought of it was exciting.
He had explored most of the Panama Continent, and now it was time to travel beyond the boundaries of the world that he had known and explore a brand new world with six larger continents than any other he had ever explored before.
With this clarity in mind regarding his future, he knew what he wanted to offer Amare. Though he wasn’t sure she would accept. He wasn’t even sure if he ought to make the offer, given how cruel it might e off, but he was inclined to do so anyway.
"I will have to get to her soon, but before that..." his voice trailed off. "I have a few more things to do."
WHOOSH!
He surged off in the direction of the Town of Hrava.
It was the location of the Water Sect headquarters.
He was eager to see how the Water Sect had developed in the past eleven years since he departed from the Kandrian Empire to the Central Highlands of the Beast Domain. He didn’t know what it had been through in that time, hoping that he would see great development in the field of adaptive evolution.
WHOOSH
Within minutes, he arrived before its skies, gazing down at the expansive headquarters, illuminated by the afternoon Sun.
"It’s grown bigger," Rui murmured.
The Water Pavilion had expanded its estate since Rui had last seen it, having covered almost thirty percent more volume than it had last time. Additionally, there were new sections and segments added to the Water Sect that he didn’t recognize, something that had clearly been added in his time away.
On top of that, the population of the Water Sect had clearly ballooned significantly, with almost a hundred thousand members present within the expansive estate.
Most of them were Apprentices, of course.
Still, the fact that he had so many Apprentices who were dedicating everything to adaptive evolution was a bright sign for the future of the development of Water. From these thousands of Apprentices would emerge a thousand squires, from which would emerge a hundred Martial Seniors, from which would emerge a dozen Martial Masters, and eventually even a Martial Sage.
He looked forward to that day.
While his goal for Project Water was more a selfish variant, he didn’t mind paying homage to John Falken’s original goal of spreading adaptive evolution and Bruce Lee’s philosophy of Water.
WHOOSH
A wave of gasps emerged from gathered initiates, Martial Apprentices and staff members of the Water Sect as Rui descended from the skies at the very epicenter of the Water Sect.
STEP
He gracefully landed on the tiles of the pavilion, before directing a sweeping gaze across the frozen members of the Water Sect.
Not a single member could take their eyes off of him as they gaped at him with dropped jaws.
Rui simply smiled at them with good-naturedness.
"Your sect leader has returned."
His words broke them out of their reverie, as they erupted in a far wilder frenzy.
"THE DAWNBRINGER HAS RETURNED!"
"THE SECT LEADER IS BACK!"
"ALL HAIL HIS HIGHNESS!"
"BLESS ME WITH YOUR DIVINE BLESSINGS!"
"LORD DAWNBRINGER!"
They immediately began swarming him from all directions, bombarding him with all kinds of questions and hurling all kinds of praise and remarks of admiration towards him, as though he were a celebrity.
It was at times like this that he was not particularly accustomed to his own status in normal human society, but it made it truly impossible to even get used to interacting with ordinary people.
"Your Sagehood, show us your Adaptive Evolution!"
"I just broke through to the Apprentice Realm thanks to you, Your Highness!"
"How strong have you bee, Sir?!"
The swarm only grew stronger as Rui quickly grew pletely surrounded by a crowd of starry-eyed admirers and followers.
"Do not disrespect our sect leader any more than you already have."
Rui’s eyes lit up as he sensed a Master-level aura bearing down on the people around him.
His gaze grew fixed on a young woman emerging from the crowd, followed by many Martial Seniors.
Her eyes were sky blue, while her short hair was silver.
She wore a more elaborate baggy Martial attire, with the crest of the Water Sect embroidered on its chest.
Her gaze towards him was reverent.
The crowd parted for the Martial Master and the Martial Seniors as they arrived before Rui.
"You..." Rui could tell with a single glance. "Your Martial Path, all your Martial Paths, are Adaptive Evolution, aren’t they?"
She bowed deeply before him, as did the Martial Seniors behind her.
"Yes, Your Sagehood," she began with a reverent tone. "I am Master Minn, the acting vice leader of the Water Sect. In your absence, I have overseen and expanded the Water Sect, merely acting as a standing leader."
"You may rise," Rui remarked with an informal tone that contrasted greatly with the formal tone that Master Minn used.
Yet nonetheless, he regarded her with great interest and excitement.
He hadn’t expected the Water Sect to have a Martial Master already.
"Manifold, hm?" he raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, Sect leader," she confirmed. "I have spent a total of eighty years in the manifold and eventually managed to break through to the Master Realm."
Rui tilted his head.
She was older than him, that meant.
Because he couldn’t abuse the manifold like others for his growth, he was frequently experiencing a pattern where people who used to be his age or younger were now much older.
Yet, age was meaningless beyond a certain point in the Martial World.
She knew that and didn’t allow it to affect the respect, reverence, and admiration that she had for him.
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