The Martial Unity

"I have to agree with her," Sternon remarked as he passed both of them a towel and some water. "You're much more formidable than you used to be. That electricity? That was something out of the evosapien book, it's a really effective technique."

Runark rolled over, sitting up with a dissatisfied expression. His silver hair was plastered to his forehead, laced with sweat. His green eyes glinted with self-critical determination.

He was definitely much stronger than he was before. He knew that, but he wasn't at the level yet where he could force Ria to fight with everything she had. He knew that she was still holding everything that she had to offer in the battle, including her most uncanny mastery of causality.

But he could take solace in the fact that he had closed the gap between them to a little extent. By making use of the best resources that human civilization had to offer, including the Kandrian manifold, he had managed to rapidly improve his fundamentals and add new techniques and principles to his arsenal.

Thankfully, one thing that was in his favor was the fact that training and growth technology played a much greater role in a person's growth rate than raw talent. After all, talent had improved because of a better environment to raise aspiring Martial Artists in, and much more efficient identification of talent, but growth and training technology had improved astronomically.

That also meant that drive played an even more important role in the power that a person would end up cultivating over the span of some time compared to talent because the growth and training technology meant that any Martial Artist with a decent drive could progress at a rate that would have been considered prodigious in the archaic Age of Martial Art that his father and godfather were born in.

Part of him was happy that Ria had mellowed out on her Martial Art training after they left Gaia Prime, because it meant that he had a realistic chance of catching up to her. Before departing, she used to train very hard because of the promise that her parents had made to her about getting to leave the Kandrian Empire once she became a Martial Master.

Of course, he recognized that she had gained a new drive and a new determination when he looked at her. Her desire to hunt infected worlds was something that moved her more than anything.

If he wanted to catch up to her, he would have to train with even greater determination.

"Don't look so down, buddy. You did really well. That speed is very useful on the battleground," Sternon offered with a friendly tone as he gave a rejuvenation potion to Runark.

Runark directed a momentary glance at the neo-evosapien, studying him. He wore his exosuit despite the fact that they were in a spaceship and were nowhere near their destination. His posture was a little stiff, with legs firmly anchored and his back straight as an arrow. His translucent body contrasted sharply with his dark but thin suit. A sincere smile sat on his face as he held the potion to Runark.

"Thanks." Runark took the potion, inhaling it.

For some reason, he didn't like hearing the words of appreciation from Sternon. From what Runark could tell, Sternon also liked Ria. That made him feel uncomfortable, which in turn made him feel guilty because he genuinely liked the young man. He was personable and open and was committed to the team as a whole.

Another sore point for Runark was the fact that Sternon was still much stronger than him in combat, without a doubt. It sucked that genetics could make such a massive difference. Just because his father had godly genetics and passed them on to billions before he passed away, to Runark's godfather, no less, it made Sternon start off at a much higher level of power than Runark.

And even he wasn't a match for Ria despite that advantage.

It was also an advantage that Misha also shared to a lesser extent as a hybrid hemosapien. The only normal people on the team were Runark and Siliscia, who got a pass due to being an elf and due to being useful in many ways beyond combat, as elves were.

"Don't be so hard on yourself." Ria patted him on the back. "Sternon is right. Speed is very important, and as far as raw speed is concerned, you're the fastest here. The field is very different from controlled sparring battles, and there will be many moments where failing to react in time will mean our death. In that regard, you have improved our survivability."

He nodded as his expression softened. "Yeah, thanks. You're right."

"Alright, let's get out of here and entertain ourselves." Ria got up, stretching. "I'm glad that I had the Esoterist include a small entertainment center so that we don't lose our minds over the next five days."

It was especially brutal because they didn't have any access to the interweb during this time, making the entire journey that much more wearying on the spirit. The fact that they would have to endure it every time they journeyed to and from a target planet, if not even longer periods of continuous travel, was something that all of them had been psychologically prepared for.

Over the next five days, they made do with the many preparations they had. Misha comfortably buried herself doing some final touches on her hemotechnology, ensuring that she calibrated as she sought to with the advanced mini-lab she had requested near her quarters, while Siliscia enjoyed the presence of nature in the minor biodome that she had requested aboard the Stellarch.

Runark spent his time obsessing about how he could close the gap between himself and Ria, trying to reflect on the sparring match between himself and her, and trying to identify key areas of improvement.

Ria spent her time meditating, immersing herself in her senses of the countless infected worlds across the cosmos.

It was only when they traveled at such speeds that they were traveling at could she actively discern where the closest ones were. The dots that moved across her body while she was stationary relative to the Stellarch were closer, while the ones that seemed to stay stationary across her body were undoubtedly so far away that even billions of kilometers of displacement each second couldn't produce any noticeable movement where her senses spotted it.

It kept her busy during her journey, allowing her to identify future targets while they traveled.

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