The Martial Unity

Chapter 4670: Grown Power

Ria listened with a stunned expression as Fae recounted everything that had happened in the past few months since Runark woke up from his coma. She knew that he was suffering, but she hadn’t known that he had been cursed with nyctophobia. He had never told her that in their sparse communications, most likely because he didn’t want to worry her. What was even more surprising was that her father had been tutoring Runark.

That made her want to go back to the Vargard Royal Palace, grab him by the collar, and shake him for answers until he spilled everything, but she restrained herself. What was done was done. There were still questions she didn’t have an answer to.

"If Runark was that mentally pained, then shouldn’t he have spent that time resting and recovering, and focusing on healing his mind?" Ria demanded to know. "What possessed him to ask Dad for tutelage?"

"Ah, it wasn’t Runark that asked for that, but rather Kane," Fae told the young Martial Sage. "And Rui accepted his request. Runark was quite delighted to be trained by your father, you see. He hoped that your father would help him with whatever he was missing in order to help him achieve his goal."

She smiled meaningfully at Ria, who simply coughed, averting her gaze with thinly-veiled embarrassment. She didn’t expect Fae to reference his goal like that, but it was evident that she was very much aware.

"But why would training with Papa..." Her voice trailed off. Why would training with her father help with achieving his goal was what she wanted to ask, but then she thought about what her father had done for her, and the answer became clear.

She suspected that he wanted her father to give him a little something special that would allow him to be as gifted at Martial Art as she was. She could only wonder what her father had done. It probably wasn’t the same as what her father had done for Ria, she imagined. After all, he told her that what he had done for could only be done at birth. Still, with how capable her father was, it was entirely possible that he had managed to succeed any way.

Though him breaking through to the Sage Realm likely didn’t have anything to do with that, in hindsight. When counting his years in the manifold, he was getting old enough to use the Enlightenment of Self algorithm. Though that alone would not be enough for him to catch up to her.

Ultimately, she shook her head. "Thanks for letting me know. I probably should have texted him before I came here, but I wanted it to be a surprise."

"Oh dear, that’s sweet. Here, let me tell you which training facility he’s training in. You can surprise him yourself. He does train very long and hard, though, so keep that in mind. Catching him at the right time might actually be challenging."

"Thanks." Ria nodded as Fae told her his location, before hesitating. "...How has he been recently? Did he get over his mental health issues? Did he fix his nyctophobia?"

Fae pondered the question for several moments, considering the answer. "He didn’t, but at the same time, he also did."

A meaningless answer, but it was all Fae was willing to offer. "You should see for yourself. But what he has gone through in the past several months is certainly very unusual. You might be a little surprised."

She had a feeling she was going to be more than just a little surprised, but she took Fae up on her offer. She chatted with Fae, catching up with someone who was like an aunt to her. Ria liked spending time with her; she was very gracious and gentle. Her mother could be very intense all too often, in all regards. Kane’s return home only prolonged her stay at the manor.

"Well, well, if it isn’t Her Highness, the first royal princess of the Kandrian Royal Family, rightful heir to the royal throne of the Kandrian Empire and sole successor of the Crown," he teased her with her official title, knowing that it provoked a reaction from her. She pouted lightly at Kane’s mean-spirited invocation of her status, earning a chuckle from him.

Before she could even react, his hand flew to her head roughly, rubbing her hair like she was a cheeky young boy, messing up her carefully groomed hair. It earned a groan from Ria and a glare from his wife.

"Oh, stop it, you," she chided him. "How many times have I told you not to carelessly mess a girl’s hair like that? A girl’s hair is delicate, not something you flop around like a mop."

"Haha, the fact that she’s unable to evade something like that means her training is lacking. Listen well, dear girl. In this world, might makes right. Until you have the power to stop me from messing your hair up like that, you have no right to complain!"

Ria scowled at him, her hand shooting forward to bat his wrist away. To her surprise, she couldn’t predict his evasion. It was so smooth that it was almost as if he hadn’t moved at all. Swing as she might, he continued to ruthlessly butcher the simple but neatly combed and tied golden hair.

She realized that he had gotten much, much stronger since she last saw him. He had always been strong for as long as she had known him, being among the first few Martial Sages to break through to a new Realm of power, the Corporeal Realm, gaining the power to move at superluminal speeds in combat, becoming virtually untouchable.

But now his power felt more absolute, like she could literally never touch him no matter what. At some point, she experienced a very familiar but indescribable sensation from the fundamental nature of his body as her hand phased through his.

"Hyperdimensional Martial Art..." she realized. "So papa wasn’t the only one..."

Kane raised an eyebrow, finally withdrawing his hand. "Oh? Looks like Rui has already shown you this power. Tsk, that one doesn’t know how to exercise limits when it comes to you."

That she could agree with.