The Martial Unity

Chapter 3243: Tactical Evolution

Rui’s eyes lit up as he heard a maternal voice speak in his head, just as the Elder Tree did.

Before, he didn’t have any idea how that used to function, but now that he was a Martial Sage, he could tell that it functioned with projected electromagnetic waves that caused certain neural activity in one’s mind.

The Mother of Nature that he beheld at the very epicenter also relied on this to communicate directly in his mind, bypassing language and conveying information directly.

“You must be Mother Alicia,” Rui replied as he studied the astronomically titanic tree. “It is a pleasure to meet you.”

It wasn’t just a cursory pleasantry, either.

It truly was an incredible experience to behold the Mother of Nature this close in all her majesty and power. Her roots dwarfed mountain ranges as the height of her tree seemed to reach outer space with just how utterly titanic it was. The sheer mass and volume that comprised her being were beyond unfathomable.

As was the tremendous power and cognition that surged through her entire being, causing Rui’s powerful senses to tingle with anticipation.

’What do you think about elven combat power, having come this far?’ she asked with a hint of curiosity. ’I am interested to know what a warrior of your caliber following the Martial Path thinks of them.’

“Hmmm…” Rui fell into thought. “I have lots of thoughts on them, but the most important part is that they are quite strong within this continent. The strategies and tactics play to their advantages and make the most of them and their strengths, allowing them to overcome any outsider who dares to set foot. Your flora is far more powerful than I had initially imagined, and the way that you have managed to weaponize it in the event of an incoming attack is truly remarkable. I can honestly say that you dark elves are formidable in defense. Any force that dares to try and invade your lands is almost certainly doomed to failure because of how strong you are in your own territory.”

That evoked a pang of appreciation from the Mother of Nature. ’Indeed, we have dedicated everything to arming this continent to the fullest from an outside invasion. What you have seen, of course, is only a portion of what we have to offer regarding our defense. We take our security extremely seriously.’

Rui nodded. “I can imagine. I wouldn’t show all my cards either if I were you guys. That being said. While I do think you guys are extremely formidable on Genora, there are flaws, shortcomings, and even weaknesses in your systems of defense. Pretty glaring and open weaknesses that I’m shocked you guys haven’t discovered and haven’t patched yet. I can tell that while you have brilliant minds who have created these paradigms, none of you have gone through enough darwinian tactical evolution.”

The Mother of Nature grew intrigued by his choice of words. “Darwinian tactical evolution…?”

Rui nodded. “It’s the evolution of tactical effectiveness by discarding what doesn’t work in combat and doing what has proven to work. It is the evolution that comes about by trying numerous tactics in war and in combat, and choosing the best one after long, grueling war that thoroughly battle-tests all of them. And then repeating the same process with each improved iteration over and over again. Fighting your dark elves was rather revealing because I can tell that you guys have not undergone enough darwinian tactical evolution. You haven’t had enough wars and far too few civil wars.”

’We have not had a civil war on this continent since the dawn of our species,’ the Mother of Nature informed him gently. ’We have faced many full-scale invasions in our time, however. But none since the current world order solidified centuries ago. The world has long understood that mounting an invasion into Genora is a fool’s errand unless one is willing to mobilize one hundred percent of one’s power and is willing to sacrifice eighty percent of one’s troops as well as the possibility of complete defeat.’

“That’s good for your people and is good for prosperity.” Rui nodded. “But it also means that your defense of biotechnology and your evolving paradigms are growing increasingly out of touch and untested. The absence of darwinian tactical evolution means that your core military power is becoming increasingly brittle. For now, you are still strong. But if this continues for years and decades, then eventually…”

His tone grew serious. “Your people and your continent will grow so weak and brittle that you will suffer a catastrophic defeat.”

’…’ the Mother of Nature remained silent at those words, as though pondering his words in deep thought.

“Battle-testing and reality-testing, in general,” Rui continued, “is fundamentally necessary for any system to maintain its effectiveness. Engineers reality-test their products through rigorous and continued testing. Anybody who makes anything with the purpose of that thing having utility must test their creations in reality continuously for improvement to occur. Not just improvement, but also maintenance of existing effectiveness. Change through reality-verification is a fundamental necessity.”

He could tell that Mother Alicia was aware of this truth, by all means. It was a fundamental truth that was hardly obscure or profoundly wise. It was even common sense to an extent. A civilization that hadn’t waged war for centuries would not be able to wage war effectively, no matter what kind of training they had. There were some things that couldn’t be compensated for.

Of course, he also understood her problem in implementing them in reality.

The simple fact of the matter was that the dark elves were pacifist by nature, making them extremely averse to war and conflict. In fact, even the combat training that they underwent, they did so with heavy, highly reluctant hearts. He could tell from when he fought them that they truly disliked conflict.

Given that the Mothers of Nature had to face civilizational impediments to their attempt at ensuring that their military and defenses remained reality-tested, he could understand why they had yet to solve this problem.