Chapter 2493 An Old Beggar's Request
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"Alright, we'll rendezvous at the quasi-Sage-level battlefield when the next shift is due to get ready in a few hours. Goodbye until then."
Rui left Ieyasu standing on the border fort wall as he leaped away in a hurry.
He had things to do.
"I need to check up on my family."
The entirety of the Kandrian Empire was still in evacuation until the results of all three shifts were complete and things were proven to be safe for the citizens without any shadow of doubt.
Rui simply hadn't had a chance to speak with his family since he left for the Shionel Confederation.
Things had simply begun escalating and accelerating in the war as Prime Minister Edward had thrown more and more Masters like the Convergence and Master Brigsby and, eventually, Ieyasu.
Then he had fallen into a two-week coma as he unsealed his memories in a horrifyingly painful process.
Then, the moment he had woken up, the Beast Incursion had begun.
He had simply been swept by the flow of emergencies and urgent events that he simply hadn't had time to speak to his family. Even though this rationale was sound, he still felt guilty about not checking up on them nonetheless.
He knew that they were in the Hajin evacuation shelters built in the outer districts of the town. He immediately jogged through the empty streets of the Kandrian Empire at extraordinarily high speeds.
It wasn't long before he reached the outskirts of the town of Hajin, ready to head to the shelters.
"Help... help...!"
He paused as he heard the choking pleas of an old man from many kilometers away with his superhuman sense of hearing.
In an instant, he spotted the old man.
Rui stared at him with sharpened eyes. "...You're the Beggar Sage."
The smile on the face of the old beggar widened. "You're goddamn right I am."
Suddenly, Rui was unable to sense his mind any more. He didn't understand how.
But it became evidently clear that the only reason he had been able to before was because the man had allowed him to. Rui eyed him with a serious expression. "What do you want from me?"
There was no way that this was a coincidence.
"We need your power, Dawnbringer." The Beggar Sage grinned with amusement at his solemn demeanor. "We need your Martial Path."
Rui narrowed his eyes. "You want my breakthrough ability."
"Hah, good guess. But, no. That is not why I seek you out, although I'd love to have that as well if you were willing and able."
Rui simply stared at him wordlessly.
"We need you," the Beggar Sage continued. "You are the fourth expert that Beast Incursion Strategic Task Force founded by the Adventurer's Guild needs. We need your Adaptive Evolution. We need you to spread as much of it as far as possible throughout all of human civilization and the Martial World as soon as possible."
Rui frowned as the Beggar Sage dumped a lot of information on him suddenly. "We do not make this request of you lightly." The Beggar Sage grew serious. "Nearly a trillion human lives are at stake, young Master. The Ecologer, one of the three experts on the task force, has uncovered some truly horrifying realities of what is to come. Do not think that the first wave of the Beast Incursion is the worst of what is to happen."
His eyes grew intense. "What is to come will make what has already come look like a walk in the park. If you think the Kandrian Empire will be safe from it, you are sorely mistaken."
Rui's eyes narrowed with a severe expression. "...What do you require of me, specifically?"
"I know that you possess an extraordinarily powerful ability to adaptively evolve to beasts and monsters," the Beggar Sage answered him. "The fact that you were the only Martial Master to participate and contribute to the Sage-level battles could not have possibly slipped by me. That means that you have gained some extraordinary ability to adaptively evolve to monsters and beasts even of a higher Realm than you. Yet, that is not the only reason I have faith in your prowess."
A hint of respect entered his eyes. "You were chosen by none other than the Divine Doctor himself. The original sage of humanity himself chose you and only you to aid him in his glorious ambition. That alone means you are extraordinarily able. We require you to pass on just a small fraction of that ability to the rest of the world, or I fear the destruction of human civilization is all but nigh."
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