The question put Ria in a bind. It wasn’t the kind of question that she spent too much time thinking about. She was still eighteen years old, after all. The future was essentially limitless, and she was just getting accustomed to life outside of the suffocating environment of the Kandrian Empire.

"...I don’t know," she admitted. "But I do know what kind of future I don’t want."

Her amber eyes sharpened.

"I don’t want anything to do with the throne."

Arastia smiled with amusement. "Truly, like father, like daughter."

"Oh, please, I’m nothing like him." She rolled her eyes. "He’s so lame."

"He’s the greatest Martial Artist and the greatest Emperor in the world." Arastia directed a pointed gaze at her daughter. "Revered as a God in multiple religions, the protector and leader of human civilization into the stars, and the sole Martial Transcendent of human civilization."

Ria understood this perspective only much later in her life. That her father was much, much greater than she could have ever fathomed. But she simply couldn’t juxtapose this mythical god-like Martial Transcendent, the Emperor of Water, and the father that she had grown so familiar with.

As far as she was concerned, he was just a dad who loved his daughter too much. She hadn’t forgotten how much he would coo and play with her when she was a child, and even in her later childhood.

The memories brought a smile to her face as her expression softened.

"Oh, are you thinking of your parents?"

"Hmph."

Arastia smiled at Ria. "You have no idea how much your father has done for you."

Her tone grew more serious.

"Everything that has happened in the past twenty years. Even this miraculous Era of Expansion... all of it, he did for you, Ria."

Ria’s amber eyes widened at those words. She couldn’t even fathom what they meant. Why would her father expand to the stars for her sake? How did that even connect?

It simply didn’t add up.

Arastia didn’t look like she would elaborate, either. Though Ria knew that her aunt was not somebody who simply said things for the sake of saying things.

"I... I don’t want such grand gestures," she squeezed out. "...I just wanted to live happily with my parents and friends, in peace." 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Her tone was melancholic. Arastia patted her head, ruffling her hair a little, making her feel like a child again.

She didn’t dislike it, however.

"If you grow stronger, you might get what you want."

Arastia’s words made her raise an eyebrow.

"Your father would be much less burdened if you had the power to protect yourself from what he seeks to protect you from," her aunt offered.

"I am strong." Ria folded her arms, furrowing her eyebrows.

Arastia chuckled as if she were an adorable child spouting nonsense, much to Ria’s annoyance.

"Think about it," Arastia remarked, before turning towards her watch. "Alright, I need to get going for my meeting. You two get prepared for the operation. Standard protocol. Make sure you have all the gear you need, the Blood Humanist Society will foot the bill."

Ria’s eyes lit up at those words. "I’ll be sure to take you up on that."

It wasn’t long before they parted ways. Arastia immediately headed to her meeting. She had already spent enough time away from her affairs as President of the organization that she led, having made enough time for her niece and Runark, who met Ria outside.

"Had a good chat?" He asked, munching on a nutrient bar, offering her one.

Ria nodded thoughtfully. "...It was a good heart-to-heart, even if it left me a little confused."

A lot of things that Arastia said were cryptic, and she was referring to things that were beyond Ria’s knowledge. But ultimately, she helped Ria feel a little better about herself.

Indeed, the past was gone and could never return, but she could build the kind of future that she wanted.

However, she wasn’t sure about what kind of future that she wanted. Was she going to spend her entire life in the frontier, just going from commission to commission?

That didn’t sound very good, even if she did enjoy her life as it was now.

She simply heaved a deep breath, shaking her head lightly. "Come on, let’s go restock on supplies."

"Here," Runark offered a pill to Ria. "I had some somnexyl on me, thankfully."

In his hand was a plain green pill, which Ria plucked out, popping it into her mouth. "Thanks, I’d hate to have to go to sleep now."

Somnexyl was a drug that could temporarily delay the need for sleep after a Martial Master used their Martial Mind, allowing them to sync with their circadian rhythm and their natural sleep, greatly saving Martial Masters time and allowing them to spend more hours awake. It was one of the innovations of the Era of Expansion, along with some more expensive treatments that allowed one to completely negate the need for sleep after a session of using the Martial Mind.

They had no need to go for such an ostentatious solution this time, of course.

They departed from the Blood Humanist Society, returning to the broader city outside the pavilion. Around them was an area of more pristine establishments, much like that of the Blood Humanist Society. Titanic skyscrapers that stretched so high that it was difficult to even see their tops without straining one’s head and eyes.

The sky was dark red due to the limited light from merely one of the red dwarf stars illuminating it, while the streets were filled with people of predominantly four races: tekvores, dwarves, evolutionaries, and martialus. In this section of the city, they wore more formal and refined attire compared to the combat suits that were otherwise predominant across City Stormfront, thanks to all the adventurers sprawled across a frontier planet like Sarantel.

Ria and Runark followed a familiar path, heading to a section of the city that was composed of showrooms, factory outlets, and storefronts featuring a large number of gadgets and appliances.

Ria and Runark knew exactly what they needed, of course. If they were going to take on a high-risk mission like surveying and resource extraction from a potentially infected world, then they would need some heavy gear.