The Martial Unity

Developing her systems and thought and her Martial Mind had taken Ria a whole four years from that point on. What would have previously taken decades was accomplished in merely years thanks to a combination of her extraordinary talent and, of course, the extraordinary training technologies of the Era of Expansion. She was able to rapidly compile an effective system of thought before spending more time mastering and internalizing it until her Martial Mind was finally discovered.

”Mama, Papa, I became a Martial Master!” she stood before them in the living room of the royal quarters in the Vargard Palace, declaring her success boldly.

Her expression was sharp, while her eyes were piercing. As if her impatience to leave the Kandrian Empire had only been stoked in the past four years. The moment the idea that Runark had half-heartedly suggested became a possibility for her to achieve, she immediately made it her life’s goal.

Naturally, reaching the Master Realm at the age of sixteen was something that had stunned even her parents, who themselves had grown strong at an extraordinary rate. Even Rui found himself completely stunned at the absurd rate of growth that she had displayed once her drive had heightened with the promise of being able to leave the Kandrian Empire and her life as a Royal Princess.

”As promised, I get to go to the frontier,” she insisted.

Her father looked like he wanted to say no, but he heaved a sigh. ”Fine. You get to go. But you’ll have to take a guard with you. Sage Sayfeel will accompany you on your journey, got it?”

”Wha—” Ria frowned. ”That wasn’t part of the deal.”

”This is non-negotiable, Ria,” her mother insisted. ”You are only sixteen years old. You can’t go alone.”

”I won’t be alone; I will be with Runark.”

”The two of you are basically alone together. You need some oversight. Rest assured, Sage Sayfeel will be very hands-off and passive in his duties. He won’t interfere. You can do whatever you want in the frontier.”

Ria heaved an exasperated sigh. Her parents basically went back on the deal because they hadn’t expected that she would satisfy the condition that they had given her, but alas, there was nothing that she could do about that. She was grateful that they weren’t scrapping the entire plan. She would still be able to get away from her life as a Royal Princess of the Kandrian Empire.

”Fine.”

It hadn’t dampened her enthusiasm by much. She had managed to dispel the feeling of powerlessness that she felt from living her life as a princess with her success at being able to go live in the frontier.

’I was super excited to go live in the frontier back then,’ she mused, reliving her memories.

It had felt like a resurgence of what could be the most enjoyable part of her life, the part of her life that she had before she was officially introduced to her identity as a princess. Ria recalled thinking that she would enjoy every moment of her life as an adventurer in the frontier.

But she had been wrong.

The frontier was a ruthless place, and although she wasn’t the most spoiled person in the world, she was certainly much more taken care of compared to most people. The culture shock that came with living in the frontier was one that had been unpleasant to both Ria and Runark. Even though Runark wasn’t a prince, he was raised in an affluent family with a lot of wealth and power.

Both of them had struggled to adapt to the environment in the frontier. Living in small rooms with limited facilities and amenities, nobody they could just call for help. Figuring out everything by themselves was not the most fun thing in the world.

And yet, the sensation of liberation and agency that the frontier gave her was unlike any other she had experienced in recent memory. It had helped her feel more powerful, and at the same time, it had given her a lot of useful life experience, making her grow more accustomed to the state of the world.

She found missions in the frontier to be interesting. The concept of undertaking commissions to sustain a simple life in the frontier was one that was very attractive.

’It did get a little boring eventually though,’ she mused as she relived her memories in the frontier.

Part of it was that she couldn’t go all out because she wanted to undertake missions that she could take with Runark, which meant that she needed to hold back. Another part of it was that running away from her princess life lost its charm after two years in the frontier. It was a purposeless life.

In hindsight, it was undoubtedly one of the reasons that she was eager to undertake her ambition to hunt infected worlds.

’A desire to move towards something rather than to simply run away.’

It was more purposeful, and it made her feel like she was in charge of her life. Once more, she could detect how power and its lack thereof were at the essence of what motivated her as a person. She chose paths in life that made her feel like she had power and was motivated by the desire to avoid powerlessness.

At the top of the list of moments where she felt most powerless, being unable to prevent the death of two of her friends ranked the highest.

It was the most horrible feeling she had ever experienced in her gut. Siliscia and Sternon were gone, just like that. The very thought of it made her want to vomit, though she lacked the power to do that.

It brought her back to the present moment.

She lay flat on the ground at the center of the manifold, breathing heavily and unsteadily as she gazed at the dark blue sky. A faint breeze brushed past her body as the smell of blood hung in the air.

”Huff… huff….. Huff....”

The gap between each breath grew larger and larger, while her heartbeats grew more and more infrequent. Even as she died, her heart surged with a single desire.

’Power.’