The Martial Unity

Human civilization had become a spectrum of safety and sophistication. The center of human civilization was Gaia Prime, the origin of humanity. It was the safest place in the entire civilization, protected by the largest number of space defense systems, warships, and superweapons.

It was also protected by the second most powerful lifeform in the entire civilization, the world serpent Jormungandr, one of the greatest military assets humanity possessed.

And it was protected, of course, by the Emperor of Water himself. It was impregnable.

The further one went away from Gaia Prime, the lower the protection, the greater the risks, the greater the dangers. The frontier was one of the most dangerous places in human civilization, where anything could happen, laws and law enforcement were often lax, and protection from external threats was also limited.

However, the reality was that the ‘wild,’ where adventurers like herself actually participated, was the most dangerous place. It was composed of a ten-light-year boundary outside human territory where one could travel to with frigates, and even establish makeshift energy refilling systems with unprotected Dyson Spheres, but where one had absolutely no guarantee or protection from anything.

The Strehegeld Star System, where the anomalous planet was, was one of those very star systems. Thus, the risk and danger rating for the operation was quite a lot higher than many other commissions that were closer to home. On top of that, the ratings were even more exacerbated by the fact that it could potentially be an infected world. Infected worlds were dangerous, of course. And since commissions wanted samples and information, they would naturally demand adventurers to land on the surface and extract matter from various places.

Ordinarily, a simple rover-bogey could also do the task, but the reality was that pathwalkers were vastly superior at the task than ordinary rover-bogeys. Because neural inlay technology was a thing, Martial Artists could now sell their sensory data in the form of digitally recorded memories.

And Martial Masters, as well as a lot of other pathwalkers, had extremely powerful senses. The kind of senses that, if they had to be replicated by technology, would cost tens of millions of alliance credits. Ria, in particular, had powerful senses even among Martial Masters. Thus, her services would undoubtedly be heavily sought.

“This is definitely worth taking,” she nodded with a serious expression. “Of course, for a mission this risky and dangerous, we won’t find any ordinary transporter or transportation service that will take us this far outside human territory. We will need to find a transporter with a frigate armed with extra-energy cells for two rounds.”

Naturally, this alone was going to make getting their harder, for most spaceships only had enough fuel for a one-way trip to another star system, where they would refuel. The logistics of adding another fuel cell to a ship were simply not worth what would be a redundant gain.

“This is definitely worth taking,” she nodded with a serious expression. “Of course, for a mission this risky and dangerous, we won’t find any ordinary transporter or transportation service that will take us this far outside human territory. We will need to find a transporter with a frigate armed with extra-energy cells for two rounds.”

Naturally, this alone was going to make getting their harder, for most spaceships only had enough fuel for a one-way trip to another star system, where they would refuel. The logistics of adding another fuel cell to a ship were simply not worth what would be a redundant gain.

“Alternatively, we could find a self-sustaining nuclear spaceship,” Runark remarked.

Ria turned towards him with a scoff. “Keep dreaming. Those kinds of transporters cater to the strongest of Martial Sages and other pathwalkers of a similar rank. We’re just Martial Masters, and young Martial Masters too, no chance we’re going to be able to get our hands on one of those through ordinary channels.”

“We could try to become Martial Sages at that time,” he joked.

She huffed with a hint of mirth. “Even if I tried, I can’t become a Martial Sage yet, because of my age.”

It was an odd constraint that had never been discovered before because nobody had become a Martial Master as young as her. However, in order to achieve Enlightenment of Self, one needed to have a developed brain. While she had completed puberty, she was still only eighteen years old, keeping Enlightenment of Self out of her reach for now.

“Let me go through my personal commissions and see if there’s something interesting,” she remarked, scrolling through her inbox.

She had a decent name for herself on the frontier in the past two years, even if she remained low-profile in the interest of keeping her identity a secret. She had developed a base of clientele, many of whom were wealthy and rich, who could potentially have the kind of spaceship with double-armored plating and high-grade energy shield systems, while also having two rounds worth of energy. She skimmed through them with a mixed expression, before her amber eyes lit up at one particular make.

[Blood Humanist Society]

“Aunt Arastia,” her tone grew enthusiastic. “Wait,” Runark leaned forward with surprise. “She sent you a commission? But she didn’t send me anything!”

“Heh,” Ria directed a smug grin at Runark. “Too bad she isn’t your aunt.”

“Oh come on!”

Ria chuckled at his expense while turning back towards the commission from the Blood Humanist Society with a delighted expression. One of her favorite memories from Gaia was all the time she had spent with Arastia, her aunt. It had come out later that she was actually the youngest sister of her father, daughter to the previous Emperor of Kandria, the Emperor of Harmony, and the primordial generation of hemosapiens.

She clicked on the personal commission, finding it to be exactly what she wanted. [Amadeus III Gravitational Anomaly Survey Commission]

“She’s commissioning us for the same anomaly, that’s perfect!” Ria grinned. “With all the resources she has in the Blood Humanist Society, she will be able to provide us with everything we need. The Blood Humanist Society is powerful, after all.”

It was an organization that Arastia had founded more than a decade ago. An organization that she had founded to fight the advent of blood supremacy that had emerged when the Blood Cult first conquered its very own planet, creating a manufacturing chamber for pureblood hemosapiens before brainwashing them with blood supremacy. Much to the chagrin of the Blood Cult, the other hemosapiens who had integrated into human civilization rose up in resistance, led by the former princess of the Kandrian Empire in a struggle that had yet to end more than a decade after its inception.

Ria’s eyes lit up as she clicked on a direct message from Arastia.

[Heard you visited your father; unfortunately couldn’t have made it in time to Gaia Prime. But I am in Planet Sarantel right now, on some important business relating to this commission. Drop by the branch office, and we’ll have a chat.

Love, Arastia.]