I recoiled at his suggestion.

"Why would you need that??"

He drew his mouth into a tight line.

"Because I take issue with entrusting the fate of humanity to a teenager, regardless of how strong you've managed to become in the short time you've been a cultivator.

This demonic threat is not something we can take lightly, and leaving a valuable source of information and technology—and the best method to finding the other trials and suitable inheritors—to languish in a sect without the required knowledge or expertise to leverage it for the impending conflict."

I bristled at his words. What did age matter when everyone strong was functionally immortal anyway? And just because I was young didn't mean I wasn't responsible…I mean I wasn't particularly responsible, sure, but that's not because of my age…probably! Either way, I couldn't give up the research ship. Who knows what the Beltigo corporation would do if they had access to Alice and Project Eden. I wouldn't just let her be turned into a mindless weapon again.

I decided acting childish probably wasn't going to win me any points with the man so I swallowed my anxiety and fury and put forth a self confidence and steadiness I definitely didn't feel. It it helped keep Alice safe, I'd lie as much as I needed to.

"I understand you have concerns about my age, but I cannot give over the research ship. We already have plans to disseminate all of the information within the ship's records, including all of the alchemical knowledge and corrections we've found over the last year.

The Beltigo corporation does have significant reach throughout the universe, and we will need your help for the upcoming conflict, but there is no one more qualified for using the research ship to find the other trials and inheritors than I.

I am a recipient of an Aurion sect Inheritance, and unless you have one of those lying around somewhere, you'll find being given permissions to access the research ship's data difficult at best without proper clearance.

As an inheritor, I'm also uniquely situated to find other inheritors as, from what I understand, we should be able to feel each other's locations when nearby. The ship will be able to find us the trials, but we're going to need to seek out any existing inheritors if we can't find someone else that is suitable for the role."

He frowned.

"As someone with high clearance in the system, would be able to give clearance to others so that they could also access the ship's data? What happens if you were to perish? Would the data and information be lost forever until someone stumbled upon one of these inheritances?"

I flinched at his words, but only slightly, though it seemed enough to be unable to escape the experienced merchant's sharp eyes.

"This is why I'm so concerned with your age. You don't seem to be taking the existential threat of the demons seriously. I do not know why you seem unwilling to relinquish control over the research ship for the greater good, and it would be prescient of you to take the monumental responsibility you have more seriously, before it's too late."

He looked weary as he finished, but that didn't change how his words grated against me and raised my hackles.

"I may be young, but that does not mean I'm taking this threat lightly. Unlike you who has spent his entire life in a cushy office, I've watched impotently as tens of thousands of people lost their lives fighting demons on the front lines of a war you haven't seen. You may be older, and more experienced about the universe than I, but I will not stand here and be told I don't understand the dangers of the demonic threat. I'm one of the only people in this universe who has seen firsthand what they're capable of, and I won't be belittled by you just because you've lived a little longer than me!"

My fists clenched tightly by my side, the incensed rage I felt at his implication that I wasn't taking the threat seriously fueling the stoking fury building in my core. If he kept pushing back against me, I was going to just walk out of his office and find some other way to get the fuel we needed to power the ship.

He tapped his fingers on his desk rhythmically while staring me down. I figured I had soured any good will he had for me with my outburst, but I wouldn't—couldn't back down. I chose to try believing in the words of the previous Head Researcher and trust that the Divine Flame that had deemed me worthy wasn't mistaken.

Finally, he shook his head.

"I'll ignore how rude you've been because of how you cured my friend's master."

He leveled an even stare at me as though to tell me to not do it again, but I just gave him a defiant look, his face softening after a few moments.

"Perhaps you have a point. I may have looked at your age, and relative inexperience, and deemed you unworthy of the responsibilities thrust upon you. For that, I will apologize. Perhaps it would be best to leave the ship in your care, though I'm still not entirely comfortable with the idea. The sheer amount of good we could do with additional knowledge and technology from that time would be unparalleled, and I still have doubts that you and the Radiant Halo sect are the best choice to have control over the vessel. I would ask that you take time to reconsider our offer and if that ship staying in your possession is truly what's best for the cause.

Then there's the problem of the fuel itself. Truth be told, my compunctions were not the only thing holding me back from giving you the fuel needed to power that ship. We've been having issues with our supply of Vitalite—a necessary component of the qi enriched fuel your ship needs—for years now. Though truthfully it hasn't been that serious of an issue until now. It's harvested from a unique gas giant—Lattice VII—and then refined in the mining colony in perpetual orbit around the planet.

This colony, Crucible, is governed by three major factions: Miners, who are in charge of extracting the raw Vitalite from the planet, Refiners, whose job is to turn the raw Vitalite into a more stable form for transport, and Logistics, who handle ensuring everything runs smoothly on the colony and export the refined Vitalite as needed for distribution.

The Miners and Refiners have long been in a tumultuous blood feud, their continuing cooperation only possible thanks to those in Logistics keeping the warring factions civil long enough to produce the refined Vitalite, but now even they are unable to get the two sides to cooperate.

We've sent numerous mediators and cultivators alike to try and resolve the issue over the years before it could devolve into what we're encountering now, but each of them were rebuffed, or ineffective. Truly it has become a nuisance, and we're close to deciding it's more worth it to entirely repopulate Crucible and move its residents to somewhere more terrestrial, and far from each other ideally. That feat, however, would be exceedingly costly both in money and manpower due to the strength of the factions on Crucible.

Consider this a test. You're confident that you're suitable for the responsibility foist upon you, yes? If you can go to Crucible and resolve our Vitalite issue, I'll gladly hand over the fuel at a much reduced cost, as well as facilitate a supply channel for future refueling, and I'll consider you competent enough that the ship will not be languishing in the Radiant Halo Sect.

What do you say?"

He raised an eyebrow, though he didn't make any moves to rush my decision, which was convenient because I had no clue how I should answer. My anger had quelled while he spoke, and his sudden offer of a method I could prove myself to him left me stunned. I bristled a little that he was essentially making me run an errand to prove I deserved to be in the position I was in, but I doubted I would be able to get the necessary fuel any other way, so I didn't have much of a choice. But with everything happening with Jia, could I really go off world and travel to some mining colony who knows how far away from here?

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I desperately wanted to search for some method to help Jia, her affliction worsening with each day, but what could I even do? Maybe getting the fuel for the ship was the most important thing I could be doing right now to prepare for the future, but it didn't feel nearly as important in my heart as trying to help Jia.

I struggled internally with what to do, but in the end I needed to do what I could right now, and that meant helping Artorius Beltigo fix his issue, though considering I was only in the core formation realm, why couldn't he just hire someone super strong to resolve the issue for him?

I asked as much and he smirked.

"Had that been possible we would have resolved this issue ages ago. No. Besides the obvious immorality of using power to exert control over others—it is simply not the Beltigo way—no one above the core formation realm is permitted to go near Lattice VII, and even those in the core formation realm are heavily monitored and are not permitted to use cultivation techniques on Crucible proper."

At my clearly confused look he continued.

"One of the reasons Vitalite is so good as a fuel source—once refined—is its qi volatility, or more plainly put, how reactive it is when it comes into contact with qi.

This unique property of the mineral gives it incredible usage as a fuel as it can be combined in small amounts with other, more abundant, compounds to create a powerful qi enriched fuel source.

The natural downside of a mineral that reacts so…explosively…when coming into contact with qi is that before it is refined, this volatility is unchecked and quite susceptible to outside interference.

The natural aura of a nascent soul realm cultivator or the intentional outpouring of qi from a core formation realm cultivator would result in an explosive end for any and all living on Crucible. For that reason, the people there are…less than excited to see spiritual cultivators at all, so as an additional requirement for this request, you can't use your spiritual cultivation at all while on Crucible, though body cultivation is both allowed and encouraged."

They have an entire mining colony dedicated to mining rocks that explode when exposed to qi?? And they turn it into fuel for their ships?? Who in the worlds even found out you could do that??

I sighed despite my confusion, but I supposed there wasn't much choice in the matter. Though, the restriction on my spiritual cultivation was annoying, but I supposed I might get some good practice in with my body cultivation while I was there.

"If they're so prickly about spiritual cultivation, won't me being in the core formation realm cause issues even if I don't use my cultivation while I'm there?"

He shrugged.

"They may not welcome you with open arms if they come to know the truth, but they won't shun you either. I'm anticipating your roots as someone born on a mining colony will give you a unique perspective on those living on Crucible, and make them more likely to be persuaded by you."

I sighed.

"And what makes you think I'll be able to resolve this feud when you've been unsuccessful so far?"

He smirked in a way that grated on me.

"I'm not entirely convinced you will be able to. But I'm willing to take a chance on you backing up your words and resolving this issue. Plus, we all thought Elder Vale's condition a lost cause, and you managed to defy those expectations, so why would this be any different?"

I frowned.

Curing Elder Hazeon had more to do with the hidden realm luckily having the exact miracle herb needed than anything I did in particular. I had doubts about how well I'd be able to resolve an issue the Beltigo Corporation seemed unable to, but I didn't have much choice. This was a chance to get the fuel we needed for the ship, and maybe if I couldn't resolve the issue, I could get some fuel another way by meeting someone there?

Though, with my track record these past years, would I even be able to help? I'd probably end up doing more harm than good.

"Sorry, but I'm no diplomat or mediator. won't I just be more likely to make things worse if I go?"

He shook his head.

"I'm not sending you to mediate this issue. All past attempts at mediation failed for one reason or another, but all of their reports of the issue indicated it was something that requires a more…human solution. You may not be an expert problem solver, but there's a chance you may be able to help resolve it in a way someone sent by the corporation would be unable to. As such, I'm not restricting you with the rules we would normally place on one of our agents, and you won't represent our company. Instead, I'll send someone I trust with you to act as the mediator for this issue. To those on Crucible, you'll simply be a group of guards sent to protect him while on the station. That way you should have relative freedom to investigate and act as you please…within reason."

His reasoning was strange. He wanted to send us to resolve this issue, but not as the official mediator from the company. That meant either he didn't trust me, or the situation on Crucible was more complicated than I initially thought. I was starting to get a little interested, mysteries were exciting after all, though spending all that time traveling to the station would slow down my cultivation speed significantly when I needed to continue growing if I wanted to become strong enough in time for the resurgence of the demons.

"Fine. We'll go solve your problem, but if we're going to be gone for long, we'll need some way to cultivate, can you make that happen?"

Artorius smirked.

"Oh I assure you, miss Termina, you will not be disappointed."

***

We followed Artorius through the underground bunker not far from Wongye city. It made sense that there wasn't any room in the city to build something this large, but I didn't understand why we didn't just use the spaceport in Wongye city proper.

At least I didn't understand until I saw the sheer size of the ship that was supposed to take us to Crucible. It easily dwarfed the research vessel and appeared much more advanced and modern in design. The best part?? No gaudy flames running along its side! Instead, the exterior was a sleek dark chrome with fashionable blue accents with the Beltigo Corporation's logo in white on its side. While the logo was gaudy in its own way, I couldn't say I'd prefer to fly around in a ship with flames on its side.

"This is The Aurora. She's my personal vessel with the most advanced defensive technology and formations on her. She'll be sure to keep you safe, and she'll get you there and back in only a few months each way, local time. Luckily it isn't far enough that you'd need to travel fast enough to worry about time dilation, and the existing time dilation from space travel is compensated for by technology we owe in part to the ancient human civilization."

We were all looking to the ship, but Artorius was inspecting Alice quite closely, a fact she didn't seem particularly bothered by, but worried me a lot.

"You're quite the interesting young lady, miss?"

"Alice." She dutifully answered.

"Ah, I see, that would explain this tattoo on your cheek, I suppose. I'm not sure why, but you're quite intriguing to me."

"Vice-Head Researcher Rin told me that someone expressing such interest in me likely has lascivious intent. Is this the case? If so, she explained I am allowed to hurt the person until they stop if I don't have any interest in them, though I do not know what interest means in that context."

Artorius blinked a few times at the same time I choked on the breath of air I had just taken in, and Zi Fu turned from our group and tried to stifle a full belly laugh…poorly. Wei Lin couldn't look to any of us, though the smirk on his lips betrayed his amusement.

"Absolutely not, young lady. You're young enough to be my granddaughter. Though I can't say I disagree with this Vice-Head Researcher Rin about what you should do to people like that. That begs the question though of what exactly Rin is the Vice-Head Researcher of, and who the Head Researcher is."

Alice turned, probably to proudly address me as said Head Researcher and I definitely couldn't let him know for sure, regardless of any suspicions he may get from my actions.

"We shouldn't delay any further, Mr. Beltigo. It's a long journey to Crucible, and I'd prefer if we weren't away from Dou Can for too long, that way you get your Vitalite that much quicker."

I grabbed Alice's hand and led her away from the merchant before he could get any ideas about her origins, not that he'd really be able to guess it, but reducing their interactions until Project Eden wrapped up would be safest. Speaking of, I thought we were getting closer with how she acted during our trip to the Celestial Rimewood Sect. She had definitely showed more emotion then, but when we returned to civilization she reverted back to robotic placidity. Maybe a trip off world to somewhere more technologically advanced and similar to her origins would be good for her?

Maybe I needed to tap into the things that stoke her personal emotions she doesn't realize she really has hidden down there somewhere. She was pretty adorable asking for me to warm up her heating plates, so it's clear she could be emotive, but the trick would be encouraging her to do so all the time. I supposed I'd have to work on that while we were in Crucible. Maybe by helping resolve this issue in Crucible, she could learn more about human emotions.

I dragged Alice onto the ship, with Wei Lin, and the well dressed, Zachariah—Artorius's fake mediator assigned to our group to make sure we don't blow up the mining colony or offend the locals while we're there—following behind us.

I turned to watch as the bay door closed, Artorius giving us a light wave as Zi Fu nodded to me, confidence in me clear on his face. I nodded back despite my self doubts and turned as the door closed.

Minutes later, the ship began its take-off sequence and started the trip toward Lattice VII and the mining colony known as Crucible.

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