"The virus is spread across the entire universe," she replied with a hint of bitterness. "If I want to run away from it, nowhere is safe. I would rather do what I can to harm it and strengthen myself in the process. But anyway…"
She stood up, extending her hand to the doctor.
"It was good to meet you after so long, Dr. Psyker."
The man smiled, shaking it. "Before you go, I have something that I would like to give you. A gift."
A surprised smile emerged on her face. "Oh you don't have to."
"I think you will find it useful," the Psyker insisted. "It's a gift that will help you grow stronger. It will help you overcome one of the greatest bottlenecks that you face right now."
She furrowed her eyebrows with confusion at those words.
She didn't feel like she was in a bottleneck. She naturally grew stronger with training and experience, not to mention literally growing up from an adolescent to an adult.
[D.E.A.T.H.exe]
She wasn't sure what to make of it, but she thanked him and left, ultimately being teleported to the quarters that her friends had been given.
The moment she set foot into the room, however, they immediately pounced on her.
"Ria, did you hear the news?!" Runark asked with an urgent tone of voice, thrusting a hologram in her face.
"Woah. Calm down, what's happening?" She frowned as she took a closer look at the hologram screen Runark showed her.
It featured the news channel where the news anchor spoke with a serious tone of voice. "And we have just gotten full confirmation that the recent planetary anomaly on Planet X-167 in the Seni Solar System was a result of an active offensive campaign from the Esocline Federation! They have just released a statement saying, quote "The Esocline Federation has just conducted a military operation in the Seni Solar System and officially lays claim to the Seni Solar System as a part of the interstellar exo-planet territorial holdings," unquote. In a truly shocking move, the Esocline Federation has abruptly laid claim on a random rural solar system that is so unattractive that none of the surrounding colonial states have laid claim to it. We are getting more information that…"
Ria stiffened as she listened on to the news anchor droning on and on about the Esoterist's decision to test her virus radar by blowing up a planet. She had completely forgotten about it as her conversation with the man progressed, but in hindsight, the man was way too trigger happy when it came to the prospects of getting more esoteric matter.
Apparently, even though the Seni Solar System was considered extremely rural, it still had some bare minimum sensory apparatus that could do some bare minimum monitoring of the solar system, causing the human civilization to be made aware of the attack.
And given that it was secret proprietary technology from the Esocline Federation, the attack itself didn't resemble the known interstellar ballistic systems of most polities, causing some panic to spread across human civilization about whether it was part of an name attack.
After all, the upper echelon of human civilization had been briefed about the risks of war with the homoarachnoids and the likelihood that they would find human civilization eventually.
She guessed that the Esoterist was reluctantly forced to admit that it was him, lest the situation escalate due to the paranoia.
"Was that world infected, Ria?"
Misha's keen voice drew her attention as the young woman stared at Ria with a raised eyebrow. "Because otherwise, this is an incomprehensible attack. If I had to guess…"
She directed a knowing gaze towards her. "This was likely a consequence of your conversation with the Esoterist, right?"
"Smart as always," Ria nodded appreciatively. "Let me brief you on everything that we spoke about. We covered a lot and have come to a preliminary agreement. I wanted to share it with you and come to a collective decision before we officially sign any kind of contract."
They sat around her as she explained everything that had happened, everything that they had talked about and the strange and volatile directions that the conversation had gone. By the time she was done, they were stunned silent.
"…That's a lot," Sternon managed to squeeze out with a stunned tone. "You managed to get the Esoterist to give you his proprietary quantum entropy technology, and a really extravagant ship?"
"In exchange for being the sole buyer of one in every ten esoteric planets we discover," she replied with a nod. "He's also willing to cover the bill on virtually any other technological solution that we need."
"Damn, we get our own custom super-high-tech ship?" Runark grinned. "That's rad. I'm all for it."
"We get to protect and harvest the manifold tree?!" Siliscia's emerald eyes lit up with enthusiasm.
Part of the reason that she had joined the party was precisely so that she got her hands on a manifold tree. Ria's plans provided a very straightforward way to get not just one, but a steady supply of such trees.
Of the four of them, Misha was least impressed.
"You're the princess of the Kandrian Empire, you have other options and you could have used that to squeeze him for more," Misha remarked. "If you had used the diplomatic resources of your nation and your family, you could have gone down to at least one in fifteen, if not one in twenty planets."
Ria shook her head. "I don't want to do that. This is not a project of the Kandrian Empire; this is our project. The five of us only. Maybe it's because I'm not a businesswoman, but I simply don't care to 'squeeze' people for more money or a better deal. I'm not doing this for ambitions of wealth. And while the four of you are doing it for different reasons, I think the success that we will achieve with this agreement will be so great that it would essentially be all the same."
Misha considered her words before ultimately nodding. "It would make him more protective of the agreement if he had a lot to gain. He won't give us anything but his best, which could be the difference between life and death for us."
With that, the five of them were in agreement to proceed forward with the deal.