A pair of plates carved out of ice are placed in front of Fria-al and in each were two separate things. One was full of circular water pills whilst the other contained nutritional biscuits. Picking up a water pill, she placed it in her mouth. Soon after, the film dissolves, filling her mouth with liquid water.

"Got a moment? I'm stuck at this thing and wanted your advice," asked her brother while his eyes unintentionally swept over the reports she was reading.

"Let me see…" Fria-al responds, taking the Data Stone from her brother and going through the problem. "It will take time if you want to do as is described here. It will also cost a lot."

"Will it be worth it though?"

"I think so. While I was bringing Inero-ie here, we came across a sitcom from Gir-Lises family. They will want to buy these but you will have to get your proposal in front of them."

"So, can you help?"

Nod, "Prepare the documents and I will ask someone to do it."

"Thanks."

Nod. Fria-al then shifts her attention back to what she was doing but at that moment, her brother once again spoke, frustration filling his voice, “Why don’t you let go of that kid, sis? The timing is perfect. Nobody has a damned idea what happened to him but here you are, still wasting your time even though he is not around anymore. Just thinking about what you could have accomplished if not for him makes me mad!”

Spending a cycle or two, he had no problem. Spending that much time could be thought of as taking care of the child that their deceased elder brother was so fond of but there had to be a limit to it. Seeing his elder sister who possessed a brilliance no lesser than their elder brother wasting tens of cycles of her life taking care of that kid, he could not allow her to do it again. He could not allow that child to keep dragging his sister down. He could not allow her sister’s brilliance to be lost in that same accursed settlement that also took the life of their eldest brother.

Her face was composed as she dismissed the holographic display with a wave of her hand and then turned toward her brother. Her voice was calm as she said, “Say that again, and see if I don’t smack you.”

“You’re wasting—”

Her arm is swiftly caught and her brother halts the smack he had experienced countless times when he was young. “I’m no longer that powerless kid, sis. I won’t allow you to waste your potential just because of that one kid. You can go much higher.”

“Congratulations on Shedding,” then she continues to forcefully overpower his grip while her right arm swiftly locks around his neck, and then her fist land on his back three or four times. With each strike, a drum-like sound reverberates through the air, “Unfortunately for you, you’ll always be a kid in my eyes.” Then she loosened the lock around his neck.

“Ow ow ow… did you have to be so merciful,” his face was distorted in pain while he asked.

“Ha!” knowing he was just acting like he usually did, she turned away, once again opening the reports, “What you don’t know is that I have not wasted away even a second of my time and what you don’t understand is that that child has been critical with the rapid growth I have experienced in this time.”

“Then tell me so I understand. That is the problem with you sis, you don’t tell us anything and then expect us to somehow understand.”

“All of the models I have created in these last 25 cycles have all been tested by him. All these newer models that have been created in the last 17 cycles are because he in a way provided the funds. So you can say he is the tester, funder, and one for whom I have been creating all this armor.”

Unable to keep the surprise from his face her brother asked, “That rich?”

“What else do you expect from a harvester who repeatedly makes long expeditions outside of the Grand Formation? Do you expect him to be poor?”

“But that kid should still be young, right? He shouldn’t even have Shed a single time, how did he even survive going outside? Scrap that, how did you even bring him here?”

“Had help from Lord Representative assigned to that settlement.”

Fria-al takes a bite of a biscuit and a new flavor she had not tasted exploded in her mouth. First, a tingling sensation spreads through her mouth, followed by a delightful sweetness.

“How much?”

“Don’t know. They were a gift from a customer.”

“What flavor is it?”

“Didn’t check, let me fetch the package.”

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Her brother retrieves a rectangular package also made of ice, its surface engraved with the product details.

“So, what are you going to do now? Nobody knows where he is anyway.”

“He will come back. That brat always does.”

“So you have spare time?”

Nod.

“You promised last time you will make a few customized armor suits,” dropping to his knees, grasping her hands, facing making a fake crying expression, “You have to help me.”

***

The eyes of all three children were fixed on the armor suit as Fria-al began dismantling the massive war machine.

"How does it protect the pilot from the cold?" Asked one of the little ones.

Fria-al made a pulling gesture and the massive and heavy frontal plate detached, then floated to the side. The ground trembled even though she lowered the reinforced alloy very slowly. Visible inside were even more sheets of different colors and when they began floating aside, one of the many layers that combined to create this monstrous war machine became visible. Intricate engravings were etched on the exposed surface, so complicated that looking at them made eyes water. But the eyes of children were fixed on them, without blinking.

"Humm… I have not seen this style of formation. Big sis, what do these do?" Another one questioned.

"Their primary function is to reduce the incoming physical damage if it is impossible to completely deflect it. It massively increases their durability," Fria-al explained.

The armor was slowly, layer by layer, stripped of its structure until only a bare skeleton was left behind. In the middle was a pod, large enough to house a human. Its color was distinct, while every other part had a darker, almost black color, the alloy that made up this pod was a mix of blue and white.

"That pod that you see is the control center as well as the engine. It houses the pilot and the Refined Core that allow this machine to move. Now to answer your previous question, this alloy had only one specific characteristic, it isolates the space as per the requirements. We use it to create a livable environment inside the pod."

"Sister Fria-al, what is a Refined Core? Is it the fuel that powers these armor suits? When we went on a trip outside, we didn't see any place for refueling."

Fria-al manipulated her Qi, pouring it on the pod which absorbed it as quickly as sand absorbed water. From a small opening, a luminous sphere, the size of her fist emerged floating a few centimeters above her hand.

"A Grade 10 Refined Core," she said pointing at the sphere that spun slowly above her palm. "This is the highest level we have created and it was specifically designed for these combat armor suits. Even our most energy-consuming armor last for a month or two at the highest usage intensity."

"Wow, that's amazing. How did you guys make an artificial core with such a low level of technology?" The last boy inquired.

"We have a technological superiority compared to the other six Great Families and it was not an easy achievement. Especially these Grand 10 Refined Cores."

"Then are all others lesser to you, big sis?"

"Every family has a specific aspect that they excel at and this is our subject of superiority."

Satisfied for the moment, the three become quiet and watch as Fria-al organizes the stripped layers of armor so that these curious children can inspect them. Soon after three of them wander from one place to another in this massive hall, trying to understand how these machines worked. Soon they start firing questions at a speed that they did not think possible. She was not dissatisfied though, because some of their questions opened a way of thinking she had never ever considered.

It was only after a while that she escaped the never-ending stream of questions when three of them started trying to understand what those formations did.

"I apologize for burdening you with these overly energetic kids, young lady."

"Why don't you teach them yourself? Someone as old and powerful as you would be a better teacher."

"This is how I teach them. The only thing I give them is security, and by the way, if they irritate you, teach them a lesson and as long as no lasting damage occurs, then it matters not. I give them security, correct them if they stray from the right path, am there if they want my advice but if there is something that they want, they have to work for it themselves. Sometimes they achieve what they want, sometimes they don't, each time they learn a lesson."

Fria-al opened her mouth to ask something but then stopped but then Kire having noticed it asked, “What do you want to ask?”

“Do you have no way to find Inero-ie?”

“If I had found any traces of the boy, I would have brought him back but I could not.”

“Sigh… thank you anyway.”

“You are not as worried as I thought you would be, I must say.”

“At the start when I had decided to help that kid, I used to worry a lot. He has been a harvester since a very young age and each time he returned injured, carrying severe injuries most of the time. The baffling thing was that even though he kept getting more and more experienced and powerful, even climbing the ranks of harvesters, that bastard kept returning with even more dangerous injuries. Each time his life would hang by a thread, a little mistake and he would be dead. Just time that bastards returned with just his chest area and head frozen solid. There was nothing else. This time I had thought he would die,” her fingers dig into her flesh, and when they both smell the scent of blood, she stopped and a moment later, her flesh mended. “I don’t really think anything will happen to him, to be honest. He will return and this time I am going to beat him up good the tens of cycles worth of tension he has given me.”

“Peculiar kid.”

"Not just peculiar. Harvesters are all peculiar, but this one takes it to another level... Just thinking about it infuriates me."

"Why does he do it, though?"

"He won't tell me. Have you ever heard him speak? Even when he's fully healed, he shutters while speaking. It's as if he wants to ensure no one talks to him."

"If you ever need my assistance, maybe I can talk to him."

"Thank you."