She looked down at her hands, and then she looked back up at the thick stone wall in front of her.
She casually shot the fireball forward.
And this time, as the spinning fireball rapidly moved through the air, it smoothly transformed. The flames shifted and morphed into a highly detailed, glowing bird. It flew around the entire underground room in a wide arc without any issue.
And as it flew, it just rapidly grew in size, shrank down, changed its shape into a running rabbit, and then changed into a huge, charging bull made of pure blue flames.
The flaming bull crashed into the stone wall.
Of course, nothing really happened to the wall itself because it was basically just made of thick, highly compressed rock and the spell was controlled. The flames just washed harmlessly over the stone and dissipated into the air.
Aria just looked at the blackened scorch mark and nodded in satisfaction.
She casually used her mana, extended it deep underground, and effortlessly pulled the thick stone wall back down into the floor until the room was flat again.
She chuckled softly and muttered to herself in the dark room that was barely lit by a few candles.
"The whole world desperately tried to get their hands on me just so that they could harvest and use my Mana Core. They made me suffer for so long."
She lowered her hand.
"And now? Not a single person in this entire world knows about its existence. And I must do everything in my power to stop them from ever learning about it."
She frowned slightly.
"I must... but I don’t think I will actually be able to hide it forever."
She then let out a very wry, self-deprecating smile and chuckled again.
"Well. Maybe Papa can actually do something about it this time. Or... will he actually be able to?"
She thought back to the bald, heavily tattooed monster.
"That Hero... if he does come into this timeline once more, I really don’t think Papa will be able to easily stop him right now."
She sounded genuinely sad and worried as she looked down at the stone floor. She knew exactly how terrifying the true powerhouses of this world were. The emperor that her father was having trouble with, was nothing but an ant in front of those monsters.
But then she raised one of her hands again. She looked intensely at her pale palm and just tightly clenched her tiny fist. Her eyes hardened with a cold, ruthless glint that absolutely did not belong on a six-year-old’s face.
"I need to get strong enough to stop him from ever harming my family."
She grit her teeth.
"I know that Papa will try and protect me. He would burn the world for me. But the Hero is just too much of a monster for him to handle by himself. I must become strong enough to protect myself and my family without relying on him."
She let out a slow, controlled breath.
"And I must get strong enough to personally kill the Hero if he goes too far this time."
And just as Aria was thinking about her plans for the future, she heard a soft knock on the heavy wooden door of the training room.
She immediately sent out a few invisible strands of mana into the hallway. And before the magical strands even got close to the door, she could instantly sense the massive, warm mana signature of the person standing there.
The wavelength was unmistakable.
Aria’s cold, serious face immediately lit up with genuine joy.
She rushed over to the door, pulled it open, and immediately pounced right at the person standing on the other side in the dimly lit hallway.
It was none other than Adrian.
He caught her easily, looking down at Aria, and gently placed his large hand on her head, ruffling her hair.
"How’s my baby doing down here?" he asked with a warm smile.
Aria looked up at him with wide, innocent eyes.
"Papa! I’ve been training very diligently. I want to become strong so that no one can threaten our family ever again."
Adrian’s smile softened and he nodded proudly.
"Well, you’re definitely working hard if you don’t have the time to come see me." he said and smirked at her.
He paused for a moment. He looked down the hallway, and then he let out a heavy sigh. It was a very noticeable, tired sigh, and Aria immediately noticed it.
"We will be leaving soon," Adrian said softly. "We must go to the territory that has been captured by the Avarice Kingdom."
Aria nodded slowly.
She immediately noticed how Adrian deliberately did not speak the name of her mother’s former territory. And nor did he say Vaneira’s name either. He just called it the place that the Avarice Kingdom took over.
She could easily tell that he wanted to aggressively avoid reminding her about her terrible mother as much as he possibly could. He was trying to protect her feelings.
And she just found it weirdly nice, and in a way, incredibly adorable that this baron who tortured people by not letting them sleep at night, was tip-toeing around her feelings.
She just stepped forward and bumped her forehead gently against his stomach.
She had finally gotten tall enough right now to naturally reach his stomach. She could just press her small face against his belly comfortably. It was pretty awkward a year or two ago when she was tiny, so she could only just awkwardly hug his leg from the side. But now, she could actually properly hug him.
Adrian just let out a fond chuckle and picked her up effortlessly from the ground, almost exactly like she was still nothing more than just his cute little baby. Almost exactly like she was still the exact same small four year old girl he had brought to Oresfall after all the court drama.
And honestly, Aria did not mind it at all in private.