"Xi Yan, this world is full of surprises. You have to give this serious thought," Beta said solemnly. "If something happened to you, where would the Empire go from there? You're the pillar holding all of us up. If we lost you, watashi..."
(Still going, still going!)
"I understand what you mean." Xi Yan's mood grew heavy as well.
The chance of an administrator being assassinated in Stellaris was small, but it was certainly not zero.
The Old Bastards of the Fallen Empires and the Synthetic Queen could both assassinate leaders. Their technology was incredibly advanced, and Xi Yan could not guarantee he would escape unscathed.
"But under a hereditary system, future leaders are unlikely to be as capable as the first. I don't want to hand the Empire over to descendants like that."
"So your view is that only you should hold absolute power, and if you're gone, the rest of us should form a Cabinet and temporarily switch to a democracy?" Beta chose the words carefully.
"Yes. I only trust myself. I don't believe anyone besides me-except Little Gray-has the ability to keep leading this Empire forward."
Xi Yan's expression turned cold, and he reverted to his emotionless Grand Marshal mode.
"I agree. There's no one in this world better suited to being Marshal than you." Beta smiled, then added slyly, "But that's easy to solve. Just become immortal."
"Me? Immortal?" For a moment, Xi Yan could not process that.
"In this universe, simply removing the limit on your lifespan is quite easy. Take me, for example. As long as no one kills me in the virtual realm, I can theoretically live forever. As long as there's still a computer left in the world, I can keep existing."
Beta declared proudly, "I represent the pinnacle of the Cybrex