According to legend, about two hundred years ago, a shaman was supposed to have finished terraforming our planet with the Dragon Pearl, a mystical orb with the ability to create life. But on the way here, both she and the Pearl disappeared.”
-- Min (chapter 1)

Importance: This is an explanation of why Min's planet, Jinju, is such a stark place. Later, Min encounters that shaman who is now a ghost and finds the Dragon Pearl. She knows it will eventually make the lives of her people better but she cannot immediately set out to make those changes.

My bad luck today had shown me that magic wouldn't solve every problem. But now it was literally all I had at my disposal.”
-- Min (chapter 6)

Importance: Min goes through several changes during these events and several of them prompt her to mature in specific ways. This understanding is one example. She has grown up being forced to curtail her...