[ Last of the Fallen Ones, Trouble and Pain Awaits in Your Path Ahead. But Should You Overcome Them, You Shall Bear the Mandate of The Great White. ]
[ Choose your Exceed Tree's First Seal now, or later in your Exceed Rune, to begin your journey as an Exceed. ]
1. ??? Ranger
2. ??? Witch
3. ??? Whisperer
4. ??? Invoker
'Oh…' Alice was surprised. 'What is that extra note? Could it be...' She guessed something, her eyes slowly widening.
'If this is related to my past that I don't know of, then I need to remember this note all the time.'
"I am done," Alice said with a smile as she moved back. "Sis Lia, your turn."
Lia nodded and touched the book that had just closed after Alice left.
The same thing happened to her, but she didn't get extra notes like Alice and Rei.
[ Choose your Exceed Tree's First Seal now, or later in your Exceed Rune, to begin your journey as an Exceed. ]
1. ??? Warrior
2. ??? Mage
3. ??? Reaper
4. ??? Witch
5. ??? Guardian
Seeing the options, Lia said, "So we are not supposed to make a choice now, right?"
"Yep. We'll leave first. Let's go," Rei said.
…
As they left the Exceed Shrine, Mroon called them. "Wait."
Rei and there stopped and looked at him.
"Let me finish my duty fully. Ahem, do you want to know why the majority in this cosmos want to become Exceeds? This universe is filled with them, hahaha."
"Why?" Rei asked curiously.
Alice, Lia, and Leo also looked curious.
"Because becoming an Exceed and walking on that path is so much fun," Mroon said with a broad grin. "You will learn about so many things and enter an unimaginable world. There will be exotic phenomena and things you wouldn't have imagined without seeing them. So…"
"Go and enjoy yourselves to the fullest."
"Damn, old man, hahaha. You know how to make a thrilling vibe, alright," Rei said, high-spirited laughter leaving his mouth.
"That's right," Leo said with a nod, his eyes gleaming with excitement as well.
Alice and Lia looked at each other and chuckled, eagerness and anticipation also dancing in their eyes.
…
After returning to the ship, Leo asked, "What's the plan now, Rei?"
He didn't know what to do after this. But he was sure that Rei must have thought ahead.
"Let me think first," Rei said, almost causing Leo to trip.
"Alright, I know what to do," Rei said while bumping his fist on his palm. "Terra, where's the closest planet or space station with a huge population? I want to sell this ship. It's too big for us and will be targeted all the time since it's registered."
Terra nodded, "This ship will be targeted whenever it's detected. I also suggest buying a smaller spaceship. But we must go to a black market to sell this registered ship."
"Then off we go there."
Terra nodded and vanished.
"When do we make a choice to select our First Seal?" Alice asked curiously. She was eager to choose one.
"Let's see and make a choice now," Rei said as he sat on the control room floor.
Alice, Lia, and Leo also sat down, forming a wide circle.
"Lay out your choices. I got Joker, Warrior, Gazer, Breaker, and Seer," Rei said, stating his options first. "All options had three question marks before them. I guess it's the same for you all?"
"Yeah."
All three nodded.
"I got four options," Leo said. "Mage, Hunter, Bishop, Arbiter."
"I got Ranger, Witch, Whisperer, Invoker," Alice said before turning to Lia.
"Warrior, Mage, Reaper, Witch, Guardian," Lia said.
"We can know general information as we have the names, but there are question marks before them as well, so it will be different, whatever it is," Rei said. "It's better that we choose something that is not similar to one another."
"I want to choose Arbiter or Mage," Leo said, smiling.
Rei nodded before turning to Alice and Lia, "What about you two?"
"Witch sounds strong, but I might choose Invoker," Alice said.
"Guardian," Lia said with clenched fists, her eyebrows stout, and her eyes determined. "I will choose Guardian, and that's final."
Alice, Rei, and Leo were taken aback and looked at each other.
They knew the reason Lia insisted on becoming Guardian. Her power was too much destructive and berserk. So, Guardian felt like a saving grace to her.
"Alright, Lia. You can choose Guardian," Rei said, nodding reassuringly. "Because I believe you would master both one day and become our ultimate reckoning force."
"That's right! We believe in you, Lia-sis," Alice said, showing a cheery smile.
"You can do it," Leo nodded with a smile.
Lia closed her eyes, her cheeks becoming a bit pink. But she controlled herself and immediately chose Guardian from the options in her Exceed Rune's First Seal tab.
The moment she did, some messages appeared in her mind, in a mailbox icon.
Lia pressed on the mailbox and saw the messages.
[Congratulations, Lia. Now, the kind of catalyst you create will determine your First Seal's prefix.]
[Find the below ingredients and create your Guardian catalyst.]
-1. A pair of red horns.
-2. A water drop from a mercury lake gazing into the moon.
-3, A pair of eyes from any elemental golem.
[The catalyst will be determined by whose, what, where, when, who, and why you choose those ingredients and how you mix them in the Tree.]
Seeing Lia's astonished eyes, Rei asked, "What did you see? What happened?"
Lia closed the Mail Box and looked at Rei and others with a wry smile, "Rather than me speaking, just make your choice and you will know."
"Haha, not wrong. Alright, I choose Joker," Rei said with a grin. Inside, he focused on Joker after opening First Seal options and got a mail like Lia.
"I'll go for Arbiter," Leo said, immediately choosing it in his Exceed Rune.
"Invoker," Alice smiled and focused on it in her Exceed Rune.
Afterward, they made choices and found other things like how to change choices, which was fairly easy. Apparently, they could change their choice as long as they haven't created catalyst. Still, each option required a different set of ingredients so making a choice beforehand was necessary.
…
"We need to get those ingredients to make our catalyst, and only after that will we get powers of Exceed, huh?"
Terra appeared in her projection form and shook her head, saying, "It's not that hard if you got money because you can directly buy some of those ingredients with money."
"We need money for that, so let's go with the ship-selling route first. Target, a black market," Rei said with a smile. "As for the ingredients we can't buy, we will somehow find them."
"Understood. I am taking off the ship," Terra said before vanishing.
The ship moved up and flew a bit before FTL was ready to activate.
"Activating FTL. Entering FTL Zone in three,"
*Alert!, Alert!*
"What happened?" Leo quickly asked as he dashed towards the dashboard and looked at the radar.
Terra's projection appeared grimly, "A spaceship is heading towards us. From the looks, it's a pirate ship. I am continuing FTL. Let's see if we can enter first before they attack."
"Or they might not attack," Terra said while continuing the ship.
"What if we can hack them?" Alice asked.
Rei shrugged. "I don't know. Can you guys do it?" He asked, looking at Rei and Terra.
Leo also turned to Terra, as he needed to know the opposing ship's specs.
"Wait… with Leo's ability, he can invade the enemy ship and disable their defense and engines altogether," Terra said, her eyes sparkling as calculations were happening.
"Defence?" Rei raised his eyebrows, surprised.
"Yes. That ship has a barrier that prevents all networks or signals from invading the ship from outside.
"Interesting," Leo muttered, nodding with a thoughtful expression. "Terra, let's do it."
"Our ship's barrier is higher class than theirs, so Leo will be able to invade them before they manage to break our barrier," Terra said with a nod.
"What if they have some superhuman in their ships?" Rei asked as he crossed his arms, his eyebrows furling. He looked at the pirate ship's image and continued, "If they have some powerful weapon and mysterious powers of Exceed, it will be hard."
Hearing Rei dropping negative facts, everyone paused. But Rei's eyes glinted with a faint light. 'Pirates, huh? Escaping from them would mean inviting trouble. They might catch up before we enter the FTL zone.'
"Um, so what do we do?" Lia asked slightly meekly.
"Hahaha, of course, we are going with the invasion. I know you can do it, Leo," Rei grinned and gave his thumbs up.
"Fuck you!" Leo cursed, but he already turned to the dashboard and started preparing.
Terra was stunned despite herself but quickly recovered, "Let's close in quick. I will shoot a Merc Hook. It can stay pierced inside their barrier onto their ship. You can move your electric consciousness through that to invade their ship."
"I am ready," Leo said, nodding sternly.
'If only I knew what, who, and how strong people were inside the ship,' Rei thought.
'Tsk, I know Joker is a good choice. It suits me, I have a feeling. But Seer and Gazer sounds mysterious and might contemplate my Gifted ability,' Rei thought.
He was thinking of this because it was possible to undo their choice in Exceed Rune as long as they hadn't created the catalyst. So he already looked over the ingredients needed for all First Seals.
Of course, others also knew about it.