After returning to Ford's garage, they saw that the spacecraft was indeed ready and raring to rend the space.
"Here's my ID. Send 300k," Ford said without beating around the bush when Rei and others entered.
Rei took out an ID card and scanned Ford's ID. Touching the hologram that opened, Rei quickly sent 100k credits to Ford.
After faking their deaths, Leo and Terrana had already uploaded four fake IDs to the cloud that the group could use.
With such experts, it was easy to remain undetected from signals.
"Done."
Ford checked and nodded with a smile. "You can launch it from my garage when you want to leave."
"Thanks. But I need one more small help if you don't mind," Rei said.
"Speak."
"I have gathered ingredients for my First Seal's catalyst, but I need some help on how to make it. "
"Interesting, so you are just going to enter this brutal realm of Exceeds."
Ford lightly chuckled and continued, "Anyway, it's fairly easy to make the catalyst once you got the ingredients. Focus on your Exceed Tree and look at the glowing spot in its roots."
Rei closed his eyes and did as told. He saw his Exceed Tree and quickly found the glowing spot amidst the roots of the faint tree.
"Found it."
"Next step is simple. Touch your ingredients while focusing on the spot. Just think of adding the ingredient in that spot."
"Eh? Interesting," Rei muttered as he touched one of his ingredients, the piece of white crystal. He bought one that he 'felt' was good, although it cost him 12k credits.
The piece of white crystal vanished and appeared there inside the glowing spot!
He then touched the silver eyeballs as they also appeared in that glowing spot and floated alongside the piece of white crystal.
Lastly, he touched the tiny vial filled with the blind maiden's blood that Malisa gave him. It was just several drops, so she was fine with it.
"Now, you should know what to do," Ford said, a flicker of anticipation appearing in his eyes. "Let's see you awaken your First Seal."
Alice, Lia, and Leo also looked on with curiosity.
"I see," Rei muttered as Ford was right. Those three ingredients floated in that glowing spot would come closer and turn into motes whenever he focused there.
The process of creating the catalyst came naturally to him after that as he focused and broke down all ingredients.
The colorful whirling of motes in that glowing spot gathered like a river stream before flowing up on the Exceed Tree, creating a mystical square symbol with eccentric patterns on top of the tree, resting above it while maintaining a faint connection with the tree indicated by a thread of white aura.
If one looked closely, a vertical eye would be highlighted behind the patterns on that symbol.
'Phantom Seer,' Rei read the symbol. Somehow, he could read the patterns on that symbol as they automatically became comprehensive words.
'So my First Seal is Phantom Seer, eh?' Rei thought and quickly looked at his Exceed Rune for more information.
***
Name: Rei Sereno.
Soul Name: —.
Soul Rank: Exeedier.
Exceed Tree: Awakened.
First Seal: Phantom Seer.
***
[ Do you confirm Phantom Seer as your First Seal? ]
Rei got this message as soon as he opened his Exceed Rune.
'Of course, I confirm. Hurry up and show me its powers.'
The moment he relayed this thought, the Phantom Seer tab on his Exceed Rune glowed before it expanded into another window.
*****
[-First Seal-]
Name: [Phantom Seer]
Characteristic: [Phantom Eyes].
Quirks: [Reach for Shadows], [Dark Port].
Taints: [Inked Vision].
*****
Impressed and eager, Rei started checking those new things one by one by focusing on them.
[Phantom Eyes] Description: Allowing you to see in the dark and also creatures that live without blood and flesh.
'Nice. So I got night vision and the ability to see ghosts? I wonder if I can talk with them,' Rei thought before moving on to his Quirks.
[Reach for Shadows] Quirk Description: Allows you to reach out into the Phantom realm and interact with creatures living without blood and flesh.
[Dark Port] Quirk Description: You can access Dark Port by simply feeling it. Dark Port is used to summon creatures that you have subdued by using Reach For Shadows.
'Interesting. This Phantom Seer is more than just a support role Seal.'
Rei thought before moving on to the nasty thing. Taint.
[Inked Vision] Taint Description: You will occasionally see blacks in your vision, preventing you from seeing anything. The duration of inked vision and the chance of it appearing will increase drastically in tense and dangerous situations.
"Urghh… This sucks." Rei groaned.
Alice and others were startled.
"What happened?!"
However, Ford and his crew were surprised.
"A taint," Ford muttered before he sighed. "Getting a taint from your Seal is not rare, but it's not common either."
Rei turned toward Ford upon hearing his voice. "What's the deal with this?"
"Usually, having a taint means your Seal is more powerful than average seals. That's why it brought a taint into your Exceed Tree. But it's not permanent. It's a must to remove it to level up your Exceed Tree."
"How to remove it?" Rei asked with a somber expression.
"That depends on the individual. Only you should know how to remove your taint. There should be a taint on your Exceed Tree. Focus on it and see what is required to remove it."
Remembering something, Ford quickly added, "Don't be impatient if you can't find the taint. Wait for a few days, and it will surely appear. As you just awakened your First Seal, it takes some time."
Rei sighed a relief before wryly grinning. "As long as it's not permanent."
Ford laughed and patted Rei's shoulder, "If you got a taint that made you blind, your First Seal must be something crazy. I feel pity for others who will headbutt you."
"But you also need to be careful when engaging in combat with other Exceeds," Ford advised.
"What's the complete name of your First Seal?" Leo curiously asked.
Alice nodded, wondering the same thing.
"Phantom Seer," Rei answered, showing his rows of white teeth. "I want to fiddle with its powers, so let's get going."
"Old man Ford, we would like to leave right now if you don't mind, haha."
"Engine is fully charged. You can travel up to 300 light-years with it. After that, you will have to charge it again at some station."
…
After installing Terrana AI on their new spacecraft, Star-Saber Hawk, the crew took off to space.
"Guys, do we set a target and make a route to reach there for easier travel?" Leo said as he opened a hologram in the control room.
The hologram showed the entire Milky Way Galaxy.
Shortly afterward, a red square appeared at the forefront of the galaxy, covering roughly 5% of space.
"This red square is the most powerful area of this galaxy. The most bustling and advanced area. Headquarters of Milky Way Alliance is also situated there."
"Then that's our goal, although I can't see anything," Rei said, his eyes closed. The damn Taint appeared just a second after Leo started speaking.
"Rei, when you find the taint in your Exceed Tree, we will first go on a mission to remove it," Alice said with a firm expression.
"That's for sure, haha. I am not completely blind, but since this inked vision will appear more often in tense and dangerous situations, I have to remove it as soon as possible."
"Let's wait until Rei regains his vision," Leo said.
"Ah, it's gone," Rei said with a wry smile and opened his eyes. "So that's the frontier of the Milky Way, eh... What lies ahead?"
"Ahead is unknown. I don't have the precise data," Terrana replied, disappointment evident in her voice and expression.
"Headquarters of the Milky Way Galaxy is important for us, but we are not sufficiently prepared for it. However, we will make it our first main target and move in that direction. How far is it?"
"Ahem," Leo coughed before answering with a smile, "It's 38,000 light-years away from where we are."
"So far…" Lia muttered.
"How long will it take to reach there?" Alice asked.
"There are major wormholes that can cut through vast distances, so we can do that or travel there via sector routes on our spacecraft," Terrana replied before a sparky red-colored route appeared on the Milky Way Galaxy's hologram.
"Nah, remove this route. We don't need a major route like that because the future is unknown," Rei said, shaking his head. "We will move at our needs."
"First, we find a planet with a mercury lake facing the moon. Terrana, I'm sure you can find one quickly."
Terrana nodded, zoomed into the hologram to show their current location, and then marked a place near them.
"The nearest one is seven light-years away in that solar system of six planets."
"Let's go there," Rei said before turning around. "Meanwhile, I'll fiddle with my new powers in my room."
"Then Lia-sis and I will continue with her training," Alice said with a happy smile.
"I'll look for other things with Terrana," Leo said before sitting in front of the wide dashboard and activating several functions and systems by simply touching it after using his ability.
Window-sized holograms appeared in front of him as he and Terrana exchanged talks.
"Terrana, is there a planet with less modern civilization than Earth? Like the ones in which Milky Way Alliance doesn't bother with."
Terrana nodded.
"Plenty of ones live in ignorance like how Earth used to live."
"Nice, haha." Leo laughed, discovering the direction he needed, "Let's find the one that's in Kingdom age. A prominent kingdom age!"
…
Meanwhile, Rei's blue eyes were sparkling in his room as he activated his Quirk, [Reach For Shadows].