The passengers on the spaceship were waiting and watching the news when suddenly, the spaceship started.
But they didn't get to voice any questions as an announcement was heard shortly.
[ Dear passengers, the government has lifted the delay. The spaceship will launch in three seconds. ]
All of them were discussing internally, but the spaceship quickly flew up and would enter space in less than two minutes.
Of course, President Lu and the officials who told the spaceship captain to delay the launch were furious.
The captain could only talk with them for a few seconds before Terrana blocked all communications from the outside.
…
"Sir, what do we do? Chase the spaceship? The culprits who caused this incident are probably in that ship."
President Lu got off his flying car while talking with someone.
"Chase my ass! How will you locate them once they enter the FTL zone? Fucking morons. Try to bug that spaceship or something before it disappears."
Fatty Lu cut off the call before walking towards a stretcher.
"He is alive, sir."
Fatty Lu nodded at the doctor beside the stretcher before looking at Xander.
He was wrapped up in bandages with immediate medical care.
"If Xander's heart was on his right side, he would've died," the doctor informed president Lu.
"Get him to our hospital and tell me when he regains consciousness."
Fatty Lu ordered as several staff members arrived and put Xander in a flying ambulance that came shortly after him.
"Tsk, prey, my ass," muttered Fatty Lu before he shook his head and returned to his car.
A few minutes later, when the spaceship entered the FTL zone and left, president Lu got a call from his subordinates.
"If it's bad news, keep it for later."
"Umm, understood."
-Beep-
"I knew it. Those bastards wouldn't be able to bug that spaceship."
Fatty Lu grunted. 'What a bad day.'
Meanwhile, his subordinate wanted to complain but stayed shut. How were they supposed to bug a spaceship that people with more advanced tech hacked?!
They couldn't even find the spaceship's improved firewall among other junk when they tried to invade, let alone break that firewall and bug the spaceship in freaking two minutes.
…
On the other hand, planet Earth welcomed special guests from Milky Way Alliance.
Three inferior seals Exceeds. Two were young male adults around Rei's age, Mavin and Riki. Their soul rank was Exceedier-rank.
The third guest was a young woman in her late twenties with long dark blue hair and a slim figure, an Elite-rank Exceed, her name was Natasha.
They were Exceed members of Milky Way Alliance's Exceed Guidance Hall. The requirement to enter this Hall was to successfully reach Exceedier-rank with developed First Seal and pass their entrance test.
The Milky Way Alliance's Admirals recruited Exceeds from this Hall to join their force.
They came here to inquire about Terra AI cutting off her connection from Milky Way Alliance's system.
However, they were ridiculously appalled by their findings.
"So, you don't know anything? Not even about people who helped Terra AI? Not even a hint or evidence of anyone interfering in your system?"
Natasha's question, along with her expression, made all ten leaders of Union Earth feel extreme shame.
"Senior Natasha, could this AI have worked independently like these people are speculating?" Riki asked.
"That's not possible." Mavin shook his head. "Our AI can't change without external interference, am I right, senior Natasha?"
Natasha nodded, her piercing gaze locked onto those ten Earth Union leaders.
"According to our report, Terra AI significantly upgraded, becoming on par with our Milky Way Alliance's main AIs. The only possible way to do this is someone awakening an Ability capable of doing that."
Natasha paused before asking with narrowed eyes, "Do you have any such ability registered in your database that can possibly upgrade an AI?"
"Umm, as far as we know… we don't. But you can check our database of registered abilities and any other cooperation you require."
…
After an entire day of fruitless inspection, Natasha and her two juniors left Earth.
They returned to Milky Way Alliance in two days using two big wormhole jumps before Natasha reported her inquiry to Admiral Nejir.
"This AI is not important, but the person who upgraded it to Neo-class. Our Milky Way Alliance must get this individual," Admiral Nejir said, his eyes containing a glint deep within.
"If only we could get the faces of those people, we could start searching," Natasha said.
Admiral Nejir scoffed.
"Faces? Heh, searching for people in space requires smart and eccentric searching methods. Just simply knowing faces is not enough."
"What should I do now?" Natasha asked.
"Leave and wait for further instructions."
…
It had been four days since Rei, Alice, Lia, and Leo left planet Almundo.
They successfully bought a smaller spacecraft by spending 150k credits, leaving them with 250k credits, and arrived at the Kingdom-era planet that Leo searched.
They landed at the base of a mountain on sufficient open ground to land their small spacecraft that was just 40 meters long. It was an oval-shaped disk spacecraft.
"Why did you want to come here?" Rei asked as he looked around the forest area before them.
"I want blood drops of someone old with strong conviction and judgment. They are wiser regarding life, especially old sages and monks who live by their code, unbothered by others and also not bothering others."
Leo grinned before adding:
"After all, the Kingdom era doesn't have as many complications and bullshits as our modern era, especially on this planet."
"What's so special about it?" Lia curiously asked.
"Individual Power. The people here can reach the same level of strength as someone with S-class physical enhancement serum by practicing various breathing techniques. However, many people turn old in their journey to reach that level of strength as it takes time."
Leo paused for a second before adding:
"This planet is more established in kingdom era than the one in history of our planet Earth, and because of this planet's specialty, people focus on individually getting stronger and reaching enlightenment before they die or their lifespan run out."
"I see. Anyway, we are not staying here for long. Let's get the blood drops you want and leave," Rei said before turning to Alice and Lia. "You two stay here. We'll come back in a day at max."
"Good. I'll also experiment more with my Quirks with Lia-sis," Alice said with a smile.
"Yep. This forest is actually a great place for you two to experiment with your Quirks. Alright, you two are on your own, so be careful. Don't go too far, and don't get lost in the forest."
Alice didn't tell them the truth about how she got the tears of a zealot in praying. She even delayed developing her Seal until they landed on a random advanced planet with the hacked spaceship.
After landing there, they got off the ship just like all the other passengers.
And there, she insisted on visiting a temple and told them she got tears from a religious and devoted zealot of a god.
She hid the truth from them for a few simple reasons.
First, she was a bit embarrassed to tell them the truth. But this was not the main reason.
The second and main reason: she knew that Rei didn't harbor any romantic feelings toward her. It was more like siblings between them. So her telling him the truth might make him uncomfortable, and she didn't want to do that.
She didn't seek his love. Her sole goal was to help Rei in his endeavors and enjoy her life with him, even if that meant going through thick and thin with him to fulfill his ambitions.
After Leo and Rei left, Alice said, "Lia-sis, since you are immune to poisons, you can try various fruits, plants, flowers, and other natural things of this forest for your Toxin Farm quirk."
"And you can also use your Spirit Invocation quirk on those things. So let's go and improve the mastery of our powers," Lia replied with a smile.
Alice nodded with fires of resolve in her eyes.
'Yes."
'I don't want to remain useless like last time.'