[Daily Mission "Hundred-Ton King" has been completed.]
[Current assets: Radiant Tide ×0, Lustrous Tide ×0, Astrite ×840, Shell Credit ×639w.]
Poor. Too fucking poor.
Noah hadn't been this broke in a long time.
He originally planned to stay low-key in Jinzhou for a full year, save up several hundred thousand Astrite, and then go all out pulling for every character's six constellations.
But in just one month, he was already forced to leave the safety of Jinzhou.
Rinascita was almost within reach. Should he pull for big-C Carlotta? Should he pull for big-C Cartethyia? And then there's Zani, Phoebe, Ciaccona, Roccia, Cantarella…
The immense gacha pressure made Noah's eyes practically turn red, yet he couldn't even scrape together enough for a single ten-pull in his pocket.
The sea fog gradually dissipated, and the ocean once again showed its gentle, forgiving side.
Noah sat on the deck, repeatedly checking his resources, occasionally opening the map, then opening his inventory again, over and over.
Scratching his head and cheeks like an honest man who had exhausted every trick and still came up empty.
Finally, Noah opened the mailbox panel, stared at the long-dimmed messages, and completely lost it:
"Come on, Kuro! The mailbox has been empty for so many days already — where the hell is my friend fee?!"
"I'm not even being greedy! Just give me a few hundred ten-pulls through some bug or whatever, that's all I'm asking!"
The unchanged mailbox was closed. Noah began taking stock of the resources he currently had.
Five-star characters: Jinhsi (six-chain), Rover (six-chain Spectro), Camellya (two-chain), Verina (one-chain), Zhezhi (zero-chain), Linyang (zero-chain), Encore (zero-chain), Xiangli Yao (zero-chain).
Five-star weapons: Ages of Harvest, Emerald of Genesis, Red Spring, Static Mist, Thousand Ancient Currents.
Four-star characters: Sanhua (six-chain), Danjin (six-chain), Chixia (six-chain), Baizhi (six-chain)…
Four-star weapons: too many to count…
"Should've never pulled Zhezhi's signature weapon. Can I apply for a refund-only?"
Noah felt a pang of toothache. His gaze suddenly landed on Encore in the panel.
Encore's ability was fantasy manifestation. If he switched to Encore and tried his hardest to imagine himself having several million Astrite…
Action speaks louder than words!
Switch character — Encore!
Equip full graduation-level Echo set Molten Rift, equip Zhezhi's signature weapon, successfully max out Encore's stats panel—
Begin prayer!
Noah clasped his hands together, tightly closed his eyes, and fully activated Encore's resonance ability. In his mind, he visualized the appearance of Astrite and softly chanted:
"Come money!"
[Obtained Astrite 200.]
"Come money!!"
[Obtained Astrite 400.]
"Come money!!!"
[Obtained Astrite 800.]
"Come…"
[Illegal external cheat detected. Self-inspection in progress.]
[Illegal gains of 1400 Astrite have been confiscated.]
[Character "Encore" has been banned from use due to external cheat and illegal plugin. Remaining ban time: 6 days 23 hours 59 minutes.]
"Fuck."
Noah was instantly drenched in cold sweat.
He already had the panel as a cheat, and yet he still managed to layer another cheat on top of it through Encore.
And he got caught after only three tries.
Opening the panel again, Encore's portrait was indeed dimmed and grayed out — completely unselectable. Really banned for seven days!
"This is terrifying… What if they ban all my characters in the future? I better not cheat anymore. I should use Encore's ability sparingly…"
Still shaken, Noah exited the character interface. Suddenly he noticed a red notification dot on the mailbox icon.
He opened it — sure enough, a new letter had arrived:
[Mail: Game Vulnerability Compensation]
[Wuthering Waves Project Team: We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused by the detection of unauthorized external cheats and illegal plugins invading your account.]
[Attachment: 1600 Astrite]
"Encore's ability is amazing! Gotta use the Encore modifier more often!"
"Whatever cheat Encore uses has nothing to do with me, Noah! Just ban Encore, please don't ban me!"
Noah's face instantly changed. He excitedly claimed the attachment and discovered a fantastic new way to exploit the panel!
If Kuro won't give him friend fees, he'll just get them from Kuro himself. Every seven days, a stable ten-pull income. Who knew there were perks like this!
In a great mood, Noah closed the panel. Even the gondola floating not far away on the sea suddenly looked much more pleasant.
Wait… gondola?
He rubbed his eyes and looked again.
Not far away, on the empty sea, an Echo gondola was rapidly approaching his position.
On board the gondola stood a tall man wearing a captain's tricorn hat, dressed in theatrical troupe style, gray-green hair streaked with purple highlights.
Captain of the Troupe of Fools — Brant!
An old acquaintance!
"Hundred-Ton King, look! Your old captain is here! Let's go pick him up!"
Noah was delighted and immediately directed the flower ship Echo beneath him to move toward Brant.
The flower ship Echo suddenly shook its head violently, clearly resisting.
At that moment, the gondola not far away was suddenly flipped high into the air by an enormous whale tail. Brant was sent flying along with it.
Cetus the Tidebreaker surfaced, sprayed a long rainbow-like jet of seawater toward Noah's location, then fled as fast as it could.
Its panicked, reckless escape looked as if it feared that if it slowed down even a little, Noah would grab it again and give it two more slaps.
"Stinky trash fish. I kindly helped you get rid of Phrolova's flower seed, and you still hold a grudge."
Noah twitched the corner of his mouth. He didn't pay much attention to Cetus the Tidebreaker's escape and instead turned his gaze toward Brant in mid-air.
The power of Time was already charging, ready to catch Brant as he began to fall.
But in the next second, Brant unfurled a pair of gliding wings and elegantly flew straight toward the flower ship Echo.
He landed, did two and a half rolls, then stood up straight, removed his tricorn hat, and gave Noah an elegant bow.
"It is an honor to meet you amid these crisis-ridden tides, my friend."
Brant straightened up, looked around at the flower ship Echo's intact setup, and finally breathed a sigh of relief. He casually started chatting with Noah like old pals:
"My name is Brant, captain of the Troupe of Fools, and also the captain of this flower ship Echo. May I have the pleasure of knowing your name?"
[Limited banners "Blazing Flames Upon the Sea" and "Immortal Voyage" are now open.]
"I'm Noah, from Jinzhou of Huanglong. I'm heading to Rinascita for a trip."
Noah smiled lightly, generously stepped aside from the helm, and gestured for Brant to come closer:
"I picked up this Echo ship on the way. Now I'm returning it to you."
"Huh?"
Brant was a little stunned, then his face lit up with joy.
He had thought he would at least need to spend some effort persuading the other party to return the Troupe of Fools' ship. He never expected this person to be so generous as to return it directly.
Huanglong Jinzhou… wasn't that the border city constantly caught in war? The people from there are actually this friendly?
Love it, love it!
"You're such a real one, friend! I officially recognize you as a brother. During your stay in Rinascita, the Troupe of Fools welcomes you as our guest anytime!"
Brant immediately grabbed Noah's hand firmly and laughed heartily:
"Coming to Rinascita at this time… you must be here for the Carnevale that's being held again after ten years, right?"
"Roar!"
The flower ship Echo suddenly let out an unhappy cry. Brant hurriedly tried to soothe it:
"Just hold on a little longer, Lario. I'll take you back to the troupe soon."
"ROAR!"
Not only did the flower ship Echo not calm down, its cries grew even louder.
"Uh… sorry, Lario is usually very docile. I don't know why it's so worked up today."
Brant awkwardly explained, only to see Noah turn toward the flower ship and call out softly:
"Hundred-Ton King, quiet."
The flower ship Echo immediately shut its mouth, though it still occasionally let out sad, muffled whimpers.
Noah turned back around — only to find Brant's expression completely frozen in disbelief:
"Wait… brother… I'm the captain, right? Why the hell does Lario listen to you like that?!"
...
Far away.
Cetus the Tidebreaker quietly surfaced, a long-accumulated torrent of seawater ready to be unleashed.
A single Red Spider Lily drifted over and firmly attached itself to its tail, like a maggot on bone — impossible to remove.
The red petals inadvertently turned toward the direction of the flower ship Echo. After clearly seeing the figure standing on its deck, the flower suddenly trembled, and the whale hurriedly dove back down.