Border Mountains.
"This is dodge, this is dodge counter, this is reverse counter. Alright, you've learned how to play Wuthering Waves. You're a real genius."
Noah brought encouraging education to the fullest:
"There's a Kerasaur up ahead. Go fight it head-on."
"Okay, I'm going in."
Lupa lifted her Blazing Flag spear and charged forward. Before long, she returned after finishing the fight, her tail wagging rapidly:
"Teacher, the Kerasaur still has one breath left. I'll leave the last hit for you."
Noah fired a shot to finish off the low-health Kerasaur, then tossed out his Terminal to absorb the Echo. He looked at Lupa with satisfaction:
"Lupa, you truly are the best student I've ever taught."
"Hehe, I feel like I've already mastered what Teacher just taught me. Let's quickly move on to the next tutorial. Teacher, I want to improve so badly!"
"Don't bite off more than you can chew. First, solidify what you learned today."
Opening the panel, Noah counted the marked locations on the map:
"There are still thirty-six Kerasaur nearby. For today... we'll leave six alive for video recording later. Let's rest for now."
A simple sentence instantly froze Lupa's originally excited expression.
Good news: She had found a very powerful teacher.
Bad news: This teacher loved using the sea of questions tactic.
Wiping a flat rock clean, Lupa sat down to rest and casually chatted:
"Teacher, I feel like you're different from other Huanglong people."
"How so?"
"You speak very directly, which is really good. Unlike the other Huanglong people I know—they're all too indirect with their words."
Tapping her head lightly with her finger, Lupa recalled carefully:
"A Huanglong traveler once told me: 'In principle, no' means yes, 'Try your best' means don't do it. Just listening to them is enough to make your head spin."
...
Jinzhou.
The autumn colors were deep and rich. Jinhsi, in the City Hall office, occasionally lifted her head from her busy official duties. In her gentle gaze, she saw only a few fiery red maple leaves falling.
She casually pulled out a sheet of white paper, picked up her pen, and wrote a line of delicate, elegant characters. It looked like a casual note, yet also like a hidden secret slowly released from the bottom of her heart:
The fourth day since Noah left. I miss him...
"Magistrate."
Sanhua's voice came from outside the door, startling Jinhsi back to her senses. She hurriedly smeared over the words she had just written, her expression turning serious:
"Come in."
"A person claiming to be a former member of the Huanglong Mingting Zhenfu Division requests an audience. He says he was recommended by Counselor Changli."
After a moment of thought, Jinhsi nodded in agreement.
Soon after, the two sat facing each other in the reception room.
So he was blind? Jinhsi glanced at Qiuyuan and proactively poured him tea as a gesture of welcome.
"May I ask your name?"
"This one is Qiuyuan, a former member of the Huanglong Mingting Zhenfu Division. I left my post due to some changes and drifted to Jinzhou."
Qiuyuan precisely picked up the hot tea, took a light sip, and continued with lingering fragrance in his mouth:
"To be honest with you, Magistrate, the reason for my visit is to investigate the Fractsidus Scar's invasion of Jinzhou two months ago."
"Oh?" Jinhsi raised her eyes. "It's been so long. I thought that matter had already been turned over."
"It hasn't. Some things cannot be said openly. The other five states of Huanglong and Mingting are not as peaceful on the surface as they appear. It was correct that the Jinzhou hero did not return."
After releasing his perception and confirming no one was around, Qiuyuan finally spoke:
"It is said that the leader of the Fractsidus has a thousand faces and is mysterious and unpredictable. I am currently tracking him. If it is convenient for the Magistrate, please tell me more details about the Jinzhou incident at that time."
Upon hearing this, Jinhsi's heart stirred, understanding the hidden meaning.
Back then, the Fractsidus used Threnodian creations to invade Jinzhou. When Jinzhou was in trouble, Mingting should have sent help within a day, but in reality, no reinforcements came for three days.
"You mean that the Fractsidus leader may have already infiltrated the upper levels of Huanglong?"
"I dare not speak recklessly. This is merely an investigation."
"You cannot see. How do you plan to investigate? This is a Jinzhou secret. In principle, it should not be casually shared with outsiders."
Jinhsi stopped the topic there:
"You may stay in Jinzhou for now. Later, I will have someone send you a prescription for treating eye conditions."
She couldn't reveal secrets, but she could give him a prescription! She hadn't told Qiuyuan any secrets.
"Thank you, Magistrate."
Sensing the deeper meaning in Jinhsi's words, Qiuyuan cupped his hands and took his leave.
As he walked out of the room, Sanhua was already waiting outside for a long time. Qiuyuan's steps paused slightly. After a long silence, he suddenly spoke:
"I have a distant relative who has been missing for a long time. They say... you look very similar to her."
"I'm sorry, I have no family. I am living very well now."
"...Good."
...
Septimont.
In a single-person training room, Avidius removed the heavy weights strapped to his body and lay on the rough floor, gasping for breath. His eyes were full of doubt toward himself.
He had trained for an entire day. Other than necessary eating and drinking, he had almost no rest, yet the reality remained cruel.
He was truly not as powerful as he remembered.
The four times he had crossed the bottom of the Manes, the process of obtaining the oak leaf emblem—these memories he once firmly believed in were like a layer of false stickers that could not withstand the slightest scrutiny.
"Am I, without such power, really the Hero King from the prophecy? If I am the Hero King like this, what can I use to protect Septimont?"
If the current him was the real him, then what was the meaning of his existence?
Countless thoughts flashed through his mind. Avidius gasped as he climbed up from the ground, picked up the discarded weights again, and began another round of frenzied training.
"The meaning of my existence... at least—is not to give up."
In a place unknown to Avidius, Cristoforo was smiling as he and Leviathan took in the entire scene:
"Congratulations, Lord of Tides and Riddles. Our protagonist already has a hint of Mya about him. This means the script now has the power to influence reality."
Cristoforo clapped his hands unhurriedly:
"After overlapping with reality, every time you submerge Septimont with Dark Tide in the script, you can truly harvest a small portion of people's spiritual consciousness in reality. Your growth speed will increase several times."
Listening to the awkward congratulations, Leviathan snorted coldly, showing no appreciation:
"Compared to the power my perfect creations can feed back to me, this is nothing but a drop in the bucket. Playwright, you promised you would bring her to me."
"I will. It's just that Noah has arrived, so you will need a little more patience."
Cristoforo slowly shook his head, his face still wearing a hypocritical smile.
How ridiculous. Why would he hand Cartethyia over to Leviathan? Wouldn't it be better to capture her himself for research?
"The urgent task at hand is still to overlay the script onto reality first."
Pouring Resonance power into the crimson script in his hand, the script opened and rose into the air.
Under the gaze of the man and the fish, the script violently expanded, turning from tangible to intangible.
In an instant, the intangible pages spread across the entire virtual Septimont world, surpassing the boundaries of fiction and instantly covering the real Septimont outside.
"Success."
Cristoforo felt better than ever before.
After the script and reality overlapped, he now seemed to possess a God's perspective. The entire Septimont was completely under his control.
Just as opening a book allowed one to see every word and symbol, he could fully take in every situation in the real Septimont from all angles.
And every time Leviathan completed the script, the traces of the script overlaid on reality would deepen, and his control over Septimont would also deepen until the script completely replaced reality.
With a thought, Cristoforo's gaze seemed to sweep across the entire Septimont from above.
"Oh? Carlotta is actually not in Septimont? Consider her lucky to have escaped this disaster. Oh well, once things here are settled, I'll go find her myself."
For now, it was better to first capture that Sentinel Threnodian dual-Resonator.
With an indifferent sigh, Cristoforo's gaze finally focused on a certain street.
There, a girl with an exquisitely beautiful face, so stunning it seemed as if a god had crafted her, seemed to sense something and slightly furrowed her brows.
"She actually wandered off alone? Heaven is helping me!"
He reached out and beckoned. The intangible script instantly covered Cartethyia.
...