Noah had a very long dream.
In the dream, his existence was erased, and Rover was not picked up by Yangyang and Chixia in Yunling Valley.
Without Rover and without his Solaris, everything was terrible.
The opening was Jinzhou being invaded by the Fractsidus through Whisperin Erosion. The people of Jinzhou City and its surroundings were all used as experimental materials.
Ovathrax ignited the flames of war, destroying Jinzhou and obtaining enough power to revive.
The Sentinel Jué exhausted its remaining strength to try to stop time in Jinzhou, but failed due to the light-plucking lock set up by the Fractsidus long ago, and perished with resentment.
Then came Rinascita. Leviathan reconstructed its body at the start using the Decree-defiling Mirror of Nightmare, drawing in high-altitude consciousness to merge with it. The Dark Tide submerged the entire Rinascita.
The people of Solaris were busy fighting the revived war and plague Threnodians, but at this moment, the Slaughterblade of Carnage broke free from the Black Shores.
Within four hours, three hundred thousand Lament sounds echoed across the globe. Civilization was no more, and the Reverberations were severed.
[Daily Quest: "Rest and Recuperation" (Challenge) completed.]
Noah woke up from the nightmare, breathing heavily in large gasps, cold sweat seeping from his forehead.
"Thank goodness, it was just a dream..."
"Wait — no —"
Noah turned his head left and right, looking at the boundless darkness, and his eyes widened instantly:
"Where the hell did this send me? Is this still Septimont?"
His just-awakened consciousness quickly became clear. Noah finally recalled what had happened before.
At that time, he was still beating the False Sovereign. The anchoring Resonance power in his body was about to be exhausted, and he hadn't thought much about it then.
If it was used up, then so be it. At worst he could Overclock. He had plenty of Overclocking experience.
He never expected that the moment his anchoring Resonance power was used up, everything went black before his eyes, and he lost consciousness as if forcibly shut down.
When he woke up again, he was already in this pitch-black world.
"Damn it, falling asleep at a critical moment — I've become the legendary Sleeping King!"
With that thought, Noah hurriedly tried to switch to Shorekeeper to teleport back to Septimont.
However, the spatial anchors he had previously set up seemed to be blocked, and he could not feel them at all.
"It's over. I can't teleport."
He opened the map from the panel and swiped left and right — it was completely black.
"It's over. This confirms it. I've entered the Chaos and can't go back. What about Septimont?"
He opened the quest module. There was no main quest for "By Sun's Burning Hand", but the extra 20 Radiant Tide in his backpack indicated the quest had been completed.
"Thank goodness. It should be that Cartethyia defeated the Overlord-class False Sovereign and helped me complete the quest."
Thinking of this, Noah felt slightly relieved. He then looked at the brand-new main quest that had somehow been unlocked in the quest module.
[Main Quest: "By Moon's Fated Light" has been activated.]
[Quest Description: The False Sovereign is dead. You return to the camp to participate in the celebration. The bonfires flicker, cheers fill the air… Perhaps, before the flower rain of glory and triumph, you will meet once more the girl you have never forgotten, in a way that fate has not yet revealed.]
[Completing the main quest "By Moon's Fated Light" will grant rewards: Radiant Tide20, Lustrous Tide10, Astrite1600, Shell Credit100000.]
"..."
Looking at the quest description, Noah's expression became somewhat strained.
In the original plot, it was Iuno who was swallowed by the Chaos, forgotten by everyone, and then Rover anchored Iuno's existence from within the Chaos.
But now… he had been swallowed by the Chaos instead. Who was going to anchor his existence?
He opened the character panel and found Encore.
[Character "Encore" remaining seal time: 0 days 18 hours 33 minutes.]
"18 hours, huh…" Noah stroked his chin: "Doesn't seem too long. Just enough time for another couple of naps."
"No, I can't. Ovathrax is still in Septimont and might cause trouble. I need to try if there are other ways to leave here early."
Unlike the bright Chaos in the game, the real Chaos was pitch black, with no light, no sound, and no direction.
"It's too dark. I need light!"
Switch — Augusta.
"Glory belongs to Septimont!"
Noah performed a few basic attacks, releasing Resonance Liberation. The King's Domain instantly emerged as a dazzling crimson sun slowly rose, illuminating the dark Chaos thoroughly.
The blinding light seemed to burn countless unseen existences in the darkness. Piercing sounds kept ringing out like shattered glass tiles, rising and falling one after another.
Then, that crimson sun became stained with a black spot, followed by countless black spots, until the glaring sun was completely obscured and could no longer emit even the slightest light or warmth.
"What the hell is this? Where's my big world special effect?"
Unconvinced, Noah switched to Iuno. He felt the previously empty anchoring Resonance power recover by more than half. He performed a few more basic attacks and released a heavy attack. The full moon domain emerged.
A deep blue moon phase hung high, releasing a large amount of anchoring power.
This time the moonlight was not tainted. Noah used it to clearly see the true appearance of everything nearby.
Mountains — many mountains.
Seas — many seas.
Everything in Solaris was composed of frequencies. Even the Chaos was merely an extremely unique Sonoro Sphere space.
Here, life and death, disappearance and existence, contained all concepts of the past and future. Countless chaotic frequencies intertwined, forming this rugged and desolate land.
Countless frequencies surged madly toward the bright moon in the sky, trying to erase its brilliance like before, but they were anchored upon approach and disappeared within the Chaos.
Under the anchored moonlight, mountains melted like wax and seas dissipated like mist.
Seeing this, a thought appeared in Noah's mind:
"Does the Chaos… fear being anchored?"
The Chaos contained countless possibilities from the past to the future, while anchoring could erase a large number of frequencies representing possibilities, turning them into a single certainty.
If everything was anchored, would the Chaos still be the same Chaos?
Noah had no time to ponder this question, because he had already focused all his attention into the distance.
In the darkness that the moonlight could not reach, something massive was rapidly approaching, and noisy sounds came from afar.
"Why is this happening? How did the Chaos absorb a person who exists?"
"I don't know. He actually still has anchoring Resonance power on him."
"Never mind that. Kill him!"
...
Tired. So tired.
So this was what it felt like to have one's existence erased. Temperature, strength, body… everything seemed to disappear, leaving him weak and powerless. Cold. So cold.
In the dark Chaos, Iuno hugged herself with both arms. Her body trembled from the cold, but her mind kept thinking:
"If trapped in a place like this, would Noah be very scared?"
So dark. She walked forward in confusion. Every step felt like dragging heavy shackles, yet she stubbornly took one step after another.
With every step she took, she grew farther from her anchor point outside, and her perception of the anchor grew weaker.
She knew clearly that if she stayed in the Chaos for too long, her own existence would also be erased. If she continued walking, she might truly never be able to return.
"To abandon one's own existence and enter this Chaos — such a frightening and terrifying thing. How did you do it so without hesitation…"
"Where are you… Noah, where exactly are you… Please come out, okay?"
"Stop playing hide and seek. I give up… I really… can't find you…"