Whining Aix's Mire, ferry crossing.
A speedboat stirred up high-flying white waves, departing Jinzhou's territory at maximum speed.
"First, I must apologize to you. What I said earlier about all the Lament at the Black Shores erupting simultaneously was just a way to get your attention—it may not necessarily be true."
Seeing Noah's expression gradually turning unfriendly, Aalto quickly spoke up.
"Though it's only my speculation, one thing is certain: a global Lament has truly occurred at the Black Shores."
Aalto hung the handwritten information with magnetic stickers in the cabin, pointing to the heavily circled parts.
"First, all major and minor events at the Black Shores rely on the judgment of the Tethys System. Without Tethys, the Black Shores is no different from a barren piece of Tacetite."
"But three months ago, Tethys malfunctioned, and more and more anomalous frequencies spread from the Tethys System."
"For this reason, all Bloom Bearers had to drop what they were doing and rush back to the Black Shores to collectively clear the repeatedly surging anomalous frequencies."
"To restore the Tethys System to normal, the Shorekeeper merged herself into the Death Star black hole, becoming the core code of the Tethys System."
"Ahem, are you zoning out?"
Aalto waved his fingers in front of Noah's eyes. Noah gently pushed his hand away.
"I'm thinking."
[Known]: Tethys System malfunctioned.
[Result]: Shorekeeper sacrificed herself to merge with Tethys System.
If he guessed right, there should be a [Condition] between the [Known] and [Result].
And that [Condition] was probably—Rover had completely disappeared, to the point where even the Shorekeeper, who possessed Solaris's largest monitoring center, couldn't find him.
Noah rubbed his brow, feeling a headache.
"Continue. I'm listening."
"After the Shorekeeper merged with the Tethys System, all anomalous frequencies were completely cleared. Once the Tethys System regained normal function, the first thing it did was issue a global Lament warning—with the location: the Black Shores!"
Aalto took a deep breath, his face turning somewhat ugly, as if recalling unpleasant memories.
"The instant the warning was issued, the entire Black Shores was swallowed into a Sonoro Sphere space. Technical personnel once tried to send distress signals to all of Solaris... without success."
"From the warning issuance to the Black Shores completely losing contact with Solaris, the entire process took less than ten seconds."
"Wait."
Noah raised his hand.
"I inquired before—three months ago, Jinzhou received a distress signal from the Black Shores."
"That was sent by me."
After getting the answer, Noah's confusion only deepened.
Since Aalto knew the events at the Black Shores so clearly, he should have been one of those who experienced the incident.
But how did he escape?
"It was Encore."
As if seeing Noah's doubt, Aalto explained.
He clenched his fists tightly, his eyes suddenly turning red.
"She used her fantasy manifestation ability to open a door leaving the Black Shores. That door only lasted one second before being completely closed by the chaotic Sonoro Sphere energy."
Hearing this, Noah's face darkened, a ball of anger stifled in his chest.
"So you got out, but Encore didn't. She's still in that Lament at the Black Shores—she's just a child!"
"...Yes. If everything could start over, I'd rather not be the sole survivor..."
Aalto lowered his head, gradually choking up.
"For these past few months, I've traveled all over Solaris, seeking help by any means—"
"All nations deeply sympathized with the Black Shores' plight and did send personnel to offer aid, but they couldn't even find the gate to the Black Shores..."
"Time after time, I approached full of hope, only to reap disappointment in defeat, dragging my weary body to the next nation."
"After a while, almost all forces tacitly accepted that the Black Shores had vanished in the Lament, and I was turned away time and again."
"Until recently, when the incident on Mt. Firmament shook the entire Jinzhou, I finally saw hope again to save the Black Shores."
Aalto suddenly grabbed Noah's hand tightly.
"You—the Astral Modulator the Shorekeeper always thought of, the Sentinel's charioteer—you can definitely command the Sentinel to use her time ability to rewind the tragedy at the Black Shores."
Aalto suddenly turned his head, looking expectantly toward the position of Mt. Firmament, but his face stiffened.
Why was that dragon-shaped mountain range getting farther and farther away?
"Aren't we supposed to go to Mt. Firmament to find the Sentinel?"
"Who said we're going to Mt. Firmament?"
Noah looked at Aalto in surprise, then stepped on the throttle again—the speedboat's speed increased once more.
"The Black Shores has a problem, so of course we're going directly to the Black Shores!"
"But..."
Aalto swallowed hard.
"But we don't even know the Sonoro Sphere space entrance to the Black Shores."
As Aalto's panicked words fell, Noah silently glanced at the panel map only he could see.
There, a golden quest marker was conspicuously placed on a pitch-black area of the map, as if calling him to hurry over.
He looked down at the [Rover] badge in his palm and spoke calmly.
"Don't worry. I'm the 'Astral Modulator'—no one understands the Black Shores better than I do."
Information about the Black Shores stopped three months ago. What the current Black Shores was like—probably only seeing it with his own eyes would reveal.
The speedboat traveled the vast ocean for several hours, until the sun set in the west and the bright moon hung high, before finally reaching the destination.
"This is it."
On a barren Tacetite isolated island, Noah and Aalto stepped ashore.
"There's nothing here." Aalto looked around in shock. "Not even Tacet Discords— they're coming!"
Several Elite class Tacet Discords suddenly appeared on the Tacetite island. Noah indifferently drew Emerald of Genesis, casually swinging a sword.
With just one sword, all Tacet Discords on this small island of merely forty square meters were completely eliminated.
"No Echo drops. These are all Tacet Discords constructed from Sonoro Sphere—like someone deliberately released them to stop intruders from going deeper."
Noah pondered thoughtfully, releasing his perception to take in the entire small island. Aalto watched his actions closely and couldn't help asking.
"Did you find anything?"
"Step back."
Noah nodded, slowly extending his right hand. Vast Spectro energy gathered in his palm, releasing toward the Tacetite under his feet.
"Moment of resonance.!"
Boom.
The hollow Tacetite exploded, finally revealing the chaotic vortex below interwoven with reality and illusion.
"This is... the Sonoro Sphere entrance to the Black Shores?"
Aalto's gaze trembled. He couldn't help stepping forward quickly, reaching out to probe the Sonoro Sphere entrance space.
His palm contacted the entrance, making a sizzling sound—instantly burning a wisp of white smoke. Aalto subconsciously retracted his hand from the scald, ignoring the pain as his expression changed.
"This entrance has been restricted by the Sonoro Sphere—impossible to enter. We can go back and get help from Jinzhou to crack the restriction."
"No need for that."
Noah shook his head lightly, stepping forward. Under Aalto's shocked gaze, he extended his palm into the entrance without suffering any harm.
"I sense that this entrance's frequency matches mine completely—so I can enter it."
It was clearly a global Lament warning, yet after the Black Shores was swallowed into Sonoro Sphere space, there was no further movement.
And the only entrance to this Sonoro Sphere space was set with a passage allowing only Rover to enter.
Such a thing... probably only the guardian behind the Black Shores, who had already merged with Tethys, could do.
"You wait outside. I'll go in and scout the situation. Don't worry—I won't have any problems."
After instructing him, Noah ignored Aalto's reaction and resolutely stepped into the Sonoro Sphere entrance.
The sky spun.
The earth turned.
A faint, gentle female voice, ethereal and weak, lightly sounded by Noah's ear—indistinct, like some illusion.
"Wel...come... back... home..."
"Finally... you've returned here once again..."
"For you to return to these shores... I... am already... very happy."