A game interface as familiar as his own palm surfaced in Arlan's mind—wuthering waves' hub.
Right now, however, the center showed only five clean function icons.
Summon, Quests, Mailbox, Exploration Module, Inventory.
The instant he recognized the screen, Arlan's breath turned sharp and ragged.
A cheat!
It was a cheat!
As a transmigrator, his cheat had arrived!
As his thoughts focused, a virtual cursor appeared over the game interface in his mind.
A professional account-booster, Arlan's first move was to open the mailbox.
There was only one message: [Reward] wuthering waves Pre-registration & Socials Milestone Reached!
Attached were 20 Lustrous Tides, 200 Astrites, a 10 Advanced Resonance Potions, and 80,000 shell credits.
Without hesitation Arlan clicked [Claim]; the items vanished into his Inventory, ready to be summoned with a single thought.
"Yes! I've got money!"
His heart blazed—shell credits were Huanglong's universal currency, and 80,000 of them solved an urgent need.
Money gives a man courage; without it, nothing works.
Suppressing his joy, he turned to the Summon function.
Two banners appeared: [Standard Resonator Summon] and [Standard Weapon Summon].
"Only two perma-banners? Whatever."
Opening the Resonator banner, a line of tiny text appeared: [Use Lustrous Tides to pull. If you draw a Resonator, instantly gain their Resonance Ability and combat experience. A 4★+ item is guaranteed every 10 pulls; a 5★ Resonator within 80 pulls.]
"Holy cheat! They even ported the gacha—awesome!"
Wild delight surged; he almost shouted. Fighting the urge, he clicked "Summon x10".
The permanent pool held five 5★ characters: Jian Xin, Calcharo, Lingyang, Verina, Encore.
Any pull except Verina would rocket his combat power.
Right now he didn't even need a 5★—any 4★ would make him more than ordinary.
The draw screen flashed; his heart leapt into his throat, body trembling as he stared wide-eyed and breathless.
Amid surging waves, a column of water shot skyward; within it a golden light flared, brightening by the second.
"Holy—gold on the first ten-pull!" He nearly jumped.
Which gold would it be?
As the Summon animation ended, a scene unfolded in his mind.
Under a pitch-black sky waves crashed; the camera swept toward distant dim peaks and fixed upon a reef.
On the reef a black-haired youth slowly reached out; cold sea breeze lifted his fringe, revealing blazing golden eyes.
[Successfully summoned—Rover (Spectro)!]
A hidden limited edition!
Seeing this, Arlan could no longer hold back, almost cheering aloud.
"Rover! The Arbiter of Solaris—I drew the Rover!"
[Importing Rover (Spectro) Resonance Ability and combat experience—ETA 3 minutes...]
A torrent of power and memories flooded his brain like roaring tides; his head felt ready to burst, vision blacked out, and he fainted.
(Salute to the legendary King of Sleep.)
Elsewhere.
Taoyuan Vale, temporary meeting room, the air heavy.
In a simple room a group sat in a row.
Yang Yang adjusted her blue beret, tucking a feathered lock behind her ear, and opened the meeting: "Chi Xia and I detected anomalous energy in Gorges of spirits—Etheric Sea will likely form within days, then a Tacet Field."
A Tacet Field—birthplace of Ecos/Tacet Discord. Once one appears, the area becomes lethally dangerous.
At the news the already-furrowed brows in the room grew darker.
"Terrible news."
The pink-haired woman at the head sighed—Tao Qi, Jinzhou Heavenly Craft border defense chief.
Forget it; compared to the Tacet Field, there are more important matters to discuss right now.
Tao Qi dropped her usual languid manner, looked around, and her gaze turned grave.
According to our observations, at dusk today the blood-red barrier that had enveloped the entire city of Jinzhou vanished completely. Yet everything inside remains eerily silent; no one has been seen walking out.
At those words, everyone around couldn't help but draw a sharp breath.
That barrier's really gone?
Chi Xia's eyes widened as she asked urgently, 'Has anyone entered Jinzhou? What's the situation inside now?'
Tao Qi shook her head and said in a low voice, 'The moment the barrier disappeared, a Midnight Rangers squad rushed into Jinzhou, but…'
She paused, gave a slight shake of her head, and delivered the grim reality that ran counter to everyone's hopes: 'None returned.'
In other words, we'd better prepare for the worst.
For a moment the temporary conference room fell so silent you could hear a pin drop.
Jinzhou must not fall.
Yang Yang lowered her head and exhaled slowly; when she looked up again her eyes held new resolve.
'I propose we send another team into Jinzhou to determine the exact situation. My Resonance Ability can receive information through Flowing Breath; I'm willing—'
'No.'
Chi Xia was first to refuse. She gripped Yang Yang's hand so tightly she was almost in tears: 'It's too dangerous, and you're not even from Jinzhou. Let me go.'
Ahem.
Tao Qi gave a light cough, cutting off the two women. 'Neither of you needs to go; there's a better way.'
As she finished, Bai Zhi tapped the Terminal a few times and projected a light screen onto the wall of the makeshift meeting room.
It was the image of a drone.
'These are a few drones Mortefi brought out from Jinzhou.'
Bai Zhi's gaze swept past Chi Xia, lingered briefly on Yang Yang, and finally settled on Tao Qi and a steady, white-hatted middle-aged man.
'Tonight I'll train Tao Qi and Mr. Yuanwu from Jinzhou's boxing gym to operate the drones. Tomorrow we'll use them to scout the city.'
Elsewhere.
The aroma of food roused the famished Arlan.
He sat up from the carpet and felt a warm, powerful force spread from the back of his right hand throughout his body.
'You're awake?'
Jian Xin handed him a bowl of sweet lotus-seed soup, pulled up a chair, and sat down, her clear eyes curious.
'While I was teaching you to calm your mind, you suddenly burst out laughing, mumbling things like "gold drop" and "Rover" that I couldn't understand, then passed out.'
'Sorry for the trouble, Young Taoist Priest.'
Arlan scratched his head in embarrassment and wolfed down the food to hide his mortification.
He'd been so excited to Summon Rover that he'd danced about; now that it was mentioned he felt awkward.
Jian Xin gave a small smile, unfazed by his fainting, and pointed at the back of his right hand.
'It sounds incredible, but congratulations on becoming a Resonator.'
At her words Arlan froze mid-bite and stared at the back of his hand.
Five black, star-shaped Tacet Marks rested there, as if they had always belonged to him.
As he looked, fragmented memories surfaced in his mind: Rover's days and nights of grueling combat practice, Rover's battles against all kinds of Ecos/Tacet Discord on the edge of life and death.
Now those skills were his, integrated into his instincts, as easy as using his own arms.
In martial power he had fully inherited Rover's combat experience and Spectro Resonance Ability.
And Rover, as the ultimate protagonist of wuthering waves, was unquestionably mighty.
Thanks to the Summon for sending him this cheat.
It was—absolutely sick!
Totally broken!
Arlan was over the moon; he felt terrifyingly strong.
'Thank you, Young Taoist Priest, for helping me awaken my Resonance Ability. If you ever need help in the future, just say the word,' he said sincerely.
'Of course there is.'
A fighting spirit flashed across Jian Xin's delicate face, the single white cowlick on her head twitching.
'Young hero Arlan, I can sense that the Resonance Ability you've awakened is very powerful. How about a friendly match?'