At this moment, looking at Rover’s sincere and gentle gaze, Noah felt a rare trace of guilt in his heart.
All these lies of his, taking advantage of the other party’s kindness…
But this bit of guilt was quickly suppressed by his strong desire to survive.
He stood up and solemnly bowed to Rover: “Thank you!
Rover!
Your kindness, I…”
His voice choked up, as if he were too moved to speak.
“No need for that.”
Rover lightly supported him, then called over a crew member and said, seemingly casually, “We will be staying in Lahai-Roi for a while.
During this time, you can stay on the ship with peace of mind.”
Upon hearing this, Noah’s mind stirred, and his heart immediately became active.
Lahai-Roi…
At this point in the timeline, it was most likely the early stage of Version 3.0!
Rover was going to disguise her identity and enter Startorch Academy to cause trouble?
If he could follow along…
But this thought had barely surfaced before he pressed it back down.
Too hasty!
Bringing up any request now would seem to have ulterior motives.
After thanking her again, a crew member led Noah away.
Watching Noah’s departing figure, only after he disappeared behind the bridge did the gentle smile on Rover’s face abruptly vanish, instantly becoming calm and rippleless.
She tapped the terminal communicator beside her.
A female figure’s holographic image soon appeared.
The woman wore a blue-and-white headscarf, had sky-blue short hair, purple eyes, and was dressed in a blue-and-white dress.
She looked otherworldly, cold and detached.
“Rover, what do you need from me?”
“Shorekeeper.”
Rover nodded.
Looking at the image of her, she skipped unnecessary pleasantries and went straight to the point.
“I need you to help me check on someone.
His name is Noah, from Chongzhou, Huanglong…”
…
On the other side, Noah arrived at an independent cabin prepared for him.
The room was clean and warm.
A set of clean winter casual clothes lay on the bed.
After closing the door, Noah let out a long breath and collapsed onto the bed.
In just a few hours, he had transmigrated, activated the system, killed enemies, encountered a Black Shores squad, and met their big boss…
This experience was more stimulating than the sum of his previous twenty-plus years of life.
It was more exciting than any novel; no one would believe it if he told them.
While changing into warm, dry clothes, he sorted through his thoughts.
Although the opening had been dangerous, he was finally temporarily safe and had connected with the protagonist.
And that system of his was trash, but at least it was an external cheat…
Just as he was planning how to naturally and reasonably stick close to Rover in the next step, the system voice that had been pretending to be dead for a long time suddenly rang out without warning:
[New Task Released: Enrollment Examination (Main Line)]
[Task Content: Successfully obtain qualification to enter Startorch Academy, and establish classmate relationship and initial trust with the target person Rover.]
[Task Time Limit: 30 natural days.]
[Task Reward: Unknown (evaluated based on completion degree)]
[Failure Penalty: None]
[Does the host accept?]
[Yes/No (If choose “No”, this system’s guidance function will be permanently disabled, only basic functions retained)]
Noah suddenly sat up from the bed, brows tightly furrowed.
Enrollment?
Startorch Academy?
To be classmates with Rover and gain her trust?!
The system was guiding him to get close to Rover, to get close to Startorch Academy, to get close to the center of this era’s vortex.
It had given him a choice, and this was clearly a key event node.
“What are the basic functions?
Just Solaris language proficiency and that Common class Resonance Ability?”
Noah snorted.
“Heh, how is that any different from having no system at all?”
Besides, he had lived two lives.
Since he had transmigrated, his goal was not merely to survive.
Accepting meant he had to, within thirty days, infiltrate that unfamiliar academy city and win Rover’s trust.
The difficulty was extremely high.
And the reward was unknown.
Refusing seemed safe, but it meant self-exiling from the main storyline, becoming a bystander with some foreknowledge but no power to change anything.
In this world where The Lament ran rampant, was a bystander truly safe?
Noah was silent for a moment.
He recalled the calm yet seemingly all-seeing golden eyes of Rover on the bridge just now.
He needed strength, needed information, needed…
the possibility of changing certain tragedies.
The system was currently the only clear unconventional assistance.
Even if its motives were unclear, even if it might be hiding something.
“Haa…”
Noah exhaled.
His gaze gradually became firm.
He had never been someone content with mediocrity, passively waiting for fate to arrange things.
Not in his previous life, and even less so in this one.
The system had given him a path.
Although shrouded in fog, it was still better than having no path at all, or forever wandering on the periphery.
“I choose…”
He extended his finger and steadily tapped down on the interface that only he could see in the void.
“Yes.”
[Task “Enrollment Examination” has been accepted.]
[Time Limit: 30 natural days.
Countdown begins now.]
[Wish the host all the best.
May you seize the tide of the era.]
The system’s mechanical voice remained flat.
But that final blessing made Noah slightly raise his eyebrows.
Seize the tide of the era?
Interesting.
He lay back on the bed, hands pillowed behind his head, staring at the simple ceiling of the cabin.
Thirty days…
enter Startorch Academy, become Rover’s classmate, and obtain her initial trust.
The first step, where should he start?
…
Inside the bridge, Rover’s fingertips slid across the star map.
The virtual mass magnetic storm model of the Lahai-Roi region was slowly and irresistibly changing.
On the star map, purple and dark red energy vortices writhed like living creatures, sometimes contracting, sometimes expanding.
“The erosion intensity is decaying at a rate of 0.3% per hour.”
Shorekeeper’s calm, rippleless voice came from the terminal communicator.
“According to Tethys System’s calculations, after seventy-two hours there will be a window period lasting approximately forty-eight hours.
Magnetic field disturbance will drop to a level that allows low-altitude aircraft to safely cross.”
“Forty-eight hours…”
Rover murmured, golden pupils reflecting the rapidly changing data streams.
“That’s enough.
How are the identity preparations?”
“All ready.”
Shorekeeper’s holographic image appeared beside Rover.
She brought up a complete file.
“Rover, on this trip, you will use the name ‘Raeliana’.”
“You are currently twenty years old, studying in the second year of the Black Shores Research Department affiliated college.
Your Resonance attribute is registered as Fusion, rated Elite class…
outstanding enough, but not too eye-catching.”
On the file was a subtly adjusted facial photo.
It was still black hair and golden pupils, but the facial contours had been softened somewhat, losing some of the leader’s sharpness and gaining a bit of a college student’s youthfulness.
“Exchange student in the Exostrider Engineering Faculty, majoring in Environmental Engineering virtual mass magnetic storm research direction.”
Shorekeeper swiped to the next page of the file and continued, “This major choice is reasonable and aligns with your public purpose for this trip representing the Black Shores Research Department to study the periodic erosion phenomena of Lahai-Roi.”
“At the same time, there will be twenty-seven genuine college students traveling together.
They will only know that you are a specially recommended student by the Tethys System.”
Upon hearing this, Rover nodded, but a faint trace of doubt flashed through her golden pupils.
She looked at Shorekeeper’s image and said, “I remember the original plan was for me to enter the Labelle Development Faculty as a Qualified One?”
Her tone was calm, not questioning so much as confirming a change in plan.
“That way, theoretically, I could get closer to the academy’s core research project the Exostrider, and obtain more first-hand information about it and the Lahai-Roi people’s methods of combating Threnodians.
It should have been the more efficient choice.”
Shorekeeper’s image seemed to pause for a moment.
The flow of holographic light and shadow appeared to stagnate for half a second.
“The initial assessment was indeed so.”
Her voice remained steady, but it revealed a more complex consideration.
“Infiltrating as a Qualified One and directly contacting the Exostrider is the shortest path for intelligence gathering.”
“However, after the Tethys System deeply simulated the execution risks and variables of this plan, it reached a different conclusion.”
She brought up another encrypted analysis report, with key entries highlighted: “First, the Qualified One selection mechanism contains an uncontrollable deep-level consciousness detection segment.
Its external Resonance connection test could very likely touch your Resonance origin.”
“Even with Tethys’s camouflage technology support, at such close range, facing an unknown creation of the Exostrider’s level, the exposure risk assessment is high-danger.”
Shorekeeper paused, then continued reading, her voice calm and rippleless: “Second, the Labelle Development Faculty is under direct and strict supervision by the Council.
Background checks on its students, especially Qualified Ones, are unusually strict and ongoing.”
“A Qualified One who appears out of nowhere with outstanding talent, against the current delicate mutual trust foundation between Black Shores and Lahai-Roi, would become an overly conspicuous focal point, triggering excessive vigilance and surveillance from the Council, which would instead constrain your actions.”
“Third, this is also a revision based on the latest intelligence.”
Shorekeeper’s tone grew slightly heavier.
“We believe that the Council’s current attitude toward the Exostrider and related technologies has already tended toward closure and monopoly.
A Qualified One from Black Shores would not only find it difficult to access the true core, but might instead be placed in a position for display or isolation, unable to investigate freely.”
Rover listened quietly.
Her gaze fell on those risk assessment data, and she already understood the logic behind them.
It was just that she inevitably felt a bit uncomfortable in her heart.
The civilizational heritage she had brought many years ago had now been occupied by others like a cuckoo taking over a magpie’s nest.
Her own organization had even been driven out, only allowed to jointly research through cooperative consultation.
And now, even the qualification for Black Shores to cooperate and share with them, the other side no longer wanted to give.
This thought flashed by.
Rover continued, “So, exchange student in the Engineering Faculty is the optimal solution under this weighing?”
“It is a more robust and sustainable path.”
Shorekeeper confirmed.
“The Engineering Faculty cooperates closely with the Virtual Science Department and can legally and compliantly access magnetic storm observation facilities and related data.
This is precisely the entry point for you to investigate the erosion phenomena.”
“Your academic exchange identity makes it easier to integrate into the environment, gives you higher freedom of action, and is less likely to trigger the Council’s most sensitive nerve.”
She paused briefly, then added the most crucial point: “Moreover, do not underestimate the possible connection between the Exostrider and Lahai-Roi’s current abnormal magnetic storm environment.
Starting from peripheral environmental and energy data might allow a safer reverse deduction of the core secrets.”
“This is better than directly breaking into a heavily guarded treasury for seeing the full picture.”
The doubt in Rover’s eyes completely dissipated, replaced by a sense of understanding.
“I understand.
Sometimes taking a detour can touch the core more effectively than going straight.
Especially when the other side has already raised their shield.”
“Precisely so.”
Shorekeeper’s image nodded slightly.
“The identity of Raeliana is another key forged for you.
It cannot open the door to the Exostrider’s cockpit, but it might help you find that back door leading to the truth.”
“Besides, Rover…”
Her tone returned to absolute calm and certainty.
“If you truly discover something shocking enough during your research in the Engineering Faculty, the Council will naturally take the initiative to invite you, or the Black Shores Research Department you represent, to a more core negotiation table.”
“At that time, you will hold the initiative.”
Rover’s fingertips moved across the star map and lightly tapped the area marked “Startorch Academy.”
“Labelle Development Faculty…
Exostrider…”
She repeated softly.
Deep within her golden pupils, the light of contemplation flickered like stars.
“Execute according to this plan.
Exostrider Engineering Faculty, Raeliana.”
She was no stranger to disguise.
In her long years, she had countless times infiltrated various places under different identities.
It was just that this target was the Lahai-Roi Academy City, once jointly established by Black Shores and the nations of Solaris, but now independent.
“Also, what about the Lahai-Roi Council side?” she asked.
“Notification has already been sent through official diplomatic channels.”
Shorekeeper’s tone rarely carried a trace of human-like faint sarcasm.
“The other side expressed welcome and promised to make proper arrangements.
But judging from the wording and response speed, their vigilance is very high.”
“As it should be.”
Rover thought to herself.
It seemed the war that had nearly broken out decades ago was still fresh in both sides’ memories.
She was about to continue asking for details when the terminal communicator rang again.
It was an encrypted line from the Mingting Embassy.
“Rover.”
The embassy staff member’s voice came through.
“Regarding the identity verification of the Noah you requested…
Huanglong has given a formal reply.”
Rover signaled for Shorekeeper to pause and switched the communication channel over.
“Speak.”
“Yes.”
The staff member was clearly somewhat troubled.
“Through the Gilded Archive, Huanglong’s Household Registration Civil Affairs Division retrieved the household registration archives of Chongzhou for the past hundred years.
However, due to…
well, the well-known historical reasons, the paper archives from a hundred years ago are extremely incomplete in preservation.”
“Especially the prefectural household registration records, which were severely damaged during The Lament disaster period.
After the war reconstruction, they also underwent several administrative division adjustments…”
“Conclusion.”
Rover interrupted, her tone calm.
“The conclusion is cannot be confirmed, nor can it be disproven.”
The staff member spoke cautiously.
“Huanglong’s side stated that if this person truly came from a hundred years ago, and the household registration archives happened to be located in a damaged area, then tracing his identity from official records, under current technological conditions…
is almost impossible.”
The communication was cut off.
The bridge fell into a brief silence.
Only the faint hum of the holographic star map operating and the eternal sound of wind and waves from the Arctic Ocean outside the porthole remained.