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kagoby · 8 months ago

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[GeJiRo - Geshu x Jiyan x Male Rover] Our Star, Our Sea - Chapter 1

The Northfall Barren has always been a vast area with many dangers. Even with the Midnight Rangers patrolling frequently, most of them were still occupied by Tacet Discords. After that fateful battle, most of the Retroact Rain stopped, but the aftereffects still remain, making the place more dangerous than ever. Since it wasn't time for the next step, Rover and Yangyang decided to stay at the Midnight Ranger Camp and help the soldiers clear up the area affected by the Retroact Rain.

Usually, they would be teamed up and patrolling the area together, however, Yangyang was dispatched this morning to Camp Overwatch on a mission, so he is on his own. During his short time here, Rover had already sparred with many Midnight Rangers and had received absolute recognition from them, so no one worried when he said he would be patrolled alone, including Rover himself.

Yet, out of all days…

Rover sends a short message to the Camp on his Pangu Terminal:

[“I discovered an active Tacet Field. I will check it now.”]

[Huh? Wait, no, give us the location and return to the base immediately, that’s too dangerous!]

The officer on the other end of the line refuses him immediately. All of them know to some extent that aside from a strong reinforcement, Rover is also their honor guess. Fighting Tacet Discords isn’t a problem, but entering an active Tacet Field is another level completely!

[“I don’t think I can.”]

“...It found me already.”

As the barrier rises, the air also visibly becomes distorted. His ability to sense energy in the Stream isn’t as strong as Yangyang's, but he still can feel it to some extent. With this level and spreading speed, there’s no way he can escape. The voice of the officer on the line turns disrupted, with static interference noises crackling in between, until it’s jammed completely.

To think a Tacet Field will be formed directly on where he is standing, what a bad way to start a day.

Rover sighs and lowers his posture. Luckily, before Tacet Field awakened, he was following a flock of Mutterflies up a mountain cliff, so the Tacet Discords below hadn’t yet discovered his existence. Retroact Raindrops slip over his hair as he bends down to observe the newly awakened Tacet Field. However, before he can find the deep cross-shaped Tacet Mark on the ground, another abnormality catches his eye.

“Are the phantoms… fighting?”

At the early stage, silver phantoms created by the Retroact Rain are harmless and just repeat what they did while they were still alive. Rover only heard about cases of phantoms attacking people, as the situation deteriorated due to prolonged neglect. He had never heard about them attacking each other.

Apparently, most of the phantoms were from the deceased Midnight Rangers, as many of them used familiar techniques that Rover had seen them use. However, without tactics and formations, their attack patterns are very chaotic, some even attacking the air, which only emphasizes the lone phantom that fights with precision and order.

God knew how long this Tacet Field had been dormant, but it didn’t exhibit any of the usual signs that a Tacet Field should, otherwise, he would have already noticed. Rover narrows his eyes, carefully scanning the whole area.

From what he can see, the Tacet Discord of this Field had definitely awakened, but where is its boss?

As if to answer him, a gigantic bird-like monster suddenly lands on the ground. It descends directly atop the group of battling phantoms, the same group that Rover had been closely observing. He recognizes this type of monster immediately. It’s unfortunately also the most troublesome type of enemy for him to deal with.

An Cyan Impermanence Heron.

The type of monster that can both fly and possess long-range attack ability is the natural enemy of any melee attacker. What’s even worse is that it’s not the only one. Rover immediately hides himself between the large mountain rocks, as another behemoth Heron flies beneath the cliff where he is hiding.

On the ground, most of the phantoms were squashed flat and absorbed into the Heron's body, coloring its sapphire feathers even more brilliant. The only exception is that abnormal phantom. If it weren’t for its too distinctive pearl-white silhouette, he would definitely think that’s a human.

The phantom and the Heron on the ground quickly engage in battle, while the other Heron still hovers in the air. Its eyes focus on the battle beneath, as if watching a spectacular show, while also like waiting for a chance.

Suddenly, a flow of condensed energy falls down right on its back, along with a pair of dark purple wings. The Cyan Impermanence Heron reacts immediately, performing a graceful roll midair. But the attack completed its mission.

The blade cut a large chunk off the Heron's wing, causing it to be unable to maintain balance in midair. But the Heron’s no ordinary monster. It roars in anger and immediately blows a turquoise fire breath toward the free-falling Rover.

As if just waiting for that, he immediately performed a mid-air dash, while shooting the grapple from his Utility above. He still had no idea how this thing could grab the air, but it no doubt came in handy when needed. On the ground, the battle also reached its climax. The Cyan Impermanence Heron roars painfully, as the phantom’s sword pierces through its neck, forming a beautiful crescent swing.

There was no blood coming out of the Heron wound, instead, their body shattered into countless light fragments as it fell onto the ground. Rover activates his glider as he gets closer to the ground, just at the right time to see the abnormal phantom deal the final blow to the other Heron. Only with a closer look did he realize this phantom had become much more detailed than before.

Despite still having distinctive silver linings, the phantom features, and outfits have been recreated very vividly.

The first thing that catches his eye is the number of scars on the strange man's left arm, extending to his bicep and wrist wrapped in white cloth. His entire right arm is covered in thick black cloth, but Rover guesses that arm isn't much different. His clothes style is very different from Jinzhou’s, yet still bears somewhat resemblances that he can’t tell which. White calligraphic script on his shirt seems to move as he glances at Rover as he lands on the ground. The eye uncovered by his blueish silver long bangs shows no hostility toward him, yet no friendliness either. Rover moves forward a few steps, and is about to start with a ‘thanks’ when his terminal suddenly reconnects.

As the Tacet Discord had been killed, Tacet Field also disintegrated on its own. Rover’s terminal regains its function, bombards him with cries of worry from the other end:

[Rover! Thank god it’s finally connected! Are you okay? Where are you? How is the Tacet Field?]

“I’m fine. The Tacet Field had been taken care of, you don’t need to send people over anymore.”

[As expected of Rover! I knew you could take care of the Tacet Field yourself!]

The corners of his mouth twitch at the officer's ability to change attitudes as quickly as flipping through a book. Who was the one so frantic just now? Anyway…

“I’m not alone. I got help from…”

But as he lifts his head, the phantom man has already disappeared. The Retroact Rain has completely stopped, revealing the usual clear red sky of the Northfall Barren.

Right, phantoms could only appear with the Retroact Rain, once the Rain was over, they would also be gone.

A part of Rover's heart secretly feels disappointed. So even such a special phantom can’t avoid this rule.

The most dangerous time has passed, and his Pangu Terminal’s running low on battery, so he decides to return to the Midnight Ranger Camp. Before turning it off, he asks the officer:

“Hey, do you know any guy with long white hair, wearing a strange black outfit with a large… prayer beads necklace? His left arm is full of scars too.”

The other end of the line silents for a while, then the officer hesitantly replies:

[Where did you see that man?]

“In the Tacet Field, there was an abnormal phantom that looked like that. His fighting style was quite similar to the Midnight Rangers, so I thought he might have been one of you guys.”

[I see… Your guess is correct, that man is our former general, Geshu Lin.]

Rover's eyes widen in surprise, but before he can ask further, his Pangu Terminal turns off, indicating that the battery’s completely dead. He scratches his head in uneasiness. Because of the unique terrain and relatively close distance, he doesn’t need to rely on a map to find the way. But the terminal was there as a backup plan, so with it gone, he can’t help but feel a bit disoriented.

The first thing he does when he returns is to find the officer and hear the story of Geshu Lin from him, then ask several more for more details. To his surprise, while most of the rearguards dislike the former general and say he has a notorious reputation, most of the soldiers at the base don’t resent him at all. If there’s anything, then it’s just fear and sadness. The contradiction puzzles Rover greatly, naturally, his curiosity gets triggered.

Another thing that makes him curious is why he saw the phantom of the former general in the Retroact Rain. Although the principle still needs to be further researched, the basic idea is that the phantom's manifestation in Retroact Rain is closely connected to the memories of the observer. This implies that he must have had a connection to the person in order to see their phantom.

When Yangyang returns in the evening, she also helps him investigate, but can’t make further progress than he already did. The two sit on the rooftop, having their dinner while chatting leisurely. Chixia’s also on the line with them. From the chewing sound, apparently, she’s also having dinner. Rover asked her:

“What does Mortefi say? Can someone from a lost memory manifest as a phantom?”

[Nope, he said you have to specifically remember that person for him to manifest, and the clarity of the phantom also depends on how familiar you are with the person. However, he also added that Tacet Field and Retroact Rain still have many mysteries, and it cannot be ruled out that the frequencies could be mixed together midway.]

Yangyang unconsciously tilted her head in confusion:

“Isn't that equivalent to saying that Rover may have absolutely nothing to do with Geshu Lin?”

[No, he still has to know that person, just not necessarily familiar with him. Maybe he read about him in a book or something? Anyway, Mortefi is more interested in the part where phantom Geshu Lin could defeat a Tacet Discord intentionally and asks if you can gather some frequency samples for him. Baizhi also wants you guys to come to the Academy for periodic health check-ups!]

Rover recalls the map-marked places that require their cleanup and quickly realizes they have covered all of them. It’s time for them to return to Jinzhou city.

“Yeah, the situation here has stabilized quite a bit, tomorrow I will return there to see if anything remains. What about you, Yangyang?”

“I’ll go with you, then the next day we can hitchhike with the supply transport fleet back to Jinzhou.”

[That’s settled then! I will tell Baizhi right away~]

****

Three days later, at the Huaxu Academy.

“Hm, very stable frequencies… no different from samples from other Tacet Field…”

“Mr. Mortefi.”

“Maybe it was the Rain? Normal Tacet Field does not come along with Retroact Rain… I need to run more checks…”

“Mr.Mortefi!”

Mortefi lifts his head from the holographic screen filled with data, and adjusts his slightly crooked glass. He greets Yangyang and Rover:

“Has Baizhi done checking? Does she find out anything?”

Rover gives him a dead look:

“Why do you sound like you want something unusual to happen?”

“It's better to discover the problem now than to find out when it has worsened. Is there no other Retroact Rain area in Northfall Barren?”

“No, the dormant Tacet Field didn’t rain until it woke up either.”

“Hm…”

Mortefi ponders for a moment, then seems to remember something, as he turns over and starts typing on his keyboard some keywords. Soon, a file’s shared with them, it’s a report of an isolated island on the south of Wenye Beach.

“The Academy received a report about Retroact Rain that occurred on this island a few days ago, but we haven't had time to arrange an investigation yet. What do you think about becoming a Huaxu Academy contract investigator?”

“Is it any different from what I’ve been doing?”

Although it isn’t intentional, he often encounters strange phenomena while exploring dangerous areas. He also usually reported them to Baizhi and asked her to analyze them if necessary. So it can be said that Rover was already an investigator of the Academy, just unofficially.

“You have a salary.”

“Deal.”

And with that, Rover arrives at the island two days later. The island isn’t far from shore, but is shrouded in a thick abnormal mist. According to the report, this fog can intercept radio waves, so any contact channel will mostly be useless. Although the manifestation is different, Baizhi suspected that the fog could be part of the Etheric Sea phenomenon and asked him to pay attention to any Tacet Fields on the island, and deal with it if possible. Also…

“From our deduction, the frequency of strange phenomena happening is much higher when Rover is alone. So this time, Yangyang will take care of the task of keeping in touch with him from the camp at Wenye Beach, and Rover will enter the island alone.”

Yangyang initially objected, but Baizhi's words were clear, and this was technically a mission, so she couldn’t disobey. Through the terminal, Yangyang's familiar voice rings out, pulling Rover's thoughts back to the present:

[Rover? Anything unusual?]

[“Not yet, just some blurry phantoms and wandering Tacet Discords as always. I need to go further.”]

[Got it, please be careful.]

The process of setting up the devices and collecting data is more leisurely than he anticipated. Other than having to fight Tacet Discords to keep them from destroying the device, there are no other problems. The phantoms here also act like normal, just hovering in place and mumbling obscure words. A day passed in peace, much to his disappointment.

Since the number of devices that need to be set up isn’t much, his plan is to set up the devices in one go, then regroup at the camp with Yangyang the next day. As it seems like nothing special will happen today, Rover stops under a half-collapsed building and begins preparing for dinner.

The Retroactive Rain doesn’t affect the growth of animals and plants, so the ingredients for his dinner are abundant. After cleaning the rabbit's fur and internal organs, he expertly cut it into pieces and skewered it onto sticks, interspersing it with the slices of Climbing Fig and Edodes mushroom. With a little oil and spices, the aroma soon spreads in all directions.

While he is enjoying his meal, a loud screech rings out, and a familiar silver figure appears from afar among dozens of Tacet Discords. Rover picks up the first cooked skewer, can’t help feeling somewhat surprised.

So he did appear.

Due to the effect of the Retroact Rain, the Tacet Discords surrounding the phantom man are a lot more agitated and violent than usual, although that doesn’t slow down his killing speed in the slightest. In less than 10 minutes from the first Chasm Guardian screech, all Tacet Discords were annihilated.

Rover grills the skewers while watching the former general of the Midnight Rangers fight, silently comparing their strength. Geshu Lin is undoubtedly the strongest general in history. Regardless of skill or strength, he masters it all. The last time, Rover was occupied by the Cyan Impermanent Heron and didn’t have the chance to inspect closely, but now he can see the man’s maniac expression while killing, violently full of life. However after the last Tacet Discords falls down, he also switches to a depressed state, as if there is nothing worth living in this world anymore.

Suddenly Rover can guess where his notorious reputation comes from.

Geshu Lin walks over to where Rover is right after finishing his killing. His sharp eyebrows furrow after he sees Rover's face clearly.

“...It’s you again.”

Rover leisurely turns the skewers to the other side, and holds out another cooked skewer towards the silver-haired man.

“Nice to meet you too, General Geshu Lin, want a skewer?”

Full on AO3 cuz it's long

#GeJiRo #3P #wuthering waves #fic

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