"That was way too close. But we won." They said it at the same time.
With the Crownless defeated, the Tacet Field had stopped spawning new Tacet Discords. The two Rovers sat on the ground, backs pressed together, letting the tension of battle drain from their muscles.
And finding, in each other's warmth, a quiet anchor.
She felt his shoulders against hers and breathed out. Instinct had told her from the start that she wouldn't lose. Even stripped of every memory, her body remembered how to fight.
But knowing she could fight and feeling safe were different things. She was an amnesiac dropped into a world she barely understood, thrown against a lethal enemy before she'd had time to learn the basics. The psychological weight of that was enormous.
His presence changed everything. This boy who mirrored her in every way except gender was someone she could rely on completely, someone she'd trust with her life without a second thought. Fighting beside him had been exhilarating.
More than any of that, though, he made her feel like she wasn't alone.
On his side, the feeling was mutual.
Thank god she's here.
Fresh off his transmigration into this world, even with a Rover's body and abilities, he had zero confidence he could've soloed the Crownless. His past life had never once put him in a real fight to the death.
Alone, the nerves would've eaten him alive. One slip, one mistake born from panic, and his brand-new second life would've hit Game Over before it even started.
Her presence had dissolved all of that. No matter how strong the enemy, he didn't have to face it by himself. And besides, one Rover in the game could already tear through everything. Two Rovers teaming up? There was no universe where they lost. That confidence alone had burned away most of his anxiety.
But the most important thing was this: she understood him, and he understood her.
No words needed. The other would grasp his intent instantly, then execute the perfect complement. Their synergy was better than a person's own two hands working together.
God, this is incredible. A teammate this strong, this in sync, this reliable, and who even looks this good? Absolute dream scenario.
If he'd matched with a teammate like this in a game back in his old life, he'd have demanded they become sworn siblings the second the match ended. She was his long-lost sister, zero blood relation and all.
The battle seemed to have brought them even closer. Whatever distance had been left between two strangers was gone now.
Yangyang and the others caught up moments later.
"Rovers, are you two alright?"
"Yeah, we're fine. Few scratches, nothing serious."
"...Let me see."
Baizhi's expression didn't change when she spotted the wound on his left palm, but she closed the distance to his side immediately. No amount of stoicism could hide the concern radiating off her. The injury, after all, had come from shielding her against the Crownless's attack.
And when she thought about it, what he'd done was absurd. A Havoc-infused lance thrust, and he'd caught the tip barehanded. Any ordinary Resonator would've been skewered clean through. He'd walked away with a scratch on his palm.
"...Thank you. Both of you saved me twice."
She looked at them both and bowed her head, the gratitude in her voice unmistakable.
"Don't mention it. You're the one who examined us and handled our emergency treatment back in the Gorges of Spirits, right?"
"That was nothing. And please, drop the formalities. Just Baizhi is fine."
"Deal. Then I'm counting on you again, Baizhi."
He smiled and held out his left hand. A faint smile crossed her face in return before she summoned a white creature into being.
It looked like a snow-white dolphin, hovering in midair and radiating a cool, soothing aura. This was Baizhi's Forte, and also a unique Remnant Creature called You'tan.
You'tan circled both Rovers in a playful loop, as if thanking them for saving its master. Then it nuzzled his injured palm. The wound sealed shut in the blink of an eye.
"Heh. Good girl. Cute little thing."
"How does it feel?" The other Rover leaned in, watching his hand.
"All better. Don't worry." He flexed the restored hand and ruffled her hair with it, as if to prove the point. Yangyang and Chixia both exhaled in relief.
"By the way, you two were incredible. I've never seen a Tacet Discord that powerful, and you brought it down."
"Couldn't have done it without him." / "Couldn't have done it without her."
They spoke in unison again.
"Ha, you two really are always in sync."
"Hey! Forget about that, come look at this! Come look!"
Chixia's voice rang out from nearby, crackling with excitement. The four of them turned. The red-haired girl was staring at the golden phantom the Crownless had left behind, her jaw hanging open, her whole body leaning backward as if the sight had physically knocked her off balance.
"Sentinels above. An Echo of this caliber actually dropped? What kind of insane luck is this?!"
"She's not wrong. This is genuinely staggering."
"Um... what's an Echo?" Rover tilted her head, baffled. She'd been staring at the golden apparition trying to figure out what to do with it.
"Sorry, we got ahead of ourselves," Yangyang said. "When a Tacet Discord is destroyed, it sometimes leaves behind a residual frequency signature. If you absorb it through your Pangu Terminal's Data Dock, it can be converted into usable combat power."
He shrugged as the explanation settled in. So basically Pokemon, except you have to kill the Pokemon instead of catching it alive. Beat the monster, and maybe you get a drop.
"The thing is, the odds of a defeated Tacet Discord leaving behind a harvestable Echo are extremely low. And the stronger the Tacet Discord, the lower the odds. That one was at least Overlord Class..."
"The drop rate is probably less than one in a thousand." Baizhi supplied a precise figure.
Both Rovers' golden eyes went wide. A one-in-a-thousand drop rate, and they'd hit it on their first kill.
That's absurdly lower than the game's eighty or ninety percent. Then again, if Kuro Games used real-world drop rates, they'd have a player revolt on their hands. Forget farming perfect substats, you'd struggle to complete a single set.
Given the lore of Wuthering Waves, Echoes were undeniably a critical resource. And a combat-capable Echo? That was the crown jewel.
"An Overlord Class Echo... I've never even seen one."
"No one has. There can't be many in the entire world."
"Which means your luck is absolutely off the charts!"
Yangyang, Baizhi, and Chixia said it with open amazement. The two Rovers, both amnesiac and new to this world, might not grasp the full significance yet. But the three of them understood perfectly.
An Overlord Class Echo was a national treasure.
Common Class Tacet Discords could be handled by trained soldiers. Elite Class required a specialized squad. Overlord Class demanded a full military response.
And beyond that lay Calamity Class and Threnodian.
Calamity Class required an entire nation's careful intervention.
Threnodians had no known method of destruction at all.
The weight of it clicked into place for both Rovers. No wonder the other three were stunned. They'd essentially acquired a one-army fighting force.
Okay, I expected the Echo would be valuable, but this is on another level entirely.
Its worth couldn't be measured in money. An Overlord Class Echo required no supplies, no maintenance, and obeyed its wielder absolutely. Anyone who possessed one would be welcomed as an honored guest anywhere on Solaris-3.
Across a distant sea, in an ancient city-state called the Seven Hills, a powerful Echo of the same Overlord Class was revered by the locals as a guardian deity. One Echo worth a thousand soldiers, hailed as the pride and protector of the land.
So the fact that these two had gotten the Crownless to drop an Echo...
Their luck defied description.
If someone claimed they were the luckiest people on all of Solaris-3 today, Yangyang and the others wouldn't have argued.