Erika's heart hammered against his ribs like a war drum.
Anna's fractured plea—"help me"—pierced his focus like an ice spike, shattering his attempt to delve into the system. All calculations regarding the Resonance Protocol and the coming energy storm were forcibly shoved aside by this sudden, visceral sense of crisis.
"Anna…" he breathed the name soundlessly, his entire being taut with tension. He tried to recapture the vanished mental signal, but it was gone, a silver needle lost in the abyssal sea.
What do I do?
What kind of danger was she in? A cultivation mishap? Or… something worse, like what had befallen the blindfolded sister? The memory of Balthasar's arrogant sneer surfaced, sending a fresh chill down his spine.
He couldn't wait. He had to hear more clearly.
Erika drew a sharp, steadying breath, forcing calm. He recalled the "Harmonic Convergence" technique drilled into him by the Silent One, and the key points about "finding the frequency" from Anna's book. No longer passively waiting, he actively cast his mental perception out like a net—not aimlessly, but tracing the faint "trail" left by the unique, pure signature of Anna's spirit.
It was a bold attempt, far beyond his previous passive receptivity. His mental power drained away like a burst dam, a stabbing pain blooming between his brows, but he gritted his teeth and held on. He gathered every memory and sensation of Anna—her image, her voice, the warmth of her fingertips as she handed over the book, her radiant smile upon receiving the woven bird—forging them into a "compass" to find her distinct spiritual frequency.
'...what do I do... can't finish...'
'...the Mark... so hard... can't hold it together...'
'...Erika... help...'
More fragmented, frantic pieces of thought flickered into his mind like guttering candle flames. No concrete scenes, just a dense, overflowing helplessness and panic.
Erika's heart sank. "Mark," "hold it together"—the keywords painted a clear picture. This wasn't an external threat. This was… the examination hall! The crucial practical test that determined whether an acolyte sister could advance—the test of Mark-Forging!
Perhaps Anna hadn't intentionally used Mind-voice. Maybe, in her extreme tension and desperation, she was just instinctively, repeatedly calling out in her heart to the only person she could think of who might help her, like a prayer from a drowning soul. And this pure, intense will had resonated with his nascent talent for Mind-voice, transforming into these broken distress signals.
A wave of frustrated helplessness, mixed with a thread of bittersweet relief, washed over him. But the worry remained. Failing the exam meant a cruel fate, especially for a girl like Anna with no backing.
He focused all his will, extending tendrils of perception along the increasingly clear frequency of her anxiety…
The scene opened up in his mind's eye:
He "saw" a spacious, solemn hall—a side chamber of the Indoctrination Hall, temporarily arranged as an examination ground. Dozens of acolyte sisters like Anna sat within energy-guiding matrices, a miniature model of the Eternal Circuit before each. The air was thick with oppressive pressure and the high-frequency hum of flowing energy.
A stern-faced cleric proctored, the click of metal heels on the floor sounding like a death knell.
And Anna, seated near the back, her face pale, a fine sheen of sweat on her brow. Her eyes were squeezed shut, her body trembling faintly with strain. Her hands moved futilely over the miniature circuit before her, trying to guide and coalesce energy, to trace the simple, initial Mark-glyph she needed to complete. But the golden stream of light kept dissipating at the final moment, refusing to hold its form. The energy field around her was chaotic and weak, mirroring her despair.
Erika "heard" her silent scream and the tears threatening to fall.
He had found her.
The question now was—how to help the desperate girl under the watchful eye of at least a mid-tier cleric proctor, within an examination hall laced with energy-sensing matrices, without exposing himself?
Erika's consciousness raced. His gaze swept over the steadily rotating miniature circuit at the center of his chamber, and a dangerous, intricate plan snapped into place.
"Watching" Anna's helpless, trembling form in the exam hall, Erika forced another wave of calm. Charge in? That was suicide. Remotely guide her using his own unpolished Mind-voice? The instability alone was a risk, not to mention the chance of the proctor detecting it—enough to doom them both.
He needed a more covert, more "authoritative" channel.
A plan so audacious it bordered on insanity formed in an instant—he would use the system itself!
Immediately, he sent a tightly-woven thread of thought via Mind-voice, one that barely leaked any detectable fluctuation, like a whisper directly into Anna's mind:
'Anna, it's me, Erika. Don't panic. Don't react. Listen: Think about your exam problem. The theoretical points you remember. Send them to me.'
In the exam hall, Anna jolted, barely stopping herself from opening her eyes. Hearing Erika's voice in her despair was like clutching a lifeline. Without questioning how Erika knew, or whether this violated doctrine, she acted on instinct, pushing the chaotic, fractured theoretical knowledge swirling in her head, saturated with her panic, back along the connection:
'...energy guidance... the base glyph is unstable... teacher said... to be like... like holding water... without letting it leak...'
'...frequency... must resonate with the Circuit... but I can't grasp it... it always slips away...'
'...the Mark structure... the first three channels... the first is 'Reception', the second is 'Flow', the third is 'Anchoring'... I... I always fail at 'Anchoring'... the energy just scatters...'
The information was a mess, full of subjective feelings and broken terminology. But for Erika, who had secretly studied the basics of the Eternal Circuit Law and possessed the gift of Rule Deconstruction, it was enough.
He instantly grasped the core issues: unstable base glyph construction, failure to resonate with the energy frequency, and the architecture of the initial triple channels—specifically the failure of the third, 'Anchoring'.
The problem was clear. Anna lacked a nuanced understanding of "steady-state energy control" and "structural solidification"—things honed by extensive practice and expert guidance, not just book learning.
And now, Erika had to find her a "shortcut," or at least a viable "loophole," within minutes.
He had no time to search through vast archives, nor the ability to create a solution from nothing. But he had direct access to a living database of "official standard answers"—the Silent One.
It was time to "summon" the system administrator once more.
A glint of resolve flashed in Erika's eyes. Recalling his previous success, he strode to the miniature Eternal Circuit in the center of the chamber. Without hesitation, he knelt, his fingers acting like precision probes, and pressed once more on the physical interface hidden within the decorative patterns on the base.
Click.
A faint mechanism sounded. The hairline crack reappeared, leaking the concentrated glow and hum of Auric Energy.
This time, he wasn't trying to graft his spirit or steal energy. His goal was different—to create a "safe anomaly."
Carefully, he guided a wisp of his mental power, not to touch the core energy flow, but to act as a probe. He gently and persistently stimulated the "logic interface" where the circuit connected to the main energy network. He was simulating an extremely rare, but not critical enough to trigger an emergency shutdown, form of "signal interference" and "repeated permission request."
It was like trying to log into a crucial system with the wrong password over and over—not enough to cause an explosion, but guaranteed to trigger an automated diagnostic protocol. He was gambling that this kind of low-level but persistent "annoying" anomaly also fell within the Silent One's purview.
Bzzz—
The light of the miniature circuit began to flicker erratically, its rotation stuttering subtly. The energy field in the chamber began to ripple.
It's working!
Erika focused completely, staring intently at the space above the circuit.
A few seconds later, just as the ripples reached a critical point—
HUM—!
With the familiar tremor of energy, blinding white light erupted again! The light twisted and coalesced, and the simplified, energy-construct form of the Silent One—its face a single rotating golden circle—was successfully "summoned" once more!
Its synthesized electronic voice held a trace of robotic impatience, quickly intoning:
[WARNING: Persistent low-level signal interference detected at user terminal. Triggering automated diagnostic protocol.]
[Silent One Protocol activated. Scanning for anomaly source…]
[User Mark recognized… Permission Level: Low (Temporary). Log Marker: Multiple unconventional interactions recorded.]
[State your request. Remain within protocol parameters. Avoid repetitive invalid operations.]
Success!
Suppressing his excitement, Erika immediately spoke in the clearest, most "knowledge-query" appropriate tone, posing his carefully crafted question:
"Query: Regarding the construction of the initial triple foundation channels of the Auric Mark, for instances where energy dissipation rate in the 'Anchoring' phase exceeds the standard threshold by seventy percent or more, list the common causes and provide the system's top three recommended solutions for efficient, temporary stabilization."
He used the keyword "Anchoring" failure obtained from Anna, framing the query as a standard "fault diagnosis and optimization consult."
The circle on the Silent One's face spun rapidly, its vast database accessed instantly.
[Query received. Keywords: Foundation channels, Anchoring phase, Energy dissipation, Stabilization solutions.]
[Searching based on Foundational Mark Architecture and Low-Tier Energy Steady-State Control Manual…]
[Search complete. Providing the following three system-recommended solutions:]
Immediately, a stream of clear, cold, algorithmically-optimized knowledge and energy flow models was directly implanted into Erika's consciousness. This wasn't vague theory, but concrete steps, subtle angles for mental adjustment, precise intensity curves for energy output, and three different, alternative micro-glyph structures that could achieve the exact same "stable anchoring" effect!
This knowledge was far more refined, efficient, and even… somewhat cunning than what was in Anna's textbooks. It felt like "backdoor" tricks left by the system's original engineers.
A spark of triumph lit Erika's eyes.
He immediately severed the connection, letting the Silent One's avatar dissipate after fulfilling its function. Then, turning his attention back towards Anna, he condensed the newly acquired knowledge—digested and understood through his Rule Deconstruction gift, selecting the most straightforward and covert alternative anchoring glyph and its energy-guiding trick—into a stable, clear stream of Mind-voice, and sent it across like an encrypted file.
'Anna, listen. Forget the 'Anchoring' method you learned. Now, follow my guidance. Imagine tracing an inverted 'V' shape at the base of your glyph, the top curling inwards slightly, like a bird biting its own tail… Simultaneously, stabilize your mental frequency at…'
In the exam hall, on the verge of giving up, Anna heard Erika's impossibly clear voice in her head, accompanied by a simple yet profoundly clever diagram of an energy structure and a specific frequency value.
Her eyes flew open in disbelief, but pure survival instinct took over. Without a second thought, she began following the "divine" instructions, restarting her attempt to coalesce the Mark on the brink of collapse…
The moment Erika sent the final, intricate energy-guiding trick to Anna, his focus wavered for a split second—
BANG!
The heavy black-iron door of his chamber was slammed inward with brutal force, crashing against the wall with a deafening roar.
A figure stood silhouetted against the energy glow of the corridor outside, blocking the only exit. A voice, laced with a mix of fury and triumphant glee, rang out sharply:
"Aha! Finally caught you!"
The sudden violence of it froze Erika solid, his heart lurching into his throat. He spun around, blinded by the backlight, unable to make out the intruder's features.
Who? The Inquisitorial Tribunal? Had the proctor discovered the interference? Or… one of Balthasar's lackeys?
He was utterly spent, mentally drained from the harrowing "system hack," and completely vulnerable.
Icy fear closed around his heart.