Just then, a blurry whisper seemed to pierce through the noise of the energy, faintly reaching Phrolova's ears:
"If such a world truly cannot be changed, perhaps we should seek a new path... even if it is completely different from our past methods."
"I will provide all the assistance you need to realize your ideal, because we are people in the same circumstances. I have already let you witness the possibility of its realization."
This voice was distorted and overflowing with temptation.
Phrolova's movements visibly stalled for a fraction of a second, a flash of daze passing through her eye.
"Phrolova." Rover spoke, pulling her back from her momentary trance.
Phrolova took a deep breath, steadying her mind. "This mist... is even thicker than what we encountered before... And..." Feeling the resonant feedback from her fingertips, her tone grew solemn. "They seem to be resonating with the other shore in some way. The interference is getting stronger."
"The situation on the other shore has worsened again?" Rover asked keenly. "It seems the Sonora you created is linked to your very life."
Phrolova looked at him in slight surprise. "An astute deduction."
She didn't deny it, continuing, "But don't worry, this will not affect our cooperative goal. There is always a way forward. Follow me."
Under Phrolova's tuning, the thick mist ahead dispersed slightly, revealing a barely passable path.
The two advanced cautiously, occasionally having to deal with unstable energy clusters suddenly surging from the liquid energy, or attacks from small Tacet Discords.
"Done," Rover said after swinging his sword to shatter the last attacking energy entity.
"Keep moving forward," Phrolova pointed the way.
For a time, only the sound of their footsteps and the flowing liquid energy remained in the corridor.
Rover suddenly stopped in his tracks, looking at the path ahead that was completely sealed off by several anomalous energy pillars. "These pillars blocking the way..."
Phrolova carefully observed the pattern of energy flowing within the pillars, her brow furrowing tightly. "...It's too deliberate. It seems this is an obstacle they intentionally set up."
Her gaze swept to the side, suddenly looking as if she had discovered something. "Look here."
Rover followed her pointing finger. Lodged in the crevice of a support bracket was a torn page of sheet music. "A piece of sheet music? Its format looks identical to the scores we saw on the Tuning Platform earlier."
"They are different movements from the exact same musical score," Phrolova explained. "Only when all of them are fully tuned can the entire song return to its proper melody, and only then will this area truly stabilize."
"Are you saying the loss of control we've been seeing is all caused by Finlay scrambling the song?" Rover immediately grasped the crux of the matter.
"Yes," Phrolova confirmed. "This piece of music is the core melody controlling the normal operations of the Hidden Sea Proving Ground. Only by adjusting it back to its original state can the various areas return to normal and the pathways between them open."
"You originally composed this song." Looking at the sheet music, Rover suddenly stated this as a fact rather than a question.
Phrolova's body suddenly stiffened. She whipped her head around to look at Rover. Her exposed eye was filled with shock, suspicion, and a nearly imperceptible trace of joy. "You... remember this song?"
"Frankly speaking, I don't have much of an impression of it," Rover replied calmly, looking at her openly. "But it's not hard to guess. The cooperation was definitely two-way. It's impossible for the Convent to have mastered such an exquisite resonance movement out of thin air."
Phrolova stared at him for a few seconds before slowly turning her head back, saying softly, "...You are correct."
"Didn't leave a backdoor just in case?" Rover asked pointedly.
The corner of Phrolova's mouth hooked into a barely detectable arc. "If I hadn't, how could we have made it this far?"
She admitted to having prepared in advance, but her tone quickly darkened. "However, the sheet music that should have been on the Tuning Platform was hidden here instead..."
"It seems Finlay hasn't completely lost his mind. He realized the importance of this song and attempted to hide it."
"We'll bring it along and restore it," Rover said.
However, Phrolova shook her head. "...I'm afraid it won't be that easy. Since he deliberately hid them, he won't let us gather them all so easily." She pointed toward a still-functioning large elevator at the end of the corridor. "To the Energy Storage Hub. The remaining missing movements are most likely there."
The two took the elevator and descended deep into the lower levels of the Proving Ground together.
As the elevator doors opened, an even more violently chaotic surge of energy crashed over them.
Before their eyes was an incredibly massive space. In the center roared the operation of a colossal energy core. Countless thick energy conduits spread outward like the roots of a giant tree. Many conduits were already damaged and leaking, causing the entire space to be filled with rampaging energy turbulence and lethal, thick mist.
"It's completely chaotic..." Rover evaluated, feeling a palpitation in his chest.
"The Energy Storage Hub stores the largest amount of energy in the Proving Ground," Phrolova's face grew even paler. "Everything here is much more easily influenced. This is the heart that sustains the operation of the entire Proving Ground, and also the most dangerous place."
"Sounds like a crucial link to keeping this place running," Rover said.
"Exactly," Phrolova nodded. "We must find the Tuning Platform. It's right over there."
She pointed to a faintly visible platform beneath the core.
The two struggled through the zone of energy turbulence and reached the Tuning Platform. However, the music stand on the platform was completely empty.
Phrolova's face instantly darkened. "Just as I thought... the two most crucial core movements are still missing. A crude but effective method."
"We only found that one page along the way here," Rover recalled.
Phrolova pondered for a moment, her gaze cast toward the deep passage on the lower level, which was shrouded in dense energy mist. "Then there is only one possibility. Finlay hid the final two pieces of sheet music in the bottom-level maintenance area, where the energy is the most chaotic and dangerous."
"The remaining two pieces are both right beneath our feet."
"It's so complex down there. How are we going to find the sheet music?" Rover asked, frowning as he looked at the maze-like pipes and the raging energy storm below.
Phrolova stared intently at the chaos below, the light of calculation shimmering in her eye. "Since someone deliberately hid them, we might as well think from his perspective. He would hide them in a place that is hardest to reach, yet must be activated through a specific method..."
She pointed to a narrow maintenance track running vertically down the core wall. "We'll go down from here. This is the fastest route to reach the bottom-level area. Although... the risks are not small."
Though the journey was treacherous, the two successfully reached the lower level. The environment in this area was even harsher.
The mist formed by the leaking energy was so thick it was almost tangible, reducing visibility to nearly zero. Beneath their feet lay an intricate, crisscrossing network of pipes and a bottomless abyss.
"Using the track to slide down from here should be free of accidents," Phrolova pointed to a section of track leading even deeper.
The two slid carefully along the track. Suddenly, Rover abruptly stopped, grabbing Phrolova, who was in front of him.
"You..." Her body trembled. Just as she was about to speak...
She saw that a section of the track ahead had suddenly snapped due to corrosion. Below lay a churning pool of liquid energy.
If Rover hadn't noticed it in time, the two of them would have undoubtedly plummeted right into it.
Phrolova also broke out in a cold sweat. "...I didn't expect the deterioration here to be faster than anticipated either." Saying this, she turned to look at Rover, her gaze complex. "...Thank you."
Rover shook his head and pointed toward an alternative backup route.
They bypassed the broken section and arrived at a relatively stable platform. Several small Echo incubation cabins were lined up here as well.
"To think there are Echo incubation cabins here too..." Rover said warily. "Stay alert. Echoes might break out of them and attack us."
Phrolova sensed the situation inside the cabins. "They won't. They are still young, their frequencies are very weak, and they are in deep hibernation..."
However, before she could finish her sentence, a nearby incubation cabin seemed to be activated by the chaotic ambient energy. The cabin door violently burst open.
Viscous liquid poured out, and a grotesque, half-finished fusion lunged out fiercely.
Immediately following, like a chain reaction, several nearby incubation cabins shattered one after another.
Phrolova: "..."
Rover: "..."
A battle erupted instantly. Although these young fusions weren't as powerful as the previous ones, there were many of them, and they were extremely frenzied.
Rover swung his sword to meet the enemies, while Phrolova immediately played her tuning to interfere and assist.
After the battle ended, Rover glanced at her, his brow furrowing slightly. "You'd better stop talking for now. Just try to save your energy and point the way."
Phrolova bit her lower lip. She didn't argue back, simply giving a silent nod.
She reached out and pointed to the next area that needed investigating. However, to get there, they needed to pass through a section of sliding track.
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