The Magistrate. Only six existed in all of Huanglong.
Each one stood as the highest authority of their city, carrying the future of countless lives on their shoulders. No mediocrity could ever hold the seat. The responsibility far outweighed the power.
Among the six, Jinzhou occupied a unique position.
The youngest city in Huanglong. The one that guarded the frontier pass.
And the one with the youngest Magistrate.
Jinhsi. The current Magistrate. A baby girl that the Sentinel Jué had personally brought home over a decade ago. She'd been killed in a Tacet Discord attack, but the Sentinel had turned back time across seven days and seven nights to bring her back.
A few years ago, this young woman had ascended to the seat of Magistrate. Rarer still, she was the Sentinel's own Resonator.
Skepticism came quickly. Being chosen by the Sentinel was one thing; being a capable leader was another. She was too young, people said.
Reality proved them all wrong.
The young Magistrate's acumen was unmatched. From her first day in office, she'd rolled out policy after policy that won the people's loyalty, taking command of the city with an ease that felt like spring thaw sweeping through Jinzhou.
The Sentinel Jué possessed Foresight, the ability to peer into what lay ahead. That gift had kept this frontier city alive for generations. Whenever Jinzhou's people strayed toward a wrong turn, Jué would intervene.
Previous Magistrates had all endured the Sentinel's corrections when their judgment faltered. But since Jinhsi had taken office, Jué had never once needed to overrule her.
Part of that came from the sliver of Foresight she'd inherited as the Sentinel's Resonator, and part from the rare, world-class mentor who had chosen to guide her.
But beyond all of that, Jinhsi was a genius in her own right.
And extraordinarily diligent.
Poised and composed. Graceful under pressure. Unshakable in crisis.
That was Jinzhou's impression of its Magistrate. Nothing seemed to catch her off guard. There was nothing she didn't know, nothing she couldn't accomplish.
But lately, those closest to Jinhsi, Sanhua among them, had noticed something unusual in their Magistrate: nervousness. Anticipation.
"The day is finally here. One more check."
"Sanhua, how many times has it been?"
"Eight, Lady Changli."
They watched as Jinhsi scrutinized her appearance yet again, examined the gifts she'd carefully selected based on the two Rovers' recent purchases around the city, and even rehearsed what she would say when they met.
Sanhua and the beauty beside her could only shake their heads in fond exasperation.
Catching their expressions, Jinhsi paused, a touch embarrassed. But she felt the need to defend herself.
She couldn't help it.
These two Rovers were important enough that Jué, who had never once lectured her, had gone out of the way to impress upon her how significant they were. And precisely because she knew so little about them, the curiosity consumed her.
For years now, almost nothing in Jinzhou had escaped her awareness. The unknown that these two strangers carried with them was what made her thoughts circle back, again and again, restless.
And then there was the dream.
Unlike the Sentinel, who could peer into the future at will, Jinhsi's shared Resonance only granted her rare, fragmentary glimpses through her own dreams. Last night, she'd seen one.
In the near future, she would find herself in mortal danger. The situation would be desperate, odds stacked impossibly against her. And at the worst moment, a figure had stood beside her.
Under that figure's guidance, she'd walked out of the nightmare alive.
The silhouette had been blurred beyond recognition.
But Jinhsi knew who it was.
That was when the nervousness and anticipation had begun.
This was the person Jué had personally told her to value. Through the fragments of the Sentinel's own memories she'd glimpsed via their Resonance, she'd seen a dark-haired figure with golden eyes standing at Jué's side.
Combined with the records in Jinzhou City Hall's database, files that someone had deliberately tried to erase yet left traces behind, Jinhsi had pieced together the truth: this person may have altered the course of history and protected the world more than once.
Faced with someone like that, even Jinhsi's composure would waver. She was nervous. She was eager. She wanted to see the figure from her dream in the flesh, to learn what kind of person they truly were.
Now the three days were up.
The time had come.
She checked the hour on her Pangu Terminal, gathered the two gifts against her chest, drew a deep breath, said a word to Sanhua and her teacher, and set off for the meeting place.
"My, my. Our Jinhsi looks like a girl heading out on her first date." The pink-haired beauty laughed softly.
"Ahem. Lady Changli, you shouldn't say things like that," Sanhua said.
...
"Nice spot."
"It is. The view's incredible."
The two Rovers climbed the elevated platform and arrived at the meeting place. Below them, all of Jinzhou spread out in miniature. Above, a flawless moon hung low and luminous. A perfect vantage point.
Yet no travel guide in Jinzhou mentioned it. Only someone who knew this city down to its last blade of grass and cobblestone would know to come here.
A heartbeat later, neither Rover was looking at the scenery anymore. Their eyes had found the most beautiful thing in this entire landscape, and she was standing right ahead.
A girl bathed in moonlight. Something sacred and ethereal.
"Three days, as promised. It seems none of us have broken our word."
Silver light draped across her shoulders. The night wind caught her pale hair, and every strand seemed to glow.
A faint blush colored Jinhsi's cheeks, vivid beneath the moon. The moment she saw them, she smiled. The figure from her dream had finally come into focus, and they were even more striking than she'd imagined.
"Allow me to introduce myself properly. I am Jinhsi. It's a pleasure to meet you both, Rovers." She dipped into an elegant bow.
The moonlight was beautiful tonight. The girl beneath it, more so.
Both Rovers stood a little dazed. They'd arrived half an hour early, yet Jinhsi had already been waiting for half an hour before that.
He recovered first, thinking that this scene hit several hundred times harder than its in-game counterpart. With a playful grin, he said, "Hello, Jinhsi. This isn't another hologram, is it?"
"Using a hologram twice would be rather rude. Huanglong's terminal technology is advanced, but not advanced enough for a projection this lifelike. Unless... our guests would like to verify for themselves?"
The young Magistrate extended her hand with an easy smile, her expression warm and sincere. But before he could take it, his companion had already clasped it in both of hers.
Cool to the touch, but so soft.
What about me...
His half-raised hand found its mark soon enough.
"Hm? What's this on your face?"
"Huh?"
Jinhsi blinked, a flash of panic crossing her features. She'd checked so many times. How could she have missed something? Before she could figure out what might be on her face, his hand was already reaching toward her.
One fingertip, gentle as anything, tapped a crystalline scale on her cheek.
The Magistrate's composure cracked.
A Dragon Scale, luminous as polished gemstone.
They only appeared when Jinhsi overexerted her Forte, sustained serious injury, or...
When she was nervous and flustered.