Getting back to the topic, even the Fatui look down on research like this imitation of divine authority that can control human minds—what exactly are they researching?
The story in Sumeru is coming up soon, and everyone will be able to see the direction of the Fatui's research: they're—creating a god!
In that light, Persikov really did take a 'detour.' Inventing a device with only a fraction of the Dendro god's authority? What's the point of that?
If you're going to create, why not directly create a god equivalent to a divine being? Isn't that a one-step solution?
For such a direct leap in technology, one can only say: genius!
Because they ultimately succeeded! If that's not genius, what is?
It's like someone who just learned to use fire directly lighting a gas stove! Or someone who just mastered space travel starting to wander the Earth!
Teyvat's technology is just that absurd, with huge gaps between different places and different people.
Nahida blinked, already aware of the Fatui's research—and she even knew that Lucian was providing support for it.
Previously, Nahida hadn't understood why Lucian was helping the Fatui with this kind of research. Could it be that even he felt himself unqualified?
Nahida had been very saddened, but fortunately, Lucian had explained the reason to her.
It turned out that if Lucian hadn't helped early on, the Grand Sage would have used the heads of Sumeru's citizens to 'mine' and fill in the data out of haste for the experiments!
It was essentially using computational power to make up for time; what might normally take one or two years to collect data, he forcibly shortened to just a few days—showing just how ruthlessly they were mining.
This really made Nahida somewhat angry. Before, she had only been thinking of cooperating with Lucian.
But now it's different; now she wants to mete out punishment to the Grand Sage.
Nahida could tolerate her own imprisonment over these five hundred years, but she could not tolerate the Grand Sage harming other citizens!
Yet it's also truly interesting—in the story, Nahida encouraged those children.
Now, the real Nahida has been encouraged by those children as well: a two-way rush.
Right on cue, getting back to the story—the book explains why this archipelago ended up like this.
Not long after Persikov's research, his device broke down. Those Fatui wanted to fix it but didn't know how, and in trying to repair it, they ended up losing the device's crystal instead, making the problem even bigger.
The device, outputting at maximum power uncontrollably, directly drove those Fatui into madness, sending them running wildly everywhere.
Persikov was at least responsible; he tracked everyone down one by one, arranged them in a cave, and tried to awaken them, but unfortunately, it failed.
At the end of the manuscript, it noted the location of that device crystal, along with puzzle-solving hints.
What the Traveler is best at is solving puzzles and running errands—she gathered the three crystal cores in minutes.
Placing the three crystal cores back into the device, Mona actually managed to fix the thing. The Fatui, trapped in hallucinations and driven mad, also recovered.
With the problem solved, the group returned to the 'Abyssal Paradise aka Dodo Kingdom Embassy' to continue their vacation—in plain terms, back to the camp.
After being busy for several days, everyone could finally enjoy the vacation properly. Not easy at all.
[Fischl sighed: "This place should become an eternal paradise."]
The Prinzessin der Verurteilung spoke, and from then on, it was renamed the 'Eternal Paradise.'
This journey was organized by Fischl, while Xinyan wanted to organize the next one, inviting everyone to Liyue to play.
Her good friends are quite impressive: if you want to eat, go find Xiangling; if you want to watch opera, go to Yun Jin; if you want to die, you can find the hall master.
Eating, drinking, playing, life, old age, illness, death—as long as you want it, Xinyan can find someone to arrange it for you.
Fischl had written a play in her own Abyssal Paradise called 'The Princess's Sword Chronicle'—she might really like Yun Jin's operas too.
Mona happened to be very interested in eating as well; she just couldn't bear to spend money on it usually, not that she didn't love eating—actually, she's quite a glutton.
The only pity is that no one wanted to die, so Xinyan didn't mention Hu Tao.
Hu Tao noticed that Xinyan didn't mention her and pouted: Why not introduce me as a friend?
If you want to die, come find me!
Leaving aside the mischievous Hu Tao, in the story, after fixing the device, Mona performed another divination.
This divination was much clearer, but she still sensed that there was a power she couldn't see clearly existing around them, as if watching over them.
At this point, the little Dendro god was probably: staring—.
Readers don't know who the little Dendro god is yet, so they're all puzzled just like the characters in the book—only Lucian, Venti, and the like have expressions of delight.
Mona gritted her teeth, glaring unhappily at Lucian: Why do you know everything? It's clearly something even a genius like me can't calculate! Damn it!
What's even more outrageous is that you wrote it out! I can't see it, but you wrote everyone and everything so clearly! Now the whole world knows I'm inferior to you!
But Mona's feeling of displeasure quickly subsided—well, she was used to it.
Whether being toyed with by Lucian, ordered around by him, or struck down by him, she was used to it all.
The first time she was struck down, she was angry for a long time; after more instances, it was just like that.
But the interesting thing about Mona is this: no matter how many times she's struck down, she'll still instantly bristle, just that she calms down faster now.
The calmed Mona said: Let's continue reading the story—the future lies within it; we must grasp the future.
In the story, the Traveler pulled Paimon aside, clearly about to make another secret phone call.
Mona focused intently; she could guess that the source of that unknown power was most likely the person who had previously cut off the communication, though she didn't know who that person was.
In the end, Mona was disappointed—this time, that person didn't cut off the communication; the one who answered the call was Venti himself. What a letdown.
But it was good that Venti answered; it was the perfect chance to inquire about intelligence. Lumine hurriedly told Venti about the encounters.
[Venti: "A strange device? One that can even imitate the power of a god? Ahahaha, the Fatui have plans like this? What wild imagination."]
Venti said he didn't know about this matter—and as for whether he really didn't know, heh heh.
[Venti: "As for that mysterious voice, though I don't know who it is, at least she didn't let you suffer any harm; she even helped you understand each other, right?"]
He said he didn't know who it was—and as for whether he actually knew, heh heh.
One can only say that dream-related authority, as one of the original Seven Archons, Venti should be familiar with it.
Even if he really didn't know about that mysterious voice and the Fatui's plan, after hearing the Traveler's experiences, he should have guessed it.
Venti just didn't say it because he simply felt there was no need; the Traveler would learn all of this in her future journeys.
His main job is as a bard; being an Anemo Archon is just a side gig. As a bard, it makes sense that I don't know these things, right?
If he were acting as a god, he could offer the Traveler some help—but alas, he's not; he's just a poet.
Compared to telling the Traveler the answers, he prefers watching the process of her seeking them out—that way, he, as a bard, has stories to sing.