Chapter 126. Time to get down to business
What happened in the Akademiya was not concealed from the people of Sumeru. Through this trial, the news spread via the Akasha System, the Matra, the Thirty, and other channels.
After all, nearly half of the Akademiya's scholars were either sentenced to death or stripped of their scholar status. That was an earthquake-level event.
On top of that, there were also the foolish things the Akademiya had done: imprisoning Lesser Lord Kusanali for 500 years, cooperating with the Fatui, obtaining Inazuma's Electro Gnosis, the number of people who died in the God Creation Project, and the human, material, and financial resources it consumed.
In short, the truth was laid bare without any concealment. Even what Futsu Mitama had done after coming to Sumeru, and what Faruzan and the others had done, were all made public.
That also made all the people of Sumeru aware of the Akademiya's "good deeds."
Immediately, Sumeru erupted.
Countless people in Sumeru City gathered in front of the Akademiya, angrily denouncing its actions.
After all, no one wanted to be treated as an experimental subject without knowing it.
What's more, when the God Creation Project began, the Akademiya had extensively harvested dream, or soul, energy through the Akasha System.
That led to a major weakening of the physical condition of most people in Sumeru City. In Teyvat, the concept of the soul exists.
Excessive soul harvesting would cause a drastic decline in physical fitness, and even battle-hardened people like Dehya and Tighnari were no exception.
Because they had Visions, Dehya and Tighnari naturally had better constitutions than ordinary people, since they could manipulate elemental power.
That ability could strengthen their bodies to the greatest extent and make them stronger than normal people.
Even so, after their soul energy was harvested, Dehya, who exercised regularly, felt physically weak, and Tighnari even fell ill for a while.
There was no need to mention the others. Some became so weak they coughed constantly, others fell ill and spent an unknown amount of mora on treatment, and some even died on the spot.
No one in Sumeru was a fool, or rather, nobody was stupid.
More or less, everyone knew the condition of their own bodies. Even if they fell ill, there had to be a cause.
It was impossible to be perfectly healthy one day and wake up sick the next, right?
There had been absolutely no warning signs, and absolutely no logic to it.
If only one person had gotten sick, that would have been one thing. But if others also got sick, and if it had been a flu or an infectious disease, then the doctors in Sumeru City could not possibly have failed to find a cause.
But the situation was different now.
As Nahida revealed everything the Akademiya had done, the truth came out.
Many people who had lost loved ones cursed the scholars of the Akademiya, while also venerating Lesser Lord Kusanali.
Because the people of Sumeru could see very clearly that for the Akademiya's actions to be exposed, Lesser Lord Kusanali must have paid an unknown price.
The Akademiya had a good reputation in Sumeru, but the scholars of the Akademiya had become synonymous with arrogance, haughtiness, and a lack of empathy in the region.
Every Akademiya scholar appeared exceptionally arrogant and conceited, as if the possession of wisdom made them superior beings.
They also looked down on those who had not mastered "wisdom" and "knowledge," and even commented on them from a superior position.
It was just like the Tenryou Commission and the Shogunate Army in Inazuma half a year ago. There might have been beloved figures like Kujou Sara among them, but the vast majority were detestable and disliked.
Now that the lofty Akademiya scholars had been pulled down by the Dendro Archon, Lesser Lord Kusanali, the public naturally cheered.
As for the scholars inside the Akademiya, many of them had complaints about Lesser Lord Kusanali, and even wondered why they, as proud scholars, should be treated this way.
Even if the Great Sage, the other Sages, and many predecessors had made mistakes, so what?
As the saying goes, family scandals should not be made public, but Lesser Lord Kusanali had directly exposed the matter.
Wasn't that inconsiderate to the Akademiya?
In response, others rationally pointed out that the Akademiya Sages had imprisoned Lesser Lord Kusanali for 500 years, collaborated with the Fatui and others, and offended the Archon of Inazuma.
Under such circumstances, the Akademiya not being annihilated was already a very fortunate outcome.
Because, according to what Lesser Lord Kusanali and Futsu Mitama had said, what the Akademiya had done was intolerable to other nations and Archons on Teyvat.
Futsu Mitama also mentioned many secret matters, such as why Maha Rukkhadevata disappeared 500 years ago, and how foolish the Akademiya had been to imprison Lesser Lord Kusanali for 500 years.
He also mentioned Khaenri'ah, the nation destroyed 500 years ago that brought countless suffering to Teyvat.
And he regarded the God Creation Project as "taboo."
Under any circumstances, although the Akademiya was now universally condemned, it at least still existed.
That was also thanks to the benevolent Lesser Lord Kusanali.
She possessed a divine, merciful heart and the courage to make decisive choices.
There were many intelligent people in the Akademiya. If they put themselves in her place, they would likely not only fail to save the Akademiya, but drive it into an abyss with no chance of growth.
Likewise, if they were the Dendro Archon, possessing Archon-level power and the Gnosis, where in the wide world could they not go?
Why stay in Sumeru?
As Futsu Mitama had said, Sumeru was a nation protected by the Archons, not one that protected the Archons.
For 500 years, they had been using Lesser Lord Kusanali's banner to protect themselves.
So no matter what Lesser Lord Kusanali did, they should be grateful, not complain and criticize.
But there were always fools who blamed everything on Lesser Lord Kusanali, and for those people, Cyno and his Matra showed no mercy.
Faruzan, Tighnari, Layla, and other excellent scholars also began cleaning up the mess left by the God Creation Project.
The great purge of the Akademiya had begun.
—
Inside the Sanctuary of Surasthana, Futsu Mitama and Nahida were together.
They were discussing their next steps, since there were still many things to deal with after the trial of Azar and the scholars concluded.
Naturally, Futsu Mitama and Nahida had to discuss and decide what to prioritize.
But unexpectedly, Nahida proposed shutting down the Akasha System.
"You plan to shut down the Akasha System?"
Futsu Mitama looked at Nahida with some surprise, because she had actually said she planned to shut it down.
It had to be said that the Akasha System was the greatest wonder in Sumeru. It was like a "Google" equivalent.
If used a little differently, it could even become a weakened version of the Chat Group and provide Nahida with endless assistance.
Many scholars also relied on the Akasha System to carry out many convenient actions. No matter how one looked at it, it was a very useful thing.
"Hm."
Nahida nodded, looking into the distance as if she were gazing at Sumeru City, and said with some emotion,
"The Akasha System is indeed very convenient. But I can feel that today's scholars are completely different from the scholars 500 years ago. They are used to obtaining knowledge from the Akasha System. No matter what knowledge it is, they can get it from there."
"But this convenience has made them lack practical experience."
Nahida deeply understood the convenience of the Akasha System, because for the past 500 years she had obtained much "knowledge" through it.
But when she began to put it into practice, she found that the "knowledge" she had gained from the Akasha System was not as useful as she had imagined.
In other words, even Nahida could not make theoretically useful "knowledge" function well in practice, let alone other Akademiya scholars.
And the overly convenient nature of the Akasha System caused most Akademiya scholars to stop thinking further.
For 500 years, Nahida had seen many scholars rely too heavily on the Akasha System. Perhaps at first, it had helped them enormously.
But the further they went, the less the Akasha System gave them, and the more the scholars became bound by it, as if they could do nothing without it.
That was also why the Akademiya's "wisdom" had not seen any breakthroughs for 500 years.
Maha Rukkhadevata had once said in the Chat Group that she was not an "omniscient and omnipotent" being; she merely knew a little more than ordinary people.
But even she had learned many, many things from humans.
In Maha Rukkhadevata's view, knowledge was reciprocal. No one could truly master all knowledge.
Zhongli and Albedo agreed with this, and everyone else in the group strongly concurred as well.
So Nahida decided that once everything was finished, it would be time to shut down the Akasha System.
"Alright."
Futsu Mitama did not object.
In his view, there were still many areas where the Akasha System could be improved. But since Nahida said so, he naturally would not say much—after all, he was the next Electro Archon, not the next Dendro Archon.
And just how badly the Akasha System had poisoned the Sumeru scholars could be seen from their behavior.
"But before that, we need to enter Irminsul and deal with the matters of these two."
Nahida looked at Signora and Scaramouche not far away; the matter of these two needed to be resolved quickly.
Signora had been specifically requested by Venti.
Scaramouche, on the other hand, needed to be taken back to Inazuma for trial.
"Whose matter should we solve first?"
Nahida looked at Futsu Mitama and gave him the choice.
After all, both Signora and Scaramouche had been captured by Futsu Mitama and his group, so she left the decision to him.
At that moment, Nahida was somewhat eager to try; her Teleportation Scepter was already ready.
Whether it was Mondstadt or Inazuma, she wanted to go and see them.
"Signora, then."
Futsu Mitama looked at Signora and decided to resolve her matter first.
It would not matter much if Scaramouche escaped.
With his personality, he definitely would not be able to remain calm, and with the information Nahida had obtained from Dottore, it was enough for Scaramouche to relentlessly pursue Dottore.
Signora was different. She and Snezhnaya were practically on the same boat.
She had gone all the way down a dark path, and Signora was cunning and resourceful. This time, it was extremely fortunate that they had managed to capture her.
If she escaped again, then capturing her next time would be nearly impossible.
Although Futsu Mitama could also feel that Signora's current life state was like a candle flickering in the wind; a gentle puff could extinguish her flame.
The Cryo Archon freezing Signora from afar was clearly meant to save her life. If Signora could return to Snezhnaya successfully—
Perhaps there would still be a way for her to survive. After all, Snezhnaya did have quite a lot of black technology.
Not to mention anything else, if Futsu Mitama wanted to save Signora, he had many methods. For example, he could use the Dendro Archon's inheritance to inject vitality into her.
That would strengthen Signora's already flickering life flame and allow her to escape the state of always being on the verge of death.
Also, if he took out the power of authority granted by the Cryo Archon from the group file and gave it to Signora, she could also survive.
Beyond that, Albedo's alchemy, Shenhe's talismans, Yae Miko's strange little tricks, Sangonomiya Kokomi's healing methods, and so on—all of them could save Signora.
But why save her?
She and them had an irreconcilable hatred. Even if they saved that madwoman, she would show no mercy toward them.
Venti seemed to know this, which was why he had proactively said in the Chat Group that he wanted to bring Signora back to Mondstadt, so that her soul could return to her homeland.
"Alright."
Nahida did not refuse. She approached Signora, took out the Teleportation Scepter, and handed it to Futsu Mitama, saying,
"You've been to Mondstadt City, so the Teleportation Scepter is yours to use. I wonder what Mondstadt looks like~~"
Ever since her trip to Liyue, Nahida had wanted to visit other nations.
Naturally, she also wanted to visit Mondstadt, the city of freedom. As the second-generation Dendro Archon, she also wanted to meet the legendary Anemo Archon, Barbatos.
"No problem."
Futsu Mitama naturally had no objection.
He took the Teleportation Scepter, then @-mentioned Venti in the Chat Group.
He asked where Venti was, or at least roughly where he was, since he and Nahida were bringing Signora to him.
Then there was a brief silence.
After several minutes, Venti still had not replied in the Chat Group.
That made Futsu Mitama and Nahida look at each other, wondering what had happened over there.
"That Anemo Archon couldn't have gotten into trouble, could he?" Nahida said worriedly.
In those short minutes, she had even imagined the Anemo Archon encountering danger and then asking the group for help.
But Futsu Mitama, who understood Venti, muttered,
"I'm wondering whether he got drunk and fell asleep."
"Ah?"
Nahida tilted her head, not quite understanding why Futsu Mitama would think that.
But soon, Venti replied. He sent a coordinate and then said that he had just been in Mondstadt City, which was not quite suitable for receiving Futsu Mitama and Nahida.
So he spent a few minutes finding a suitable place to host Futsu Mitama, Nahida, and Signora.
Futsu Mitama looked at the coordinates, then narrowed his eyes slightly, his expression turning somewhat intriguing.
Because those coordinates were exactly Starsnatch Cliff.