Sumeru City.
Nolan concealed himself within the "Shallow Layer" of space, like a phantom, peering through the invisible spatial barrier to observe the people on the streets.
There were scholars everywhere here—countless of them.
It didn't take him long to simply follow a few and find the Akademiya.
The Akademiya was massive, filled to the brim with students from various schools of thought.
They all wore matching uniforms, which looked fresh and clean, giving off a vibe that was as natural and vibrant as the rainforest itself.
Nolan didn't linger outside for long.
He entered the building and began looking for the _Sanctuary of Surasthana_.
He remembered that was the place where the Lesser Lord Kusanali was being confined.
The entire city of Sumeru was built atop a colossal Divine Tree, and the Sanctuary was located slightly higher, behind the Akademiya.
It could be reached either by walking from within the Akademiya, or by flying in from the outside.
But aside from rescuing the Dendro Archon, Nolan was also looking for the facility where "The Doctor" and the Grand Sage were collaborating on the God-Creation Project.
That place, if he remembered correctly, was called the _Pardis Dhyai_, which in the game was part of a weekly boss domain—but it wasn't located _inside_ the Akademiya.
Given how much larger reality was compared to the game world, simply using the in-game map as reference might not be enough to find it quickly.
The best plan, then, was to locate the Grand Sage within the Akademiya.
From there, he could either follow him—or use force if necessary.
Of course, the _ideal_ scenario was to use a Command Seal to control him directly. That way, he could just order him to cooperate with anything. Much easier.
After all, it wasn't like Nolan considered himself a good guy, so he felt no guilt using a Command Seal.
As for whether the Grand Sage would resist—Nolan figured he simply didn't have the strength.
In the game, he had only ever appeared as an ordinary human.
...
Although one could see the outside world from within the "Shallow Layer," sound couldn't pass through.
So Nolan had no interest in eavesdropping on what the students were talking about—likely some academic nonsense.
Instead, he wandered deeper into the Akademiya, all the while scanning his surroundings for any signs of the Grand Sage.
Before long, he arrived at a place known as the _House of Daena_—essentially a massive library.
Even the walls here had built-in wooden shelves packed with books of all kinds, stacked as high as several dozen meters.
It was insane! Truly worthy of being Teyvat's holy land of academia.
These had to be invaluable research materials.
Surely there'd be plenty of astrological texts here, too. If Mona ever came here, she'd probably be so excited she'd float into the air!
After all, the last time she bought books that cost over ten million Mora, quite a few of them were purchased from Sumeru.
If she could come here and borrow them directly, imagine how much Mora she'd save!
Just as Nolan's thoughts began to drift, he suddenly spotted a green-haired, handsome man standing by one of the nearby bookshelves.
He recognized this person—_Alhaitham_, the Akademiya's scribe.
A man who had a deep understanding of himself and his place in the world. A strong, self-aware individual.
At this point, he should already have noticed the Grand Sage's suspicious behavior, just like in the original story.
And to maintain his current peaceful lifestyle, he would soon begin making plans to foil the Grand Sage's plot.
In short, a fellow traveler.
His first move, if the timeline held, would be to acquire the _Divine Knowledge Capsule_—an item essential for Scaramouche to ascend to godhood.
Without it, Scaramouche would end up just like in the original: a god in body only, with no upgrade in knowledge or mind.
Without the Divine Knowledge Capsule, the "God of All Wisdom" would be incomplete—a mere imitation.
That's why, in the original, he was so easily pulled into Nahida's dream and defeated in tandem with Lumine.
One could even argue that without Alhaitham's interference, the plan devised by "The Doctor" and the Grand Sage might've actually succeeded.
However, the knowledge within the Divine Knowledge Capsule had already been contaminated by _Forbidden Knowledge_.
If Scaramouche absorbed it, he'd almost certainly be unable to resist its effects.
Whether he could even remain sane would be questionable.
Despite all the potential issues, the Capsule was undeniably a rare and valuable artifact.
Nolan had plans to collect it as well.
If Lumine really could purify the Forbidden Knowledge, then the resulting clean Divine Knowledge Capsule would be even more valuable.
He made a mental note to keep an eye on Alhaitham's actions—he didn't want to miss his chance to acquire the capsule.
For now, though, he didn't bother Alhaitham and continued moving forward.
After passing through the House of Daena, Nolan arrived at a stone platform elevator—likely powered by runes or some kind of arcane mechanism.
But since he was still within the "Shallow Layer" of space, he couldn't physically interact with reality.
Standing on the lift did nothing.
Not that it mattered—if he wanted to go up, he could just teleport.
Nolan looked up, and with a flick of intent, vanished from where he stood.
A moment later, he reappeared on the upper level of the House of Daena.
This place, too, was filled wall-to-wall with books.
Though this area was still part of the Akademiya, there were significantly fewer people around—because this was where the Grand Sage and other high-ranking officials worked.
At this moment, the Grand Sage that Nolan was looking for was indeed here. He wore a blue hat with curled edges.
His hair and beard were both gray-white—a sign of his advanced age.
He had a monocle over his right eye and was meticulously working through official documents.
To the average scholar, seeing him like this might leave the impression of a diligent and responsible leader.
Who would suspect that he was secretly colluding with the Fatui to conduct research on artificial gods?
Nolan activated his golden _Eye of Judgment_ and scanned the Grand Sage.
He found that the man was only around level ten—far below the strength of even an average soldier, roughly equivalent to a normal person with some physical training.
Given his age and scholarly background, this physical level was already considered pretty decent.
With this confirmation—that the Grand Sage had no hidden power—Nolan was relieved.
But now wasn't the right moment to act. There were too many people around and too many eyes.
After a moment's thought, Nolan decided to wait here. The Grand Sage couldn't possibly stay buried in paperwork all day.
After all, nature calls—sooner or later, he'd be alone.
+3,285 Adventure EXP
+2,842 Adventure EXP
+2,754 Adventure EXP
Nolan glanced at the notifications popping up on his character panel. They were from his "Sword gods of Lumine" avatars currently clearing Withering Zones in the Avidya Forest.
He had one Sword God Avatar active in the Abyss, two in the Chasm, and now another three operating in the Avidya Forest.
The earlier avatars in the Abyss and the Chasm weren't generating much XP anymore, as they hadn't run into any large groups of monsters recently.
So most of his current experience point income was coming from the Withering Zones.
Even so, clearing out monsters in the Abyss and purging oozing filth in the Chasm had still earned him over 600,000 EXP in total.
His accumulated experience had now exceeded 2 million:
[Adventure EXP: 2,513,251]
Nolan thought for a moment. He currently had six active avatars—not yet reaching the upper limit of nine he could maintain.
Even so, controlling six "Lumine's Sword Gods" at once took up the bulk of his focus and mental energy.
Scaling back slightly might be a wise idea.
The avatar in the Abyss needed to stay there for exploration. In the Chasm, one was enough to keep the ooze in check.
As for the three in the Avidya Forest, he decided to keep them active for now. Once they had cleared out all the marked Withering Zones on the map, he'd leave just one behind to continue hunting monsters and racking up XP.
With three avatars clearing three Withering Zones at once, the efficiency was off the charts!
He estimated that by noon today, they could clean up at least six zones.
That, plus whatever Tighnari was doing on his end, should just about wrap things up.
He was genuinely curious how much EXP he'd rake in by then!
Nolan felt a bit of anticipation rising.
Just then, he noticed the Grand Sage standing up and rubbing his temples.
From the look of it, he was probably heading to the restroom or something—after all, he hadn't bothered to organize the papers on his desk.
He must've expected to return shortly, hence the casualness.
Nolan quickly followed.
Hidden within the Shallow Layer, invisible to all, he trailed behind the Grand Sage as he moved into a side corridor.
There were a few scattered scholars along the way, and upon seeing the Grand Sage, they greeted him respectfully.
Still not the right time to make a move.
A few seconds later, the Grand Sage took a left turn and entered a room labeled "Archives" in Teyvat's common script.
—Oh? So it wasn't a bathroom.
Nolan frowned slightly. _I wonder if anyone else is in that archive room…_
If there were others, he'd have to wait longer—he didn't want to harm any innocent bystanders.
Luckily, the archive room was small and empty.
The Grand Sage walked straight toward the shelves inside.
Once Nolan confirmed there was no one else, he quickly rose from the Shallow Layer, surfacing like a diver breaching the water between realms, and returned to reality.
He remained in stealth, completely invisible.
In the next second, he unleashed his psychic power, targeting the Grand Sage with just enough force to knock him out without any lasting harm.
His mental energy struck true, just as the Grand Sage was reaching for a document on the shelf.
Because the strike came without the slightest warning, the Grand Sage didn't even have time to react—his expression didn't change at all as his eyes rolled back and he collapsed on the spot.
[You Have Defeated A Powerful Enemy. Obtained 69 Adventure EXP.]
Nolan glanced at the pop-up on his character panel… and for some reason, felt a little offended.
He was over level 90, and yet he'd used a sneak attack against a mere level-10 old man—then his character panel had the nerve to call it "defeating a powerful enemy."
It was honestly a bit embarrassing, even for someone like him who only had a thick skin when dealing with girls.
Still, he quickly brushed the thought aside. Right now, he needed to hurry and use the Command Seal before anyone came by and noticed something was wrong.
Even while using the Command Seal, Nolan remained invisible.
This was primarily to avoid being traced back later. If he _did_ manage to steal the Gnosis, there was always the risk that the Fatui—or even the Tsaritsa—might use some kind of memory playback or image reversal technique to identify him.
While his current power level meant he didn't really fear any of the Fatui Harbingers—so long as the Tsaritsa herself didn't come for him—
He _hated_ trouble. And if a little extra caution could help him avoid a bunch of unnecessary hassle, then it was absolutely worth it.
So yes—low-profile was the way to go.
A few moments later—
Nolan had already embedded the pre-prepared commands into the Command Seal and applied it to the unconscious Grand Sage.
The first command was the usual: Obey all my instructions.
Whatever he told the Grand Sage to do or say, he would _have_ to do or say it.
The second command was: You are forbidden from harming anyone in any way.
With those two rules in place, the Grand Sage was essentially no longer a threat.
Once that was done, Nolan used Sword God to form a golden _Windwheel Aster_, silently channeling healing energy into the Grand Sage's body.
About two seconds later, the Grand Sage began to stir.
Of course, Nolan had made sure not to harm him too much in the first place—even without the healing effect from Lumine's Authority, the Grand Sage would've woken up on his own in a few minutes.
But that would've been risky. Someone might have entered the room and discovered him, or noticed his prolonged absence from work.
That's why he needed the Grand Sage to wake up immediately after the Command Seal was in place.
---
"What… happened?"
The Grand Sage sat up from the floor, rubbing his aching head with confusion.
His vision had gone black just a moment ago, like he'd fainted.
_Was he really so old and feeble that a bit of paperwork had pushed him over the edge?_
_Or had he just skipped breakfast and gotten low blood sugar?_
As the Grand Sage spiraled deeper into his confusion, a cold, mechanical voice suddenly echoed through his mind via mental transmission:
"Where are you keeping the Lesser Lord Kusanali?"
The Grand Sage's pupils shrank sharply.
Aside from him and the two Fatui operatives, _no one_ was supposed to know she was imprisoned!
He didn't even have time to look around for the source of the voice before his mouth moved entirely against his will and answered:
"The Lesser Lord Kusanali is imprisoned in the Sanctuary of Surasthana."
"Who—"
The moment he finished giving the answer, he regained control of his mouth and instinctively tried to question the voice's identity.
But before he could even raise his tone on the word _"who,"_ another voice rang through his mind:
"Shut up."
Terrified, the Grand Sage realized that he _couldn't_ disobey. His mouth simply refused to form another word.
_Whew... this area's too crowded. If someone had heard him, things could've gotten complicated..._
Nolan, still invisible, let out a quiet sigh of relief.
So, just like in the original story, Nahida really _was_ being held in the Sanctuary of Surasthana.
Now that this was confirmed, Nolan moved on to his next question—how to _release_ her.
_Damn it! Why release that clueless, childlike half-god? All she'll do is get in the way of my plans!_
The Grand Sage was inwardly full of rage and reluctance. But despite that, his body obediently responded:
"The container used to confine the Lesser Lord Kusanali is an artifact once used by the former Dendro Archon, the Great Lord Rukkhadevata, for meditation. It has been modified and now requires my personal presence to unlock it from the outside."
(End of Chapter)
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