Now the Sumeru people were stunned—they really could dream after all; it was just that their dreams had been 'stolen' by the Akademiya without them knowing.
[Nahida: "Dreams are always wondrous, intricate, and full of imagination. And when people are dreaming, their brains are at their most active."]
Yet the Akademiya, in order to monopolize this computing resource, deceived the people—they called dreams 'irrational' existences.
They said only sufficiently rational and sufficiently wise Sumeru people would not dream—it was all a scam.
The Sumeru people already hated the Grand Sage; now they were even angrier, because this lie had lasted too long and had too deep an impact!
If not for this prophetic book, if not for the appearance of the Dendro Archon, they would have continued to be invisibly exploited by the Akademiya.
This really was scholars returning their 'computing power' in full, while the common people's 'computing power' was split three-seven.
Seven parts still went to the Akademiya—ordinary Sumeru people getting even three parts was already considered good.
With the Akasha's restrictions on ordinary people, even three parts couldn't be fully used—they could only do incomplete searches.
It was like having 200ml of blood stolen from you every night, yet when it was your turn to use it, you had to be grateful for even 50ml.
Truly sustainable depletion of the pond to catch all the fish—how could the Sumeru people not be furious?
If they had truly been given the choice to donate their dreams or not, fine—but the Grand Sage actually used deception!
Even more outrageous was that this lie didn't start recently—even the previous Grand Sages were this outrageous.
So all the thinking of Sumeru people added together finally became 'thoughts complete add,' huh?
Various signs in the text even indicated that many Sumeru people were already at their limit and casualties were about to appear.
If Nahida hadn't been protecting them from within, this experiment really would have killed a lot of people.
The furious Sumeru people even wanted to join the Eremites and embrace the good life.
But after calming down, they realized the Akademiya had already been overthrown—reforms were underway in every aspect; there was no need to rebel anymore.
In fact, the Eremites had no intention of rebelling either—their original goal was just to make life better in the desert; now that it had improved, why rebel?
Even the extreme followers of the Scarlet King were relatively quiet now, because the rumor about the Scarlet King's revival had only just begun to spread by the Akademiya and hadn't gone far yet.
Yes—the Scarlet King's revival was also a rumor fabricated by the Akademiya.
Back to the story: after hearing the Traveler's deduction, Paimon in the book gradually understood everything.
[Paimon made a metaphor: "So… this place is like a dream factory, and the Akasha is the dream harvester—is that a good way to put it?"]
This metaphor showed she had truly inherited Nahida's teachings.
Even Paimon understood—if the readers didn't understand, they'd be too embarrassed to admit it and could only force themselves to read it a few more times.
Dream factory—while Nilou as the owner of the dream was a beautiful girl, got it: this was a 'beautiful girl dream factory'!
Cough cough—in the story, Nahida asked the final question:
["Alright, then the last question… who am I?"]
This question was asked perfectly—the mysterious little Nahida was truly too mysterious.
She knew the secrets of the Akasha, knew the conditions for its operation, and could even be unaffected by the Akasha and create tools that broke the rules.
She knew the Akasha could steal people's dreams and could protect Dunyarzad within the dream.
The Akasha's power came from the Dendro Archon's authority, and Nahida 'coincidentally' could control the Akasha.
So who was she? So hard to guess—first rule out the Dendro Archon.
I suspect she's Raiden Ei in disguise and is actually in the Plane of Euthymia right now!
Cough—no jokes—though Ei is also very 'wise,' she's still a bit short.
[The Traveler: "You are the Lesser Lord Kusanali."]
[Nahida smiled: "Oh my, oh my—I thought this would be the hardest question, so I deliberately saved it for last."]
'The hardest.'
Clearly everyone had seen from the beginning that she wasn't an ordinary person—they were just one step away from calling her to reveal her true form—yet she actually thought she was very mysterious.
To be honest, every god's clothing color is closely related to their elemental attribute.
If Nahida had worn even one red outfit, everyone might not have guessed the Dendro Archon's identity so easily.
But she was all green and white like a cabbage—clearly the Dendro Archon at a glance.
If she wasn't the Dendro Archon, could she be Venti?
If the two switched, the imprisoned God of Freedom would be in absolute hell.
Speaking of which, Nahida knew a lot, her personality was emotionally stable and steady, yet she had the appearance of a little loli—what a contrast.
And she was smart and calm, yet she didn't understand some common sense—which became a moe point instead.
Though she was very cute, first drag away anyone calling her 'wife.'
No—she's five hundred years old; it seems we really can call her wife… then let's just talk about the story.
[Paimon: "It wasn't hard at all—even I could guess it. After all, you have so many special traits; Traveler and I just didn't expose you, that's all."]
The readers were shocked—though we all guessed it too, we never expected even Paimon to guess it! Lord Kusanali, your concealment skills might really not be that great!
Anyway, since the identity was revealed, the Traveler immediately started asking bold questions.
No need to say—Nahida truly lived up to being the God of Wisdom; she could answer far more questions than other gods.
Especially compared to Ei—other gods answered the Traveler's questions themselves, but in Inazuma it was always Yae Miko answering. External brain confirmed.
In the story, the Traveler directly asked four questions about the dream.
This was the key now—questions about her brother could wait until later.
In short, after analyzing together with Nahida, the Traveler remembered a sentence from the Grand Sage: 'You all just celebrate the birth of the god properly.'
At the time, they thought it referred to the Sabbath of the King of Flowers—now looking back, it felt wrong. This guy wasn't talking about something else, was he?
Could the Grand Sage want to revive Greater Lord Rukkhadevata?
Uncertain what the Grand Sage wanted to do, but the readers figured one thing out.
'Moon,' 'false,' 'lies'—the moon was Nahida, false and lies were the dream and the Akademiya.
Now 'moon,' 'false,' 'lies' were all gathered—this prophecy was really accurate!
Mona got more and more anxious the more she read—she really wanted to fly to Sumeru right now and buy the book; her desire to buy was skyrocketing.
All things related to the prophecy would be brought to justice!
In the story, Nahida was also a little anxious—she couldn't prophesy, but she could 'calculate the future.'
After exchanging intelligence with the Traveler and learning the Grand Sage's words, she calculated part of the future and understood the Grand Sage's plan.
It had to be stopped—because this plan would harm Sumeru's people.
===✧✦✧===
Character Voice Lines · Furina: About the 'Sumeru Prophecy'
"Moon, false, lies—why does it feel like it applies to me too!"