Nolan opened his character panel and looked at the two newly popped-up notifications:
[Successfully archived the rare artifact The Chronicle of the Salt God. Gained Spatial Trait: "Concealment" — Within the "Golden Vault," the training efficiency of stealth-type skills is doubled, making it easier to gain new insights. Upon reaching max level, there is a small chance of achieving enlightenment, allowing a stealth-type skill to advance one tier, up to the "Arcane" level.]
Staring at the spatial trait granted by collecting _The Chronicle of the Salt God_, Nolan figured it probably had to do with Havria's history of leading her people into hiding during the Archon War.
Naturally, the ability he gained was related to that.
Being able to speed up the training of stealth skills... Not bad at all. The only pity was that the maximum advancement it could provide was up to the "Arcane" tier.
Currently, his stealth ability _Abysswalker_ was already at the Arcane level, meaning this trait wouldn't be of much immediate use.
Only when he found a new stealth skill in the future would this trait come into play.
At that time, he could quickly push several stealth skills up to Arcane level, and then fuse them with _Abysswalker_ to evolve into a "Devine-level" stealth ability.
That would certainly be much easier than painstakingly merging them little by little.
Speaking of stealth skills, Havria had managed to hide with her people for a long time during the Archon War — she probably had some relevant skills herself.
Maybe he could ask her about it later.
While thinking that, Nolan turned to check the second notification on the panel:
[Successfully archived the rare artifact Tale of the Raiden Shogun. Gained Spatial Trait: "Inheritance" — Within the "Golden Vault," teaching and imparting knowledge will gradually reveal more concise and efficient methods. Learners' comprehension will increase, and their learning efficiency will improve.]
Raiden Makoto had passed her Archon position onto her sister Raiden Ei, and Ei entrusted Inazuma to the Shogun Puppet to guard.
Everything about their story emphasized "inheritance."
No wonder this spatial trait enhanced both teaching effectiveness and learners' comprehension.
— _Hisss!_
Nolan drew in a sharp breath.
This trait perfectly complemented the one from _The Chronicle of the Salt God_! In the future, learning new skills would become much easier!
After reviewing the newly acquired spatial traits, Nolan, along with Lumine and Paimon, left the fairyland space and returned to Port Ormos, in the outside world.
Several days had passed. By now, Nahida should have already restructured the Sumeru Akademiya — it was time to bring Lumine to help her purify the "World Tree" of its corruption.
During their days at Port Ormos, Lumine had also successfully cured Collei's "Eleazar" disease.
Collei was so thrilled that her goodwill toward Nolan skyrocketed:
[Collei Has Developed Good Feelings Towards You, Obtained 360 Affection Points. Current Affection Level: Lv.6 (60/600).]
After helping cure Collei, for the next two days, Nolan and the group continued exploring the surrounding rainforest.
They also kept an eye out for any remaining Withering Zones to clear.
However, it seemed that the rainforest's Withering Zones had truly been cleaned up — over two days, they only fought a few stray monsters, without encountering any new Withering corruption.
Which, honestly, wasn't a bad thing.
No Withering meant that the dangers along travelers' paths through the rainforest had been greatly reduced — a clear win for everyone's safety.
Now that there was nothing else pressing in the rainforest, Nolan and the others said temporary goodbyes to Tighnari, Collei, and the other forest rangers.
Hearing their farewell, Collei looked reluctant, but she knew deep down that Nolan and the others couldn't stay here forever.
As she saw them off, she shyly nodded and fiddled awkwardly with a lock of her green hair, glancing at the ground as she mumbled:
"Um... Well... Could you maybe bring Amber over to visit more often? I-I'll make sure to welcome you guys warmly..."
"Hehe, Collei, your feelings are written all over your face! Don't worry, we'll definitely come back with Amber to see you more often," Paimon said, floating beside Lumine with a mischievous grin.
"I-it's not like that...!"
Collei blushed hard, staring even more intently at the ground.
Ugh, so embarrassing. I must look like a little kid...
"Haha, since you want to see Amber more often, how about I give you a little gift before we leave? That way, you can easily go find her yourself," Nolan chuckled at Collei's flustered expression, then summoned a golden orb and handed it to her.
"What's this?" Collei asked, puzzled.
"Hehe, this is the key prop Paimon used during that big teleportation trick of mine! With this, you'll be able to learn my teleportation magic too!" Paimon explained, hands on her hips proudly.
"W-what?!"
Collei's eyes practically lit up with little stars.
She hadn't expected that Nolan could actually grant others the ability to teleport at will!
If she had this power, she really could visit Amber anytime she wanted!
"B-but, isn't this way too precious? Are you really giving it to me?"
Although she wanted it badly, she also felt the ability must be extremely rare and valuable, and she had nothing worthy to repay him with.
"It's fine. For me, it's not a difficult thing to do," Nolan said, seeing her hesitation. Without giving her a chance to refuse, he placed the "Waymarker" directly into her hands.
"T-then, thank you very much..."
In the end, Collei accepted the gift, merging the "Waymarker" into her body. The temptation to be able to stay connected with Amber anytime was simply too great to resist.
She really did want this ability!
[Collei Has Developed Good Feelings Towards You, Obtained 330 Affection Points. Current Affection Level: Lv.6 (390/600).]
Looking at the notification popping up from the character panel, Nolan smiled in satisfaction and said:
"No need to be so polite. We're friends, aren't we? And Collei, you should head back here. Otherwise, Tighnari and the other rangers will start worrying."
"Mm!"
Collei nodded lightly, stopping the gentle swinging of her legs, one of which was wrapped in an asymmetrical over-the-knee stocking.
"Alright then, Collei, we're heading out!"
Nolan and Lumine waved goodbye to her.
"Okay, see you!"
Collei also raised her hand in a small wave as she watched them walk farther and farther away.
The hem of her black skirt fluttered lightly in the forest breeze, briefly revealing her fair, delicate thighs.
Once Nolan and the others had completely disappeared from her line of sight, Collei finally turned around and began making her way back.
At the same time, she couldn't wait to start using the "Interstellar Travel" ability to test if she could contact Amber!
---
The sunlight was bright and brilliant.
Around noon, Nolan's group, having left Port Ormos, finally arrived at Sumeru City.
The main reason for their speed was the use of Lumine's Authority, allowing them to travel through space.
Thanks to that, it took less than half a day to reach Sumeru City from Port Ormos.
This was Nolan's second time visiting Sumeru City. This time, he didn't see Akademiya scholars handing out "Akasha Terminals" to newcomers at the entrance.
It must have been Nahida's order to stop distributing them.
After all, although manufacturing Akasha Terminals wasn't too costly, handing them out in large quantities would still build up into a considerable expense over time.
Now that they no longer needed massive amounts of computational power to develop the "Project New God," there was no reason to keep wasting resources.
As for people who still wanted an Akasha Terminal — they could probably still buy one from the Akademiya if they really needed it.
After all, the "Akasha" network hadn't been shut down like it was in the original story.
"Wow, there are so many people here! And the clothing style of Sumeru's people really is different from the other nations!"
Paimon floated alongside, looking around curiously at the crowd.
"In Mondstadt, people tend to wear skirts with high boots. In Liyue, they prefer long robes. In Inazuma, you see a lot of kimono-style outfits with belts at the waist."
Lumine also glanced around, explaining as she followed Paimon's gaze.
"In Sumeru, the main color palette is green, with long inner robes and jackets worn over them," she added.
"Mm, makes sense. It's the rainforest nation, after all. Sumeru City itself is built atop a giant tree."
Nolan placed an arm around Lumine's shoulder as he spoke.
"Living so closely with nature, it's only natural that the people here developed a style resembling trees, merging into the environment."
"Let's leave exploring Sumeru City for later. First, we should go meet with the Little Lord Kusanali and check on the World Tree's condition," he said.
Feeling a bit hot, Lumine pushed Nolan's arm off her shoulder with mild annoyance.
"That's fine too. I'm already familiar with the place after last time."
Nolan chuckled and instead hooked his arm around Lumine's, leading her and Paimon toward the Akademiya.
Before long—
The group soon arrived at the Akademiya. As the guards stepped forward to question their purpose, Nahida happened to come out from inside.
It seemed she had sensed their arrival ahead of time and timed her appearance precisely.
"Little Lord Kusanali!"
The two guards immediately saluted respectfully.
"You've worked hard. They're my friends — I'll take it from here," Nahida said with a gentle nod to the guards.
"Yes, ma'am!"
The guards swiftly stepped back to their posts, leaving the newcomers to be handled by the Dendro Archon herself.
"You're here. Please, come inside," Nahida said warmly to Nolan and the others.
"Mm."
Nolan nodded and, along with Lumine and Paimon, followed Nahida inside.
Paimon quietly drifted from Lumine's right side to Nolan's left, leaned close to his ear, and whispered:
"Is she really the Little Lord Kusanali? She looks so tiny!"
"Ahem, why are you asking me? I don't know either," Nolan answered helplessly.
Paimon, you're really brave — actually commenting on a god's height behind her back! Do you really think speaking quietly means she won't hear you?
"Well, Paimon was just a little curious,"
Paimon said, glancing at Nahida ahead, who was about her own height despite being a deity of Sumeru.
As they passed through the gates of the Akademiya, Nahida, who was walking ahead, turned around and smiled:
"Gods don't grow as quickly as humans. Even though I've been born for a few hundred years, if you think of me as a tree, I'm still just a seedling."
"Eh? So that's why!"
Paimon exclaimed in surprise.
"That's right,"
Nahida said, shifting her gaze to Nolan and asking:
"You said you were bringing experts to help heal the World Tree — are these two your companions?"
Naturally, Nahida already knew Lumine and Paimon. After all, they traveled with Nolan and were well-known adventurers themselves.
"Yes. Lumine possesses some rather special abilities — there's a good chance they'll be effective even against forbidden knowledge,"
Nolan explained, though he refrained from specifying that Lumine's power came from pure Abyssal energy, since the Akademiya was too public a place.
"I believe in you all," Nahida said seriously.
Currently, she had no better solution for the World Tree's corruption and could only pin her hopes on Nolan's group.
If that didn't work, they would just have to brainstorm another way.
"Heh, don't worry! We've helped so many people already, and we've never failed!"
Paimon said confidently, patting her chest.
"By the way, when are we going to visit the World Tree? I've always been curious about what the legendary 'World Tree' actually looks like!"
Her starry eyes sparkled with excitement.
"We can go anytime. Let's just find a quiet place first," Nahida said warmly.
As the Archon of Sumeru — and more importantly, as someone whose very existence was connected to the World Tree — she could link to it and teleport there at will.
"Mm-hmm! Paimon is already getting excited!"
Paimon spun in midair and quickly returned to Lumine's side.
Soon enough, Nolan and the others followed Nahida to the House of Daena. They took the elevator up to the upper levels.
There, Nolan caught sight of the Grand Sage once again.
Although it had only been a few days, with the Grand Sage's cooperation, Nahida's reformation of the Akademiya was progressing smoothly.
But time was short. There were still many areas where the Grand Sage's support was necessary, so for now, he remained at the Akademiya to assist her.
According to Nahida's estimates, it would take another four or five days before she could fully regain control over the Akademiya and have it running properly again.
At that point, she could gradually ease the Grand Sage out of the spotlight, steadily transfer authority, and achieve a smooth transition of power.
Once that was done, she could appoint a new Grand Sage to assist her — and finally restore the Akademiya to a proper state where the Dendro Archon held true authority.
Nolan ignored the busy Grand Sage and followed Nahida into a secluded side hall.
Turning around, Nahida faced Nolan, Lumine, and Paimon seriously:
"Alright, this place should be safe for us to talk."
"Ever since I returned to the Akademiya, I was confined and made to constantly study through the Akasha System," she said quietly.
"Because of that, I've never actually visited the World Tree myself, even after all this time. I really want to see its condition firsthand."
"Now, it's finally time for me to take up my responsibility as the Dendro Archon. I'll be counting on you all!"
"Helping others is our specialty! Leave it to us!"
Nolan said with a smile.
[Nahida Has Developed Good Feelings Towards You, Obtained 230 Affection Points. Current Affection Level: Lv.5 (250/500).]
"Alright, I'll begin the teleportation now," Nahida said, nodding gratefully.
As she spoke, faint ripples of divine power began to shimmer around her.
(End of Chapter)
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