If Alhaitham were really asked to give a motivational speech, it might end up lowering morale instead.
After all, his views are too realistic—he always prepares for the worst. Those who don't know him might think he's a pessimist, but in truth, he's simply stating the current situation objectively.
Without some unexpected strategy, the current state of Sumeru is indeed that bleak, and their resistance would have little chance of success.
[Paimon: "Hmm, speaking of frontline combat, you don't look like an ordinary soldier either."]
[Alhaitham: "Compared to a mercenary corps, of course not. I'm just a frail academic."]
Kaveh: "Hahahahahahaha."
The others were fine, but Alhaitham's words hit Kaveh's funny bone.
If the two of them stood side by side, anyone looking would definitely think that Kaveh, the "noble young master," was the frail academic instead.
But this was a movie—it wouldn't wait for him to finish laughing before continuing. The film kept playing.
Soon after, Alhaitham shifted the topic to "forbidden knowledge," and the atmosphere immediately turned serious.
Alhaitham analyzed that the Akademiya's current understanding of "forbidden knowledge" contains errors.
They believe madness is a side effect of divine knowledge and are unaware of the existence of "forbidden knowledge."
Furthermore, don't the current Withering Zones, sandstorms, and Eleazar feel very similar to the scene from a thousand years ago when "forbidden knowledge" erupted?
Connecting this to what Tighnari once mentioned—"The Withering and Eleazar are manifestations of the World Tree's illness."
[Alhaitham: "You've thought of it, haven't you? The cause of the World Tree's illness… might be pollution from forbidden knowledge."]
The audience broke into cold sweats. Honestly, if you hadn't said it, we really wouldn't have thought of that.
But now that it's pointed out, rescuing Nahida becomes even more necessary, because the connection between the Dendro Archon and the Irminsul is strong—this is something most people know.
Since a problem has arisen with the Irminsul, the only way to resolve it is likely through Nahida.
Hurry up and let everyone check if your body is normal or not.
Another reason has been added to rescue Nahida. Both rationally and emotionally, she must be saved—it's enough material to write a whole book called "Ten Victories and Ten Defeats."
In order to successfully rescue Nahida, Alhaitham still needed one small scheme.
He brought the Traveler to the Corps of Thirty's camp, where he recorded the Traveler's idea of "rescuing Nahida" into a Knowledge Capsule.
This kind of knowledge is useless to ordinary people, but to those who rely on the Akasha, it's super effective.
[Alhaitham: "Imagine if, from the moment you were born, you used a device like the Akasha that always provided support and help whenever you needed it…"]
["Over time, what would you become?"]
A slave to instructions! You would lose the ability to discern—this is the purpose of this Knowledge Capsule: to infect those dependent on the Akasha with these emotions and thoughts.
After finishing everything here, the Traveler still had other things to do, such as going to Caravan Ribat to help Cyno.
But upon arriving at Caravan Ribat, they found Cyno arguing with Rahman. Cyno did not approve of this plan.
According to Alhaitham's plan, to get a large number of the Corps of Thirty into the rainforest, they needed to stage a performance.
Using Cyno's status, they would join forces with the guards to "arrest" the Corps of Thirty and escort them into the rainforest.
There was one risk to this: casualties were very likely during the confrontation between both sides, and Cyno did not want to see that.
Alhaitham's plan was good, but very dangerous. As the General Mahamatra who judges others, Cyno had unexpectedly become the "conservative" side this time.
Alhaitham's meaning was: "A safe method—that certainly doesn't exist. But if the goal is simply to complete the plan, this approach is feasible."
Translated: I am Acting Grand Sage Alhaitham, emissary of wisdom and incarnation of reason—these are the necessary scars of this plan!
It feels like this translation makes it even harder to understand, but it's fine—as long as the audience gets it.
Both Cyno and Alhaitham in the audience below watched expressionlessly. They seemed completely unbothered by the "dispute" between them in the story.
The dispute was entirely reasonable; no one would think the other side was being unreasonable.
If anything, one cared more about the result, while the other cared more about the cost.
But since Rahman expressed his willingness to pay that price, Cyno compromised. He only hoped that when the time came, the Traveler would elbow a few of their own people to reduce casualties.
However, before elbowing anyone, they first needed to communicate with the guards. Fortunately, neither Cyno nor the Traveler was wanted, so communication was easy.
Cyno's defection from the Akademiya hadn't been made public, and after encountering the Traveler, the Akasha could no longer predict Cyno's actions, so this bluff went very smoothly.
The guards were obedient—they went straight back to gather troops. The superior guard summoned was named Lusinbabo, and he greatly admired Cyno.
[Cyno: "This is my assistant, the Traveler. She will be acting with me. The one beside her is the Traveler's work machine."]
[Paimon's expression went blank, and her pupils even managed to look one left and one right: "Ga ga—machine—ga ga—"]
This segment wasn't text but animation. The audience couldn't help laughing at Paimon's stiff mechanical voice on screen.
Even funnier, Paimon's eyes kept moving—one looking left, one looking right, then turning into crossed eyes. She looked as silly as a big-headed emoji from a raindrop's perspective.
All they could say was: don't let Paimon play a fool—she really doesn't seem like she's acting.
Who says this Paimon is stupid? This Paimon is great—her acting skills weren't wasted following the Traveler around.
The real Paimon, seeing this scene, poked her two index fingers together and glanced around with her little eyes, wanting to see everyone's evaluation of her performance.
That little gesture was very cute, though it had a sneaky feel to it.
Everyone was quite satisfied with Paimon's acting. Whether it was good or not aside, it was at least very funny.
Everyone approved of her, but what they approved of seemed to be her silliness, leaving Paimon unsure whether to be happy or angry.
While she pondered, the plot continued advancing. Cyno had already "arranged" everything—the "capture" of the Corps of Thirty would take place in two days.
The plan went very smoothly. Two days later, during the capture operation, the guards achieved a "decisive victory," and Cyno took MVP.
It must be said, Rahman's acting was also excellent. Even after being "defeated," he still spouted ruthless lines, saying things like the Dendro Archon's lackeys would meet a bad end, or that the Scarlet King would curse them, and so on.
His expression and tone made it seem completely real.
This plot truly let everyone discover many drama kings—all acting geniuses.
It started with the Traveler, and now Paimon, Rahman, and Cyno.
At this point, the audience still didn't know that the greatest acting genius was yet to come.