Quite the scene transition

An idea began to take shape in Xingsu's mind.

Back to the four elements of information transmission.

The sender and receiver were both residents of Sumeru, and the information itself was the message they wanted to convey directly, so why couldn't the transmission medium be the Akasha Terminal?

The sender sent information to the Akasha Terminal, and the Akasha Terminal then sent it to the receiver-a very simple process.

But to study and modify the Akasha Terminal, he still had much to learn.

With that thought, Xingsu picked out several more heavy books from the nearby shelf and bent over them to study.

Time passed, and several months went by.

Sumeru City remained as peaceful and stable as ever. The cries of market vendors, the damp evening breeze blowing in from the rainforest, the scholars and students coming and going to study at the Akademiya-everything was perfectly ordinary.

Only the perennially quiet House of Daena had gained a new permanent presence.

Xingsu kept to his post as librarian, burying himself day after day in a vast sea of records and books, gradually mastering the once convoluted and obscure theories of the various schools one by one.

Scholars occasionally came to ask about books. Not only did he know their exact locations, he could even precisely describe the characteristics of each work's author: which theories had flaws in their experiments, which manuscripts had data mixed with subjective speculation, which documents were highly valuable references, and which contents had long since been overturned by new research.

Unfortunately, the Akasha Terminal's influence in Sumeru was so immense that fewer and fewer scholars were willing to read physical books in the House of Daena.

The handful of people who came with questions merely regarded Xingsu as a conscientious librarian and gave it no further thought.

Xingsu, however, was quite happy to be left in peace and continued devoting his energy to his own research.

There was one small incident worth mentioning, though. An ordinary student came to the House of Daena to ask where the cardboard box holding outside letters addressed to the Akademiya was kept. After pointing it out to her, Xingsu returned to studying the book in his hands.

From then on, Xingsu's record gained assists equal to the population of a desert tribe.

The peaceful routine was utterly shattered by two papers submitted to the Akademiya's review hall within a single month.

The first paper was titled "An Investigation into the Root Cause of Eleazar and Methods of Purifying Memory Vessels."

Its contents broadly drew on Xingsu's own experiences treating Eleazar to argue that Eleazar was essentially a black mist of manifested negative memories, which invaded the body's nerves and accumulated in its blood vessels, gradually causing symptoms such as scaling of the skin and mental deterioration.

Although Xingsu often helped Eleazar patients in Gandharva Ville and had earned a modest reputation among the Forest Rangers and patients, the paper was still rejected when he first submitted it.

The official reason was that the research topic was too niche, and further study was not recommended. In reality, when Xingsu submitted the paper, the reviewer saw that he was merely an ordinary traveling scholar and subjected him to a barrage of mockery, even saying he had some nerve submitting academic garbage that was obviously pure fabrication.

Unable to swallow his anger, Xingsu sought help from Tighnari and Alhaitham.

And so, before the eyes of Tighnari, his teacher Nafis, and a group of Amurta scholars, Xingsu extended his hand and slowly absorbed the remnants of negative memories inside an Eleazar patient.

As the patient's symptoms gradually eased, and the scholars confirmed that the patient had indeed been cured...

Amurta erupted!

Xingsu's theory instantly gained a fervent following, with some even regarding it as Amurta's greatest academic breakthrough in centuries.

The look Nafis gave Xingsu could only be described as burning, and he hurriedly asked him about his background.

And when he learned that Xingsu was actually a traveling scholar who had yet to choose a school...

A sudden chill ran down Xingsu's back, and he firmly declined Nafis's request to take him on as a student.

Following the principle that the fewer the words, the bigger the matter, Xingsu gave his second paper a very simple title: "Building the Wisdom Network."

Then...

The entire Akademiya erupted!

If the first paper challenged Amurta's authority, then the second could truly be called heretical.

The paper's main content proposed modifying both the hardware and logic of the original terminals' built-in mechanism for writing streams of consciousness information, using the Akasha's existing signal transmission network that covered all of Sumeru.

The paper fully broke down the Akasha's underlying communication principles, circuit modification plans, and signal-filtering logic. It pointed out that the Akasha itself was a top-tier, territory-wide communication medium that could strengthen information transmission throughout Sumeru. Xingsu called this entire information and communication network the Wisdom Network.

Anyone with a discerning eye could immediately see the value of this communication system.

As for why this paper was called heretical?

First, the Akasha Terminal had been built upon the Dendro Archon's power and Irminsul. Conservative scholars sanctified the entire Wisdom Network, believing that ordinary people should not tamper without permission with a system extended from a god.

In their eyes, for Xingsu, an ordinary librarian, to privately analyze and even attempt to alter the Akasha's core operating logic was an act of presumptuous overreach, wantonly tampering with a sacred system.

Second, Xingsu had reverse-engineered the Akasha's underlying signal-encoding logic and pointed out that the Wisdom Network itself was merely a neutral, territory-wide transmission medium. He also criticized the many scholars who used the Akasha Terminal mindlessly, placing complete trust in the information it provided without any spirit of questioning or thought.

This naturally drew verbal and written condemnation from some Akademiya scholars, who slapped labels such as hidebound and arrogant on Xingsu.

Ironically, in their mouths, Xingsu's unwillingness to accept information from the Akasha Terminal made him hidebound; yet his innovative proposal to modify the Akasha Terminal became heresy.

Finally, and most importantly.

The Grand Sage was unwilling.

The Akasha's core permissions were held firmly in the Grand Sage's hands. This system could feed filtered knowledge to the public in a one-way flow, dulling ordinary people's ability to think independently and weakening their inclination to resist.

Under the Akasha Terminal's influence, all of Sumeru was one enormous information cocoon.

In other words, the information circulating through the Akasha Terminal was fixed. Whatever knowledge the Grand Sage wanted to be truth was truth.

The presence of the Akasha Terminal had also rendered Sumeru's entire academic atmosphere stagnant and lifeless.

Clearly, modifying the Akasha Terminal did not serve the interests of the Grand Sage or the Akademiya's extreme conservatives under his leadership.

For all these reasons, unlike the first paper, the proposal to build the Wisdom Network thrust Xingsu into the center of public controversy.

Meanwhile, Xingsu, who sat at the eye of the storm, was drinking coffee in Puspa Café as though nothing had happened.

A rich, slightly bitter flavor washed over the tip of the tongue. A crisp, lingering sweetness subdued the coffee's bitterness, its mellow finish perfectly balancing the cloying aroma of the pastries.

Arlecchino slowly set down her teacup, her fingertips still resting against the lingering warmth of the porcelain.

"Thank you for your hospitality, Miss Sandrone."