"These matters are still a bit far off. First, you must resolve Sumeru's internal crisis, only then will everyone agree to Sumeru officially joining the Alliance."
"After all, the grievances Nahida has endured have left the four Archons and Ryen deeply displeased."
Hearing this, Cyno immediately nodded with resolve.
"Azar's issue will be settled before the Sabzeruz Festival. Lesser Lord Kusanali will have the most perfect birthday celebration."
Lumine smiled happily.
"That would be ideal. Also, let me tell you something else…"
"Before I left, Nahida asked me to search for the consciousness fragments of Greater Lord Rukkhadevata. She wants to revive her."
This revelation left Alhaitham and the others completely stunned.
"That kind of thing… is even possible?"
"Otherwise, how do you think we got so many god-level combatants?" Lumine replied casually.
"How do you think Makoto and Guizhong were revived?"
Alhaitham's eyes flickered with intense thought.
If Greater Lord Rukkhadevata could be revived, that would be the best possible outcome.
She was Sumeru's most revered deity, if she returned, Sumeru would stabilize at the fastest possible pace.
With Rukkhadevata governing Sumeru internally, and Nahida maintaining close ties with Ryen and the others, Sumeru would never be sidelined within the Alliance and could demonstrate far greater value.
"All right!"
Lumine clapped her hands and said cheerfully,
"Enough about that for now. You'll understand everything gradually in the future. What I want to talk about next is what you'll gain once Sumeru formally joins the Alliance."
She looked at Alhaitham and Cyno.
"You'll be able to find an absolutely safe fallback route for the people of Sumeru, a brand-new world where they can possess land of their own."
"Endless unknowns. Infinite knowledge. What do you want to research?"
"Time? Space? Laws?"
"We have all of that. Albedo's alchemy workshop is already conducting research into temporal forces and has made breakthroughs in spatial power."
"Infinite unknown knowledge, study whatever you want, however you want."
"Artifacts that grant elemental power to ordinary people, investigations into the nature of reality itself…
Everything you can imagine, and everything you can't, exists there."
Alhaitham's eyes shone brighter and brighter. Even someone as composed as him was visibly ignited.
This was a scholar's dream come true.
Lumine then turned her gaze to Candace and Dehya.
"As for you two, research might not interest you much, but…"
After thinking for a moment, Lumine smiled.
"The land of Guili Plains was once flooded by the sea during the ancient Archon War and couldn't sustain life."
"But recently, Keqing led a team to completely replace the soil there."
"Now, Guili Plains is fertile again, suitable for farming and settlement."
"The next step is to build a city there."
"If you're willing, you could also take the time to convert the entire desert into fertile, arable land."
"Just like Greater Lord Rukkhadevata once created the rainforest."
Candace stared blankly at Lumine, unable to fully grasp what she meant.
After a moment's thought, Lumine took out a stack of dirt blocks and casually placed them on the ground in a 3×3 formation. She poured a bucket of water into the center, hoed the soil a few times, and planted potato seeds.
Then she hesitated, and asked Paimon to bring out bone meal.
Lumine could accept crops grown with bone meal, and eating them was fine.
But carrying bone meal around on her person?
Absolutely not.
Just imagining it felt like carrying someone's ashes. It made her skin crawl.
She sprinkled the bone meal onto the soil.
Before everyone's eyes, the newly planted potatoes instantly matured.
Lumine casually harvested them and handed one to Candace.
Seeing Candace's utterly stunned expression, Lumine felt secretly delighted.
She had wanted to try this for a long time.
When she first witnessed something like this herself, Lumine hadn't slept all night.
Not only her scientific worldview, her theological one had shattered completely.
Now, seeing Dehya and the others react like this only made her happier.
"Well? Isn't it amazing?"
Lumine smiled and gently poked Candace's cheek.
"As long as you join the Alliance, things like this are everywhere, so common that no one even pays attention to them."
"Food and survival resources will be completely solved."
"That's why I said, water really isn't that precious."
Candace stared blankly at the potato in her hand. After a moment of silence, she bit into it without caring that it had just been pulled from the ground.
It tasted raw and starchy.
But her eyes slowly turned red.
"So… the survival problem of the desert people can truly be solved…"
Lumine shrugged.
"Not just survival. If you want, you can even replicate the rainforest environment one-to-one."
"Though personally, I think the desert has its own charm. Keeping it around for walks and relaxation isn't bad either."
Listening to Lumine, Candace's emotions became deeply conflicted.
Before today, what she, and the desert people, worried about was how they would survive tomorrow.
Since the start of the god-creation plan, life in the desert had grown worse by the day.
Skipping meals had become normal.
Yet in the span of a single day…
That problem of survival, was it truly solved?
"I…"
She opened her mouth, but for a moment, Candace didn't know what to say.
After a long pause, she lowered her head and spoke softly:
"Thank you, Lumine…"
Lumine scratched her head. Although Candace's reaction was not exactly the same as what she herself had shown back then, overall…
Tonight, everyone here would probably lose sleep.
And that was enough.
Alhaitham took a deep breath and temporarily pressed all the incomprehensible things he had witnessed deep into his heart. He looked at Lumine and said quietly:
"So you mean… when the time comes, the Fatui problem will be handled by Mondstadt? Their troops…"
Lumine nodded.
"Mondstadt's forces are already stationed in Liyue. Although their numbers and combat maturity aren't on the same level as the fully developed Millelith yet, with those enhancements…"
"Isn't dealing with the Fatui pretty straightforward?"
Alhaitham sighed and looked at Lumine with a complicated expression.
"That's true…"
"Then all that's left is how quickly we can deal with Azar."
Lumine blinked and said with a bright grin:
"My suggestion is, as fast as possible."
"For every extra day you delay, the gap you'll need to catch up on only grows larger."
"Inazuma and Snezhnaya already have nearly three thousand people stationed. Even so, their progress still lags far behind Liyue and Mondstadt."
"If you don't want to fall behind everyone else, you'll need to resolve Sumeru's issues swiftly."
Alhaitham nodded, a trace of melancholy crossing his face.
"If I'd known this earlier, even taking some aggressive measures, accepting a few losses, would have been worth it."
He glanced at the sky. It was already afternoon.
Standing up, Alhaitham said:
"In that case, we won't delay any further. As for the Alliance's deeper secrets, we'll discuss them after Sumeru's situation is settled."
"The matter of the desert's Eremite mercenaries will still require Dehya's help."
"Then we, "
Lumine immediately jumped to her feet, eyes sparkling with excitement.
"Let's split up! You go look for the Eremites, and I'll head back to Liyue."
"I need to check on Ryen's progress, and while I'm there, I should also speak with Acting Grand Master Jean."
Alhaitham froze for a moment. He had originally planned to move together and resolve everything swiftly.
But after Lumine said that, he felt a strong temptation.
Last time, he hadn't gone, and as a result, he had missed out on so many secrets.
Now that his suspicions about that other world had been confirmed, not seeing it with his own eyes felt like a loss.
After some thought, Alhaitham spoke softly:
"May I go as well?"
"You?"
Lumine scratched her cheek and muttered:
"You can, I guess. You've already signed the contract anyway. But don't you need to deal with the Eremites?"
Alhaitham glanced at Cyno, who had been silent the entire time.
"Cyno can handle that. With Dehya involved, finding the Eremites won't be difficult…"
"Huh?"
Dehya pouted and complained:
"So you get to go sightseeing, and you dump the work on me? I want to see it too!"
Alhaitham replied calmly:
"You and Cyno are both very familiar with the desert. That's enough. I need more direct confirmation of my theories."
"All right, all right!"
Dehya waved her hand impatiently.
"Whatever, you always sound reasonable."
"But when you go to Liyue, bring extra Mora and buy some alchemical potions for me."
"Oh, and don't say you're the Akademiya's scribe. Otherwise they might not sell to you, or they'll jack up the price."
"And while you're there, look up Yun Jin. She's a Liyue friend Nilou and I just met. She's been showing us around."
"If you want to buy anything, having a local makes things much easier."
Alhaitham carefully memorized every detail Dehya mentioned.
Then he turned to Lumine.
"Shall we depart now?"
Lumine stretched lazily.
"Let's go. Can we use the desert teleport waypoint?"
"Better not."
Alhaitham shook his head.
"The desert is still part of Sumeru. Since Azar has Lesser Lord Kusanali's Gnosis, the Akasha can still register the desert's waypoints."
"For you alone, the Akasha has no data, but I'm still wanted. It would immediately lock onto my location."
Lumine pouted.
"Suddenly I don't feel like taking you anymore."
Alhaitham said nothing and walked toward the door.
"If you don't mind, let me experience the joy of riding a dragon."
"Tch… you're acting like you're more familiar with it than I am."
Lumine rolled her eyes, then turned to Dehya and the others.
"We'll head out first. We'll be back in two or three days, maybe even tomorrow if we're fast."
Candace nodded slightly.
"I'll be waiting here in Aaru Village."
"No need to see us off!"
Lumine waved cheerfully and hurried outside.
Before long, startled cries rang out, followed by a dragon's roar and the thunderous rush of wings cutting through the air.
Soon, the noise faded, leaving only the villagers of Aaru animatedly discussing what they had just witnessed.
"That was a decisive departure."
Dehya rubbed her brow and looked at Cyno.
"Great General Mahamatra, ready to move? What are you spacing out for?"
Cyno snapped back to reality and walked out without a word.
Dehya waved to Candace.
"We'll be back soon. Take good care of Aaru Village."
Candace nodded slightly.
After watching Dehya and Cyno leave, she picked up the stack of seeds and bone meal Lumine had left on the table.
"Plant first… then sprinkle bone meal, right…"
Candace muttered to herself. After following the steps, she successfully harvested a pile of fully grown potatoes.
Several extra seeds even dropped as well.
After being thoroughly stunned earlier by Lumine's demonstration, Candace felt strangely calm seeing this now.
She would keep planting and accelerating their growth.
A single potato was large and filling, and the taste wasn't bad at all.
If she planted all of these, it would be enough to feed Aaru Village's people for at least a full day.
In the desert, every bit of food was priceless.
At least until the Alliance was officially formed, nothing could be wasted.
And so,
The village chief's living room quietly transformed into Candace's personal vegetable garden
~~----------------------
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