Hearing Nahida's soft apology lingering by his ear, Idris still had things to say—but with the wound knitting and a rush of life energy washing through him, a heavy drowsiness crept up his limbs. He lay back on the cot and slipped into sleep.
In the dream, the Dendro power at his hip felt clearer, closer—like the dream itself was a gentle boon. Probably Nahida's handiwork, he thought.
Dreaming, though, brought another thread to tug: I'm dreaming… in Sumeru. Adults here weren't supposed to dream—because they wore the Akasha Terminals that tethered them to the network. In the "original plot," that was the loudest charge against Grand Sage Azar: harvesting dreams with the Akasha, trapping the people in loops, siphoning their cognition—sometimes to the point the frail simply never woke. Worse was yet to come.
He sat in the same chair now, but he had no intention of walking that path. Still, the Akasha itself was a colossal asset. Shutting it down would be a waste. Maybe, with the system, there's a way to have it both ways.
And as for the points he'd thrown in Nahida's face—those were problems he had to solve. If he meant to keep the Akademiya's "villain" seat and turn the tide for Sumeru, there was a long road ahead.
With that last thought, sleep took him fully.
While he rested, Nahida finished mending his wound and, with a few gentle vines, lifted him properly onto the bed. When she looked down, her small face still held the sheen of tears not yet dried—but the crying had left only confusion behind.
What should I do that truly helps Sumeru? The tender things she'd done—easing hearts, soothing pains—won devotion, yes. Those who received her grace would become her faithful, like Dunyarzad. But however unintentional, that love would turn to resentment toward the Grand Sage who would not free her. It was a knot she did not know how to untie. Perhaps only when the last traces of Greater Lord Rukkhadevata's shadow faded…
She gazed once more at Idris sleeping and sighed, letting her consciousness drift back toward the Sanctuary of Surasthana. For now, all she could do was trust the man she had opposed for so long.
Day slid by. On the next morning, Idris woke, rubbed his palms together, and called—whoosh—a bright cluster of Dendro light into being.
With the Grass God's help, a single night had done more for his attunement than weeks alone. Nahida's presence had receded; she had likely withdrawn fully to her body. Idris was about to test another weave when a cool chime sounded in his mind.
The system.
[Detected: Host rebuked Lesser Lord Kusanali, altering her original opinion of you.]
[Reward issued: Administrative controls for the Akasha Terminal.]
[Bonus modules: "360 Security Suite" and "Anti-Addiction System."]
[These systems can be installed across the Akasha network and will heed your highest-level directives.]
Idris blinked—then grinned. You get rewards for scolding the Grass God? Not bad.
Then he squinted. "360 Security Suite"… "Anti-Addiction System"…? You sure these will run on the Akasha?
He considered—and nodded to himself. "360" had a reputation back on Blue Star: shameless, yes—but also more shameless than anything trying to worm past it. If he dropped that into the Akasha, hostile intrusions would have a hard time slipping through. To beat it, you'd have to be even more shameless.
Even the Fatui's Doctor—Il Dottore—might find his clever hacks dulled to nothing against a wall like that. In the original timeline, Dottore exploited the Akasha's loopholes to hijack Sumeruans' minds and turn them into puppets. With "360" grafted onto the network, that nightmare could be cut off at the root. Might even be worth it just to watch "360 vs. The Doctor"—and if its "anti-virus" teeth were sharp enough, perhaps it could scrub out the scuttling traces of forbidden knowledge as well.
Seen that way… this reward might be better than the Vision.
As for the Anti-Addiction System—on closer inspection, it didn't seem to be quite the same as the one he knew from Blue Star…
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