When Nolan heard about Fontaine's possession of a mechanical device called the "Oratrice Mecanique d'Analyse Cardinale," he was quite surprised.
If what Nahida said was true—that this machine really could collect faith, and that it could work in tandem with the "Akasha" terminals to gather people's beliefs—then it could indeed solve the issue of the Akasha System's insufficient energy supply.
However, after Nahida's explanation, Nolan also understood that this machine was a national-level treasure of Fontaine. If he wanted to collaborate with the Hydro Archon, it certainly wouldn't be as simple as just asking.
At the very least, he'd need to raise his affection level with her to a certain degree.
But there was no rush. The "Akasha Interconnected Network" was still in its early construction phase. Once the framework was fully built in Sumeru, it wouldn't be too late to expand to other nations.
He should have enough time to get to know Focalors better and find a way to earn her goodwill.
If he could pull that off and bring her on board, using the Oratrice to help develop the "Akasha" system further shouldn't be difficult.
"If you want the 'Akasha' system to cover other nations, Fontaine's Oratrice Mecanique is going to be very important," Nahida said, folding her arms and nodding her tiny head.
"Then I'll leave that task to you," Paimon grinned at Nolan. "After all, you're the best at dealing with girls."
"That's no problem at all. So, when are you two planning to head to Fontaine?" Nolan chuckled and pinched Lumine's cheek.
Lumine turned her head away, golden hair swaying slightly, brushing his hand off. She opened her soft lips and said, "Nahida and I still have some ideas about the 'Akasha Interconnected Network' that we haven't implemented yet. Let's wait a while before going."
"That works too." Nolan nodded.
"In that case, let's set this matter aside for now."
Nahida looked up at both Nolan and Lumine and said, "Come to think of it, you two saved me and all of Sumeru, and you've also been helping with its development. Shouldn't I reward you properly?"
"Well… didn't you already give me that divine artifact before? No need to trouble yourself again," Nolan replied modestly.
"Hmm… you do have a point," Nahida said thoughtfully, pressing a finger to her lips. "Then I suppose just giving the title of 'Sage' to Lumine alone should be enough."
"Uh, actually, I think a little more trouble wouldn't hurt," Nolan coughed awkwardly.
He had assumed Nahida wanted to give him another treasure and was just trying to be polite, not expecting that she was talking about granting official titles.
Now that it was about titles and spreading his reputation, how could he possibly refuse?
"Idiot!" Lumine crossed her arms over her dress, slightly exposing her fair chest, and looked at him with a hint of disdain.
"Idiot!" Paimon echoed.
Feeling his cheeks grow warm, Nolan silently reached out and tugged on Paimon's puffy cheeks. That's what you get for teasing me!
"Hey! Meanie!" Paimon puffed up angrily and attempted to punish the arrogant Nolan with her signature Super Paimon Flying Kick to make him realize how terrifying the mighty Paimon really was!
Unfortunately, her legs were just too short. The Super Paimon Flying Kick couldn't even reach him.
"Don't bully Paimon!" Lumine stepped in to pry Nolan's hands away, giving him a helpless glance.
Seriously, such a grown man, yet acting like a child.
"Alright, alright, this is the Palace of Wisdom, not a playground," Nahida reminded with a smile. "If you're going to become a 'Sage', we still have to notify others for the ceremony. Let's schedule it for tomorrow."
She turned to Nolan.
"Lumine and I still need to refine the 'Akasha Interconnected Network'. Could I ask you to help gather feedback this afternoon?
"We already sent out questionnaires through the network, but it seems like everyone just wrote overly flattering praise since they know I'm the one who created it. There aren't many useful suggestions."
"I see," Nolan nodded.
Everyone knew the "Akasha" system was under the care of the Dandro Archon, and that she was the one who built the interconnected network. Out of respect, even if there were any flaws, they would either sugarcoat their words—or not mention them at all. Besides, there really weren't many flaws to begin with.
Still, it was worthwhile to go ask. After all, gathering more perspectives could help improve the system even further.
"Sure, I'll head out this afternoon to collect everyone's suggestions."
Nolan had no reason to refuse such a small task.
After chatting a bit longer, he got ready to return to the Wonderland. There was still time before the afternoon, and he didn't want to waste it—he needed to focus on training.
He had already done the math yesterday.
Training with Raiden Ei in close physical proximity for an hour granted him around 50,000 EXP, and training with Yae Miko gave him over 17,000 EXP.
During the day, Miko usually returned to the Grand Narukami Shrine or worked at Yae Publishing House, but Ei still kept her old habit of holing up in the Plane of Euthymia all day.
So, training with her was available anytime.
In other words, if he really pushed himself and didn't take breaks, he could rack up the equivalent of 2.4 million EXP in just two days.
That was quite the efficient return.
However, if he focused too much on training, it would mean neglecting the other girls—something that wouldn't be good for their group harmony.
So there was no need to be overly anxious about gaining power and forget everyone else's feelings.
With that thought, Nolan opened the door to the Wonderland and took his leave, planning to return to Sumeru in the afternoon to complete Nahida's assigned task.
When he returned, it was still early. Most of the girls had yet to return from their respective duties.
Nolan returned to Yae Miko's room but found that neither she nor Raiden Ei were there—they must've already gotten up.
He headed up to the meditation room on the third floor, and sure enough, there was Raiden Ei, half-seated in midair, meditating.
"Hmph."
Ei opened her violet eyes and gave Nolan a quick glance, letting out a cold snort. Clearly, she was still a bit annoyed about what happened last night.
They had agreed that he could only train with her after defeating her in strength, yet he had caught her off guard and taken advantage of the moment!
What made it worse was that, in the end, she had actually ended up on the losing side!
Nolan approached her with a smile and said,
"Come to think of it, there's no wear and tear inside the Wonderland, so there's really no need to meditate all the time, right? Isn't training with me way more effective than meditating?"
As he spoke, he placed his hands on her exposed fair thighs, between her violet over-knee socks and the hem of her kimono, gently stroking them.
Training with Nolan definitely yielded better results than meditating—but could he really stay attached to her all day long?
Raiden Ei closed her eyes again, clearly not wanting to deal with him.
Seeing her remain silent and not resisting, Nolan knew she was just holding onto her pride as a woman.
That meant it was time for him to be more proactive.
With a grin, he continued rubbing her thighs for a while, then slid his hands down along the back of her legs, caressing her calves wrapped in soft stockings.
His fingers gently pressed into the tender flesh of her lower legs, creating slight indentations that bounced back with a soft elasticity.
Nolan glanced at Ei again. She still had her eyes closed and didn't react—clearly granting tacit permission.
After all, after everything that happened last night, there was no reason for her to resist anymore.
Feeling confident, Nolan traced his hands from her calves to her ankles and removed her wooden high heels. He then rubbed her ankles gently.
Finally, Raiden Ei opened her eyes impatiently and looked at him.
"Can you stop dawdling? If you want it, hurry up already."
Her usually pale face had clearly taken on a rosy hue.
"Heh, alright." Nolan chuckled. He much preferred this kind of buildup over rushing into it.
He let go of her ankle, moved behind her, and gently lifted the hem of her violet kimono, revealing her matching purple shorts that hugged her hips.
He slid the shorts down her white thighs, then stepped forward, pressing against her back and wrapping his arms around her waist, even pinning down her deep-purple braided ponytail in the process.
Raiden Ei furrowed her brows slightly, but they quickly relaxed. She turned her head and softly parted her lips to kiss him.
Nolan tugged down the collar of her kimono a bit more to reveal her fair chest, then opened his character panel and watched as his training progress steadily climbed:
[Level: Lv101 (310235+1+1+1+1 / 11,000,000)]
An hour later, the number had risen to 360,000.
This was currently the most efficient training method he had mastered!
---
Sumeru City, Akademiya
After training with Raiden Ei all the way until noon, they had lunch together. Then he spent some time training with Lumine. In the afternoon, the two of them, along with Paimon, made their way to the Palace of Wisdom.
Lumine and Paimon stayed there to help Nahida work on new software designs, while Nolan grabbed a pen and notebook and headed out to gather public feedback on the "Akasha Interconnected Network."
Naturally, he started with the scholars at the Akademiya.
The ground floor of the Palace of Wisdom had the highest concentration of scholars—it was the Akademiya's grand library. Mona often came here to research astrology as well.
Thanks to his close relationship with Nahida, she had no problem letting them freely access the collection.
That alone saved him a fortune in astrology books. The accumulated knowledge in the Palace of Wisdom dated back over a thousand years since the founding of the Akademiya.
Even with the aid of the Akasha Terminal, Mona still hadn't managed to read it all.
It was unfortunate that the Akasha Terminal lost its signal when brought back to the Wonderland; otherwise, she wouldn't need to borrow books to read at home.
It would've been so convenient to just scan the books into the terminal and continue reading later.
Nolan descended via elevator from the upper levels of the Palace of Wisdom. As he observed the countless books and pondered, he also scanned the room for scholars.
He was looking for someone who didn't seem too busy to ask about the Akasha Network.
Soon enough, he spotted a familiar figure with gray hair near one of the bookshelves—Alhaitham!
He remembered meeting Alhaitham during his first visit to the Akademiya. Back then, he had planned to follow him and seize the Divine Canned Knowledge, but plans changed when he ended up rescuing Nahida himself. That whole plan got shelved.
Things had been hectic since then, and he hadn't had time to follow up on whether Alhaitham managed to obtain the Canned Knowledge like in the original storyline.
If he had, and if Lumine could purify the contaminated knowledge, it could become a golden-quality artifact—definitely worth collecting.
But how to bring it up? He couldn't exactly just ask directly.
Forget it—better to approach things naturally. Holding his pen and paper, Nolan walked over to Alhaitham.
Naturally, Alhaitham, being as sharp as he was, noticed someone approaching.
He looked up at Nolan with a surprised expression. Alhaitham recognized this young adventurer—this was the man who drove off both "The Doctor" and the now-deified Scaramouche with godlike power and saved the Dandro Archon. Most people in Sumeru knew about him.
Moreover, the feats of Nolan and the blonde traveler girl had caused a stir in other nations as well.
Alhaitham certainly wouldn't be unaware of him.
Because of his actions, Alhaitham was spared a lot of trouble and could continue his peaceful work as scribe, so he held a rather favorable opinion of Nolan.
"Hello, scholar—may I ask you a few questions?" Nolan greeted politely with a wave.
Alhaitham, ever courteous, nodded calmly.
"Hello. I'm Alhaitham, scribe of the Akademiya. Go ahead and ask."
"Here's the situation—I've been entrusted by the Dandro Archon to conduct a survey on the user experience of the 'Akasha Interconnected Network.'
"If there's anything you think could be improved, feel free to tell me. I'll record your feedback and pass it along to her for future updates."
Nolan explained that most people hadn't filled out the official survey on the Akasha Network—or wrote responses that were too flattering to be useful—so Nahida had sent him out to gather feedback in person.
"I understand," Alhaitham replied.
It made sense. The people of Sumeru held deep respect for the Dandro Archon, so of course they wouldn't dare to be too critical.
"The 'Akasha Interconnected Network' is a groundbreaking innovation. It will transform the way people live. For the average citizen without specialized needs, it's already practically perfect.
"But as a scholar, I'd love it if the entire collection of books from the Palace of Wisdom could be uploaded to the network and made searchable—so that I could read anything at any time."
Alhaitham often came to the Palace to read, but he too had experienced the frustration of finding books already checked out by someone else.
"Oh? That's a great idea!"
The Akasha Terminals could indeed record book content, but currently only through photo-capturing—pretty tedious.
Adding a built-in reader feature would be excellent. Nolan made a note of it.
As for uploading all the books? That would be easy for Nahida—she could scan the content with her mental powers and transfer it directly into the Akasha System.
On the other hand, uploading via standard terminals required someone to memorize the entire book word-for-word—a nearly impossible task.
"Any other suggestions?" Nolan continued asking.
(End of Chapter)
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