Dori also knew her goods weren't easy to sell, so when she finally encountered a big spender like the Traveler who didn't haggle, she had to 'take good care' of them.
Dori said she was running a 'promotion'—just spend an extra 100,000 Mora and get a canned knowledge worth a million Mora, and you could even choose it yourself~!
At first glance it seemed like a great deal—ten times the return.
But thinking carefully, something was off. Would a merchant really give such a huge discount? Even rich people would laugh.
Sure enough, urged by Paimon, the Traveler paid the 100,000 Mora.
The real-life Lumine sighed—looks like all the Mora she could have earned from running these errands got squandered by Paimon.
School! She has to go to school! I want Paimon to go from kindergarten all the way to high school—by the time she graduates, I'll have finished my travels too.
Just as Lumine guessed, they got ripped off. The selectable canned knowledge wasn't the ones shown earlier, but a few specifically picked by Dori.
It was like getting ten pulls and happily checking—only to find it was the standard pool.
These few were the ones no one wanted. Though in theory no different from the previous ones, they'd been phased out by the times.
You couldn't exactly say Dori was lying, because this canned knowledge really could sell for a million Mora—it just had no market, no buyers.
Dori had turned into Pinduodori; the Traveler ended up helping her clear out unsellable stock, and in the end took "One-Handed Sword Combat Techniques · Eight."
This thing wasn't very useful, but it was already the most useful among the options—shows just how scammy Dori was.
Dori broke out in a cold sweat watching this—Lucian, oh Lucian, we don't just lack grudges, we even have business dealings, right?
Not quite wearing the same pants, but at the very least you shouldn't be pulling mine down, yeah?
Before this, the Sumeru side relied on me to 'clear the channels' for your sales—how can you kick me to the curb after using me?
Writing it out like this—how am I supposed to scam—no, sell things from now on!
You're throwing me away and backstabbing me once you don't need me anymore, huh? No way—this won't end without some Mora compensation!
As for Alhaitham 'scheming' against her, Dori didn't mind—she'd made a killing anyway; Mora in hand made everything friendly, hehehe.
Wait! Thinking carefully—this book just exposed all the intelligence! Then how am I supposed to make money anymore!
No——!!!
My Mora~! Lucian! I hate you!
No one expected that after the Sumeru story began, the most heartbroken, most devastated person would actually be Dori.
She hadn't even gotten revenge on Lucian yet, but instead contributed emotional value to him first.
And Lucian was pretty cunning too—he might not be great at scheming, but he understood the Genshin characters' personalities; Dori's plans were likely doomed to fail.
The Traveler's plan in the story succeeded, though—her goal was to build a good relationship with Dori, and now she'd been marked by Dori as a 'big sucker'—counts as a good relationship, right?
Going back to find Alhaitham, they used up that "One-Handed Sword Combat Techniques · Eight"—useful, but not completely.
According to Alhaitham's calculations, it roughly increased strength by 0.073%.
This 'Techniques · Eight' was barely better than nothing for the Traveler—could use it a bit, anyway.
Since 'Techniques · Eight' was used up anyway, next it was time to back Alhaitham up.
While helping the Traveler test things, Alhaitham also obtained the Traveler's combat data and instantly understood her strength level.
Though her brain was a bit like Kaveh's—easy to trick—her combat ability was undeniable.
...Sigh, hope it's not another Kaveh—not the most wonderful thing.
But whatever—being tricked is being tricked; Alhaitham had mountains of gold and silver anyway, couldn't spend it all!
Handing heaps of Mora to Dori instantly made them the closest of friends, and Dori spilled all the intelligence on the divine canned knowledge.
This canned knowledge was in the hands of the Eye of Adhigama—beat them up and it should be fine.
Alhaitham claimed to be a frail academic, but he wasn't made of rice balls—three or two moves and he knocked out the raving people, then smoothly pocketed the divine canned knowledge right in front of the Mahamatra.
Now it was Cyno's turn to look at Alhaitham funny.
Hands not too clean, huh? And the technique was way too natural—such proficiency, couldn't be a repeat offender, right?
Alhaitham ignored Cyno; he discovered that in the story, the person who used the divine canned knowledge was still muttering 'let the world forget me.'
The Alhaitham in the story didn't know what this was, but the real-life Alhaitham did.
The Traveler had heard this phrase at the Irminsul too—looks like the knowledge in the divine canned knowledge was real, but it seemed contaminated with a 'virus' that drove people mad?
Now the readers were a bit worried about Alhaitham— he wouldn't want to try this thing too, right? Don't want to see him go mad!
Eh? Wait... watching such a calm academic go mad might have its own charm—why not give it a shot?
Unfortunately, the Alhaitham in the story, after parting with the Traveler, didn't use the divine canned knowledge, nor did he write a 'report' first—he clocked out.
The first act of the story only truly ended here—very long, but readers were left wanting more.
Why wanting more? Because none of the mysteries were solved!
Flower God Birthday Festival, divine canned knowledge, Scarlet King revival, let the world forget me—all sorts of mysteries had foreshadowing planted, but none were explained.
This was too torturous! Sumeru people were practically scratching their hearts and livers, feeling something poking their sensitive spots, but just as it was about to come out, the other side stopped!
People who'd been reading the prophecy book for a while were already used to this—Lucian was like this; every nation stopped at critical moments in the story, making people wait.
But what could they do? Not just ordinary people—even Mona could only itch and wait for Lucian's new story to 'favor' them.
If the new story wasn't a continuation, they'd have to keep waiting—using Nahida's analogy: favoring another concubine, grievances swallowed.
Only way was to cure it permanently—like the Raiden Shogun locking herself up and not reading, then the heart wouldn't itch.
The several Sumeru people currently reading with Lucian had eyes full of longing.
Only Nahida's emotions were stable—because for some future things, Lucian had told her in advance; she had an idea.
As for what he hadn't told her, Nahida's feeling told her perhaps it was better not to know so soon.
Collei was much more curious—this was her first time reading the prophecy book herself, how come it cliffhanged here? The story just started!?
First animated short she watched was 'Happy Birthday,' first prophecy book was 'Sumeru main quest'—Collei really had good luck.
She turned her gaze to Lucian, hoping to get some 'spoilers' from him.
===✧✦✧===
[Voice-Over · Citlali: About Sumeru's First Act]
"So like I said, I hate stories that cut off at weird places the most!"