The mechanical crab in the story was clearly less obedient than Collei. Denied a reward, it lay dejectedly on the ground—like someone who couldn't touch Miss Fox's tail.
Seeing it like this, Tighnari worried it might misunderstand, so he gave it a small reward after all.
This was delayed gratification—preventing shortcuts while maintaining motivation. A dog-training master at his finest.
Some readers who liked Tighnari and were a bit perverted could only say: Woof woof woof.
In the story, the Traveler and Tighnari took turns keeping watch—just the two of them. Paimon slept soundly in Lumine's bedding.
During the midnight shift change, they chatted briefly, revealing some information.
Several years ago, the Akademiya had been obsessed with researching "mechanical life," hoping to create a "useful" form of life through wisdom.
But they failed. As the research grew increasingly crazed, mechanical life studies were ultimately abolished.
Readers at this point didn't know that the abolition wasn't real—within the Akademiya, interest in mechanical life remained strong.
The Grand Sage forbade you little folks from researching it, but his people could—even shifting from creating mechanical life to creating a god.
Unfortunately, even uniting all of Sumeru's wisdom, the Grand Sage couldn't figure it out and needed the Doctor as lead.
Keep in mind—Sumeru people don't dream, because their dreams were constantly harvested by the Grand Sage for research, yet with no results.
Look at neighbors Alain and Rene—gods? Mechanical life? That hard?
Needed the wisdom of an entire nation? No way?
Give Sumeru's national wisdom to the Doctor—he could create a god in short time. Give it to Nahida—she could defeat a god in short time.
Give it to the Grand Sage—he… seemed to produce nothing.
But comparing like this was a bit unfair to the Grand Sage. After all, the other two could create or defeat gods even without Sumeru's wisdom—just taking longer.
Quite normal—those who become Grand Sages are old pedants, their thinking long confined.
So the Doctor was smart. He knew he couldn't seize power in the Akademiya, because the Akademiya wasn't a place that valued "wisdom."
How to conduct proper academic research with these insects? So the Doctor defected outright.
Back to Tighnari in the story—he was actually interested in the topic of mechanical life, but he couldn't accept the Akademiya's methods during research.
Live animal dissection, brain experiments—frenzied and impetuous, with no respect for life.
Cyno's expression remained calm. In fact, he had once been an Akademiya test subject.
That's why, facing the Grand Sage that day, he couldn't restrain his anger—usually, he wouldn't.
His master had helped and guided him, passing down true teachings—cold jokes.
Tighnari's ancestors had lived with "Valuka Shuna" and helped each other, so he couldn't accept such behavior either.
Lucian added a note here: "Valuka Shuna" was the true "great desert dog"—Tighnari's race wasn't, clearing his name.
[Tighnari: "Life isn't a consumable, nor should knowledge become a crown or scepter. This is why I'm dissatisfied with some scholars, and why I left the Akademiya."]
["Placing oneself above other lives, researching pure life with impure motives—can real results truly be achieved?"]
At this point, readers didn't fully understand Akademiya behavior yet, but those who'd seen "Happy Birthday" already had no good feelings toward it.
Seeing even a Sumeru native like Tighnari dislike the Akademiya so much gave readers a sense of "one of us" closeness to him, and greater disgust for the Akademiya.
In fact, Tighnari was completely right—the Akademiya under the Grand Sage was exactly that kind of place.
Treating life as consumable—not just animals, but Sumeru people too. His "rule of man" was a joke, because he placed himself above people.
Knowledge had long become the sages' "chip" for exclusive power—their "crown and scepter."
So how to properly manage Sumeru with these insects? Tighnari's angry departure was entirely reasonable.
But Tighnari wasn't as extreme or fanatical as the Doctor. Though he left the Akademiya, he didn't leave Sumeru—still silently protecting it.
Even Setaria, a lapdog near the Grand Sage, couldn't accept Akademiya behavior, but lacking their decisiveness, she was ultimately swept along.
The Akademiya preached wisdom yet couldn't retain truly wise people—quite contradictory.
Kaveh, Tighnari, Alhaitham, Faruzan, and many geniuses—either left the Akademiya or were marginalized from power centers.
The nation of wisdom couldn't tolerate wisdom, so "wisdom" was the enemy of the God of Wisdom.
Fortunately, Nahida's rise made these issues vanish, though the "chronic illness" needed more time to heal. The Akademiya's biggest problem now was still manpower shortage.
So short that Lucian was occasionally dragged in to help—that's why Nahida was his boss.
Back to the story—while the Traveler and Tighnari chatted, the mechanical crab actually brewed coffee for them.
This surprised everyone—it could brew coffee? With such big front claws, handling cups must be tough, right? Or did it have small claws installed? So cute?
Indeed, even more useful than Paimon… Paimon only eats.
If Paimon were there, forget brewing coffee—she'd probably point at the Traveler and say "Go, fry me a couple dishes" at best.
The crab did a good deed, so Tighnari naturally rewarded it.
Kind Tighnari even offered to install the parts—the crab's parts were old, worn, with barely any energy left.
But the mechanical crab refused—it seemed to be saving parts for another purpose.
Tighnari didn't push. After handing over the watch, he went to rest.
The next day, they continued deeper. In a cave, they found something wrong and entered.
Inside was a secret laboratory. At the center was a huge tank filled with flowing Ley Line energy.
This device endlessly extracted Ley Line energy, breaking the Ley Lines' self-cycle. Delayed repair caused the current situation.
Good thing they discovered it—if left running, the "contaminated area" would keep expanding.
That extraction efficiency—if personified, it'd be far too lewd. Ahem.
===✧✦✧===
Character Voice · Lucian: About the Akademiya
"In the end, only about ten percent of scholars remained. Mona really came at the perfect time—get to work, my dear maid."