Chapter 636: Alhaitham Takes MVP

What do we do? Why not just use the Traveler's super muscles? In the movie, the Traveler doesn't seem far from the Grand Sage.

This is a classic question: whose is faster—Yasou's sword or Yone's blade?

Will the guards restrain the Traveler first, or will the Traveler take control of the Grand Sage first?

It seems after using their brains for so long, they still have to solve it with muscles. As expected, "classical mechanics" is still more effective.

But this idea is just satisfying to think about—actually implementing it has too low a success rate. Not to mention the circle of guards around them, there's a whole group outside too.

To be honest, the Corps of Thirty is actually very strong. Even the gilded brigade, as strong as they were, couldn't break through the Corps of Thirty—showing their combat power.

The Traveler can fight, but she's not Superman—she can't single-handedly destroy a nation.

So what then? Alhaitham gave an answer no one expected.

[Alhaitham suddenly became hysterical: "You say I betrayed the Akademiya… but you, Azar—you're the one who betrayed all of Sumeru, betrayed the gods!"]

Alhaitham suddenly became extremely angry, leaving the audience stunned. How did he go from zero frames to full rage? He was still calm and collected earlier.

Suddenly, it was as if a berserker had activated rage mode. In the animation, to clearly show Alhaitham's madness, they even added a "red eye effect."

The red eyes looked eerie and ominous—at a glance, you knew this was someone in a berserk state.

The sudden change caught the readers off guard. What was this? With Alhaitham's personality, even if things were exposed, he shouldn't react with such frantic defeat.

Kaveh was grinning widely watching this. If they weren't in a theater where it would disturb others, he'd be clapping and cheering. This alone was worth the ticket price!

In the movie, a godly Knowledge Capsule fell beside Alhaitham. His Akasha terminal turned red, and he himself slowly walked toward Azar like a madman.

Unexpectedly, this was how it would be resolved in the end. Then why not use the "red form" from the beginning?

This scene felt familiar to everyone. They seemed to have seen it before at Port Ormos—Alhaitham really seemed insane.

Why bother? Alhaitham wouldn't really become a mad scholar, right?

Most of the audience still felt something was off—this didn't fit Alhaitham's personality.

[Alhaitham roared: "Azar—"]

With a roar, Alhaitham charged straight at Azar. But protected by the Corps of Thirty, he missed and fell onto the table.

That appearance was truly pathetic—even "mad," he still couldn't do anything.

Seeing this, Kaveh finally couldn't hold back his laughter, frantically slapping his thigh—Alhaitham's thigh.

Alhaitham had no objection to this and continued watching the movie indifferently.

In the movie, he was "knocked out" with a club by the guards and imprisoned along with the Traveler, though the two were placed in different locations.

Alhaitham would likely be directly exiled, while the Traveler was locked in solitary confinement.

As Alhaitham was escorted away, the camera gave a close-up of the corner of his mouth—a smile.

As expected, he was faking it!

The audience was satisfied. This was where a close-up should be! What was with the earlier close-ups of Azar?

After Alhaitham's performance, the camera shifted to Nilou outside the Akademiya watching the commotion. Next, it was her turn to perform.

Nilou also revealed a slight smile and nodded faintly at Alhaitham, as if they shared a tacit understanding.

Now it made sense—clearly, there was a plan!

And not only was the plan making sense, but the close-ups were finally on the right people—all handsome guys and beautiful girls!

Just as they were happy, the camera went back to the old man Azar. He was going to prepare for Jnagarbha Day.

Unlike the exiled-to-Aaru-Village Alhaitham, the Traveler was treated as a threat and imprisoned in solitary confinement, within the Grand Sage's monitoring range.

[Paimon's tears behind bars: "Waaah—don't lock us up, let us out!"]

["Waaah—"]

She clung to the door, grasping the bars and crying out. Behind her, the Traveler looked somewhat helpless, indicating that was enough—the people were gone, why still so deep in character?

That's right—everything earlier was acting. It must be said, Paimon's acting progress was like wearing Xtep shoes—flying fast.

In that segment just now, if Alhaitham was the protagonist, Paimon could at least get female lead, while the Traveler was just a supporting actress.

After all, the Traveler barely had any lines—just one sentence, and without much emotion.

Simply put: Alhaitham took MVP, Paimon was best assist, and Lumine was just a carry dog.

Even Director Furina was quite dissatisfied. Where was the acting you showed when "cosplaying" with the Dendro Archon last time? You were pretty energetic when fooling people, weren't you?

But whatever—the Traveler usually isn't much of a talker, so not speaking much in front of the Grand Sage wouldn't raise suspicion.

But at this point, the audience was a bit confused. So what exactly was Alhaitham's plan? What was the point of getting caught?

From the looks of it, Azar thought Alhaitham was on the fifth layer, but it seemed Alhaitham was beyond the fifth layer—which layer was he on exactly?

Conveniently, Paimon recalled Alhaitham's plan at this moment, and the audience finally understood the whole process.

The original purpose of the plan was to get the Traveler sent to solitary confinement, so the Traveler could awaken Nahida's consciousness in advance from inside the Akademiya.

To protect her consciousness from being read by the Doctor, Nahida had sealed it away. Awakening it required time—that was the Traveler's job.

In the flashback, Alhaitham explained his plan.

He clearly stated this plan wasn't foolproof, but he knew what kind of person Azar was—what actions and mindset he would have.

This plan wasn't the best, but it was absolutely the most advantageous under the current circumstances.

Alhaitham was certain that after capturing the Traveler, the Grand Sage would definitely lock the Traveler in solitary confinement.

Because the Traveler was an unpredictable factor, and solitary confinement was within his control—only then could he feel at ease.

Just as if deliberately cooperating with Alhaitham's plan, Azar indeed locked the Traveler in.

Both Ayato and Kokomi nodded inwardly. Alhaitham was truly something—not just in knowledge, but quite skilled in schemes too.

Especially his grasp of human nature—Ayato straight-up called himself a fellow expert, not inferior to him at all.

===✧✦✧===

Character Voice Lines · Furina: About Alhaitham · Acting

"Hmm, there's still room for improvement. In my view, just the part where he goes mad and walks forward has three places that could be optimized—for example, posture, expression, and he should add some panting."