Bringing the conversation back to Ei and her group, Itto, who came along with Ei, unconsciously started comparing himself to Navia.
The two had many similarities; apart from gender, other aspects were somewhat alike, even their pecs were equally large.
So their relationship was good, but there was also a bit of underlying rivalry.
The sunny, cheerful big boy Itto came this time bringing Shinobu and Takuya along; even including Yoimiya who followed, the Arataki gang was only four people.
Meanwhile, the other Geo cheerful big girl Navia brought Melus, Silver, and numerous underlings; in terms of numbers, she far surpassed Itto.
One could only say that although both were gang bosses/big sis, the Spina di Rosula's foundation was evidently stronger.
Navia wins! Navia narrowed her eyes, looking at Itto who was tilting his little head full of smiles.
Itto secretly felt competitive; in the subsequent 'contests,' he had to win some back no matter what!
Additionally, Xianyun had actually brought quite a few high-damage weapons, but they were all vetoed by Lucian; he didn't want to overdo it.
The soldiers guarding the Akademiya weren't that many; everyone could completely subdue them without it turning into a river of blood.
But Lucian still wanted to see a river of blood, so for this matter, Great Sage, it's up to you.
Just the Great Sage wasn't enough; the other participating sages and scholars couldn't escape either, because one person's blood wasn't sufficient to atone!
By the way, Hu Tao didn't come; evidently, Xianyun didn't let her ride, so the "ride the crane westward" failed.
For this, Hu Tao even messaged Lucian, but he pretended not to see it; such a dangerous matter, better not let his own hall master join the fun.
This really pissed off Hu Tao; she lifted a coffin and was about to head to Sumeru, though it was unknown whether this "coffin-carrying expedition" was to bury the Great Sage or Lucian.
Fortunately, there was Zhongli this old man; Lucian just needed to whisper a bit of pillow talk or sweet nothings to stop Hu Tao.
Actually, this time Lucian was indeed double standards; for himself, it was equivalent to no danger, but if Hu Tao came, he felt it was too dangerous.
Mainly it was too dangerous for Lucian; he hadn't told Hu Tao about the 'coup' or 'beating the little god ascender.'
If the hall master really came, she might beat him first.
Even if the coffin wasn't prepared for him, he'd have to lie in it for a bit.
After things were resolved later, bring the hall master to Sumeru for a vacation; then pretend he just saw the message to coax her.
Actually, Lucian hadn't thought of letting Navia come either; she was also his boss, and Lucian didn't want his boss to take risks.
It was just that Navia's subjective initiative was a bit strong, and there wasn't a 'Zhongli' to watch over her.
There was a young old man by her side, but Melus evidently wouldn't stop the young lady's enthusiasm; he'd just follow along.
How to put it, still young, thinking that at fifty-sixty-seventy-eighty, it's the prime age for striving.
Look at Zhongli; he's not young anymore, five-six-seven-eight thousand years old, past the striving age.
After everyone finished discussing the plan, Lucian didn't care at all; he was talking about 'feelings' with Chasca.
Natlan people were extremely rare; usually, they didn't go abroad much, and only Chasca was a bit special this time, having come.
The 'special treatment' of building rapport was entirely because of this; everyone else was acquaintances, only Chasca whom Lucian truly didn't know, so why not take this opportunity to connect.
Brush up some favor; that way, when Chasca goes back, she can conveniently take his teleport waypoint, and after lighting up Natlan, he'd truly be able to fly globally.
"This lord understands; it means separate the enemies, then subdue those soldiers and wait for Brother Lin's follow-up notice, right?" Itto said.
"So impressive, Itto! Not only did you understand, you even learned to summarize!" Lucian clapped.
The others also clapped along; it wasn't strange for others to understand, but for Itto to understand, one couldn't help but sigh.
Not sighing that Itto got smarter, but that Alhaitham's explanation was truly clear—even a silly kid understood it.
The applause was actually for Alhaitham!
"Ahahaha, this lord is just that awesome... Huh? Why does it feel like something's off?"
Everyone's applause made Itto a bit lightheaded, but his beast-like intuition made him feel like something was amiss.
Lumine continued to coax: "Wow, Itto's so amazing; he can even hear the off part in that sentence."
Itto: "Hey, you two! Are you teaming up to tease me?"
Yoimiya heard it; wasn't this just the tone she used to coax kids usually?
One had to say, child psychology worked well on Itto, so Yoimiya held back her smile and cooperatively said: "Nothing's off; they're praising you."
"Is that so? Yeah, this lord thinks the same!" Itto laughed heartily.
The 'praised' Itto was thrilled, his little eyes secretly glancing around, wanting to see if everyone noticed his handsome self at this moment.
Everyone noticed, all holding back laughter; Itto really was like in the stories—as long as he was there, worries would halve.
Alhaitham: "..."
Alhaitham felt this was fine too; because of Itto's 'help,' the pre-battle 'pep talk' went inexplicably smoothly.
The original tension was gone now.
Moreover, even Itto knew the plan, so it seemed everyone was aware, and it was about time to implement it.
A few days later, everyone began acting separately; Lucian formed an army of one, charging straight into the Akademiya's interior with no one to block him—truly no one blocked.
Because in the current Akademiya's view, Lucian was still an ally; they'd cooperated for a while, so naturally, they wouldn't stop him.
Lucian: Sorry, trained under Italy.
Perhaps someone wonders, this story of Lucian's was so eye-catching, so why hasn't the Akademiya noticed?
This had to thank the Great Sage's blockade; his blockade prohibited prophecy-related content in Sumeru—these were 'taboo.'
The Great Sage worried about others reading it and wouldn't even record it into the Akasha Terminal.
Sumeru people overly dependent on the Akasha Terminal would naturally be like 'blind' once deprived of its intelligence.
Not to mention these gatekeepers—even the Great Sage was unaware of this matter.
Previously, he'd still glance at Lucian's prophecy books, but after 'allied' with Lucian, and since the prophecy books never appeared in Sumeru, he relaxed his vigilance.
Plus, now intelligence work was handed to the Fatui; if something happened, the Fatui should tell him— he never imagined both 'allies' betrayed him.
Entering the Akademiya, the Great Sage noticed Lucian, nodded in greeting, and said nothing more.
Beside the Great Sage, the "Doctor" was also here, seemingly compiling data.
The test site for the "Wanderer" wasn't in the Akademiya, but the data compilation was still there.
"How's it going?" Lucian asked.
===✧✦✧===
Character Voice-Over · Alhaitham: About Itto
"I originally thought I couldn't stand idiots... Didn't expect we'd get along surprisingly well; feels better than with Kaveh. As expected, I still can't tolerate guys who are 'stupid' but not thoroughly so."