Greater Lord Rukkhadevata spoke as she walked toward Nahida, taking her into her arms and wiping away the tears at the corners of Nahida's eyes.
"We all rest beneath the tree of wisdom,
trying to read the world—
reading it from the soil,
reading it from the rain.
Then transforming into white birds,
we climb upon the branches
and finally catch hold of that crucial leaf.
Once upon a time,
I was the only entity in the world capable of dreaming.
In my dreams,
everyone would drift off to sleep when night fell,
and wondrous thoughts would drift from people's minds.
Some rolled upon the ground,
while others floated up to the sky.
They connected everything
into a dazzlingly brilliant web.
Within the three thousand worlds,
there are yet smaller worlds,
and all fates
surge and seethe right here.
I gradually came to understand
that these things, which defy description
yet constantly change,
are the most profound mysteries in the world.
Only they
can thoroughly banish that madness;
only dreams
can awaken consciousness
from the deepest darkness."
The scene shifted, revealing the process by which Greater Lord Rukkhadevata created Nahida, leading up to the present moment. At that very instant, Nahida embraced the god she had long admired. Greater Lord Rukkhadevata began to dissipate in Nahida's arms, leaving only a tear-stained Nahida kneeling on the ground and weeping.
The scene changed once again, shifting from the space where Irminsul resided to Sumeru, and Greater Lord Rukkhadevata's voice sounded once more.
"I am the one who posed the question,
and also the one who sought the answer.
To save the world with the dreams of mortals
was once an answer that belonged to me.
And now,
you too have found your own answers.
I will return all dreams
to the mortal realm.
People of Sumeru,
farewell.
May you all enjoy sweet dreams tonight."
Greater Lord Rukkhadevata transformed into glowing green leaves filling the sky that scattered across the entirety of Sumeru. The green leaves naturally vanished upon touching people or objects.
Vanishing at the same time were the illnesses suffered by the people of Sumeru caused by Forbidden Knowledge. Yet what they did not know was that they had forgotten a god who had given her life for them.
Back in the Sanctuary of Surasthana:
Nahida: "..."
"Are you alright?" Nahida stood with her back to the Traveler, saying nothing, and the Traveler asked with some sadness.
"Ah, Traveler. I... am alright, just a little confused." Nahida snapped out of it and asked the Traveler.
"Confused about what?"
「Did we just save the world, right?」
Nahida turned around and looked toward the Traveler.
"Yet why... does it feel like I'm crying?"
The Traveler fell silent, not knowing how to reply.
At this moment, Nahida's eyes were still full of tears.
"This emotion in my heart right now, I don't know where it comes from, but... I just feel so sad..."
"Do you remember... what just happened?"
"What just happened? We just used the power of two Gnoses, successfully establishing a connection with the consciousness of Irminsul from five hundred years ago... and then erased the remaining pollution within Irminsul..."
Watching Nahida, who had forgotten who Greater Lord Rukkhadevata was, the Traveler thought inwardly: *(She really has forgotten about 'her'...)*
"That's right, what's wrong? Weren't you right there too, Traveler?" Paimon suddenly piped up.
The Traveler fell into thought: *(Paimon doesn't remember either? Has everyone truly forgotten Greater Lord Rukkhadevata? Should I... tell everyone the truth?)*
At that moment, the video went black—evidently, it had finished playing.
[Nahida: No, how could I... how could I forget...]
[Nilou: Lord Archon, at least now we remember her again.]
["Ding ding ding, large amount of emotional value detected, collecting now. Collection complete. Congratulations, Host, you have obtained emotional value points."]
["Wait, that's not right, system! I remember protagonists in novels reading in the past getting at least tens or hundreds of thousands of emotional value points!"]
["Host, I am an advanced system, not one of those low-tier ones. My lucky draws work just like the miHoYo games: 160 per draw. I don't divide things into low, medium, and advanced draws like those other systems. I only have this one, and there is a pity system."]
["And besides, there are only a little over two hundred people in the entire chat group, and each person can provide a maximum of 100 emotional value points over three days."]
Hearing the system's explanation, Lin Yu pondered for a moment. Fair enough, he thought, let's take it slow.
[Paimon: Ah, how could this be? Traveler, Paimon is your best friend! How could you not tell Paimon either? Hmph, I'm angry—the kind that three Sweet Madame dishes won't even fix!]
[Aether: Alright, alright, I'll buy you five Sweet Madame dishes, okay?]
[Nahida: So the Traveler was already prepared to tell us what happened back then?]
[Ruan Mei: I'm quite interested in this tree and that flying little creature as well. It would be great if I could study them.]
[Lin Yu: Hmm—why does this Irminsul feel similar to an item from a world I visited before? Oh right, Aether, didn't you travel to many worlds too? Have you ever encountered it?]
[Aether: Although Lumine and I have traveled through many worlds, neither of us stayed for very long, so we don't know if it exists there or not.]
[Amber: Lin Yu, do you mean there are other worlds besides Teyvat that also have something like Irminsul?]
[Lin Yu: No, wait, I remember now—it's different. As we can see from the video, Irminsul is like a history book recording the past. Altering things on it changes the entire world's memories regarding that matter, and apart from that, there are no other changes.]