Pointy Hat, the guy from another plane within The Grand Alliance, knew about the existence of the Multiverse from birth—as one would expect.
As a child, his parents took him on trips to other planes, and he liked traveling through the planes himself. But, his current trip wasn't for leisure; it was to finish his dissertation.
Up to this point, Ma Lu hadn't thought much of it and simply considered him a tornted science researcher.
According to Pointy Hat, he attended a top-five university within The Grand Alliance and studied under a leading ntor all the way up to sothing like a doctorate degree as on Earth.
By slaving away in his ntor's "black factory," always obedient and hardworking, he had smoothly reached the end of his studies. Just when he was about to graduate, the ntor suddenly raised the bar and demanded a minimum of three papers published in The Grand Alliance's top journals—as the first author, no less.
Pointy Hat was stunned; he had only one paper that t that standard, and there was less than half a year until graduation.
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Where was he supposed to dig up two more SCI papers now? His ntor might as well have told him directly to stay and keep grinding.
But Pointy Hat refused to accept defeat. He set his teeth and charged at this impossible goal, even daring to venture alone into a desolate plane outside The Grand Alliance for his experints.
It was only when Ma Lu realized the guy majored in agriculture that he began to sense that things weren't so simple.
And when he found out that the title of Pointy Hat's attempted paper was "The Promoting Effect and chanism of PPCW Growth Liquid on Energized Plants," that certain foreboding feeling inside him grew even stronger.
Ma Lu even forgot to look for the Singer's Solanum Berry and started continuing his search for Pointy Hat's markers nearby.
After arriving on this plane, the guy would have been moving around in this area, setting up his experints, collecting and analyzing data.
Pointy Hat claid that if he could finish writing this paper smoothly, it would certainly be enough to be published in a top-tier journal.
However, even if he could finish the paper within the tifra, he would still be one paper short of eting the graduation requirent. Of course, in theory, one could squeeze many papers out of a single topic, especially with a major subject like the one Pointy Hat was tackling.
But the problem was still ti. Even writing one paper was a tight squeeze; two was out of the question.
And just then, Pointy Hat encountered soone.
In his ssage, Pointy Hat said it was a local native. He was quietly conducting experints and rushing his dissertation in the Redstone Grand Canyon, having set up so defenses around him to prevent disturbances.
But one day, a powerful energized plant accidentally smashed one of his fences and escaped. Although Pointy Hat quickly recaptured it, the broken device allowed the native to wander into his experintal field.
Pointy Hat had a scare; according to the Multiverse Traveler's Guide, his visit was not supposed to be known to the locals.
Fortunately, Pointy Hat thought of a trick—he planned to feed the visitor so hallucinogenic plants and then toss him out.
In this way, once the latter regained consciousness, he would think everything he had seen before was just a hallucination.
To lower the visitors' guard, Pointy Hat even feigned casual small talk. Yet, as the conversation unfolded, he was unexpectedly impressed by the visitor's quality character.
Perhaps it was because he had been alone for too long, but he quickly found himself won over by the other's personal charm.
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Despite their different backgrounds and coming from different planes, they had beco good friends in just an afternoon.
With that, Pointy Hat found it difficult to act against a friend.
Not only that, but before long he also revealed his true identity to the other person and gave them a tour of his laboratory.
The other person was also a researcher like him, but not in botany, instead in sociology.
But even so, as fellow researchers, they found they had quite a bit in common.
At this point, Pointy Hat had thrown all the rules from the "Multiverse Traveler's Guide" out the window as he vented and complained to his new friend.
The other person expressed sympathy for his predicant and even offered to help him in any way they could.
Pointy Hat thanked them for their kindness, but he didn't have much hope for the help they offered.
Although he had never shown it, as soone from The Grand Alliance, he had always harbored a hidden sense of superiority over natives from outside The Grand Alliance.
In Pointy Hat's own words, "This place is dull and primitive, I just want to finish my thesis quickly and go back to school."
However, when the visitor began to outline their concept, Pointy Hat quickly beca interested; it was a cross-disciplinary collaborative research project.
The visitor wanted to use the Energized Plants he had brought to conduct a sociological experint, to observe how the existing social structures would crumble and rebuild after a disaster, and what changes would occur once Energized Plants took over the main ecological niche of a planet.
From a research perspective, Pointy Hat found the topic very valuable, but he still declined the offer.
Firstly, because of ti constraints, the experint the other person described would likely take decades, if not centuries, to yield any interim results, and by that ti Pointy Hat could have easily graduated by submitting any other paper.
Moreover, the experint seed inhumane. Pointy Hat enjoyed scientific research indeed, but he also didn't want to openly violate the laws of The Grand Alliance by interfering with, or significantly altering, the history of a plane, especially one that would result in billions of deaths.
Nonetheless, he still praised his new friend's brilliant idea, and the other person didn't take offense, continuing to visit from ti to ti to chat and explore the possibilities of joint research between different disciplines.
Pointy Hat thoroughly enjoyed these academic discussions, especially since the visitor always brought him Little Biscuits, which tasted very good.
Pointy Hat would also treat his good friend with Energized Plants, and Ma Lu had seen him reflect more than once in his ssages that the local customs were honest and simple, unlike The Grand Alliance, where interests and calculations pervaded everywhere.
Pointy Hat even considered taking the visitor back to The Grand Alliance with him, but as a doctoral student, he knew no bureaucrats in immigration, and he could only dream about it at night, lacking the connections to make it happen.
Perhaps because he had soone to talk to and alleviate stress, Pointy Hat's thesis progressed smoothly, finishing a month and a half early, and he also had an idea for his second paper.
It definitely would not be in ti, but once he accepted the fact of delayed graduation, Pointy Hat felt less anxious than at first; the worst-case scenario was simply another year as an unpaid laborer—at least his advisor had no unsavory designs on him.
The last ssage Ma Lu found from Pointy Hat stated that his new friend planned to bake so new-flavored Little Biscuits for him the next day, sothing he was looking forward to.
After that, Ma Lu didn't find any new markers nearby.
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