The Path of Papers is a World Quest in Sumeru. It is a continuation of Alrani's story.
Start Location[]
Start location
Additional context
Steps[]
Start by talking to Niloofar next to the Teleport Waypoint at The Akademiya in Sumeru City.
- Look for Alrani
- Stop the Treasure Hoarders
- Talk to the Treasure Hoarders
- Look for Alrani
- Talk to Alrani
- Report back to Niloofar
Gameplay Notes[]
- Completing this quest grants the Wonders of the World achievement Answer Time.
Dialogue[]
Quest DescriptionYou see an anxious person near the Akademiya...
- (Talk to Niloofar)
- Niloofar: Alrani, where did you go...
Alrani?- Paimon: Huh, Paimon remembers the name... The young lady who's always writing her thesis? The one we met at Watatsumi Island.
- Paimon: Right, she said she left Akademiya for some materials. She should have been back now.
- Paimon: But the woman there seems really nervous... let's go ask her about it.
- Paimon: If Alrani did return to the Akademiya, we might as well stop by and say hello.
- Greetings. About Alrani...
- Niloofar: Are you the Adventurers sent by the Adventurers' Guild!? Did you find Alrani?
- Niloofar: I know I've been pressing and I'm sorry for that. But she really worries me...
- Paimon: Whoa, take it easy. We are not from the Adventurers' Guild. Just passing by.
- And you are...?
- Niloofar: You are not Adventurers? I'm so sorry. I haven't got any news from them. I'm so worried...
- You tell the story of what you've been through with Alrani...
- Niloofar: So you are the Traveler Alrani keeps talking about...
- Niloofar: I'm Niloofar, researcher at the Akademiya... You could tell, right?
- Niloofar: Be that as I am, I now devote most of my energy to teaching students on research.
- Niloofar: Alrani is my student. She's been struggling with her thesis...
- You are... her mentor?
- Paimon: Miss Alrani said she had to rewrite many of her papers because they were disapproved by her mentor...
- Paimon: Ah, this isn't the time for this. What happened to Miss Alrani?
- Niloofar: She... went missing...
- Niloofar: Alrani came back all excited from Inazuma with a paper a while ago, which was about the folk culture of Watatsumi Island...
- She took that very seriously.
- She'd been working hard on it.
- Niloofar: I could tell. That paper is well written, and of a high standard in every respect...
- Niloofar: But... she submitted the paper too late! I asked her to send me the first draft in advance, but I never heard back.
- Niloofar: By the time she came back with the full version of her paper, someone had submitted one with exactly the same topic, which had already passed the preliminary review!
- Niloofar: I tried in every way to get her to pass the review, but she still didn't make it...
- Paimon: Why's that? Miss Alrani started forming ideas for her papers long ago. How come it took so long...
- Paimon: Wait... Inazuma...
- The Sakoku Decree!
- Paimon: Oh no...
- Niloofar: I've no idea how to break the news to her... I was going to think of a gentler way to let her know.
- Niloofar: Then a motor mouth out of nowhere just spilled it all to her.
- Niloofar: Then she went missing. I turned every stone in the Akademiya, and she was nowhere to be found. So I went to the Adventurers' Guild and put out a commission.
- Niloofar: They found nothing but Alrani's notebook at a place, and there was no sign of her.
- Niloofar: The Adventurers should still be searching for her everywhere...
- Niloofar: I... I don't know what to do... *sob*
- I'll help look for Alrani.
- Paimon: That's right! We'll start from where they found the notebook!
- Where is it?
- Paimon: We'll help look for Miss Alrani!
- Niloofar: Really? I can't thank you enough!
- Niloofar: I'll mark the location of the notebook on the map for you.
- Niloofar: Oh, and your payment...
- We can talk about that later.
- I'll ask Alrani for that.
- Niloofar: Thank you very much. I'll be waiting here for news from the Adventurers' Guild.
- Niloofar: Please be safe, Alrani...
- (Talk to Niloofar again)
- Niloofar: Please be safe, Alrani...
- How was Alrani at Akademiya?
- Niloofar: She was quite a diligent kid. Though she always chased weird dead ends...
- Niloofar: She is more than qualified as a student, and I believe she will be so as a researcher.
- Is it hard for students to get their papers passed at Akademiya?
- Niloofar: To be honest, yes.
- Niloofar: Paper review is complicated. You have to take into account your research focus, how extensive the references are...
- Niloofar: Also you should keep in mind any overlap or conflict between others' papers and your own. After your thesis proposal is submitted, you'll still bump into all kinds of difficulties.
- Niloofar: *sigh* But I have to say, she's exceptionally unlucky...
- (Approach the marked location)
- Paimon: According to Niloofar, the notebook should be nearby. Let's look around.
- Paimon: Eh? Are they Treasure Hoarders there?
- (Fight the Treasure Hoarders)
- Gobley: Someone's coming over here? They can't be here for the girl... right?
- Paimon: Girl... Did he mean Miss Alrani!? Don't let them get away!
- Gobley: Ah! Please, don't do this. We can talk!
- Paimon: Talk about what! You jerk!
- (After defeating the Treasure Hoarders)
- Gobley: Please, have mercy! This is all just a big misunderstanding!
- I don't think so.
- Paimon: What have you done to Miss Alrani? Spill!
- Paimon: Or... Or we will kick your butt!
- What have you done to Alrani?
- Paimon: Tell us what you know! Or... Or we'll kick your butt!
- Gobley: No, no, please... Please listen to me. You got it all wrong...
- Gobley: We wouldn't dare mess with her. We are no match for her!
- What do you mean?
- So you do have Alrani with you.
- Gobley: It's a long story...
- Gobley: We happened to be short of money some time ago, so we and our big sis were expecting to fill our wallet.
- Paimon: Pfft, you mean stealing and robbing again.
- Gobley: Well... We are Treasure Hoarders... That's kinda what we do...
- Gobley: As we were making plans in the camp, we saw a young lady carrying a huge bag coming towards the camp.
- Gobley: Seemed to us she'd lost her soul. Freaked us all out.
- Gobley: Before we got ready to make our move on her, she just plopped down beside the campfire, weeping and throwing a bunch of books into the fire...
- Gobley: That was really spooky...
- Freaked out by a young lady...
- Aren't you the Treasure Hoarders...?
- Gobley: Sure we are, but it's not like we kill people. We just pick and steal...
- Gobley: She got us more puzzled before we even realized what was going on. She threw a bag of Mora and asked us to lock her up.
- Paimon: Eh... Eh...
- You're not making any sense...
- So did you do what she asked?
- Gobley: No one would dare touch her at first... But she wouldn't eat or drink and just kept asking us to lock her up.
- Gobley: At last, big sis asked us to make a cage with branches and let her in.
- That was nice of your big sis...
- You were actually being nice to her...
- Gobley: Well, big sis always has respect for learned folks. She says she'd want to go to school one day...
- Gobley: Ahem... The lady's over there, see her yourself if you don't believe me. Big sis must be soothing her now...
- Gobley: If you can take the lady out of here, we'd be more than willing to repay you!
- (Approach Alrani and the Treasure Hoarder)
- ???: Alrani! Are you gonna come out of the cage or what!?
- Alrani: No! No researcher, no academy anymore!
- Alrani: I've paid you for this. Can't you leave me be!?
- ???: You're stubborn, annoyingly stubborn...
- Ahem...
- Excuse me...
- Paimon: He—Hello there...
- ???: Hmm? Oh, you are...
- Alrani: Tr—Traveler! *sob*...
- Paimon: Miss Alrani, you really are here...
- It's good to see that you're alright.
- Niloofar told us about your paper.
- Alrani: *sob*... I wrote on the subject first! It's not fair!
- Alrani: If I hadn't stayed in Inazuma for too long, my paper would have passed...
- Paimon: Calm now... Do you still want to finish your paper?
- Alrani: *panting*
- Alrani: I... I quit! Papers, Akademiya... I'm done with all of it! Only fools write papers! Akademiya can do whatever they want!
- Alrani: I paid Narzam to protect me. No one's gonna force me to work on that paper!
- ???: Hmph...
- You are...?
- Narzam: I'm Narzam. What I do... Hmph, you must've known it. I'll cut to the chase.
- Narzam: I know you, Traveler. You've been active around here lately.
- Narzam: If you've got a commission to bring the girl back, you can give it a go. I won't stop you.
- Alrani: Hey! I've paid you!
- Narzam: For what? It's not even enough to pay for our food for a few more days.
- Alrani: I won't go back anyway. It's just new subjects and field research there. I'll have restless days and nights...
- Alrani: I might even get caught by some weird people, or run into peculiar monsters. Then there would be no time for me to finish my paper and I'd miss the paper defense... again.
- Alrani: *sob*... No... I'd rather be locked up here. *sob*
- Alrani: Traveler, please send a message to Ms. Niloofar for me. I'll write you a note. I don't want to go back, please...
- Alrani writes down the note while weeping...
- Alrani: There you go. *sob*... Why would anyone invent papers? *sob*...
- Narzam: Okay... Calm down. No one is taking you away for now.
- Paimon: Miss Alrani... She seems very unstable right now...
- Paimon: Let's leave her here while we take this note back to Niloofar.
- But...
- The Treasure Hoarders...
- Narzam: No need to worry if we will hurt her. It's like what she said, she's paid me.
- Narzam: Besides... Hmph, I finally found someone who is educated. She'd be very useful here.
- (Obtain A Note Alrani Left for Niloofar)
- (Talk to Narzam again)
- Narzam: Anything else?
- Why are you being so...
- Narzam: "Good" to Alrani?
- Narzam: Don't get me wrong. I do this for three simple reasons. First, Alrani has paid me for staying here.
- Narzam: Second, I take only money, not lives. I'd ruin my reputation if I ditched her into the wild.
- Narzam: Third, she's a learned lady who has a bright future.
- Narzam: Being able to help her a little bit would give some credit to us Treasure Hoarders I guess? Hmph...
- How much did she pay you?
- Narzam: No small amount. She said she earned that by making some "fertilizers." Don't know what's that. Don't care.
- Narzam: Anyways, she paid us, and we'll help her for now. That's it.
- (Talk to Alrani again)
- Alrani: *sob*... Why would anyone invent papers? *sob*...
- (Talk to Niloofar)
- Niloofar: Traveler! Did you find Alrani?
- Paimon: Yes, but...
- You tell Niloofar what happened and hand her the note...
- Niloofar: Narzam? How...
- Paimon: You know her?
- Niloofar: Not personally. I heard someone mention her as some weird Treasure Hoarder.
- Niloofar: They say she would ask her victims a question when she plunders them.
- Niloofar: Literature, Elements, all sorts of stuff. Even brain teasers.
- Niloofar: If you solve her problem, she will give back everything she looted, plus escorting [sic] you back to the city.
- Paimon: So she's a weirdo...
- What is this... outlaw riddler?
- What exactly is she up to?
- Niloofar: No one knows. I know this because my mentor once met her in the wild.
- Niloofar: Her question was: "What quickly fills an empty room?"
- Paimon: Ugh...
- Paimon: It's wind! Is Paimon right? It must be wind!
- Ugh... Candle light?
- Niloofar: My mentor answered, "Elements are everywhere."
- ...
- Paimon: That's cheating!
- Niloofar: Haha. Anyway, Narzam escorted my mentor back to the city and they practically had a goodbye in decorum.
- Niloofar: I wouldn't be so worried if Alrani is with her.
- Niloofar: But she can't stay there forever. I have to figure out a way to help her with her paper...
Video Guides[]
Other Languages[]
| Language | Official Name | Literal Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| English | The Path of Papers | — |
| Chinese (Simplified) | 求学漫漫路 Qiúxué Mànmàn-lù | On the Bumpy Road of Studying |
| Chinese (Traditional) | 求學漫漫路 Qiúxué Mànmàn-lù | |
| Japanese | 学を求む長き道 Gaku wo Motomu Nagaki Michi | The Long Road of Wishing for Knowledge |
| Korean | 아득한 학문 탐구의 길 Adeukhan Hakmun Tamgu-ui Gil | Distant Path of Quest for Learning |
| Spanish | El saber no tiene fin | Knowledge Has No End |
| French | La voie des études | The Path of Studies |
| Russian | Путь к знаниям Put' k znaniyam | The Path to Knowledge |
| Thai | หนทางการร่ำเรียนอันยาวนาน | |
| Vietnamese | Biển Học Vô Bờ | |
| German | Der lange Pfad der Lehre | The Long Path of Science |
| Indonesian | Menuntut Ilmu Sampai ke Sumeru | Seeking Knowledge to Sumeru |
| Portuguese | O Caminho da Tese | |
| Turkish | Eğitim Yolu | |
| Italian | Il cammino dell'apprendimento |
Change History[]
Released in Version 3.0