The Illusions of the Mob

The Illusions of the Mob is the first act of Alhaitham's Story Quest, the Vultur Volans Chapter. In order to unlock this quest line, the player needs a Story Key, must have completed Chapter III: Act V - Akasha Pulses, the Kalpa Flame Rises, and reached Adventure Rank 40.
During the events of the quest, the Traveler helps Alhaitham unravel a plot meant to remove him as the Acting Grand Sage.
==List of Quests==
# Fragmented Testimony
# A Thorough Investigation
# Pride and Prejudice
==Summary==
;Fragmented Testimony
Arriving at Sumeru City, Paimon decides to check in on Alhaitham since they've heard he's become the Acting Grand Sage as Azar had been removed from his position. Making their way to the Akademiya, they find several researchers talking about him, some positive and some negative. Soon, a scholar named Ilyas asks to speak with the matra about something important. Heading inside, they find Aarav, who asks what's wrong. Ilyas mentions Siraj, which Aarav explains is a prominent Vahumana scholar said to become the next sage. Ilyas tells them that Siraj abducted him for his experiments and he barely managed to escape.
Aarav takes Ilyas away before coming back, confirming what he said was the truth. Paimon is surprised to see Alhaitham with them, though Aarav states that he wanted to join in the investigation and left a message for Cyno. They head to Lambad's Tavern; as the matra head inside, Alhaitham expresses his disdain for being the Acting Grand Sage. Ilyas somewhat recognizes him but fails to make a connection, just as the matra return with Narendra. Narendra states that he only knew Siraj as he had been approached by him for electrical components but he did not show up. As he leaves with the matra, Aarav allows Alhaitham to take Ilyas with him.
Alhaitham tells the group that he's acquainted with Siraj, as they were classmates. While he went on to become the Scribe, Siraj continued his experiments and submitted a thesis paper to Azar, who had asked him for his opinion. Alhaitham rejected the paper as it touched human evolution, one of the cardinal sins in the Akademiya. Ilyas states that he has two things to do; get a paycheck for his family in Gandharva Ville and another unknown topic. He tells them that he got his paycheck from the Research Preparation Center, so they head there.
;A Thorough Investigation
Returning to the Akademiya, they head to the location Ilyas mentioned, finding Makesh. Makesh tells Ilyas that his coworkers had to pick up his work due to his disappearance but allows him to get his paycheck as long as he asks Chandra why he withdrew. They find Chandra at the café, who explains that everyone is unsure of what to do as the former sages were removed and that without the Akasha System, no one wanted to manually sift out papers; thus, people like him would wait for a renowned researcher first.
Ilyas then has a headache as he recalls that Siraj had addressed him as "Siraj #36", so Alhaitham explains that Siraj wanted to create a hivemind based on capability, with the first one being the overmind. Thus, he believed that one could be both an individual and an organization with their shared thoughts. Chandra states that Siraj is getting popular and many were interested in joining, though he expresses doubt he could. However, he does mention another person who was offered but declined, pointing them to Janaki.
Janaki is annoyed to see Ilyas and Alhaitham before explaining that she declined Siraj's offer as he had deemed her #45, which she found too low for her standards. She further tells them that Siraj ranked the people based on their Jnana Energy that the sages had extracted from them. Ilyas asks what he did wrong, but Janaki is too angered to explain and simply states that he had harmed a lot of people.
Returning to the House of Daena, Alhaitham and the Traveler find documents on Ilyas as he goes to claim his paycheck. Alhaitham finds it and they meet up with him, where he tells him that the Akademiya considered him a hero due to his sense of courage and justice. In the past, Ilyas' instructor was committing fraud, who reported him to the matra and was subsequently detained. Ilyas has another headache, but Alhaitham tells him not to worry about regaining memories as it takes time.
They then head to Gandharva Ville, where they meet up with Ilyas' family. He gives the paycheck and they learn that his family had been getting threatening letters for being a "hero". Nonetheless, Ilyas guides them to Siraj's hideout.
;Pride and Prejudice
Arriving at the hideout, Ilyas inexplicably disappears, although Alhaitham tells the Traveler and Paimon to keep moving. As they head deeper inside, they get a vision of Ilyas' past, where he was asking Raju why he wouldn't report Jani. Raju states that he had no choice as if they were to stop now, too much people would be affected. They then get another vision where Raju jumped to his death as a result of Ilyas reporting Jani, which in turn angered Janaki and Jaap as their studies were at risk. Venturing further, a final memory shows that Ilyas had willingly joined Siraj's project.
At the end of the domain, they find Ilyas, who wanted to see them one last time as himself before merging into the consciousness, as he had been tasked to bring Alhaitham to the Hive. Siraj then appears and justifies his project, though Alhaitham shoots him down as his model was unstable and bound to collapse. He then explains that when Ilyas met him, his perception began to influence the other members, though Siraj manages to fix it and summons monsters to eliminate them. Paimon is worried, but Alhaitham states that his "gift" was already sent and needs some time.
Defeating the monsters, the collective begins to question Siraj to the point that the system completely collapses. Alhaitham explains to Siraj that he already knew everything from the start and his words to Ilyas were the main contributor to its demise. He had never looked down on him, but states that his fragile ego was the result of his downfall. Siraj concedes and allows himself to be detained, but Alhaitham states that he isn't going to do that as Cyno arrives and has the matra take him away. Cyno tells them that the matra were busy arresting Siraj's associates, so the Traveler and Paimon check in on the other members, including Ilyas. Paimon is left with many questions, so Alhaitham invites them to his house.
Inside, they also find Kaveh, who is surprised and embarrassed to see guests. Alhaitham leaves to collect books regarding the consciousness while Paimon gets into a shaky conversation with Kaveh. The Traveler and Paimon are unable to comprehend the books, so Alhaitham states that when Siraj submitted his paper, apart from rejecting it, he felt that his research was too extreme and the approach conservative. Alhaitham then reveals he put his resignation paper in as he wanted to return to his original duties.
==Characters==
==Soundtracks==
==Other Languages==
==Change History==
es:Ilusiones entre la multitud
ja:烏合の虚像
pt-br:Ilusões da Multidão
ru:Заблуждения толпы
tr:Çetenin İllüzyonları
vi:Ảo Cảnh Ô Hợp