[Skill proficiency increased.]
* [Perception IV] -> [Perception V]
* Albert’s notes: can perceive Entropy. Currently UNUSABLE as it results in critical failure of brain’s capacity to understand, inducing a state of altered awareness that can only be interrupted by the skill’s termination due to lack of mana to sustain it.
[Quest: Entropic soup complete.]
“Time is an illusion,” The skill video started playing without delay, and the other-Albert appeared without ceremony in his usual attire. “A mirage, in the Buddhist sense. And a mirage is nothing but a metaphor for the transient and illusory nature of reality. See, those monks were onto something. Something surprisingly scientific, something that I know you have heard about.”
Suddenly Albert felt called out. “Hey. Can you hear me?” He also remembered well about his previous mental note to try and interact with video-Albert. “Who are you? How do you know what I know?”
But he got no response. “Quantum mechanics is more esoteric that you would think. Think about causal diamonds, about how Einstein’s local realism has been proven false. Just as a mirage appears to be a solid object but is actually an illusion created by the refraction of light, so too is the material world an illusion that is not to be grasped as truly existent. What is time if not the changing states of this illusion? Time is a dependent subjective concept, and not a fundamental and unchanging aspect of existence. In Buddhism, time is described as a stream of moments that are constantly passing away. This means that the way we experience time can be influenced by our thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations, and that time can seem to pass quickly or slowly depending on our perspective.”
“Same goes for space, but that will be the topic of another skill video, should you ever get to that quest. What’s the point of all of this?” Video Albert continued. “Well, guess what? Once you glimpse this fundamental truth you will learn that time holds no power over you.”
The video ended, with no further explanation. Usually it would have included instructions on how to circulate mana, alongside diagrams and helpful instructions. This time there was none of that. It appeared that unlocking this skill, [Bullet Time] was not going to be easy. Things were ramping up in difficulty rather quickly now, and it was time that Albert put some actual effort into learning magic.
It was during his attempts at understanding what was being said in the video that the idea for another skill came to his mind, something that he should create as soon as possible to aid him in everything else. A skill to learn other skills, or concepts in general. For now it was only an idea, something that perhaps he could talk about with his grandpa tomorrow when he will go to visit him at the hospital. If [Bullet Time] was going to be hard, then the skill he had in mind was borderline impossible.
For now, though, it was time to set magic aside and go meet his friends.
Another revolutionary discovery came while he was munching on a pizza, surrounded by his friends, who were chatting among themselves. All he did was mutter under his breath.
“Activate [Perception], level 4.”
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A simple thing, really, but one that allowed him to find out just how much easier it was to use magic when coupled with a vocal command. The vocal command was something that could trigger the unconscious responses in his brain that, in turn, made him reach the mental state necessary to perform the magic itself. Saying the name of the skill like he was in a manga seemed to work, although it was rather cringe to do in public. Fortunately his friends didn’t hear him.
He could hear them, though. [Perception] at level 4 enhanced his sight, his hearing and even gave him something like a sonar sense that told him the shape of the room and of the objects and other people inside it. The pizzeria was almost full of people, it was a Saturday night after all, and quickly his enhanced senses threatened to give him a headache. Another mental note, he thought, about how he needed to develop a skill to counteract this side effect of perception. An enhancement skill for his mind would be nice. It would allow him to concentrate for longer periods of time, and perhaps even to multitask without having to juggle between the tasks.
“You gotta make a move on her, man. You can’t just wait and hope for stuff to magically happen to you.”
If only they knew. But Marc was right about Colin: he needed to make a move or Aubrey was going to move on. She liked him, he liked her, yet none of the two was doing anything about it and the whole matter was quickly moving past the cute shenanigans phase into theatrics that neither Albert nor Marc wanted to see more of.
“You are right, of course. Of course.” Colin said. “But will I?” He wiggled his eyebrows.
“Your loss if you don’t.” Marc said after a groan.
Albert was too focused in his own thoughts to notice when the conversation had moved on. “Albert? You here with us?”
With no context whatsoever, he only grunted and disabled the perception skill.
“Dude, you have been lost in your head a bit too often lately. Even for your standards. Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” Albert shrugged, deciding to go with an excuse. “My grandpa fell down the stairs the other day and he’s in the hospital now. I’m just worried, you know?”
“Oh,” Marc looked down. “I didn’t know.”
“He’s better now. He’s doing very good. It just scared me a bit, made me think about things.”
Colin laughed. “As if you needed it. You always end up talking about existential stuff anyway. This is just a shortcut. So, what’s on your mind?”
Albert thought about it. What the hell, he decided in the end, and as the trio were on their way to the club, he talked about time. He didn’t mention the skill video, or the system, or anything of the sort, but the things that other-Albert talked about were interesting enough on their own. And, most importantly, it was entirely in-character for him to talk about that stuff. He didn’t need to introduce how he came to think about it. It was just normal for him.
“Ah, yeah, the good ol’ time.” Colin said. Being a mathematics undergrad meant that he had a very peculiar way to look at things. Mostly due to his own perception of the field, since all three were in their first year of college and thus they were studying pretty much the same things.
“I mean yeah,” Marc said. “Time is the flow of entropy. It is an apparent property of a system.”
Albert frowned. “What about causality then?”
Marc scoffed. “You can’t break causality. Just not possible.”
“Delayed choice experiment, dude. It’s your field.” Colin added.
“…right.” Marc deflated.
The mentioning of the experiment triggered something in Albert’s brain. He remembered reading about causality being only true in the space-time diamond of an observer making an observation. He also remembered reading about space-time not being fundamental parts of physics, but just a part of something. Of an… “Interface?”
“Ah, the Interface Theory. Donald Hoffman, right? Couple that with the Holographic Principle and what you get is total madness.” Colin laughed.
Marc shook his head. “Dude. I tell you, as a physicist in training and as a friend. How the hell do you think you have any rizz by being like this? Truly, tell me.”
Colin twirled his mustache. Hideous mustache. “By not being on 4chan all day, my man.”
This hit Marc right where it hurt the most. “We’ll see tonight. For now you are all talk and no game.”