Chapter 102 - Visions, progress, and plans

However, that's when his thoughts were cut short, "Master Vern, there's a mission waiting for you."

Vern hadn't felt the butler creep up to him at all, but there he was, standing a proper distance away in his well-fitting tuxedo and side-parted hair.

Vern's gaze shifted at the two unread records on his table with longing, then back at De Flanc before he eked out, "What kind of mission is it?" This was his job, now. He couldn't just deny such requests without proper cause.

One hand resting straight across his waist, De Flanc replied, "It's another site of minor pollution, and you'll be paired with Master Cedric for the task. It's essentially to help you get some experience with our line of work."

That sounded pretty straightforward. So he asked, "How long is the carriage ride to get there?"

"A little under an hour."

Vern's smile returned, and he asked with an innocent expression, "Then, can I check out these two records to read during the ride?"

"Hahaha, please do, Master Vern. They're not higher than clearance level three. Just return them to Master Cedric before exiting the carriage. I'll inform him about the rest."

Vern replaced the record about chaining memories but picked up the other two, including his notepad, as he followed the butler. He glanced at the pocket watch which displayed around ten in the morning, and another question popped up in his mind.

"Do you have any idea how long missions like these generally take? I have a training session with Lady Amelia around four."

De Flanc replied as he led the way, "They can take anywhere from a couple minutes after you're on the scene to a dozen hours. It depends on the complexity of the problem, really."

Vern nodded. That indeed made sense. "So what happens if I am late?"

"Please don't worry about it. If anything of the sort happens, I'll let Lady Amelia know about it beforehand. She won't hold it against you. The city is above everything for her, after all."

Vern thanked the man and descended one floor after another in tow. Soon, his eyes caught a shadow flitting behind shelves and casings, and a sharp glint appeared in his eyes.

It was Luna.

So when he caught her slinking around a chandelier, and their eyes met, Vern waved around the piece of fish he'd wrapped in a tissue for her.

The little thing gazed at him with an uninterested look for a second before turning away.

Vern didn't mind the arrogance and found a spot away from the books to place the fish. Her large pupils seemed to follow him when he wasn't looking, but otherwise, she acted like she had no interest.

When they exited the door of the library, Vern sneaked his head back in for a second and saw a shadow jump down before grabbing the tissue and dashing away, rattling a couple things in its wake.

A sly grin crossed his face.

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Vern sat across the narrow-hat gentleman Cedric, who hadn't taken it off even now, making it so he couldn't lean back on the carriage seats. The man's fingers held a small book, his eyes focused on it intensely.

Vern was quite happy about such a company. He got a chance to read in peace and quiet, and the other party appreciated the same.

He had just finished reading up on the methods of advancement from a Kindling to Blaze Shaper in the Flame Herald Shade sequence. It was…quite interesting the way it worked.

In the beginning, everyone started as an enlightened individual with no shades in their perception. To become a Kindling, the record suggested the individual should go and work in smelting factories, forges, or anything of the sort. The point was to gain resonance with the concept of kindling fires.

Once the individual believed they had enough resonance with the concept, they just needed a suitable catalyst to have a shot at imprinting the first Vision of Flame Herald and shading their perception with it.

The first Vision of that sequence was called 'Ignition.' A simple idea. It didn't create fire out of nothing. Instead, it transmuted objects into fire. What was fascinating, however, was that it did so without the intent to raise the temperature of the object but to simply turn it into…fire.

Not how reality worked, but well…Observation was all about skewed realities. He then also realized that the Vision primarily belonged to the lower-north-eastern octant of the Insight Sphere. The section that mainly embodied the ideas of 'Transformation.'

This made him wonder if anyone who was apt at transforming things into fire would have a much easier time transforming other elements or concepts, too. It would make sense if they could.

Anyways, that was how the first Vision was imprinted. The actual method of acclimating your viewpoint with it to progress towards the second shade was to try and ignite everything the Kindling came across.

The record mentioned that the chances of how easy or hard it would be to do such a feat depended on the 'talent' of the Kindling, which was just a pseudonym for the synergy of underlying Viewpoint with the concept.

Once the Kindling had ignited enough objects to an extent where their perception felt 'acclimated,' they would be ready to shade it again and advance to become a Blaze Shaper.

They could try resonating with the next shade on their own merit by brute forcing their way to learn how to shape the fire. However, doing so ran the risk of inviting the whispers and ravings of madness. So, most preferred finding themselves a resonance catalyst.

Each Vision had its own idea of what could be used as a catalyst.

Vern flipped to the page dedicated to potential catalysts for the two Visions. Ignition favored simple, everyday sources such as burning fires and smoldering heat. Blaze shapers, however, necessitated more complex elements like steam cores and chemical fires, seeking out the most potent sources of flame.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

And then, finally, right after the list of catalysts were some very odd instructions. 'Create an untainted space around you with as much objectivity as possible. Then, write the name of the Vision and the shade you wish to pursue in the ancient Elysian script on paper and clutch it in one hand.

Next, take a catalyst that belongs to no one and pray to the Everflux. If you wish, you can also pray to other higher beings you believe in, but remember, this carries the usual risks and rewards of such a mystical endeavor.

If your perspective resonates well enough with the shade sequence, your mental realm will grow, and new, profound insights will emerge from the void itself and etch them into your Thought space.'

That was it.

That was what facilitated the imprinting process. There were no special bloodied words that passed on some deep insight into one's mind, nor was there some spell.

But on further scrutiny, it was apparent that some of the requirements were quite odd. Why was it necessary to put down the sequence's names in an old script? Not to mention he hadn't even heard of it before. Also, wasn't 'Everflux' where the whispers came from?

And even with these specific instructions in the mix, there were some core discrepancies of reality with his understanding of visions. The record had mostly given vague directions and dubious ideas on what one should do to resonate better with the shade sequence.

How could that alone be enough to foster such complex visions in one's mind? Where did the 'data' or 'experience' needed to perform these visions come from? Was that the point of this almost ritual-like imprinting?

He remembered his own process of creating a Vision back in the Land of Dark Sun. He had to get a lot of experience stabilizing different objects by shifting their grays of stability before he could imprint it in his perception.

However, none of the directions in the records helped one gain experience in using the next Vision. They only helped acclimate to the current shade.

But this was how it worked. He'd even asked De Flanc if Flame Herald was really a famous shade sequence, and the man had confirmed it. So everything written in there was practically and factually true.

Vern scratched his head, jotting down all these various points to figure out how they mapped over to his current situation.

The same was the case for the other record at hand. He shuffled the bundles of paper around, and this one's cover read, 'Liar.' Opening it, the archivist's insights unfortunately told him that it was a broken shade sequence.

That was to say, it once used to exist as a complete path, but now, only its initial shade remained. The rest of the sequence had been lost to the passage of time.

The first and sole surviving shade detailed in the records bore the name Socialite. The title for the second, now-lost shade was Fabricator.

It was an intriguing Shade sequence, exactly as the name suggested. According to Vern, the first Vision's effects loosely belonged to the upper-northern-eastern octant, also famous for all the 'Cognition' related concepts.

This wasn't the same as the cognition necessary for Observation, but rather a concept that was shallower and deeper at the same time. It delved into how one interprets the world around them, guided by their emotions and underlying psychological framework.

Regardless, the point remained that even this Observation record described a similar method of imprinting the vision, allowing one to manifest something as complex as 'Veil.' It was a Vision that allowed one to be subconsciously ignored by the others.

The catalyst for Veil was an illusionist mirror, but there were no further limitations. Any kind of illusionist mirror worked. Which suggested the Vision's experience couldn't be embedded into these items, either. They were there just to increase the user's resonance.

Then, is Everflux some kind of entity that can respond to prayers?

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He ruminated over it for a while before his pen suddenly halted, and a pensive glint streaked past his eyes. He turned to his notes on the convoluted theory of the memory chain from the unfinished Observation record from before.

It suggested viewing the world as memories, which was generally a bogus idea, but what if Visions were actually something like that?

As in, they existed in the memory of the world or Everflux, and the resonance with the Viewpoint they were created in supplemented by the prayer allowed one to imprint and use that Vision personally?

After looking at it from a few more angles, Vern nodded. That did make some sense. He couldn't really be sure since it was based on the theory of a failed experiment, but it had a certain logical feel to it.

After jotting all this down in neat diagrams, he returned the records to Cedric and focused solely on the notepad.

Both men sat on opposite seats inside the carriage as the scenery beyond the windows reeled back ceaselessly.

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When it was about the forty-minute mark in the ride, Vern dropped the notepad back in his pockets and stared out the window.

He had come up with a few plans for himself. Imprinting Vision had three prerequisites: Synergy of shade sequence with the viewpoint, resonance with the particular vision, and finally, the prayer to Everflux.

He believed he had the first two in place for imprinting Instability Inducement in his own perception. He just needed to study more on the third one.

However, he had no plans of imprinting Instability Inducement to ascend to the second shade, but just as another vision on the current shade on his perception—like Ambrose had. He was hoping to ascend with a vision not from structure fundamental.

This was only his conjecture, but he believed that the nature of the vision imprinted to ascend to next shade played an important role in determining the fundamentals one could learn and master throughout the span of acclimating to that vision.

Like, right now, he would have to gain a better understanding of structures to acclimate himself to stability or instability inducement. So, he would essentially be wasting an opportunity to learn an entirely different kind of vision if he ascended with instability.

Not that I have any clue how to go about doing that. He had no real shade sequence to follow, after all. Also, I can't right now even I had the means to do so.

He was still quite a ways away from that threshold—his viewpoint was far from being aligned. So, his chief concern right now should be acclimating his viewpoint to the imprinted Vision—Stability Inducement.

His primary goal had been to decipher an underlying logic in the progression—the very reason he had delved into these records. Now, he believed he might be onto something.

From his analysis, it seemed that the key to advancing as an Observer within the shade lay in adapting one's Viewpoint to align more closely with the Vision's ideal.

So, if Kindlings had to create fires and Socialites had to weave lies, didn't that mean he just had to create…stability and balance?

It was just how Ambrose, a dancer—danced. Or Irene, who was probably a painter—painted.

Just yesterday, he'd felt a small sense of alignment within himself from comprehending the balance that Captain Akira struck in the political landscape with his single move.

But wouldn't he make far greater progress if he could strike such a balance himself rather than just analyzing it?

He nodded. That's what he would attempt with his every action in the following mission. To strike a balance between stability and instability wherever possible.

So he broke the spell of silence in the carriage and asked, "Sir Cedric, can you shed some light on the specifics of this mission?"

The man closed his eyes for a second before sighing, "You know, I liked you a lot better three seconds ago?"

"…"

"Well, it's some mirror gone rogue. We need to contain it and cleanse it. Simple."

Mirror gone rogue? Vern stared at the man with an askance gaze, but he didn’t elaborate further. So Vern pressed, "Is there any methodology on how to go about this? Should I be performing a specific role to assist you?"

Cedric pushed his book even higher, almost touching the rim of his hat as he replied, "First, we need to gather information about the anomaly from the locals. Since you're so keen on talking anyway, I'll leave that part to you."

Vern wanted to pry out more, but the man's actions were a clear indication of his inclination on the matter. So Vern let it go, and silence once again enveloped the carriage.

A short while later, it came to a gradual halt in the Iron-heart district.