Chapter 159 - Second rate teaching

"How exactly can I do this?"

Cedric stroked the feather on his satin hat and chinned up, remaining silent for just long enough to look enigmatic before saying, "Hold your horses, kid. You're jumping too many steps here. I haven't even explained the third and most important factor."

Vern paused, somehow managing to keep his excitement in check.

With a chuckle, the scholar began, "You see, if it was so simple and everyone could divine whenever they wanted, then shade sequences like mine would have become obsolete long ago. Did you not notice something off with my previous explanation?"

Vern tilted his head and parsed through the conversation once again. However, before even a second could pass, "Bah, don't even try. Let me tell you why these kids who like to punch harder can't do it."

Vern was of mind to protest because he liked to figure things out for himself, but he wasn't blind to the nuance that Cedric enjoyed this. He seemed to like setting up questions only to answer them himself.

So, Ver sighed and let it go as Cedric continued, "You see, our eyes—or well, perception is not as useless as I made it out to be. Generally, it already picks up anything we learn and changes the details in our perception based on that."

Hmm, I guess? That indeed made Vern wonder, What's the difference, then? He believed that his eyes—or more so his perception used all sensory information and knowledge to construct the shades of gray around him.

Just a minute ago, he'd conjectured that divination would allow him to extend that to other aspects of reality, but Cedric's words now suggested something else.

Regardless of his musings, the man carried on, "But as you may already know, there are limits to that, and those limits are further exacerbated by one's narrow perspectives. However, successful divinations demand insights from all walks of life."

What? Didn't he just say that it depended on one's perspective?

Scholar questioned, "What do you think needs to be done to solve that?"

Vern narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth to answer, but Cedric spoke before him, "Yes. That's where the third point comes in. It is one's synergy with the Unified Perspective."

Vern was about to speak up and point out the inconsistency, but those last two words shut him up instantly. Unified Perspective was actually quite different from Everflux. Former was what Rupert and the company wished to dominate, whereas the latter was, as Cedric put it—A primordial soup without shape but infinite potential.

The scholar smirked, probably pleased by Vern's reaction. "And that is why most kids nowadays won't be divining for scrapshit."

To Vern's chagrin, this is where Cedric decided to stop and stare at the ceiling with a faint smile, almost as if to suggest he'd said something very deep and no more words were needed. Vern decided to play ball and asked, "That sounds very…complex. It's unbelievable that you can do something like this. Could you please enlighten me a bit more?"

The man's smile widened, "Oh, lady above. Kids these days—so persistent." Then, he sighed, "Well, if you insist."

He rolled his eyes, "You tell me. What should one do if they don't have the insights needed to answer a query?"

Vern didn't even bother to come up with an answer because…

"Bah, it's simple. You just ask the unified perspective. But that's the conundrum, right? None of these sequences, which are all the rage nowadays, prepare one's mind to synergize with the Unified perspective. They just tell you how to cut deeper or punch harder. Waste of talent if you ask me."

Vern filtered out important pieces from all of Cedric's ramblings, and a more coherent idea began to form in his mind. However, some aspects still made zero sense, and he needed clarification.

So, he channeled his awe into his expression and asked, "Is that to say, back in the Ironhart district, you made contact with the unified perspective in the heat of the battle to find all the different probabilities?"

Cedric gave a slow, knowing nod, a hint of superiority in his expression.

Somehow injecting more amazement in his voice than he had, Vern followed up, "Wow, that's amazing! Can I do something like that, too?"

Cedric scanned him from top to bottom and then narrowed his eyes, "You have the potential; the right attitude, too." Then he suddenly sighed, "Unfortunately, if you don't already know all this, your shade sequence probably doesn't focus on communicating with the unified perspective."

How would you know? Heck, even I don't know what my shade sequence is. Yet, despite his doubts, Vern knew Cedric was speaking the truth. Structure didn't seem like the fundamental that would synergize with the concept of Unified Perspective.

It probably better suits those whose shade sequence aligns them with the cognition fundamental, he mused.

Which was…interesting. Cognition was one of the directions he had in mind for his second shade. This could be one of the considerations.

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"However. You might still have hope."

Vern looked up, a little annoyed by how Cedric seemed to imitate a bumpy carriage ride with his explanation.

"You see, even though my shade sequence—Interpreter, specializes in bridging the gap between my own and the unified perspective, there are other and sometimes even better ways to divine."

Interpreter, huh? He filed that away in his mind and nodded with vigor, growing a little hopeful…

"Do you worship a god?"

…And deflated instantly.

"…No?" he uttered lifelessly before adding, "Does partial belief in Lady Lennix count?"

Cedric shook his head, "Even undying belief in her ladyship won't count. She's beyond responding to us mortals. I meant one of the lesser gods."

Vern narrowed his eyes, "Someone like Asea?"

Cedric suddenly froze and looked at him like he was watching an idiot. Vern wasn't sure what kind of faux pas he'd committed this time, but the man's reaction made it clear it wasn't a small one.

After a while, the fogie sighed and said, "Kid, let me give you a quick warning. It's fine this time because you didn't infuse your words with your singularity. But if you ever do, make sure you are not pronouncing their names incorrectly."

Vern sat straighter, his forehead creased. As if reading his questioning gaze, Cedric clarified, "Always make sure to recite their full name and preferably in its original language. Because if you don't, you'll make contact with things you didn't intend to."

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Even after listening to this uneasy warning, Vern only had one question running through his mind, "Why?"

The scholar rubbed his temples, "Lady above, you ask too many questions."

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"Bah…" he waved his hand, "You're a good kid. I don't want you to end up dead because of such a stupid reason. Listen…"

"The gist is that gods' names represent their singularity in the Everflux. Gods whose singularity is shades deeper than even the deepest abyss, close to the theoretical limits of this primordial soup. Now, it's fine if you say their names correctly—as your singularity just makes contact with the said gods, who are known to be generally harmless in the sense that they don't care about most of us ants. However..."

The man's eyes shone with a serious glint, and he continued, "If you mispronounce a small part of it, you will be led astray. That is to say, your singularity could essentially make contact with something just as dreadfully singular—but you won't know what." Then he looked at Vern pointedly, "And if no one's told you this already…"

"In the unknown, only madness awaits."

Vern stiffened. Cold sweat trickled down his forehead as he burned the warning into his memory.

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"Anyways, that makes it clear that you don't worship any gods. If you ever decide to do so, you could pray and ask them to grant a blessing of insight. If you're faithful enough, they might send revelations down your way—an indirect contact to the unified perspective."

Vern's brain had to work overtime to keep up, but Cedric had no plans of slowing down, "So, you have one final option, but know that it might as well be useless, given you're still just a fledgling with a single shade."

Hoh?

"Even the rest of the new kids can try it if they want."

"It's something we all experience every day."

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"Dreams."

Vern's thoughts halted for a moment only to accelerate the next as the idea birthed more questions than answers.

"Yes, dreams. When we sleep, our consciousness wanders to the Unified Perspective and comes in contact with oddities of all manner that wander in there. Hah, that's actually why everyone's dreams have gotten worse lately."

"Regardless, that's the idea. You have to formulate a query, infuse it with your singularity, and chant it as you go to sleep. If you're lucky, you'll have new insights when you wake up."

Vern wrote down his own interpretation of the matter and nodded, "That's straightforward enough." Then he looked up suspiciously, "But where's the catch?"

"Haha, good, good," the scholar burst out laughing. "You're catching on."

"The catch is that ninety-nine times out of a hundred, you'll get nothing but garbage answers. The only way to improve your results is to either have a far deeper shade of a singularity than the targets involved in your query, which will automatically attract relevant insights, or know how to navigate dreams."

He then tapped his propped foot on the chair, "Now, you see, therein lies the contradiction. As we know, the only real way to grow one's singularity is to deepen the shades in one's perception—walking farther down the path as an observer. But then, why would a higher-shade observer divine something about beings far beneath them? By that time, they would have more efficient and accurate methods to handle than dabbling with inaccurate dream business."

Vern nodded. That made sense. Essentially, dream divination only worked when targets involved in the query were far beneath the diviner's level of singularity, which, in turn, made the whole thing somewhat useless.

However, he wondered how it worked for him. Is 'Axiom's' singularity one and the same as 'Vern's'? From his understanding of the concept, they might actually be two separate things.

After all, singularity was essentially one's identity within the Everflux. Right now, he had two, and both had a significant difference in their perceived depth of shade. This made him wonder. If I attempt this dream divination, which singularity will be used? Mine? Or Axiom's?

And would the fake depth of Axiom's singularity make a tangible difference in the divination process?

Ughh! I can't even ask anyone about this.

Having reached a mental roadblock, he decided to change the subject. "So, there are actually observers who can navigate dreams?"

"Oh, you bet there are, and let me tell you, they're a frightening bunch," the scholar said, his voice lowering to a conspiratorial whisper. "Kid, trust me, you don't want to get tangled up with them. That's why I keep my distance. I won't name names, but you've already crossed paths with one of 'em."

"Really? Who?" he asked, his curiosity piqued.

The scholar shook his head, his hat following emphatically. "It's not my place to say, but mark my words; you'll find yourself roped into a mission with them soon enough."

"How can you be so certain?"

"I interpreted it," the scholar replied cryptically, a knowing glint in his eye.

Vern furrowed his brows, but then Cedric added, "Don't worry, it'll just be a simple jaunt in the dreams of the wicked—or the innocent."

The man then suddenly picked up a pen and scribbled on a piece of paper before tearing it and sliding it toward Vern. It had a bunch of names on it, but Vern decided to stop going down the list after just the first line that read—'The goddess of my steamy dream…'

Cedric swung his legs off the chair and rose to his feet, sauntering over to his stack of books. He plucked 'The Scion's Love Theorem' from the shelf and declared with a mischievous grin, "Well, I do believe I've divulged more than enough for one day. Don't forget your promise, kid. I'm counting on this little venture to be a lucrative…investment."

Vern gingerly folded the list, taking care to conceal the scandalous names from view before tucking it away in his pocket.

However, he felt…cheated.

Despite the wealth of information Cedric had shared, Vern couldn't shake the feeling of being shortchanged. The scholar's words, while intriguing, seemed to lack cohesion when pieced together. He had touched upon a myriad of factors, yet their connection to the ultimate goal of divination remained frustratingly elusive.

Vern struggled to connect the dots between the final step and the first two factors Cedric had mentioned. The way the scholar explained it, the third step seemed largely disconnected from the others. Cedric had initially stressed the importance of personal viewpoint, only to later emphasize the need for insights from the unified perspective.

Could it be that one's personal viewpoint merely determines one's ability to establish contact with the unified perspective? Vern pondered but quickly dismissed the notion. It didn't align with most of the prior explanations.

Tapping his fingers on the table, Vern turned to the scholar, who now had an excited gleam in his eyes as he settled down to begin reading the book whose name he glossed over. "Hold on, old man," Vern said. "You didn't really clarify the process of divination. How does your second point relate to the third? What types of questions yield better results, and what are the limitations?"

Cedric harrumphed in irritation, "If I had any desire to be a teacher, do you think I'd be fighting with my life online every odd day? I'd have joined some fancy academy of observation and spent my days sitting on my rear."

With a click of his tongue, he added, "Besides, you haven't even held up your end of the bargain, and yet you're asking for more? Off with you. Shoo."

Vern wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. I really struck gold with Lady Amelia, it seems. If she was the queen of education, then Cedric was like a blindfolded jester trying to juggle textbooks.

Shaking his head, Vern decided to give it a rest, "Thank you, Cedric. Don't worry about the goods. I'll get them to you as soon as I can," he said aloud.

The scholar's disgruntled expression instantly melted away, replaced by a lecherous grin that made Vern blink longer than necessary, hoping to erase the image from his mind.

"Good, good. You're a bright lad. I'm sure you'll figure something out," Cedric said.

Vern's last shred of hope vanished. It seems I'll have to work out the rest on my own.

"Actually," he ventured, "would you mind if I tried a couple of things right now? Or is that a bad idea, considering we're literally inside the repository?"

Cedric eyed him suspiciously before grumbling under his breath, "How am I supposed to get you to come back with more books if you don't realize how futile your efforts are?"

Then, he looked up with a smile. "Haha, kid, don't sweat it. Go sit by the exit and flail around as much as you want. Just steer clear of the inner door; I'll keep an eye on it, and handle the rest."

However, before Vern could even stand up, Cedric added, "You know what? I'll sweeten the deal."

Vern paused.

"If you can use divination to figure out how many times the hero Maris gets rejected by the end of this book, I'll spill everything you want to know right away."

Oh? A challenge?

Vern cautiously asked, "And what happens if I lose?"

The grin on Cedric's face widened. "Obviously, that list I gave you gets longer. Much longer."

Vern couldn't help but ask, "How can you be so sure my friend can actually get his hands on what you want?"

Cedric chuckled and turned his book towards Vern, revealing some words in his messy handwriting: "I'll have all the books I want within a ten-day...92%."

Of course, Vern sighed.

"Let me tell you a bit about Maris. In the story, he's a new hire at this commerce chamber and..."

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Cedric bombarded Vern with disjointed facts until he interjected, "Okay, okay. I got it. Let's stop there. I really don't think I need to know more than that for a divination." My ears can't take it anymore.

He felt like he was somehow being played for a fool. Nonetheless, he got up and walked closer to the exit. "Alright, I'll give it a shot."