Chapter 200 - Prospects of Second Shade

He finally found it.

This can be the second shade of my perception! he wanted to scream.

An overwhelming sense of relief washed over him, and he had to work hard not to sag visibly on the throne. He generally tried his best not to dwell on the matter, but not having a path to follow was terrifying at times.

While this didn't guarantee the success of ascension to the next shade, he was getting more confident by the second regarding his compatibility with this pathway.

For others, getting locked into a sequence with only two shades was a terrible deal, but for him, that was almost ideal. He didn't plan on continuing to the third shade for the same sequence, even if it did exist.

He also noticed that this record had a total of three visions straight off the bat. Neutral ground for first, link weakening second, and finally, Relational Anchor, which sounded defensive by its very description.

'Anchor strengthens one's own connections temporarily, making them more resistant to external manipulation and perform arbitration without being swayed,' it said.

Could be very useful, I suppose.

With immense focus, he sped through the rest of it. It contained useful suggestions for resonance catalysts and a few notes here and there, but he saw many glaring problems right away.

The authors had a lot of suggestions but weren't sure which ones worked and which ones didn't. They went like, 'create a mental codex to follow for arbitration, perform 3 arbitrations every day, stay neutral in all walks of life…' and so on.

No joke they weren’t able to reach higher shades with this ideology, he lampooned.

The creators were clearly stumbling in the dark with a stick to trailblaze this path. It was already a miracle they managed three proper Visions for it. Maybe they even tried to brute force the path ahead with quantity rather than quality.

He also noticed something interesting now that he'd looked at three new Observation records. None of them have truly personal insights within them. The records gave pointed advice, but they didn't include complete examples of an Observer progressing through the said path as a 'record' should.

It was intriguing.

Maybe it's the creators' way of making it easier for newcomers to adapt to the sequence?

However, a thought struck him, and he whispered to himself, Hmm, actually…

He squinted. Right. That has to be it.

He realized he was skipping over the obvious answer.

.

.

.

The creators didn't want to share their own viewpoints.

It was as simple as that.

Unless one was bound to die or something of the sort, it would be foolish to pen down one's viewpoint in a way that everyone can understand. In the world of Observation, anyone who fully understood their foe's viewpoint could obliterate them instantly.

This was why even Rupert had backed off when Axiom had shown that he understood all their traces—so much so that he could send them a note through the convergence.

That's terrible… he realized. This meant the creators of a sequence were heavily disincentivized from writing down things exactly as they happened. This made it so the more truthful the creators, the bigger the risk for them.

It was already quite generous of them to write down anything at all. I don't think I'll even write down my path and methods for the world to read unless there's a very good reason to do so.

He wondered if there was one. Why share the records at all? Maybe because it was too hard for one person to forge the path to singularity all by themselves, and there was no choice but to accept help from the subjectivity of many observers?

Sounds plausible, he nodded to himself.

Nonetheless, it'd been too long since he started reading this, and the spectators were getting antsy. So he went over all of it one more time before closing it for good. Ms. Witness already made a copy of it, so referencing it in the future wasn't a problem.

With a loud clank, the scale behind him shifted another time, settling on an equilibrium that favored Ms. Harmony's side.

Fulminis looked at the result with disappointment, but Vern was quite sure this was the right judgment. While Arbiter was a great record for him personally, its value wasn't as high as the record of two shades that Ms. Harmony offered.

Arbiter was a terminal shade, whereas Waterbender clearly had more to it if one went looking for it. On top of that, Fulminis provided two disjoint records rather than one sequence, which didn't have as much value as the other.

"Uh…um, I…I think I can try one more. Sorry, Lord Axiom, can I get another chance?"

Vern shifted his gaze over to Ms. Harmony, who was shaking her head. She said, "Don't worry about it. This is acceptable to me if Mr. Axiom doesn't mind."

He shrugged. It wasn't his job to decide what they considered fair. He just had to act as a neutral judge of their offerings. This elicited a chuckle from him, Just like an Arbiter, I guess.

Who knew that Arbiter of Balance would already be acting like one? Probably for the best. It should make it easier for him to resonate with the Visions of this pathway if he decided to go through with it.

I'll need to prepare a lot more before that, he lampooned. There was a reason most Observers didn't change their sequence willy-nilly. He'd already thought about this deeply, though.

The first step would be to figure out just how to best adapt the ideas presented for an Arbiter to the lens of Balance. Once that was done, he'd need to get a bit more familiar with relationship fundamentals.

Fortunately, the concept of Arbiter wasn't strictly relational. Societal structures, which he was already quite proficient in, was a close neighbor of the idea and would come in handy when trying to understand this new path.

Once all that's done and I have the catalysts, it should hopefully be enough resonance with the Visions of Arbiter pathway to shade them without getting torn to shreds by the whispers.

He recalled the catalysts mentioned in the record. They were far more grounded than other records, too. Almost as if the authors came from a time when understanding of Observation was closer to its source.

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They suggested non-specific items for each vision. For Neutral Grounds, 'a symbolic item that represents a treaty of peace between two factions.' To Vern, that made perfect sense. An item that embodied the idea of neutrality was perfect to act as a resonance catalyst for such a vision.

It was also clearly an item that deeply represented the concept of relationships.

For Link weakening, the record asked for a 'Symbol of betrayal. The deeper the betrayal, the more the effect.' And finally, Relational Anchor demanded, 'A symbol of lasting bonds. Religions all around the world are ripe with such objects. Find the oldest one.'

All very practical suggestions. Much better than specific items that may or may not be available in different times of society.

I should be able to get my hands on each of these without too much trouble. Maybe even ask around in Vigil where to get his hands on these. Obviously, with some amount of obfuscation, so it's not perfectly clear what he wanted.

It's…too good!

The more he thought about it, the more excited he became. While Arbiter sounded like a pathway of diplomacy and had visions aimed toward support, it wasn't an issue for him. Heck, he preferred that more.

He already had stability and instability inducement, as well as the weapons to handle scenarios of combat. What he needed was, indeed, visions just like this.

I wonder how things would've gone down if I could use these visions during the invasion of the Hotel. He wouldn't have needed to act stupid to lure that one guy down to the basement.

He wasn't sure, but Relational Anchor might've helped him stay in control without having to expend Axiom's singularity. On the other hand, link weakening would've allowed him to get more information out of the perpetrators and possibly snowball it for an even more favorable outcome.

The possibilities!

Neutral ground might not have helped as much during that scenario, but he could see so many uses for it as Axiom. What if, one day, he had two opposing parties sitting here in the Nexus?

He could facilitate fairer communication between them and possibly change the very direction of how the future of the world.

It was exhilarating.

Fuck, let's wrap this up, he decided. I need to shade my perception as soon as possible!

He'd been stuck in the first shade for long enough. He had to advance. He needed to advance! Too many things were left on hold because he wasn't powerful enough.

Now, finally—FINALLY, he could see a light at the end of the tunnel.

With a wave of his hand, the record of the Warden and Arbiter pathway materialized in front of Ms. Harmony, whereas Waterbender appeared in front of Fulminis.

Both grabbed them out of thin air and went through them right then and there. Ms. Harmony went through them, her eyebrows raised, whereas Fulminis read through his in semi-confusion.

"Mr Axiom…" she began with a questioning voice, looking up.

He stared back, and she added, "Is it possible for us to take these back with us?"

Umm… he hadn't thought of that. He quickly communicated with Ms. Witness and realized this was actually a problem.

He shook his head, "Even if you could, you won't understand the writings."

Ms. Harmony nodded in realization. "So can I just pen it down on something at my person?"

Vern nodded. He already knew that worked. Things he'd written on his own notepad during confluence—even on normal pages, persisted even after he was back. So that was indeed a solution.

Fulminis chimed in, "I…umm…don't have anything to write on."

Harmony turned towards him, "I can give you a few pages if you'd like."

Vern shook his head. "That won't work." He just repeated what Ms. Witness told him. Apparently, it wasn't quite possible to perform a physical exchange of items as that would essentially involve teleporting the said item from one person to another in real life.

Hmm, I wonder if that'll change once I'm more versed with how space-related concepts work.

Vern suggested, "You can always bring something to write down with you next time. This record will be here for you."

Fulminis nodded solemnly, "I'll try to remember as much as I can and depend on you next time if I forget something."

Vern nodded, and silence took over as everyone did their own thing. He himself was lost on a weird tangent. What fundamentals would space be comprised of?

He remembered Horace Estefan, the primary speaker in Confluence, pulling something out of thin air. It had left quite a deep impression on him.

If I had to guess, pure space should be some combination of structure and relations.

Structure was obvious—the skeleton of the universe, the frame that defined how everything was placed. Without it, nothing would exist in any coherent form. Space was a grid, a construct that everything moves within.

And then, relations—subtle, yet crucial. Relations were what tied everything together. Objects, people, concepts—none of them existed in isolation. They were all linked through connections, no matter how distant. The relationship between these entities governed how they interacted, how space responded to them, or how they affected the space itself.

That was an exciting thought, given he was going to specialize in exactly these two before anything else. He nodded, But control over those two by itself won't exactly be useful.

Running his fingers through his hair, he reasoned, If someone wanted to travel a vast stretch of space, they would have to add on force and transformation in there.

Force would be the energy, the push to break free from the static nature of the structure. To move through space, you’d need something to propel you, to alter your position within the grid. Without force, even if you understood the relationships and structure, you’d be stuck, anchored in place.

And transformation? That was the key to bending space itself—changing its very nature to suit your needs. If you could alter the structure, stretch, or compress the grid, then distance would become irrelevant. You wouldn’t just move through space—you’d shape it to your will, creating shortcuts where there were none.

But just as he was piecing it together, another thought surfaced. All that would mean nothing if the body couldn’t handle it.

He frowned, realizing that preservation might be required. The physical strain of traveling through warped space, enduring immense force, and transforming the environment around one—would tear apart anyone unprepared. If one’s body or mind couldn’t withstand the distortions of space and the forces at play, the entire effort would fall apart.

Preservation would be needed, too. Without it, one would be ripped to shreds before they even move an inch.

Now, it was clear. Structure, relations, force, transformation—and preservation. Only with all five working in harmony could space truly be controlled, and only then would travel across it become both possible and sustainable.

Holy shit, that's complicated, he hissed. That's five out of eight fundamentals to do anything useful with space. No shit that Travelers who can teleport across space were considered such a big deal.

Harnessing five fundamentals was bound to be an arduous task. Just as he readied himself to follow this rabbit hole even farther, he realized that his surroundings had become entirely still.

Huh, I guess they were finished a while ago. He'd lost himself too deeply in this thought experiment.

One day… he murmured to himself as he addressed the whole crowd, ensuring his voice reached both inner and outer courts, "This concludes the court."

The unbalanced scale behind him snapped into equilibrium with a sharp, almost imperceptible sound as he rose to his feet. The air around him seemed to be still, acknowledging the conclusion of the Court of Balance's inaugural session.

Ms. Harmony's voice cut through the reverent silence, careful yet urgent, "When will the Court of Balance convene again, Mr. Axiom?"

He let the silence stretch for a breath, the shadow of a smile barely touching his lips beneath the mask. "You'll be informed a day prior," he replied smoothly, his tone calm and inscrutable.

A ripple of tension passed through the outer court members, their faces a mixture of hope and apprehension. Would they be worthy of another invitation? The uncertainty hung heavy in the air.

Ms. Harmony curtsied gracefully, her voice filled with gratitude, "We are honored by your wisdom, Lord Axiom."

Fulminis bowed his head, his voice a respectful murmur, "Thank you for the opportunity, my Lord."

The outer court members, as if moved by an unseen conductor, offered a harmonious chorus of thanks, their individual voices blending into a single, reverent tone.

Axiom raised his hand, a gesture both of acknowledgment and dismissal. The bluish light around him thickened, signaling the inevitable dispersal. "May you find balance in the chaos," he intoned, his words echoing with finality.

One by one, the members of the Court faded from the Nexus, leaving behind only whispers of their presence. As the last figure disappeared, Axiom stood alone in the vast chamber.

With deliberate slowness, he reached up and removed the mask of black-white dichotomy. The perfect balance of light and shadow played across the item for a moment longer as a pale figure stepped out of nothingness to stand beside him.

She joined him in silence as he stared at the cosmos above, unmoving. His eyes burned with a fiery intensity, but he himself exuded an aura of untouchable calm.

A fine balance…