Chapter 97 - Observation Records

So he first bribed her by retaking her desired pose and waited until she was back in a good mood before asking, "What exactly is the measure of progress of an Observer? What do Shades of Perception signify?"

She looked at him with suspicious eyes. Was that too basic of a question?

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No. I am obviously asking all this to 'consolidate' my knowledge.

She kept looking at him with those narrowed eyes before replying, "I guess I can give you another broad overview."

Vern nodded with great vigor, only to return to that pose every time she looked at him to paint.

She started, "So I just told you that Observation Records describe methods to mold your viewpoint in a particular direction, right? And that it's mainly so you can use the Visions in that record safely."

"Mhm."

"Well, these records are usually divided into a sequence of shades. Think of each shade as a gradual method of molding your viewpoint into the direction of that record. However, that's not all."

"A higher shade means you're further removed from Objectivity." She then said matter-of-factly, "Even though everyone's viewpoint is unique right from the start, they're still derivations of what's objective. So, the more the number of shades in your perception, the more singular of an entity you become."

She carried on, "Each shade—"

"Sorry, Irene, wait," Vern interjected, his face a mask of confusion. He couldn't hold himself from noticing something glaringly contradicting about that statement.

"Didn't you just say that there are only a few Observation Records? How could anyone be 'singular' if they're molding their viewpoint in the same direction that many others have done so before?"

Irene looked at him with a puzzled look of her own.

Was that not clear enough?

He added, "Maybe they'll be unique if they're not following a record properly. But let's say two Observers follow the same record all the way to the end. Are their viewpoints still unique? Are they still singular?"

Irene narrowed her eyes, "Getting semantical, are we?"

Vern clicked his tongue, "Ah, my bad, then. If it's just a semantic thing, then it makes sense. I thought I was missing something."

Irene chuckled, "Hey, I didn't say being semantical is bad because it seems you are indeed missing something."

"Ohh?"

"Are you forgetting about the Construct of Isolation? Even if two people follow exactly the same path, the way they chose to isolate their Viewpoint makes the world of difference."

A what? Vern's mind whirled, and he soon came up with a couple of conjectures on what that phrase meant. It had a very distinct choice of words that suggested an inherent meaning.

His best guess was that she was talking about the idea that he chose to perceive Balance as shades of gray. It was the method or a psychological construct with which he isolated the Balance.

"You know Ambrose and Antonia, right?"

He nodded.

"So even if two Dancers like the Finnesse siblings followed the record down to the letter, they can still choose to isolate the Rhythm differently. For all we know, it's possible that Ambrose isolates rhythm as talking squirrels that tell him the directions."

Vern chuckled at the thought. He wouldn't put it past the guy to do something like that. Still, it seemed that the shades of gray were his isolation construct.

"Anyways, the point is that Constructs of Isolation define what you can perceive, whereas Visions define what you can change. Anddd before you cut in again and ask the stupid question, yes."

She shrugged dramatically, "Yes, what one can perceive is still mostly gathered from insights learned by following the Observation record, but trust me that this variation is enough to make them singular, okay?"

"…okay," Vern replied, indeed a little unsatisfied with that answer.

Ignoring him, she asked, "Anyways, where was I?"

"The more the shades, the more removed from Objectivity you become," Vern chimed back.

"Right! So, in each shade you engrave the colors of infinity—which is just the Vision in your perception. Or, more accurately, into your Thought Space," she then stopped and gave him a side-eye, "I don't have to explain what a Thought Space is, now, do I?"

Vern wanted to say yes, but it was clear that she was getting impatient with him. Plus, he knew quite enough about Thought Space already. So he shook his head with an innocent look.

"That is so sad. Here I thought Shinsei had found us a miracle. Do you know how rare a non-vegetative Observer with a shade in his perception is? Especially one that knows…so much about Observation," she said with faux reverence.

It was Vern's turn to ignore the jab, and he managed it with barely a twitch of his lips. That was progress if someone asked him.

Her face turned mischievous at his impassive response, and she asked, "Oh, am I wrong? Then why don't you tell me how many Visions a second shade Observer can envision?"

Damn. That put him in a spot. The way she phrased it made it seem like two wasn't the correct answer. But then what was it? Can one imprint multiple Visions in each higher shade?

As in one Vision for the first shade, two for the second, three for the third, and so on?

But what if she was just doing some reverse psychology?

Ughh. It doesn't matter. She was fucking around with him anyway. So he hesitantly answered, "Three…?"

Her lips curved upward, and she brandished her brush towards him before declaring, "Wrong!"

That might have elicited more than just a twitch of his lips.

"It's not that simple. It's neither one-for-one nor is it incremental. You can actually engrave multiple visions without Shading your perception again. Take Ambrose, for example."

Well, he couldn't have guessed that.

"So, he imprinted two Visions in his Thought space in the span of a single shade. He first shaded his perception with his family's famous Rhythm resonance that allows him to move with the rhythm, but then he went ahead and also learned an acceleration Vision from another similar record that uses the concept of flow."

Vern's mind whirled at the implications. Did that mean one could mix and match the Observation records? She did say 'similar,' though. What was similar?

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Also, by this logic, could he engrave Instability Inducement on his Thought Space, too? According to his prior conjectures, it was the Third Rune that allowed him to use that Vision.

Which meant that he was essentially borrowing it from the rune. But according to his own understanding of Visions as well as what Irene just told him, he should be able to imprint it properly on his own Thought Space without any whispers.

His viewpoint should already have been molded to understand the intricacies of instability. On top of that, his own testing in the Land of Dark Sun told him it was the 'experience' of having used a Vision in multiple scenarios that was the most important.

He had loads of that. He had clearly destabilized more things than he'd ever stabilized.

He didn't know if having it in both his Though Space and Third Rune would change anything, but it was definitely not a great idea to be reliant on an outsider rune to perform one of his vital Visions.

Not when someone like Hensen might as well have a way to strip it out of my mind. I should look into getting that sorted out soon.

This also reminded him that he should stop being a wuss and send a message to Esther. If not for his own reasons, he should do it to ask more about her sister Livia and Hensen Vehen.

But his thought process was cut short as Irene continued, "So, it should be clear from that example that a Shade isn't just about the Visions you imprint in your perception. It's about taking a significant step forward in molding your viewpoint and your removal from Objectivity, all the while exerting greater control over reality."

Vern opened his mouth only to shut it right back as she started, "Now I know what you want to ask? 'But how significant of a step, Lady Miss Goddess Irene?'" she mimicked him in a deeper voice.

Hey, I don't sound like that! And where did the goddess come from?

Yet, she was on a roll, "And I will reply to that, 'Nobody knows.'"

Before he could even part his lips, she drew another long stroke and persisted, "Then you will ask again, terrified, 'How could that be, milady miss goddess!?'"

I wasn't going to ask that.

"And I will reply, 'Because nobody knows.' Hahaha…" she giggled to herself, and Vern rolled his eyes.

After taking her sweet time to calm down from laughing at her own joke, she resumed, "All in all, my point is that we don't know. It is different for everyone."

Then she stopped.

Hey, that's only half the answer!

Vern waited for her to continue, but she smiled and went on with her work. He could already see his own image clearly coming out in the painting. She was really fast.

But he still had a lot he wanted to know.

Hahhh. He let out a sigh and asked, "How exactly is it—"

"—different for everyone?" she interjected midway with that fake deep voice. And before Vern could say anything, she burst into another fit of laughter.

"Hahaha. I knew it! Couldn't hold it in anymore, huh?"

Vern hid behind the book again, hoping the Lady from beyond would take him away right this instant. She was reading him like an open book, for steam's sake.

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Maybe he was thinking about it all wrong. If this was the price of learning the esoteric secrets and concepts about Observation, it was a small one.

I guess it's time to embrace it.

He dropped the book and laughed with her. Soon, she finally stopped, wiping at the corner of her eyes. Not waiting for her to trap him in some other word game, he pressed, "So, what is it? Or do you just not know?"

She snapped her head towards him, and that glare alone sent him back to the standard pose, but that was it. He wasn't going to back down any further.

She continued to stare him down, and so did he. If you want a staring competition, you got one.

She seemed like she wanted a fight, too.

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After what felt like a minute, it started to become awkward, and she suddenly turned away, mixing more colors, her long hair hiding her face.

The atmosphere seemed to have changed a little, and he wasn't sure if he should continue with the same line of questions anymore.

But she began of her own volition, "The reason it's different for everyone is because most Observers have a limit on how far they can bend their unique viewpoint into these set paths. Think of it as—the more compatible your viewpoint is with an Observation Record, the more easily you can achieve higher shades in that sequence."

Vern would kill to be able to write all this down. He wasn't going to forget it, but it would be so much easier to link ideas if he had it down on paper.

"It essentially boils down to synergy with one's viewpoint. If your viewpoint is already very similar to the Observation record you follow, then you won't have to put as much effort as others following the same record."

Then she gave a dry chuckle, "While on the other hand if you choose to follow an Observation Record that goes against your Viewpoint, prepare yourself a spot in a mental asylum because that's what happens when you try to mold a painter into a singer."

But then she ground the brush into the palette and bemoaned, "Ughhh. I lost my train of thought again. What was your overarching question?"

Vern rephrased the question in his mind, excluding what she had already covered, and answered, "What is the measure of progress within a shade itself?"

She looked at him suspiciously, "Hmm, that wasn't it, but anyways, the answer to that piggybacks off the last one. It is different for everyone, too. However, you can feel it. Whenever you successfully mold your unique Viewpoint closer to the chosen record, you'll feel it."

"It's a very fascinating feeling, almost like a sense of…alignment within yourself. Similarly, when your perception is finally ready to accept the deeper colors of reality, you'll feel it."

A sense of alignment, huh? Wasn't that exactly how he felt after scrutinizing Captain Akira's plan? It was as if he'd gotten a better understanding of Balance itself.

At least this time, he had an idea of what she was talking about. So he asked about another key phrase, "Deeper colors?"

She shrugged, "Yeah. I just said you can imprint multiple Visions in a single shade. If all you do is imprint Visions that are of similar strength as your previous ones, what exactly would be the point of becoming more singular or whatever?"

He embraced the persona of one who asked stupid questions, "How is the strength of a Vision defined?"

She also took it in stride, "It is some combination of the size of reality transformed, by how much, in what manner, and some other factors that no one knows."

Vern happily continued the rapid-fire, "How does representation factor in with the power of Vision?"

"The amount of Representation used increases directly with all the factors I just mentioned, except for one thing. The less your viewpoint is aligned to your shade sequence, the more representation it costs."

Vern's face was almost bursting with glee. This was a freaking treasure trove. He'd have had to read who knows how many different texts to formulate such a straightforward understanding of all these concepts.

He remembered a question he'd asked Esther a while ago, "What happens if one tries to Shade their perception twice, one after another?"

"Whoever gave you that idea is stupid and is courting death. You're asking me what would happen if you engrave deeper colors of reality on your perception without acclimating to the shallower ones?" she shook her head, "I am not even gonna answer that."

Ahh. Vern realized what she meant. One would lose themselves to the whispers if they didn't let their perception slowly adapt to deeper and deeper colors of reality. To him, deeper colors pretty much meant higher reality and more complicated rules.

The thought sent shivers down his spine. He was quite keen on trying to shade his perception multiple times when he was in the Land of Dark Sun. If that eye in the sky hadn't taken notice of him and burned the whole realm, he had planned to try and shade his perception again.

Maybe the whispers wouldn't have hindered him in that realm, but what would've happened when he came back to Elmhurst? Would his perception have handled interacting with higher reality?

It seemed unlikely. He might have dodged a bullet on that one.

Irene, on the other hand, got faster and faster, drawing broad strokes on the canvas one after another. She might be done with the painting soon.

Vern calmed down his thumping heart and wondered what to ask next.

His primary goal was to figure out what all this meant for his own progress. He now understood the basics of Observation, but he didn't have an Observation Record of his own to follow.

Should he try to find the record containing Cryptic Constructor's next shade sequence?

According to his understanding, the Observation Record of Subjectivity, which should now be in Ari's hands, wasn't exactly the same as the Observation Records that Irene talked about.

That book didn't suggest any particular direction for him to mold his Viewpoint into but instead gave him free rein on whatever he wanted to pick. Which he did—Balance.

On the other hand, the paper with the Cryptic Constructor's symbol, which was sitting inside a drawer in his hotel room, more closely fit the description of an Observation Record. So if he found its record of the next shade sequence, he should have a good synergy with it, right?

However, it was still up in the air if it would be any help since he hadn't shaded his perception with Instability Inducement but rather a Vision of his own. How was that supposed to work?

So many questions, and I can't even ask about these. He couldn't really tell anyone that he had created his own Vision, after all. Maybe he could tell Esther, but he wasn't sure how good of an idea that was.

I can only know her attitude once I talk.

On top of that, he was in the library that clearly had so many things for him to read through. Maybe he could come to some conclusion regarding his own progress by reading how other Observation Records worked?

That was assuming he had the clearance to read them.

But this reminded him of an important point. Did the world know about the link between Fundamentalism and Observation? If they did, how did it work? Was that the similarity between Observation Records that Irene was talking about?

So he phrased his question a little differently, "Irene, you said that Ambrose used a 'similar' Observation Record to learn his acceleration-related Vision. Are there many that share this similarity?"