Chapter 147: Spatial Parallax

"You were serious about training before the registration?" Marek asked Rhovan, although the latter’s grin already answered the question. "We already trained back on Earth. Why train again?"

"This time, it’ll be different, Oph—"

Marek looked at him again.

"Apologies," Rhovan quickly replied, coughing lightly as he bowed in front of Marek. "I shouldn’t have called you that, Newton."

Marek still thought that the guy was sick in the head.

After breakfast, Rhovan brought him toward the rear garden of Goldwake House, where the guy had already scattered several golden objects across the ground. Some looked like flat coins which looked like the coins he exchanged with another differently designed one, while two others were small balls floating a few feet above the grass.

Marek had no idea what any of those things were supposed to do, but knowing Rhovan, they were probably going to be used to make his life unnecessarily difficult.

The weather was quite comfortable that morning. Courtspire’s sky was clear, and the sunlight passing between the neighboring houses wasn’t too warm yet. Beyond Goldwake’s walls, vehicles regularly moved along the residential road, followed every once in a while by the deeper sound of one of the elevated trains passing through another section of the city.

Marek could understand the public announcements now whenever they were loud enough.

Yesterday, he would have heard nothing except words he couldn’t recognize. Today, he knew that one of the nearby transit routes had been temporarily redirected and that some establishment several streets away was advertising some discounted products he never paid attention to.

The Tongue Script really made life easier for him and the others now. At the moment, they were using Prime Language with Rhovan simply because it was the language all of them shared.

Kellan and the others had followed them outside, although Rhovan explicitly told everyone that the lesson was only for Marek.

"Why does he get his own lesson?" Kellan complained while dropping onto one of the chairs beneath the covered portion of the garden.

Rhovan didn’t even turn toward him. "Because I’m teaching him how to use Space. Unless you somehow awakened Ophiuchus while I wasn’t paying attention, I don’t think this will be useful to you."

"Then, can’t I learn something else?" Kellan asked.

"You can do so by watching," Rhovan replied. "You don’t need to participate to learn. Perhaps this is the reason why you’re dumb."

"Tch! Watching is boring."

"Then, why are you here?" Rhovan asked. "Go somewhere else instead."

Kellan clicked his tongue but stayed anyway. Nadia sat beside him with her communication device in hand, while Silas occupied another chair farther away. Rafe had brought his own device and was already looking through something on it, probably another map of the city, and Eren seemed more interested in the notices appearing on his screen.

Meanwhile, Dario was eating again.

Marek looked at the plate in his hand. "Didn’t you just finish breakfast?"

Dario shrugged. "Training makes me hungry."

"You’re not even training right now," Marek argued.

But Dario ignored him and continued eating.

There wasn’t much to say to that.

Marek returned his attention to Rhovan. "So what exactly are you teaching me?"

"An Astral Technique."

That immediately made him more interested.

He had heard the term Astral Techniques before, and he’d seen several people use abilities that probably counted as one, but Rhovan had never properly taught him a specific Technique. Most of their training on Earth involved physical combat, controlling Authority, understanding the difference between Cycles and Degrees, and making sure Marek wouldn’t die the moment he encountered someone who actually knew how to fight.

Rhovan walked toward one of the golden markers. "Before we start, there’s another term you should know. Sign Expression."

Marek frowned. "What’s that?"

"It’s the formal term used in the Prime Continuum for the magical nature a Sign expresses. Fire, Water, Time, Space, and the others. Yours is Space."

"And what does my Sign Expression have to do with Astral Techniques?"

Rhovan picked up one of the flat golden pieces and tossed it lightly between his hands. "Your Expression tells us what kind of Authority you’re dealing with. Space, in your case. Your Cycle determines what portion of that Authority is currently open to you, while your Degree tells us how much control you’ve developed over that portion."

Marek nodded.

Rhovan looked quite pleased with himself as he continued. "An Astral Technique doesn’t increase your Cycle, and it doesn’t give you another Expression. It takes something your existing Authority can already accomplish and gives it a more specific structure."

"So it’s basically learning how to use something I already have with better technique, right??"

"Yes!" Rhovan exclaimed.

Marek thought about it. It did make sense.

According to Rhovan, an Astrant didn’t need an established Technique every time they used their Authority. Someone with control over Fire could still produce flames, direct them, or perform whatever their current Cycle permitted without giving every movement a special name.

Techniques were different because someone had already developed a repeatable way of producing a particular result. Instead of figuring out the same thing differently every time, an Astrant could learn the structure and reproduce it whenever the proper conditions were met.

Marek thought about that for a moment. "So if I already know how to use Space, what’s the advantage?"

"Precision. Efficiency. Consistency. Sometimes safety, depending on what you’re doing." Rhovan placed the marker back on the ground. "There’s a large difference between being capable of doing something and knowing exactly how to do it whenever you want."

Rhovan then pointed toward the two golden markers. "The one I’m teaching you today is called Spatial Parallax. It’s a Stratum I Astral Technique that’s been sitting inside my memory for some reason, and I think it’ll fit you well."

Marek frowned. "Stratum?"

"For Astral Techniques, it’s one of the classifications used to separate them," Rhovan explained. "Stratum I is Fundamental. It means the form itself is built from a basic application of an Authority."

"So, there must be higher Strata than that, right?" Marek asked.

"Yes, there are," Rhovan answered, folding his arms across his chest.

Marek nodded as he thought of another question. "And mastering this one would make it Stratum II?"

Rhovan shook his head. "No. Stratum tells you what the Technique is. Mastery tells you how good you are at using it, so they’re fundamentally different."

Marek furrowed his brows.

Rhovan noticed the change in his expression. "If you become extremely good at using a knife, does the knife suddenly turn into a sword?"

Marek stared at him. "Obviously, no?"

"Exactly. Spatial Parallax will remain Stratum I whether you’ve just learned it or mastered it completely. A Stratum II Technique would be a different Technique."

Marek gave a small nod.

Techniques also had their own level of mastery completely separate from an Astrant’s Degree. Someone first had to learn the form, then become proficient through practice, and eventually master it after developing enough consistency and understanding.

That meant Marek being Degree V did not automatically make him a master of every Space Technique he would encounter in the future.

He had complete practical command of the Authority available within his current Cycle, but that didn’t mean every method ever created for using that Authority had somehow been uploaded into his head.

In hindsight, that would have been ridiculously convenient.

Marek looked toward the six golden markers scattered around the garden. "How many Space Techniques do you know?"

Rhovan became quiet for a few seconds. "Six that you should learn."

Marek immediately caught the wording. "That I should learn?"

"Yes."

"Where did you learn them?"

Rhovan opened his mouth but didn’t answer right away. His expression slowly changed as he tried to remember something, although there didn’t seem to be anything there for him to grab onto.

Eventually, he shook his head. "I don’t know."

Marek stared at him. "You know six Space Techniques but don’t know where you learned them?"

"I remember how they’re supposed to work. I know their limits, how they should be taught, and the mistakes you’re probably going to make while learning them." Rhovan tapped the side of his head. "Anything before that is less cooperative."

That wasn’t exactly new.

There were many things connected to Ophiuchus that Rhovan seemed to know without understanding why he knew them. Sometimes, he’d say something without thinking and only realize afterward that he couldn’t explain where the information came from.

Other times, trying to remember too much gave him a headache.

Marek decided not to push him. Rhovan had already suffered headaches before whenever he tried forcing certain memories connected to Ophiuchus, and there was no point asking questions he genuinely couldn’t answer.

Rhovan moved toward two of the markers sitting several meters apart from each other. "Spatial Parallax is a perception Technique."

Marek looked between them. "What exactly does it perceive?"

"You establish two valid spatial references and recognize the exact relationship between them. Distance, direction, angle, and how their separation changes if either reference moves."

Marek waited.

Rhovan waited, too, blinking his eyes.

"That’s it?" Marek reacted.

He was a bit disappointed.

When Rhovan said he was finally going to teach him a proper Space Technique, Marek imagined teleportation or perhaps something capable of cutting through space itself. Instead, he had received what sounded suspiciously like advanced measuring.

Rhovan seemed to understand exactly what Marek was thinking. "Do not underestimate perception Techniques, Op—Newton! You’ll regret it."

"Fine. How do I start?"