There is no moonlight during the daytime.
But the moon is not the only choice for divination.
Matilda: Hmm, judging from the omen, it's at "the northwest, the beginning and the ending of the ring, where the wall reflects repeatedly."
Holding the crystal orb with both hands, Matilda keeps adjusting her position while trying to figure out the vague vision in the sphere.
Sotheby follows her with a curious face.
Matilda: "The northwest" of SPDM, this one is straightforward.
Matilda: "The beginning and the ending of the ring" is not a problem, either. The icon of the Computing Center is exactly the Ouroboros, a serpent eating its own tail. Here we are.
Matilda: But, "where the wall reflects repeatedly" ... Does that mean a closed room with mirrors?
Matilda: The mirror in the Display Center is a huge kinescope in the wall, and the one in the Airtight Laboratory is a crystal-clear observation window.
Matilda: The one in the rehab center? No no no. The mirrors in the operation room have been replaced with curved electronic screens of steel structure after that Zeno pilot made a scene.
Matilda: So, where is the answer?
She slowly turns around, trying to find the perfect angle for a clearer vision.
A white figure storms away from her side, almost bumping off the orb she tightly holds.
Matilda: Hey! You just hit me. Shouldn't you apologize?
Researcher: Ah ...!
Researcher: Where did you come from, dork? Wasting my time!
The man groans a curse and hastily leaves this place with his hands covering his nose and mouth.
Matilda: What?! How could he say that? That's rude!
Sotheby: That gentleman doesn't look well. He's covering his face. His nose is running with purple liquid. Oh, dear! Did he drink a whole bottle of purple crossandra juice?!
Sotheby: He needs treatment immediately! Oh! If only I had brought the phoenix heart nerves with me ...
Matilda: He ran towards the rehab center. Humph! Nothing to worry about. Just another patient trying to prove he has recovered.
The hasty man has disappeared completely. The little incident doesn't raise anyone's attention.
Matilda: The rehab center has all the facilities and medicines he needs. He will be properly treated. But why is he wearing the uniform of Laplace?
Matilda: Hmm, and where's the receptionist here?
The lobby of the Scientific Computing Center welcomes them with a deafening silence.
The counter is no longer busy with people but with an auto-recognition device instead.
Sotheby: Does everyone go to the weekend party night?
Probing around the counter, the temporary investigator seems determined to dig out a party gramophone from somewhere.
Matilda: Absolutely not. The researchers here are too busy to do that!
Matilda: The Computing Center is working on the most urgent and vital project—the research on the immunity to the "Storm." We should not disturb them unless it's an emergency.
Matilda: So, please stop calling the office and put down the telephone, Ms. Sotheby. This is not the ear of a Teakettler, and it won't take you to any twist balls!
The monitor assistant can't stand the difference in their terminology anymore.
Matilda: &$#% ... I know she's a rookie, but even so, she's way too unbelievable!
Matilda: "Guide new members with caution and patience. Trigger their afflatus at the right time." Oh, I have to admit, Vertin is doing it better than me for now.
Her mumbling is interrupted by the owner of the cheerful footsteps.
Sotheby: Ms. Bouanich, I just read the map on the counter.
Sotheby: You mentioned "where the wall reflects repeatedly." Does the vision refer to the Racket Ball Center here? You see, its icon is a bouncing ball.
Matilda: ...!
Matilda: Let me take a look!
Matilda: Found it. This is really the right direction!
Matilda: Next, "empty boxes, glassware, and copper pieces." Hmm. Looks like our destination has piles of metal.
The vision in the orb is growing clearer, proving that they're heading in the right direction.
That eases Matilda's upset mind.
Matilda: Ahem … good job, Assistant Sotheby.
Matilda: I have to say, I might have gone a bit too hard on you. You are more capable than I thought. Thanks to your prompt reminder, we have saved quite some time.
Sotheby: Sotheby is glad to help!
The young lady gladly hops along the way, while she doesn't give up peering at Matilda's crystal orb.
Sotheby: Ms. Bouanich, since you're such a talented diviner ...
Sotheby: Why don't you just divine the reason for the "Storm" with your inherited arcanum ability?
Sotheby: According to Ms. Moissan, the reason still remains a mystery. If the crystal orb can reveal its truth, everything will be much easier for Vertin and her team!
Matilda: D-Divine the reason for the "Storm"?!
The brave assumption astonishes this great diviner. She almost drops the orb.
Matilda: That's IMPOSSIBLE, for sure!
Matilda: It's a typical mistake of layman's to believe one can see everything through divination!
Matilda: You are an expert on potions and arcane creatures, but you have little knowledge on other subjects. Haven't you received any systematic education on arcanum?
Sotheby: Education on arcanum? I'm, of course, well-educated in arcanum, with Ms. Moissan as my tutor, and my arcane friends such as Typhon from the Auto Island, Jupiter, and ...
Matilda: … Alright, alright, enough.
She shakes her head, stopping her from listing another name for an arcane creature that nobody has ever heard of.
Matilda: I have understood the fact that the education you have received is not systematical ... or, say, incomplete, imperfect, inelegant!
Matilda: Humph ... But don't worry, because you are talking to the kindhearted Matilda! She will spend her valuable time to make it up for you.
The great monitor assistant clears her throat and starts recalling what she learned when she was 12.
Matilda: In fact, the system of arcanum knowledge is not completely separated from that of human science. For example, the modern pharmacy and chemistry actually originated from the experiments of potions and alchemy in the ancient times.
Matilda: They developed into two different systems because arcanists focused more on the knowledge ignored by scientists, which is Gnosis.
Matilda: The "knowledge" we learn from divination is exactly under this category.
Sotheby: Wow ...
Sotheby's eyes light up with amazement.
Matilda takes out her notebook and draws a brief sketch in it.
Matilda: Let me fill you in with more details. If two human researchers test Snell's Law at two different places at the same time without making any mistakes, they will always reach the same conclusion.
Matilda: Or, if two potionists use the same ingredients and follow the same formula to make the Cough Cough Stop Stop Potion separately, their products will also have similar effects.
Matilda: However, if two diviners respectively perform divination on the same thing, they will probably see totally different "visions."
Matilda: Because what the divination shows is merely "omens." The interpretation of these omens is in fact a kind of subjective deduction based on the reality, and there is no such thing as a standard answer.
Matilda: Even if the two diviners draw the same conclusion, it is more of a coincidence than a result that implies generalizability. So, diviners never check the accuracy of their divination through the review of peers!
Matilda: And this is an example of Gnosis. Unlike human sense, it is unique and possesses no universality.
She puts it away and wiggles her index finger.
Matilda: In other words, even if someone finds out a reason for the "Storm" through divination, they can't have other diviners verify it, because a hundred different diviners will give out a hundred different conclusions. The scene will be even busier than a concert at Musikverein.
Matilda: That being said, the more possible result we get from the divination is nothing! Divination cannot bring knowledge which the diviners have never learned. The divination of such world-class knowledge as complicated as the reason for the "Storm" can only be performed by world-class diviners.
Matilda: We may find one or two diviners like that if time continues to be reversed, like Nostradamus, hmm, but he lived in the 16th century.
Matilda: Besides, even Nostradamus is not always right.
Sotheby: But ... but Ms. Bouanich is!
Sotheby: Thanks to your divination, we're getting closer and closer to that report, right?
Matilda: ...!
Matilda: Y-You, you ... you are right! Finding items, interpreting dreams, and making simple prophecies ... All these things are just a breeze for the bright and clever Matilda!
Matilda: But inquiring about the "Storm" is beyond my ability, and it will only bring misfortune. Humph! I will never make such a stupid mistake!
Matilda regains her radiant appearance.
Matilda: In fact, this half of the report and the handwriting of the author are perfect divination media.
Matilda: Besides, our target is not far away from us, and I'm familiar with the surroundings, which have made things much easier than usual.
Matilda: It is true diviners can improve the accuracy and controllability of their Gnosis by practicing repeatedly, holding the rituals properly, and making targeted preparations ... but that still doesn't mean the result will be absolutely accurate.
Sotheby nods. No one can tell from her face whether she truly understands that announcement or not.
Reading the vision in the orb, Matilda leads Sotheby around another corner nimbly.
Sotheby: The report says, that person who mentioned the school of numbers claimed she was enlightened about the year of the next "Storm" ...
Sotheby: Is that also by divination?
Matilda: Hmm, I am not sure what kind of arcane skills they used, but numbers are indeed a kind of omen, too. I am not talking about the specific knowledge of mathematics, but the numbers themselves, because they are even more abstract than images and languages as a kind of symbol ...
Matilda: Even so, there is no way for us to verify this prophet, unless it really comes true.
Matilda: That is also why it takes almost nothing to spread a prophecy. My mother told me many people in the outside world write to the Foundation every day, claiming to be prophets who can predict the doomsday and thus requesting unemployment benefits ...
Sotheby: The doomsday? Unemployment benefits? Oh, my! The outside world is far more wonderful than I thought! How fascinating!
Sotheby: Ms. Bouanich is even greater than I expected!
Matilda: Humph ... you bet!
Matilda: W-Wait! D-Did you mean I was not the greatest?
They have reached the end of the corridor.
Matilda puts away the orb and looks at a wooden door with no sign in front of her.
This is where the vision leads them to—the room next to the Racket Ball Center.
Matilda: Here we are, Ms. Sotheby.
Matilda: Now, this is the moment to verify the result of my divination.
Squeak—
She opens the door with a slight push.
