Once again in her garden, this time in a small grove of Earth's pine trees, Melena began recording her video on images. "We have finished out website and have uploaded all our information on Skills, Paths, Stats, and Builds, alongside most of the known Achievements and rewards. By the time this video is released, we should be done with Achievements and rewards and starting on Clashes of Wills, images, or condensing. Like to the website will be in the top right corner and in the description of this video.

"Anyway, today's topic is images. According to everyone but the masters of condensing, images are the most important source of power in the System for those seeking power. The only things that can best even an average image is a master condenser and someone who has gotten first in hundreds of Architect Tournaments for SP to convert into PP to get absurd Stats through high tier Paths.

"Images are simply imagination turned into reality by the System. Literally nothing cannot be an image, assuming you can imagine the entirety of what you wish to be an image, including any processes required. Each Patron is named based on the primary image they used to become a Patron. Patrons of Swords, Duels, Painting, Stars, Bones, Death, Ashes, and even Squares exist. Somehow, even she gets more proteges than I do. My point being that anything can be an image.

"An image can materialize when you take less than 0.4 System seconds, or 0.9832 of your Earth seconds, to call the whole of what you're trying to materialize to the front of your mind. After that, you must simply will the System to materialize the image.

"The most common use for images actually isn't power, it's everyday life; however, I'm sure you can figure out how to use it in such ways on your own. Your whole world is severely above average in terms of imagination from what I've seen and gathered from other Patrons.

"The use I will be talking about today is the creation of Skills. For an image to generate a Skill, the image must be performing an action, whether that be you performing that action or a character performing that action. Simply imagining the character will not generate a Skill, just create a controllable puppet; as you have potentially seen, however, that is not useless. It is actually what the winner of the Level 26 to 40 bracket of the Architect Tournament did to overcome his enemy.

"The best use for images, in the opinion of almost everyone seeking power, is to create Skill Sets, rather than a single Skill. Due to how Skill Sets behave, explained in my video on Skills, it is highly beneficial to have a Skill Set to inflate your PP and Skill totals while staying below the Skill Level Total threshold that will cause you to die. That last bit was some information I forgot to include in my video on Skills, but explained in its comments.

"To create a Skill Set from an image, it is almost required that the image have a history attached to it. This history need not actually exist, it may simply be made up as you make the image; it must be consistent, however, as any conflicts of 'fact' in its history will cause neither fact to give a Skill.

"A common exercise used to create a Skill is to simply write a short, one hundred word story about the image in question. Was the sword of its focus finished being forged the moment the System came, imbuing it with strange power? Maybe the crown is not actually gold as it seems, but the bones of an exotic monster. As long as it is something you will remember, and remember quickly, any small detail helps.

"Additionally, images are unofficially split into 4 tiers. Tier 0 Skills are simple summons, such as a cup or bowl. Tier 1 images are images capable of creating Skills. Tier 2 images are images that are so detailed that you fool the system into believing you are perceiving an actual phenomenon or creature, and as such, do not grant Skills. They do still count as you when it comes to if you get experience from an experience source or not. Finally, tier 3 images are images so far beyond tier 2 that the wielder can force the System to create the exact Skill they want.

"Tier 0 and 1 images are very easy to grasp, conceptually; tier 2 and 3 images, however, are not. Tier 2 images require you keep track of the positions of every atom in the image. To enter tier 2, you need only roughly approximate their positions.

"Most people do not get past tier 1 images because, while a mid tier 2 image is stronger than a peak tier 1 image, a burgeoning tier 2 image is significantly weaker in practice than a high tier 1 image because it does not get assistance from your Skills.

"I have, as yet, been unable to get my image to tier 3, and as such, am not qualified to speak on how you should go about taking an image from tier w to tier 3.

"Finally, I will talk about one final, highly uncommon way to create Skills. You must repeat an image in your head so long and without break that you can bring it to the front of your mind fast enough for it to be a tier 1 image. Any distractions typically break the focus required for this. The Skill will state, 'Unable to quantify exact effects, Skill too erratic," and have an equation for an 'increase in Skill effectiveness.'

"Erratic Skills will automatically fix themselves around Skill Level 500; however, if you properly work on making the image used to produce it tier 1, it may fix itself as early as Level 250. Erratic Skills typically have hard to reproduce effects. Some of the strongest Skills come from erratic Skills, though not all erratic Skills are even useful."

Melena: Don't worry about your late reply. You have work to do, so you do what you must, even if it means ignoring me for a while. I am thousands of years old, a little wait between replies is not going to bother me. Anyway, I just finished my video on images.

Degritone: Naisu~~ I'm surprised there wasn't more there that I didn't already know. Granted, I didn't grill you very hard for more information during the AT, but still. I expected there to be more than just the stuff I'd been told, since I didn't ask for it.

Melena: Despite the complexity of the images created thanks to the image system, it is quite simple, overall.

Degritone: You said Earth's above average in images?

Melena: Yes. After looking at the information on Stavch you sent, I find it hard to believe you managed to come back. Nothing in there is related to dimensional travel, and permanent Stavch vision is very disorienting. I am very glad you managed to come back, though.

Degritone: Me too. Seeing you sad was heartbreaking.

Degritone: This is going to be a painful year or two, but at least I'll have you and any lolis I save along the way to keep me sane, unlike out between multiverses. I miss you~~

Melena: It will be nice to see you again for a much longer period of time when you return.