An absence of color is black, it means that light is fully absorbed and not reflected. White means it has all the colors in the spectrum, thus light is fully reflected. Being transparent means that light goes right through, yet there are degrees of transparency. For instance the atmosphere is transparent at night, as you can see the stars, but turns light blue during the day. Light blue being the color of the atmosphere, which is thick enough to prevent you from seeing through it.
Anyhow, IDK what's going on in this chapter but a bunch of gobbledygook.