Book 2 Chapter 22

In the end, Baba wasn’t as convinced as Diya would’ve liked. He expressed appreciation of his son’s progress and achievements, of course, but refused to make any commitments without evidence. Baba insisted that Diya pushed himself with Runeseeker since it likely would help him achieve feats, unlike any other climber. Once he understood the ability and had nurtured it, Baba would make a decision on how to progress.

For the time being, Baba was satisfied with where he was. Diya had never shown much interest in his father’s financials but was aware he earned a fair deal as Graham Boleyn’s number two. The job came with food and board. As a result, Baba lived frugally, and instead of letting the money pile up in the bank, he invested it in the Bengali community. He owned shares in Jit’s Tea Shop and the businesses on either side of it. Now, the owner had given Baba rent-free accommodation above the store. No one outside of the community knew of his location.

Diya had suggested the dojo to keep Baba busy, but after three decades of working non-stop, he wanted some time to relax. Even though Diya wanted to tell Baba about Oss and his future goals, he kept the information to himself. It was a stressful time for both of them, and he was glad to see his father safe. That’s all that mattered. Kartik knew Baba’s location because he, too, belonged to the Bengali community, and they were friends. Hopefully, the information wouldn’t get out, and he could rest easy.

Much to Diya’s disappointment, when he suggested divulging the location to Lydia, Baba shot it down. He wasn’t ready for any unknowns to learn where he was. Instead, Baba agreed to send a runner to the FTF’s headquarters once a week. If Diya couldn’t visit the tea shop himself, he’d send messages down to the organization, and they’d pass them on.

It bothered him that Baba wouldn’t just go with his plan, but it wasn’t new. The older man always believed he knew best—after decades of dealing with the nobility and New Calcutta’s organizations, he probably did. Since Baba tended to worry, he didn’t feel bad about keeping information regarding Oss from him. Baba’s negative tone when talking about Neer befriending tower locals discouraged him.

The pair had spent a couple of hours discussing Diya’s soul, and Baba loved all the runes and keywords he had gathered. He believed they carried more value than any weapon or offensive spell. Since summoning and casting spells tired exhausted, Baba advised he use them sparingly until his next upgrade. Inexperienced Climbers put too much trust in their spells, and if the magical abilities failed, they’d find themselves too tired to use their martial skills effectively. Instead, Baba advised Diya to focus on adding more passive effects to his summons.

“What do you reckon I should look for in my next upgrade?” Diya had before parting ways.

“I don’t know. Figure it out for yourself.” Baba’s reply surprised Diya.

“That’s not fair, Baba. I’m asking you because you have experience guiding your students and the Boleyn parties.”

“Don’t get me wrong, son. It’s not that I don’t want to advise you. I just can’t. I give blanket recommendations to external students. When advising Boleyn troops, I’d design plans and paths for entire parties, not individuals. Since you’re building a party, you need to figure out for yourself what role you’d like to fulfill.” Baba had shed his authoritarian, teacher tone ever since Diya broke out on his own. “Do you want to be the vanguard, an assassin, a dedicated tracker, or the party’s trump card? Decide what you’d like to do first. Then, communicate with your party and see what works for you as a group. Gwyneth has a better head for souls than I do. She’ll advise you a lot better than I can, anyway. Then gather information from people more in tune with the relevant interval’s market. I believe in you, Diya, and I’m sure you can figure out your future path without me holding your hand.”

“Thanks, Baba,” Diya said, feeling humbled. He’d spent several years arguing with his father and rebelling against the way of the sword. Diya’s first instinct had been to argue. Now he understood that his father saw him as an adult and a Climber. Baba trusted Diya, and the sentiment had left him feeling warm inside.

Their final topic of conversation had been romance, and Diya had drawn a line there. He wasn’t ready to discuss the matter with Baba. Diya wasn’t sure whether he was prepared to address the issue at all. Baba had laughed and told him that Victoria was interested in him. Despite her family’s actions, she had gone above and beyond for the Sens. At the same time, Diya’s embarrassment suggested he wanted Gwyneth now. Given their sleeping arrangements and recent experiences, it was likely that she felt about him similarly.

Baba had brushed it off when Diya had brought up matters of staying professional in climbing parties. Instead, he told Diya that the outside world’s societal rules didn’t matter in the tower. It was the wilderness, after all. The only rules and norms were the ones they decided on as a party.

In the end, Baba sent Diya off with sweets and cured meats for his party. There was a skin of sweet wine for him and Gwyneth to share too. Diya accepted the latter hesitantly. He had never expected such advice from his stoic, conservative father.

Diya spotted Yuki and Mei once again in Climber’s Market. Mei had shed her Japanese outfit for armored clothing better suited for an augmenter. Yuki wore the same clothes as before but now carried Koki’s sword too. Spotting it lit a fire in Diya’s belly. She was indeed a vile human being. He hoped to use the FTF’s resources to keep an eye out for Hina in case she had survived.

It was evening by the time Diya finished purchasing food and ointments—he avoided the Boleyn stores and purchased medicinal supplies from the FTF instead and a Core-enhanced dagger for Gwyneth. The last cost him fifty pounds, but he considered it a necessary expense. She couldn’t always rely on his summoned spear; everyone needed a backup weapon.

The sky-mantis Core didn’t just increase the weapon’s cutting ability but enveloped the blade in swirling winds. The craftsman claimed a skilled user could fire wind blades from the dagger with training. Diya had his doubts but believed the tool would combine brilliantly with the lamp’s lightning imbuement ability. They could stick the dagger atop a Slimeskin staff to make a spear as well.

Once done, Diya entered the tower and made a beeline for an upgrade station. He summoned the journal’s card and held it against the stone pillar. The pillar lit up when he drew Evergaze’s card out of his pocket.

This little gremlin watched the sky and stars. Unlike most of his kind, he lived aware of the world around him. He wondered whether the twinkling lights were real or a conjuration of the entity that controlled his home. Unfortunately, like most gremlins, Evergaze lacked the courage to climb the tower and find answers.

Gremlins are physically amongst the weakest of creatures. They naturally resist aether-born attacks but, as a result, struggle to wield aether, too. Evergaze overcame his kind’s limitations and found a way to meld magic with his mischievous self.

Absorbing Evergaze’s core will temper your mind, increasing the speed at which you think and improving your general reaction time. Your body will grow resistant to all psychic, metaphysical, and magical effects born of aether. Aetheric flames and frost won’t be as harmful. However, stones flung using aether will still break your bones.

Bag of Tricks will transform Chronicle into Chronicler’s Chest. Besides absorbing the contents of all books, parchments, and maps the journal touches, you will also gain ten-square-foot of storage space. Time for stored objects will pass half as fast. No living organism, besides seeds, eggs, and similar entities, may enter the space.

Commander of Tools will empower Ink Mage. Runes won’t need direct contact with the soul or caster to activate. Instead, the command and activation range will increase to fifteen feet. Conjuring summons and casting spells will no longer require the pen summoned. Instead, any existing ink construct within fifteen feet may be used as the source.

The lack of telekinesis didn’t disappoint Diya. Instead, the upgrades on offer felt better than anything he could ever imagine for the journal. Bestiaries listed gremlins as the weakest of creatures. Climbers used them for martial training skills. However, Diya could see how people could struggle against swarms of them, especially so if they relied on magical attacks like Mei. The gremlins likely resisted her frostfire. Taking Evergaze down mostly likely came down to Yukiho alone.

Diya guessed most people wrote gremlins off as weak tricksters with nothing valuable to offer. However, the variety of utilitarian abilities appeared perfect for his secondary soul. Chronicler’s Chest had no combat potential. However, it meant they’d never have to leave monster corpses or other valuable finds behind. The journal could store them for a couple of days without spoiling.

The upgrade to Ink Mage appealed to him even more. Activating runes from a distance meant he could now build more complex traps. Using the ink in his summons for spells or other purposes excited him even more.

Diya went through the upgrade and eagerly opened the journal, looking forward to the new runes.

Aether
Animate
Store Will

The card gave him fewer runes than he had hoped. However, all three felt useful. He didn’t have the time or means to test them. Aether fuelled everything in Gaia’s Ark. Diya didn’t know how it functioned, but time would tell. Store Will made little sense, too. However, Animate excited him.

Explorer’s Fountain Pen allowed inanimate summons. Diya hoped the new runes would help him overcome the limitation.