Chapter 38

Diya woke up wishing he had dreamt of his time with the apparition. They looked like Neer, spoke like him, and displayed the same body language. He had gone over the same key memories over and over again, trying to keep a hold of his image of Neer. Now, Diya no longer knew how much of them were real and which bits he had filled in himself to make them brighter. Considering Neer’s mental health, there had to be times when he wasn’t as amazing as the memories claimed. The little time he had spent with the apparition, even though it wasn’t his real brother, was now a fresh memory in the bank.

The innkeeper had kept her promise despite the lack of paperwork. When Diya showed up the night before, she hurriedly prepared a recently vacated room for him. By the time he finished his dinner, it was ready with a hot bath in an adjoining room. The following morning, when he called an attendant for tea, they arrived with a breakfast of grilled sausages, eggs, fruits, and an assortment of pastries.

“What brought this on?” Diya asked the attendant. “Did something change since my last visit?”

“We had visits from people wearing the Boleyn house’s colours,” she replied, avoiding eye contact. “A lady from the Fair Trade Federation came by asking, too. She paid to house you for an entire week and left a letter.” She nodded at the envelope with Lydia’s handwriting on it. “The landlady wanted to give you the night to rest before bothering you with any of it.”

"Thank her on my behalf, then." Diya made room on the desk for the overladen tray and tipped the woman generously. He could afford to. The attendant had been prompt with his meal and bath the night before as well. "I desperately needed nourishment and rest last night."

"Hope you don't mind me saying, Mr Sen, but you look much better." She shot him a motherly smile. "If I hadn't helped you out of the tub after you fell asleep, I'd think you were a different man altogether."

Heat collected in Diya's ears as the memory came back to him. The bath had been so warm and comfortable that he had dozed off. When the attendant roused him, the water had chilled to lukewarm, and the bubbles were all gone. She'd seen everything. He had nothing more to say, so he smiled and nodded. The woman took the hint and left.

Since Gwyneth wouldn't meet him until midday, Diya took his time with breakfast. Even though the food was delicious, his mind wasn't on it. Thoughts of Explorer and the pen's two inanimate summons plagued him. He knew that one of them would be a coat—Baba's old garment had little life yet. The sleeves had further deteriorated overnight. They'd suffered the slime lord's gastric juices twice and taken a beating from lizard men in between. He didn't need a leatherworker to tell him there was no saving them. Even though a few Climbers were trying to make sleeveless coats fashionable, Diya thought them impractical. A summoned coat with the ability to harden on command would serve him better than anything in the market, anyway.

Diya couldn’t make heads or tails of what to do for his second summon. He half wanted to design something that would work with traps. Diya thought of creating a pendulum axe or log. However, it would be too situational a tool. A little bit of elbow grease would get him the same result.

The second option that came to mind was a barrier or shield. Even though Diya wanted to climb with minimal swashbuckling, recent experiences had taught him that fighting was inevitable. Most decent monster cards, and Gates would demand he fight to access them. As a result, something defensive to block a powerful attack or use as an obstacle would go a long way. Diya’s axe play demanded he fight at close-range. As a result, a shield would help in that department, too. But he worried the coat and the stiffen command would make it redundant.

Thanks to Frozen Ink Lance, he no longer needed to purchase a stave weapon. Instead, now that he was a tier-two Climber, Diya wanted to add a couple of runes to the spell and upgrade it. As a result, he wouldn’t need to waste a summon slot on a weapon. Diya’s thoughts got him daydreaming as he ate breakfast. His unfocused eyes drifted out the window as he pondered what would serve him best. Then a passing Climber caught his eye. He wore heavy plate armour dotted with several cores, and Diya knew what he wanted.

Diya hadn’t given upgrading regular cards much thought as a tier-one Climber. He had a surplus of tier-one cards and only one position in the deck for them. Now, things were different. Diya could combine multiple cards if he wished to create one of a higher tier. Thinking back to the Boleyn tutor’s lessons, he noted the possible combinations.

T1 = 3T0
T2 = 2T1/1T1 + 2T0
T3 = 2T2/1T2 + 2T1
T4 = 2T3/1T3 + 2T2

Diya wasn’t sure if the inkwell would store a summon created through card combinations. However, he couldn’t wait to experiment. After playing with spells and runes, Diya had grown to love the freedom his soul gave him. Slimeskin and Mimic now gave him more tools to continue down Cardsmith's path.

Explorer’s Fountain Pen finally felt at home in Diya’s hand. So far, he’d treated it like a shiv and a magic wand. Now he could put it to real use. It was daunting, but the concept of using his creativity to climb had him excited. He summoned the journal and what he found inside caught him by surprise.

Harden
Soften
Stick
Relax

Since the coat would be a reasonably easy project, Diya started with it. He used Spell Thief on Baba’s old coat. The pen didn’t consume it. Instead, the outline of a card featuring it appeared in the journal.

When Diya traced it, he didn’t add new runes to the left margin. Instead, he added padded sections to the shoulders, spine, breasts, elbows, and forearms. Then Diya added the runes for Harden and Relax to the thicker bits. He wasn’t sure whether it would work but hoped to trigger said runes on command. In their default relaxed state, the areas would remain soft and flexible while decreasing the effects of impact damage. When they got into fights against foes that cut or slashed, he’d trigger the Harden Rune, and the padding would turn into armour.

“This’ll be the first summon,” Diya declared, hoping the fountain pen would respond to his words. “Do you understand me?” He sighed. “How the hell will I know whether the summon is slotted or not?” The soul didn’t react or behave any differently from before. He labelled the card. “This is a Slimeskin Coat. I want my first summon to be this coat.”

The card took shape as a tier-one, but Diya wasn’t satisfied. There was still room for improvement. After some thought, he added the runes for Haste and Silence to the runes along the left border. The card’s tier increased by one.

When Diya drew the card out of the journal and used it, an inky blue coat materialised. It was cold and smooth to the touch except for parts of the sleeve where the original had scarred and warped because of the slime lord’s digestive juices. However, the damage appeared only external. The thicker parts didn’t wobble. Instead, it felt as if someone had moulded hollow sections and stitched them into the coat before filling them with jelly.

“Now, how do I put you in the inkwell—”

A pulse thrummed within the pen. Diya almost jumped out of his skin when it sent a shock wave through his body and then a shiver up his spine. Heart pounding with excitement, Diya used Spell Thief on the coat, and it disappeared into the fountain pen. Much to his surprise, the card disappeared, too. Then when he called the garment forth, ink burst from his soul’s nib. Little black tendrils climbed up his arm to his shoulders and slowly consumed his entire body.

It took a minute for the Slimeskin to finish taking shape. Diya found himself wearing a replica of the card art when it was finished.

“Thank you, Gaia,” Diya whispered, grinning from ear to ear as he studied himself in the mirror. The man looking back at him appeared dark and dangerous. At first glance, the coat seemed no different from garments for sale in the Climber’s Market but dyed a dark blue. However, the longer one stared, its unnatural presence became apparent. A mild gloss gave away the padded sections, and the garment appeared damp. Some would call it slimy.

Before starting on the next idea, Diya focused on the tray on the desk. Lydia’s letter demanded his attention, distracted by breakfast and his soul’s summons. He’d almost forgotten about it. He appreciated her paying for a week of room and board but didn’t expect the FTF to turn a profit so soon. Diya hesitantly ripped open the letter and read its contents.

The site had proven more profitable than either of them expected. Besides the mountain covered in ice spiders, they’d found several nests of an avian creature too. Like the arachnids, they, too, were undocumented. Appraisers had valued the feathers highly for their insulation and beauty. Diya couldn’t help but feel taken aback. Lydia had deposited a bonus in his bank account, and the paid-for room and board were the cherry on top. Since Baba had first-hand experience with the East India Company, he expected the FTF’s dealings to be less than honest. The next time he met Lydia, Diya planned on thanking her with a decent bottle of wine. Then again, she was American. Perhaps she’d appreciate good coffee or bourbon instead.

Since Gwyneth wouldn’t become available for several more hours, Diya dedicated himself to his next summon. Completing it would require him to visit one of the tower’s hubs. However, that didn’t stop him from planning and sketching. He was engrossed in making a more detailed sketch when a knock at the door wrecked his focus. Thinking it might be his new climbing companion, Diya rushed to the door.

A pair of powerful arms wrapped around Diya and pulled him in for a hug. “Fatima saw you leaving the tower,” Baba said. “I was hoping you’d come by to see me later today, but I couldn’t wait any longer.”