Diary

Day 1

Lyte suggested I write a diary so I am. I don’t know the date, but I might add it when I find out. Today wasn’t very interesting so I’ll start by talking about yesterday instead.

Lyte gave me a gift. Apparently I can now survive falling from the top of the tower, though I wish he could have just told me without having to demonstrate throwing me off. I feel it’s something incredible, but Lyte didn’t seem that bothered, so maybe it isn’t. Or he’s just a monster. He is just a monster, just remembered him telling me his health and mana values. How does anyone get that strong? And that’s saying nothing of that ridiculous guardian dragon of his.

We also visited the town yesterday, met a bunch of people. Henrietta is nice, like that old matron who always let us stay in her attic, though I’m not much of a fan of having my hair and tail brushed. I probably won’t need the bra or period stuff she gave me, my breasts are too small and I haven’t had a period since I was 12.

We also met Baroness Lupia. I quite like her too. She’s smart.

As for today, it was raining so we just stayed inside. Lyte gave me a book to read, The Hobbit. It’s very fun! I can’t wait to find out what happens!

Lyte is currently out, he said it was dangerous, I wonder what he is doing.

My health and mana pools have increased again. This is very weird.

Day 2

When I woke up this morning, the air in the tower had changed. It feels more dense and makes my tongue tingle. The blue streaks in the pool have increased, I think Lyte did something to increase the output of the mana spring.

We visited the town again today and Lyte gave me some money. Actual silver coins! I think I had more money in my hands at that moment than at any point in my life previously. I bought only a few items, less than a single silver, but Lyte refused to take the rest of the coins back. Maybe I should have bought more.

We had dinner at a place called the Oxhead Bar, it was the best fish I’d ever tasted. Lyte also told me about the plan he’d come up with Miss Lupia, some kind of adventurer test. I agreed to it, I’d always been curious about adventurers and I expect this to be a good chance to actually see them in action.

The stars were beautiful tonight, it was so clear. I’ve never really paid much attention to them before, the night was always just a time to keep your head down. I hope I can see more in the future.

Day 3

Lyte is terrible at naming. Who names an exercise routine after bacon? My body aches all over, it’s a weirdly good feeling though. When did I last have the opportunity to actual exercise for the sake of exercising?

I spent the rest of the day in the library, reading The Hobbit.

There’s a storm rolling in. I hope there isn’t any thunder.

Day 4

There was thunder. I thought the tower would be destroyed but it seems to have gotten by safely.

Today was the first day of the adventurer test. They’re rather intimidating but seem nice, except for the arrogant douche. I don’t like him. It was funny watching him get flattened by Lyte though.

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It really put into context how powerful Lyte is. If he were to try and hurt me, there would be nothing I could do to stop him. But he hasn’t done anything. It’s weird how non-threatening he is for being so dangerous.

He said I was like a little sister to him, but I didn’t have siblings so... was that how I viewed him? A mixture of occasionally wanting to throttle him, feeling comfortable around him, mild despair, happiness, and I suppose a little bit of awe; he was absurd after all. Is this what having an elder sibling is like?

Lyte... how I felt about him is complicated.

Day 5

Lyte gave me a subspace bag. A subspace bag! He said he trusts me. I think I’m starting to trust him too.

Which is absurd considering how powerful he is. I think I saw a little bit of that when Lyte placed his symbol onto the tower doors. I didn’t really get the Titles they were talking about, but I think the others were focusing on the wrong thing. Lyte’s symbol feels powerful, a hint of danger combined with many overlapping sensations, it feels like Lyte himself. I wasn’t expecting the feeling of uncertainty under all the others though, not with how confidently he behaves.

The chase and fight with the Wind Wolves was scary, but Lyte was calm so it wasn’t too scary. I’ve never felt anything as oppressive as the aura shock from the adventurers, though. That wasn’t fun at all. It was hilarious seeing everyone’s faces after Lyte defeated the Wolves.

Learning about how the adventurer system worked was also pretty interesting.

Day 6

When I woke up, I found I had a new Title, the Resident of the Abyss Tower. It was fun experimenting with Lyte to see what it did.

Day 7

Today was uneventful, I pretty much just did my exercise and stayed in the library reading.

Day 8

Same as yesterday. I finished The Hobbit and started on The Dragon Rider. The beginning was odd, I had to spend quite a lot of time checking the dictionary and then checking other entries of the dictionary to understand what it meant. The dictionary seemed to be written assuming these things were common knowledge, which was rather weird.

Day 9

Spent the day in the library again, this time just reading through the dictionary. Lots of odd stuff in there. Something isn’t quite right, I can feel it. Just what is it though? It’s right on the edge of my mind.

Day 10

Lyte’s done something crazy again. A space station, really? I’d never even thought that such a thing could be possible, and no one would believe me if I were to try to tell them. Lyte also pointed me in the direction of something that made what I was missing yesterday overly obvious, and now that I’ve realised, it makes me wonder how I missed it before. He makes constant references to things I’d never heard of, and his behaviour and common sense are just wrong, plus his spelling during that game, Scrabble I think he called it, was too laborious for him to be properly fluent.

Is he just an idiot, or did he want me to work it out? I can’t tell. The question is whether I ask him or not?

Would he throw me out if I were to confront him? No, I don’t think he would, it doesn’t seem like the kind of thing that he would do.

I’ll ask him tomorrow.

Tear’s PoV

Today, I’ll have to ask him.

I made my way downstairs, grabbing a quick breakfast then continuing down the Tower in search of Lyte. I found him on the crafting floor, where he was struggling to push a large black-grey stone. I’d previously seen him lift an entire tree with one hand, so for him to struggle with something of such a small size generated a weird disconnect in my mind.

Something compelled me to try and push it too, and to both of our surprises, it actually moved. It was really heavy though. Lyte was excited about it, and started making weights. Watching him carve the stone was… an experience. The accuracy and speed was simply incredible, as was the efficiency; he used every last piece of the stone before pulling another out of that seemingly endless subspace of his.

Learning how to use them properly was interesting, Lyte insisting on it to prevent me from injuring myself, and once I felt the weight of some of the exercises, I understood just how badly it could go if I were to do it incorrectly.

The exercise also helped me think. I considered just how I would broach the subject with Lyte while following him with my eyes. After some time he set his ‘squats bar’ back onto its rack and moved to the centre of the room, before standing in an unusual stance and making a couple movements that looked vaguely similar to those I’d seen in a couple bar fights, though these were clearly more refined. He was just getting into a rhythm when he suddenly stopped, my eyes automatically following the flow into the movement he didn’t make.

It was time to stop procrastinating. A good word that, I was pleased I remembered it from the dictionary. No! No procrastinating! I need to talk to Lyte about that secret of his, especially to tell him to hide it better. After all, he hides it so poorly-

“It’s so much smoother without that damn exoskeleton!”

“Case in point,” I murmured, Lyte raising an eyebrow at me.

But should I really ask?

“What’s wrong? You can tell me.”

I should. At least to check if I’m correct or not.

“Lyte, are you an otherworlder?”