Chapter 389: The Wrong Kind of Attention

The Guildmaster continued staring at Kael as though waiting for him to admit that the entire story had been a joke. Kael allowed the silence to stretch, then placed one hand beside the black egg resting on the table.

"Anyway, now that you know why the challenge changed, can we return to the reason I came here? I still have no idea how to hatch this."

The old man did not even glance at the egg. "No, we cannot simply return to the familiar. You just told me that a divine being spent Causality to interfere with one of your Trials, and you expect me to treat that like an unfortunate scheduling problem."

"There isn’t much else I can tell you," Kael said. "His name is Ulsal, he apparently dislikes me, and Torrac said the interference was expensive. Unless you know why he did it, staring at me isn’t going to improve the situation."

"You defeated a Trial Ulsal created. That may be all the reason he needs."

Kael leaned back and crossed his arms. "That makes no sense. He built a Trial, I entered it, and I completed it. If he wanted me to fail, he should have designed it better."

The Guildmaster released a short laugh, though little amusement remained in his expression. "That answer alone may explain why he dislikes you. Divine beings do not always judge success by the same standard you do. You overcame the danger, but the Trial may have existed to teach something beyond simple survival."

Kael remembered Torrac explaining the Trial of Greed. The intended lesson had never been particularly difficult to understand. He had been given a reward, offered another, and expected to recognize when the risk had become greater than the value. The sensible choice had been to leave with what he had already earned.

Kael had understood that perfectly. He had simply taken the second reward and survived anyway.

The Guildmaster watched the realization pass across his face. "You know what the lesson was."

"Unfortunately, yes. The Trial was supposed to teach me when to stop pursuing a reward."

"And what did you do after understanding that?"

"I decided the next reward was worth the danger and took it anyway." Kael paused before adding, "Then another reward appeared, so I took that one too."

The old man closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "You entered a divine Trial about greed, understood its warning, deliberately ignored it twice, and escaped with everything it offered. Ulsal may consider that less of a victory and more of a personal insult."

"The rewards were extremely good."

"That does not improve the explanation. It only proves the Trial identified the correct weakness."

Kael smiled, but the Guildmaster’s expression remained severe. When the old man asked what the Trial had given him, Kael answered with two words.

"Trade secret."

"Good." The Guildmaster nodded with immediate approval. "Curiosity has killed more people in this Tower than monsters have. I wanted to know what you received, but knowing when to leave a question unanswered is one reason I have survived this long. You should develop the same habit whenever divine attention is involved."

Kael lowered his arms. "What makes talking about it so dangerous? Ulsal already knows who I am, and keeping his name secret won’t make him forget me."

"The danger is not limited to Ulsal." The Guildmaster placed both forearms on the table and leaned closer. "When people hear that a divine being has noticed a Climber, they imagine blessings, rare Classes, exclusive Trials, and artifacts that cannot be obtained anywhere else. They rarely care whether the attention is favorable. To the right kind of desperate person, hatred from a god still represents a possible path toward power."

The old man explained that the ordinary Tower of Trials maintained a far more open relationship with divine beings. Gods, Constellations, ancient spirits, and entities that avoided every recognizable title regularly selected living Climbers who interested them. Some called those Climbers champions or apostles. Others treated them as representatives, investments, or entertainment.

The title mattered less than the relationship. A chosen Climber might receive guidance, opportunities, blessings, specialized Trials, or equipment designed to encourage a particular form of growth. If that Climber died, most divine patrons simply turned their attention elsewhere.

"They have countless people to choose from," the Guildmaster said. "One champion dies, and another eventually becomes interesting. A being that has existed for thousands of years rarely allows a single mortal failure to inconvenience it for long."

Kael thought of Yenna and the small red creature accompanying her. He had once mistaken it for a raccoon, though its temperament and apparent indestructibility made honey badger feel more accurate. Whatever the creature had been before losing its divinity, it had not abandoned Yenna after her death. It had followed her into the Reverse Tower and remained beside her when it would have been easier to find someone else.

That relationship clearly belonged to another category, but it was Yenna’s secret. Kael kept it to himself.

"The Reverse Tower changes the value of divine attention," the Guildmaster continued. "Everyone entering this place has already died. From a god’s perspective, you have failed the most basic expectation placed upon any chosen mortal: remaining alive long enough to accomplish something useful."

Kael glanced at his hands. "So why would a divine being continue watching someone after death?"

"Usually for one of two reasons. The dead Climber may be exceptional enough to become interesting again, or they may have offended something powerful enough that it refuses to forget them." The Guildmaster studied Kael for a moment. "The fact that Ulsal spent Causality to remove your ability to surrender answers which category you occupy."

"That sounds bad when you explain it like that."

"It is bad regardless of how I explain it. You are already dead, Kael, and a divine being apparently wants you to experience an even more permanent failure. He paid a meaningful price to interfere with a challenge that otherwise had nothing to do with him. That is no longer passing irritation."

The absurdity of the situation finally caught up with Kael, and he laughed. "I had never even heard of the bastard before entering his Trial. Somehow I earned divine hatred by completing a test too successfully."

"You did more than complete it. You rejected its purpose, took everything Ulsal offered, and survived the consequence meant to punish that decision. For a sufficiently proud being, the distinction matters."

Kael’s laughter weakened as he remembered what had happened after the Death Knight challenge. Torrac had explained how much Causality Ulsal had spent, along with the additional compensation Kael received because of the interference.

Kael had responded by asking the contractor to deliver a message.

The Guildmaster noticed the change in his expression. "There is something else. What did you do?"

"Nothing that changes the current problem."

"That answer has never preceded good news. Tell me what happened."

Kael considered lying, but the old man already knew enough to recognize one. "I asked Torrac to pass a message to Ulsal."

The Guildmaster became very still. "You used a system contractor to communicate with the divine being who had just tried to kill you. What exactly did you tell him?"

"I thanked him for the extra rewards."

The old man covered his face with both hands. His shoulders rose with a long breath before he lowered them again and regarded Kael with exhausted disbelief.

"Do you possess some instinct for antagonizing entities capable of erasing you?"

"Apparently. In my defense, the compensation was generous."

"That was compensation for surviving his attempt to kill you. Thanking him made certain he knew you had benefited from his failure."

Kael had already reached the same conclusion, though he saw no advantage in admitting it. "I’ll avoid sending another message."

"You will avoid doing anything that encourages Ulsal to spend more Causality on you. That includes taunting him, seeking his Trials, investigating his artifacts without preparation, or deciding that divine hostility is an efficient source of rewards."

The specificity of the warning felt slightly insulting. Unfortunately, Kael could not call it inaccurate.

The Guildmaster’s voice hardened. "You also cannot tell anyone else about this. Your identity, the interference, Torrac, Ulsal...keep all of it contained."

"I wasn’t planning on telling anyone."

"Some, you could, for example, The Fist King. He would gladly protect you, so I doubt secrecy will change his behavior. As for the dwarf, he would become extremely unpleasant if anyone killed one of his better customers. Those are acceptable risks. Everyone else gets nothing."

Kael smiled faintly. "That is probably the most accurate description of Andre’s loyalty I’ve heard."

"I am serious. Divine attention has value, especially inside the Reverse Tower. Information brokers would sell your identity to any guild willing to pay. Others would kill or imprison you if they believed Ulsal would reward them. Some Climbers would challenge you because they imagined defeating someone noticed by a god might transfer that attention to them."

"That last group sounds particularly stupid."

"They are, and that will not stop them. People become remarkably creative when pursuing power, especially after death has already taught them nothing."

The Guildmaster also warned that established guilds might attempt to use Kael as bait, hoping Ulsal’s interference would expose a hidden Trial or create access to divine Causality. Others would offer protection and gradually turn that protection into ownership. Even well-meaning Climbers could become dangerous if they spoke to the wrong person.

By the time he finished, Kael understood the true weight of Causality and Divinity.

"All right," Kael said. "My divine situation is terrible, I should keep it secret, and antagonizing Ulsal again would be unwise. Can we finally discuss the egg?"