The night was deep and quiet.
The only sounds in the attic were the steady breaths of his mother and sister as they slept.
Beneath the kerosene lamp, Gallo wrote on a sheet of ordinary paper with a pencil.
His family couldn't afford ink or a fountain pen. Gallo thought that once they moved into a new apartment, it would be nice to have a study of his own, complete with a fountain pen, ink, and bookshelves... Though with his memory, bookshelves weren't really necessary.
At most, they'd be decorative. Thinking about it that way, Gallo found himself wanting a study even less.
The original dark red writing in the notebook had now vanished, but Gallo had already read its contents once and committed them firmly to memory.
He recalled the forbidden ritual for communicating with the "Eternal Vanguard of the Blood River Conquest · Blood-Howl Gorak," his pencil scratching softly across the paper.
But he wasn't copying it verbatim. Instead, he was making a bold alteration.
He carefully replaced and revised every reference to the demon's true name, its symbolic marks, and the specific prayers steeped in bloodlust and madness.
Since he possessed knowledge related to Subspace, revising the ritual wasn't particularly difficult for him.
He preserved the ritual's core structure, but cleverly altered its final destination, anchoring it instead to the soul imprint formed by his own [Spirituality].
To make sure that they could use the ritual to successfully reach his soul imprint in Subspace, Gallo had deliberately left a trace of spiritual energy on the paper.
If Sacia and the others really followed the revised ritual, they wouldn't summon a demon from Subspace. They would summon a spiritual projection of Gallo Channing.
It was extremely risky, but it was also the only way he could think of to temporarily satisfy their demands, investigate their motives, and seize the initiative.
Once he finished revising that part, he began writing down the rest of the notebook's contents.
Drawing on his powerful memory and ability to learn, he fluently translated the passages about the ancient Askia Dynasty:
"...When the final sacrifice was complete and hymns of blood and fire rang through the royal capital, the gates to the divine realm swung open... The royal family and faithful who revered Gorak's will cast aside their mortal bodies.
Their souls bathed in the divine grace of eternal warfare and journeyed to the promised kingdom, forged from bronze and skulls, where they gained undying glory and their final resting place..."
Gallo's pencil paused as he reached this passage.
To someone unaware of the truth, it might have seemed like an epic account of an ancient faith's ascension. But now that he knew Gorak's true nature, it was clearly a horrifying picture of the entire dynasty's ruling class being seduced and sacrificed by a Subspace demon, leading to the dynasty's destruction and the collapse of its civilization.
Was this so-called undying glory what Sacia and the others were pursuing?
He removed and revised every passage related to Blood-Howl Gorak, making suitable substitutions. He replaced Gorak with himself, though naturally he wouldn't use his real-life name.
He could have gone with an impressive-sounding title, like that of some deity, but he felt that calling himself the God of something would be too limiting.
He wanted a title like that of the God of his previous life: omnipotent and omniscient.
"Uh... 'Holy True Lord.'" Gallo smiled. He found the title amusing, so he settled on it and replaced the name throughout the translated passages.
He carefully put away the translated pages, then slipped the now-blank Human Skin Notebook into the large outer pocket of his jacket.
Early the next morning, Gallo got up. After his Inspiration and Spirituality had improved, he felt his mind had become clearer and more ethereal. Even when he woke from a deep sleep, he could become alert in an instant.
He took the chamber pot from the attic down to the public wash area in the alley behind Valen Street, then washed up quickly with painfully cold water.
He also wrapped a piece of buttered white bread in wax paper to eat for lunch.
"Gallo, are you going to work?" Lily asked sleepily.
"Yeah, I'm heading out now." Gallo turned and saw Lily reaching out from under the covers. In her hand was the cloth doll she'd made, its face sewn into a particularly crooked expression.
"Belina also said that big brother shouldn't work too hard..."
Gallo smiled, went over, and gently patted Lily on the head. Then he tapped Belina with a finger, teasing, "Then Belina has to take good care of Lily and Mom, too!"
"Belina says she knows," Lily replied languidly.
Gallo nodded, then went straight out the door. As he descended the narrow wooden stairs and walked along Valen Street, he immediately sensed the source of the gaze watching him in secret through his Inspiration.
It was still on the third floor of the residential building he'd spotted the night before. He could also sense that the person watching him was moving downstairs.
Without a word, he used his Inspiration to activate clairvoyance. Above the heads of Malcolm and the other two behind him appeared an Eye of Spirituality, invisible to ordinary people.
Gallo's Spirituality had also improved, so the Eye of Spirituality was no longer as illusory. He could keep it active for a long time without draining his Spirituality after a mere few seconds, as he had the night before.
The Eye of Spirituality remained suspended above Malcolm and the others, unnoticed, all the way until Gallo reached Lubo Lane.
Gallo watched Malcolm and the others through the Eye of Spirituality. He found it amusing: the watchers had become the watched.
By the time Gallo arrived at the Moonlight Cafe, the shop assistant had already brought out his "sign." She also served him a small plate of pastries and a cup of tea.
Yes... The cafe served more than just coffee. It had tea, too.
"This is our new Ceylon Black Tea, Mr. Gallo. Please, have some."
"Thank you."
The flowers in the vase on the table had been changed, and he could smell gardenias in the air.
After taking a slow sip of tea, Gallo gave his approval. By then, quite a few people had gathered around the Moonlight Cafe, drinking coffee and waiting for the eight o'clock chime from the Clock Tower inside Imperial Industrial University's residential area.
Gallo wouldn't start work until the eight o'clock chime rang. Then the people who had arrived early would come over and take turns consulting him in an orderly fashion.
The first to arrive would sit at the table closest to Gallo's own, while the next table over was reserved for his clients. If those seats filled up, later arrivals would have to choose other, more distant tables. That way, when Gallo began working, the people closest to him could line up in order for consultations.
But with only a few minutes left before eight, a man in a long brown overcoat sat down across from Gallo.
The man's brazen act of cutting in line drew discontented murmurs and quiet reproaches from those around them. Gallo simply smiled and said, "Sorry, sir, but I don't start work until eight."
"Oh... Is that so!" Malcolm stood up without a care and sat at an empty table at the far end of the cafe. He was still holding the novel he hadn't finished the night before.
Before you continue