Karkat hesitates over that one, mostly because reflecting on his experience of actually reading the book for the first time, it's hard to separate that from how it felt to read about someone who was actually like him for the first time in his entire life – and how it felt to know he was expected to follow in this guy's footsteps.

He shrugs uncomfortably.

"... I don't know," he says. "Like, if I had an actual blood caste? I'd probably just think I didn't need that shit or something." There's a certain grim almost-amusement to his tone there – an unspoken I'd be wrong, but...