Bog Standard Isekai

"Of course, I will be coming with you," Sion said promptly when Brin delivered the news that he’d be leaving Blackcliff.

"Are you sure? I can't pull you away from your family duties," said Brin.

"Yes, I'm sure. Now, it's your serve."

Brin had been surprised to learn that the Wogan mansion had a tennis court. Not because he didn't think the mansion was big enough, but because he'd sort of forgotten about leisure activities altogether.

He thought of the game as tennis because it involved hitting a ball back and forth across a net, but there were key differences. The ball was hard, like a baseball, and instead of rackets, they struck the ball with a round bat, not unlike a baseball bat. And in addition to scoring when your opponent failed to return a ball or let it go out of bounds, you could also get two points by hitting a dinner plate-sized gong set up in the middle of the back of each side of the court.

The added difficulty was only natural for a world of Classes and levels, and so far Sion was thrashing him. Brin attributed that to Sion's [Running] Skill, but Brin was getting better every minute they played. [Athletic Training] didn't just increase the amount of attributes he got, it was also making him better at athletics.

Brin served, and was relieved to see the ball go right where he wanted it. Unfortunately, that seemed to be right where Sion wanted it, and he returned it with a fierce crack that shot the ball to the opposite side where Brin had no chance of reaching it.

"Doesn't your uncle need you here?"

"My uncle needs nothing," said Sion. "My entire purpose in coming here was to get away and have an adventure. Which I have done. Now I must return. Certainly returning with you will be more enjoyable."

The next serve went into a back and forth volley that lasted for a long while. Sion seemed to be everywhere, returning every single shot no matter how much distance he had to cross to get there. It finally ended when Brin sent a ball that was a little too slow, giving Sion time to wind up and slam the ball straight past Brin and into the gong.

"Won't you need to head straight to Aberquay? I need to get to a town called Canibri," said Brin.

"Yes, I know of it. Half way to Gonwy. Only, how did you plan to get there, mind? Will you go overland with a caravan, dodging the Frenarian patrols the entire way? Or perhaps you will sail to Aberquay, and then somehow sneak past the armies of three nations mustering in Fortmouth," said Sion.

"I, uh, hadn't thought that far," said Brin. He'd honestly planned on taking a ship to Aberquay like Sion said, but now he was suddenly second-guessing.

"My, if only you had an expert on traveling through Prinnash that you could lean on for advice," said Sion. He served, but Brin ran close to the net and returned it with a drop shot, giving him a point.

"I'd appreciate your help," said Brin.

"As well you should!" said Sion. "When will we depart?"

"We need to move fast. Hogg needs to get to the Tower, and I need to get out of sight."

"Then tomorrow," said Sion.

"Tomorrow," agreed Brin, but his heart sank. So soon? Well, he was the one who'd said fast.

They finished the game, with Brin steadily getting better and better until after an hour of practice he was about as good as Sion.

Through training, you have earned the following attribute:

Dexterity +1

Back home, the day went about like the last couple weeks had been. Hogg taught him more of the illusions he knew, they had dinner at a nice restaurant, and Brin humored Hogg by joining him at a nice tea house afterwards where he put so many spoonfulls of sugar into his tea that the waiter frowned at him everytime he passed the table.

The next day, Hogg made breakfast, and then they walked together towards the docks.

The town was peaceful and started to wake up again. The scars from the mass-impressment were still visible, but people were crowding the markets again. Criers still maintained their story that the war with Arcaena wasn't going to happen, and [Heralds] promised that all the people who'd been conscripted would be returned having seen no conflict and with a hefty pocketful of silver.

They mostly walked in silence, Marksi scampering along beside them.

Then out of the blue, Hogg said, "So listen, I got you something." He handed Brin a potion; the clear glass revealed a shimmering silver concoction with specks of glitter. It looked expensive. Most [Alchemist] concoctions looked like brown sludge unless they spent a lot of time beautifying them.

Brin used [Inspect].

Potion of Time's Remission

"Ignore the pretentious-sounding name. It's not a time travel potion. What it does is reverse the effects of childhood malnutrition. It'll give you a growth spurt that pushes you into what your height would've been if your mother hadn't been, you know, such a [Witch]," said Hogg.

"This is amazing!"

"Drink it!"

Brin did, and was surprised by the flavor. By the color he expected a metallic taste, but the reality was much more strange. If he had to put a finger on it, he'd say it tasted like beef bullion and nostalgia. There wasn't an immediate effect, but he didn't expect one.

"How much did you spend on this?" Brin knew the answer. Value Sense was telling him that this potion was half as valuable as a Potion of Healing.

"Well, I have money again, and money is for spending. I got you one more thing. Here." The next object was a golf ball-sized gemstone. It was orange and faintly transparent, looking like a jagged lump of glass, though Brin's glass sense didn't recognize it.

"What is it?"

"Core of a Fire Jelly. Weird kind of ocean creature, I think. I had a team of adventurers start looking for one as soon as we got to town, and it just came in last night. I thought you could use it for your laser; they're prized for enchanting illusion magic," Hogg explained. "I've never done much of that, but I'll probably get a chance in the Tower."

Brin pulled the core up high to keep it from Marksi's snapping jaws. "Not for you!"

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Marksi pouted, but when he saw Brin wouldn't relent he gave up quickly.

"That reminds me. Do you think I should get a Lightmind? What would that even involve? You mentioned it to Lumina and I forgot to ask you about it."

"Right. Yeah, I'm not sure with you, honestly. The major benefit of a Lightmind is that it will store and read through spells for you, but your [Memories in Glass] are already doing that for you. Not sure if it's worth it. Since you don't have [Persistent Casting], you'll need to assign a part of your mind to keep it running permanently. I don't think a directed thread would be able to do it, either."

Brin found that he hated that idea. "Would the efficiency gains be worth it?"

"From a purely practical point of view, your spells will be more efficient. The main problem here is trust. The way this works is that an expert will cast the Lightmind onto your brain, and then you'll bring it under your control, empowering it with your own magic. By the way, the words to take control of someone else's illusions are It doesn't come in handy as often as you'd think."

"What? That sounds extremely handy!" Brin said.

"It's harder than casting the spell yourself, a waste of Mana, they'll know you're doing it, and it's prone to failure if they're better than you," said Hogg.

"Still sounds handy," said Brin.

Hogg shrugged. "Well, you have it now. Tell me how often you use it. This is all beside the point. The main problem here is that you're letting another [Illusionist] cast a magic spell on your brain that has access to your thoughts. It's a matter of trust. You really shouldn't get it done by someone who knows who you are, and in Blackcliff they all know who you are."

"Right, my secret would be out," said Brin.

"And they'd have a spy device in your mind, yeah," said Hogg. "Best case would be if I could get someone to enchant a Lightmind into a piece of glass that you could... I don't know, start up and shut down whenever you want it. It's not something I could do out here, but in the Tower, with Lumina's pull, it should be possible."

"Or I could just level up and get [Persistent Casting]," said Brin.

"The jump from 35 to 40 isn't as easy as you're thinking," said Hogg.

They drew nearer and nearer to the docks and the ship, which meant they were nearer to Brin's departure. He walked a bit slower.

"Oh! I got something for you!" said Brin. He pulled a little book from the pocket of his own overcoat. It had originally been about thirty pages of loose paper, and he'd bound it himself with glue and string.

Value Sense appraised it at around three-hundred gold.

Hogg read the cover. "A Treatise on the Implications and Utility of the Wyrd on Magecraft and Spellcasting." Hogg paled. "Are you insane!" He quickly covered the book by shoving it in his coat, glaring around at anyone who might be watching.

"Relax," said Brin. "I took out all the parts that could get us in trouble. No mention of who taught me that stuff. I don’t use any of the examples Aberfa taught me. All of it is completely verifiable by non-[Witchy] methods, without a single word quoting Aberfa directly."

"It's still a risk," said Hogg.

"I was careful. Remember when I had a notebook full of things that Aberfa was teaching me, before I realized how dangerous that was? Value Sense told me it was worth nothing. Not even the paper it was written on. I think it's because the Skill isn't advanced enough to tell me how much a book is worth if it would get someone killed for even seeing it. The fact that this has a price means that it should be safe enough."

Hogg drew the book out again, glancing at it. "I'm going to read it through before I show it to anyone."

"Obviously," said Brin.

"Lumina at least will want to take a look at it. And if I ever do end up spreading this around, it'll be revolutionary. You don't know [Mages] like I do. They're going to hate the fact that all of their magic touches the Wyrd. And they'll love the fact that their spells gain power based on how pompous and self-righteous they are. It'll break their brains."

Brin laughed. "We can only hope."

“That reminds me. Have you decided what Class you’re going to pretend to be? With your attributes, people are going to stop falling for [Glasser],” said Hogg.

“Should I go with [Glassbound Warrior]?” asked Brin.

Hogg shook his head. “Among [Knights], it’ll be too hard to keep up the charade. They’ll keep trying to help you evolve [Blade Mastery] into something you won’t be able to mimic.”

“So what’s your opinion?”

“[Glass Invocationist].”

“I’ve never heard of it. I assume it’s a pre-[Mage] Class, like [Conjurer]?”

"No. Well, sort of. It's a historical Class from ancient Nhamanshal. On the surface, it's a Class for someone who uses enchanted glass tools, but since it's so old most people won't be able to say for sure what it can and can't do."

"Doesn't that just put a big sign on my forehead saying 'I have something to hide'?" Brin asked.

"Sure, but it also gives a good reason for why you're hiding it. You have a unique Class from the ancient past. It's natural that you'd want to keep its capabilities hidden. A [Glasser] that has his whole status sheet locked down would be much more suspicious. And your absurdly high Strength would be even stranger."

"Is [Glass Invocationist] Rare?"

"That's what's so interesting about it! Back then it was Common but today if anyone manages to get it, it's Rare. You wouldn't think a Class can drift in rarity like that, but they do. It'd be like if you grew up in a hunter gatherer society and rediscovered farming, [Farmer] might be a Rare Class for you. The theory is that Nhamanshal's civilization was so advanced that their Class ranking were completely different. The most ordinary Classes were focused on utilizing magical artifacts, rather than doing the work with their own hands or summoning their own magic."

Hogg went into great detail about the historical details of Nhamanshal and [Glass Invocationist] that he thought might help Brin, and they talked through the types of things he could do to help sell it. The main strategy would be to summon as much glass as possible when no-one was looking, and then use it where they could see. It was common knowledge that he’d started as [Glasser], so he didn’t have to hide his glass summoning completely, but he’d need to make it look like his strength was in using glass.

Eventually, the conversation ran its course and they lapsed into silence again.

They moved out of the city and onto the docks. The scent of fresh ocean air mixed with the strong stench of fish. It was one of those viscerally strong smells that he just knew would always reappear whenever he remembered this moment in the future.

It wasn't until the ship was actually in sight that Hogg finally cleared his throat. "So listen. I know I'm not... I mean. I wasn't always--"

Brin interrupted. "Shut up! You were... You were, ok? You tried. No, more than that, you succeeded. You're always there for me. You gave me everything I needed when I needed it. You’re… you're a good dad, Hogg." There was more Brin could've said, wanted to say, but a sudden lump in his throat made him his mouth.

Hogg looked stunned, and opened his mouth. Clearly this wasn't what he'd expected. "Well, damn. Ok."

Brin laughed. "It's true, though. I know what I'm like, so I know I tend to take people for granted. But I want you to know that I'm grateful for everything you've done. You didn't just obey your Oath, you really stepped up. I'm sorry if I didn't--"

"You're a good son," said Hogg.

It was Brin's turn to be speechless. That was just plain inaccurate. He was an ok son, at best.

“Well, shoot. This is one of those times. We have to hug, don’t we?” said Hogg.

“We’ll tell everyone we did,” said Brin.

Hogg grinned. “Yeah, let’s go with that.” Ten steps further down the docks, he scowled and said, “No, that won’t work. Come here.”

Hogg wrapped Brin in a tight hug.

They found Sion soon after, who had a cartoonishly large amount of luggage; ten carts full of bags and suitcases had to be loaded onto ship by the sailors. It only occurred to him hours after they disembarked that Sion was a [Merchant], so much of his luggage was probably goods for sale.

As soon as he stepped on the ship, he was surprisingly busy. A bored-looking midshipman was tasked with explaining the rules, schedules, and procedures to him and a couple dozen other passengers.

He’d settled into a surprisingly spacious cabin that he shared with Sion, and watched as Sion unpacked suitcase after suitcase, revealing that an absurd amount of his luggage really was for his personal comfort.

Then he’d been excited to mess with the new Fire Jelly core that Hogg had given him, marveling with the fact that he could fill it up with light magic and then draw it out again.

Then there’d been an incident where Marksi had eaten one of the ship’s cats, and both he and the little lizard had been subjected to a stern talking-to by the ship’s first mate.

It wasn’t until the day was over and he stood on the deck watching the sun go down over the water that he realized that he’d never actually said goodbye. Hogg had turned away and left after the hug, and Brin had been distracted by Sion’s arrival.

He was still in range, he could probably get a Mirror Image to Hogg in time, but he didn’t. It was better this way.

As lonely as he thought he’d be in this moment, he realized he wasn’t feeling any of that. Sion was here, and Marksi, and he hadn’t had time to miss Hogg yet. More than anything, he found he was excited for what was in store.

The end of Part 1.