Bog Standard Isekai

Hogg hired a rickshaw for the trip back to the house, a mechanical one. Brin had never ridden in one of these before, but it was a lot like riding in the back of a horse-drawn carriage. The driver even sat up in the front and used a series of levers to guide the machine. He knew he'd seen other streetcars with steering wheels, so he wondered why some had it and some didn't.

Marksi met up with them right as they hired the rickshaw, and decided to sit up front next to the driver. He was fascinated by all the levers controlling the engine, and the driver didn't mind explaining what each one was for to the little dragon while they rolled along.

Back at the house, Bedelia split off to go get dry and change into untorn clothes. That was the downside of having them wear real fabric. If it was all hard light, he could reform them with a thought. Brin resisted the urge to let an Invisible Eye follow her to see if Hogg would just have her disappear and reappear inside a new set of clothing or if he'd actually have her go through the motions.

Hogg paused in the hall next to Brin’s glass workshop. "Would you mind scribing down that book before you start anything else?"

"Can I do it in your office? I want to use that typewriter," said Brin.

"It's not there. I gave it back to my [Tinker] who's going to do what you said and consult with some [Scribes] and [Printers] about how the keys should be ordered. We'll only get the chance to do it right once," said Hogg.

"Then can I just wait until it gets back?" asked Brin.

"It's got all those diagrams and the like, and sometimes books on magic are very intentional about the exact position of each word on the page. We'll need an exact copy just to be sure," said Hogg.

"Fair enough. What do you make of it so far?" asked Brin.

"Just from the title, I'd say that the magic it's describing isn't something Vitor can use. Which means he has it for some other reason. I think we're onto something," said Hogg. "I'll know more once you have it copied out."

"You mean to tell me you didn't spend the entire ride back from the Cobol place reading through it?" asked Brin. Hogg had a Lightmind, too, and even without [Memories in Glass] he could use it to take and store images.

"Can you just do this for me without asking a hundred questions for once?" Hogg grumped, turning away towards his office.

“What? Hold on!”

Hogg paused, back straight, and Brin could tell there was a wince on his face even from behind.

“Did something happen to your Lightmind?” asked Brin.

Hogg sighed. "I'm fine. Just copy your book."

Brin folded his arms, refusing to demonstrate any of the pity that Hogg didn't want. "Actually, how do you still have a Lightmind? I'm pretty sure they need a constant stream of light magic to keep working, don't they?"

Hogg turned slightly. "Cast an illusion. Anything will do."

Brin cast a Mirror Image of himself, standing to his side. Then he felt his magic abruptly being torn away from an outside force, and yet the Mirror Image standing next to him stayed in place. He recognized that spell; it was the one Hogg had taught him for capturing someone else's illusion.

He reached out to touch it, and the Mirror Image was solid now.

"This is why I even kept it at all. The reason every [Mage] doesn't have a Lightmind is because they can only help you cast spells of light and sound. I get away with it because hard light is close enough to regular light for the Lightmind to recognize my magic and direct it into the right shape. But the Lightmind itself is starting to drift, and there's nothing I can do to maintain it."

"Oh," said Brin. He pulled the glass Lightmind from the pocket where he always carried it. "You need this. The fact that it's tied to glass protects it from degradation, doesn't it? I haven't noticed it breaking down at all."

Hogg took a step back. "What? I can't take your Lightmind! I was... I was going to ask you to touch mine up a little bit, is all. After you spent a little more time getting situated."

"We can just get a real Lightmind implanted in my brain and you can have this one. Problem solved. Though I wouldn't mind taking a poke at yours if you still want."

Hogg pulled his jacket tighter closed. "Not anymore! I don't need an unschooled novice poking around with the most complex enchantment known to man while it's attached to my actual brain. Sancta Solia, Brin, I've been freaking out about this for months! I was going to have you do it because I don't trust anyone else, but the thought of it..." Hogg shivered.

"But you do trust someone else to put a Lightmind on me?" asked Brin, teasing.

"Well, sure," said Hogg. Then he sighed again. "I don't know. Attaching my Lightmind to a physical object exposes a point of failure."

"One you already have, though, right? Because you still need a source for real light magic. I bet you have a battery on you somewhere," said Brin.

Hog fiddled with a pen-sized rod of glass in his hands, twirling it a few times before putting it back in a pocket. It was completely impervious to Brin's [Wyrdic Inspect]. "Even if I did, now I'd have to keep track of two things."

"Better you than me," said Brin.

"Well, it's not going to happen tonight. I'll set up an appointment, and you hold onto that in the meantime. For now..."

"I know, I know. I'll start writing," said Brin.

Tonin was waiting in Brin's workshop, and informed him that Lumina had sent over the textbooks he'd need for his first year from her personal collection. Brin wanted to look through those right away, but he had already promised Hogg he'd start on copying out the book, so that took priority.

Tonin quickly supplied some paper and writing supplies, as well as having some [Footmen] bring in a proper writing desk. It was boring work, and he could actually have some Directed Threads take care of most of it by giving them control of his eyes and hands. But should he? Back in the monastery, he'd learned the value of sitting with his thoughts. It wasn't good to occupy a hundred percent of his mind every minute of the day.

Was he avoiding anything? Did he feel traumatized by the [Assassins] attacking earlier? No, honestly. Not at all. Maybe it was worrying that an attempt on his life wasn't bothering him? Again, no.

There. Introspection done. The monastery was boring and there was no need to torture himself. He split his mind into three, letting one-third handle scribing the book. The other two started looking through the textbooks.

Scanning the titles, it seemed like the first year of schooling in the Tower would be light on any actual magic. There were books on philosophy, leadership, history, and mathematics. Mundane, but all to be expected. The first surprise was a book on calligraphy. Surely he wasn't going to attend an entire class on that. Or maybe it made sense, if a lot of enchanting involved drawing esoteric sigils. Last, were languages. The Language was a topic of study, and it looked like he was expected to test out of the introductory course and go straight towards Intermediate. He was also expected to learn worldly languages. Ollandish and Prinnashian he already knew, but the text on the language of ancient Nhamanshal looked interesting.

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Still, he wanted magic! Since he was already copying Vitor’s book with the mind he’d tasked to do that, he couldn’t get up and walk around, so he sent an Invisible Eye to find Hogg. He was in the golem workshop talking to someone, but that didn’t matter.

Brin used Silent Voice. “Hey, why aren’t I taking any classes on magic?”

“You’re taking Intermediate Language,” said Hogg, not pausing his conversation with the [Materials Specialist].

“I meant like magic. Practical magic,” said Brin.

“The Language is the most practical thing–”

“You know what I mean.”

“I guess I do. The first year at the Tower is general studies. The well-to-do rightfully see the Tower as the finest education available, so they’ll send their kids there for a year or two even if their Classes aren’t all that magical. The Circle for Life Magic will have a lot of [Riders], stuff like that. But don’t worry, the best stuff you’ll learn in the Tower will have nothing to do with the classes you take and everything to do with the Circles you join. You’ll see.”

“Is there a Circle for enchanting?”

“No, that’s a class. I guess there’s no reason a first-year couldn’t take Beginner’s Enchanting. If you have the math and the Language for it,” said Hogg.

“No problems there,” said Brin.

“I’ll see if I can sign you up. Now shouldn’t you be copying that book for me?”

“I’m literally doing that as we speak.”

“Well, good.”

But what to do with the rest of his mind? Since calligraphy wasn’t something he could practice right now, he turned his attention to Intermediate Language and the other mind's attention to history. As Mark it was something he'd always been interested in, and the history of a magical world was bound to be fascinating.

Some time after midnight, Tonin gently interrupted him with toast and tea, and Brin had to admit this wasn't something he was going to finish in one night. He stayed up just long enough to finish the page he was on, then went to bed, to start again in the morning.

The last few days before school started were spent as busy as he'd ever been in his life, and he loved it. He loved that every hour of the day had a purpose and it always brought some new challenge. He worked on etiquette, propriety, and dancing with Lumina. Bedelia sometimes stepped in to act as Brin's partner, which made Brin's suspicion grow that Hogg was screwing with him. She kept stumbling and falling into him, but Lumina insisted it was good practice to have a clumsy partner. Lumina herself was extraordinarily nimble on her feet.

He finished scribing down the book. The magic it described was nearly completely beyond him. Apparently different aspects of water magic could be exaggerated by adding dyes to the water, and the author also theorized that each color should resonate with a particular emotion. He wasn't sure what it meant about the Motley Shroud, but Hogg seemed excited about it.

In his off time, he continued to work on glass. He didn't try to invent anything, but instead worked on fundamentals. He picked random items around the house, and tried to figure out how he'd make it without his magic. A vase or candlestick was easy--anything that could spin at the end of a rod could be guided by ordinary means. But what about a comb or a doll?

He experimented with stretching tools, sanding, and plaster casts, trying out the best ways to get new shapes. Marksi helped him in the shop more often than not, trying to do everything himself when possible. He experimented with his laser breath, eventually working out how to use it to heat the glass without burning it. He often had ideas of things to try, which he communicated with squeaks and gestures that Brin always seemed to understand.

He had one short meeting with Sion, just lunch out on a veranda near the Alent. Sion spent most of the time complaining about the entire mess that came with trying to take control of the Wogan affiliates in Steamshield. According to Sion, the worthless bureaucrats and greedy opportunists supported him immediately and wasted all his time by coming to him with every tiny detail and forcing him to make every little decision. Meanwhile, the people he actually wanted to talk to were all scattered to the wind, hiding from him or actively resisting. He promised that he’d soon have time to start talking about Brin and Hogg’s business affairs, and Brin assured him there was no rush.

Lumina visited one more time to take him on a short day trip to the bank. It was a lot of waiting and a small bit of paperwork, but they managed to set up an account in his name and deposit the returns from his investment into the caravan. The process was boring but the result was extraordinary. His return was around 900 gold coins from the caravan. Apparently, Brin was right in being confused about how much a single gold coin was worth, because there wasn’t a national standard and each of the coins were valued at the price of the metal. The First Bank of Steamshield had their own standard currency, however, and Brin would be able to withdraw his money either as raw gold or their “capitals”, made of a golden alloy. They counted his wealth as 1,135 capitals and a handful of silver.

With the time he had left, he worked out. There was an unfinished section of the house where Hogg had left a copy of the enchanted weights Brin and Davi had come up with in Hammon's Bog. Brin began the lengthy and miserable process of getting back into shape, but he'd underestimated the utility of having a workout partner. So much of why he'd pushed himself so hard back then was because he'd been trying to keep up with Davi. Whatever happened to him after the war, anyway?

Marksi made a pretty good work-out buddy, though. He pushed himself nearly as hard as Brin did, and rather than play around and mime what Brin was doing like when he was smaller, Marksi really seemed serious about getting stronger this time. He really was focused on his arms, and had to regrow and reshape them to be able to do bench-presses like Brin, but then he’d shrink them back to their regular length after. Brin didn’t know if Marksi really needed to work out or if he could just grow his muscles bigger, but his enthusiasm was enough to push Brin to keep going for himself. He didn’t manage to scrape out any extra attributes, but he’d stopped losing any, which was a win in itself.

His efforts paid off in levels in other areas.

[Summon Glass] 31 -> 33

[Recovery] 15 - > 18

The Death Curse of Arnarra -84% -> -83%

[Scarred, but Healing] recovery rate: 444% -> 458%

He also went through the rest of Lumina’s poison regimen. They stopped affecting him in any really noticeable way, but he knew they were working from the string of alerts that the System sent him.

[Poison Resistance] 3 -> 15

Before he knew it, the day arrived. He and Tonin picked out the outfit he’d wear to his first day of school, a Bog Standard school uniform in black with red accents and a subtle red dragon embroidered along the back of his jacket. They’d settled on a modest black tricorn which made Brin feel a bit foppish. Also it didn’t do anything to keep the sun out of his eyes, but it was the least ridiculous of the currently en vogue hats, so it would have to do.

He and Hogg ate a quick breakfast, and there was one last matter to discuss. "Marksi, how would you like to spend the day with Sion? And um, Rhun. You know Rhun."

Marksi thought it over, and then twitched his tail in assent.

"What? He can't come to the Tower?" asked Brin.

"He can, but maybe not on the first day. We'll need to make some preparations and soothe the right egos, and I haven't been able to get an appointment with the new Dean of the Life track. He just arrived yesterday, apparently," said Hogg.

Marksi didn't seem that bothered with it. He was a dragon, after all. It only made sense that the lowly humans would need some time to prepare for his arrival. Plus, he liked Sion and Rhun. Since Marksi seemed fine, Brin didn't have a reason to disagree.

Then they were really ready. Tonin packed up his books and stationery in Hogg’s hard light carriage. Lumina had stayed in her Tower apartment the night before, and she’d be pretty busy on the first day of classes, even though she wasn’t technically a teacher, so Brin would be traveling with Hogg.

The wagon propelled itself with no need for horses, with Jeeves and Bedelia sitting up front and Hogg and Brin in the cab. He barely noticed Hogg was beside him as his eyes were glued to the outside window. Sure, he could scout ahead with Invisible Eyes, but he’d decided not to do that. Invisible Eyes were for gathering information, but he’d use his own eyes for experiencing things.

Even though he’d seen much of the city before, everything seemed grander and newer, and the approaching Tower was even more vast than he remembered. It was like walking towards a mountain; it was so large that it looked like it was already near enough to touch. Then they kept moving forward and it got larger and larger until it was the only thing he could see.

They rode to a large garden courtyard where many students were already gathered and walked toward the huge doors of the Tower’s cathedral-like entrance. There was a nice little street and drop-off area, and Jeeves guided them around it and slowed the carriage to a stop.

Jeeves opened the door, and then bent down on his hands and knees in the gutter to act as a stool. Hogg stepped down onto Jeeves' back and onto the street as if that were entirely expected. His face was suddenly very arrogant and severe and his gait was somehow both stiff and smooth. Ok, so he was going for the villain entrance. Good to know.

Brin couldn’t bring himself to step on Jeeves’ back, so he jumped over him with both feet. Bedelia leapt forward out of nowhere. Brin couldn’t move in midair, and Bedelia was quicker than him regardless. She somehow guided both his feet onto the back of her head, and then let him drive her face straight into the mud on the ground. All the while, it would look exactly like Brin had done that on purpose.

Mortified, Brin took a step forward and tried to act like that just hadn’t happened, which of course just further served to make it look like it had been totally normal for him.

He kept walking, and Bedelia quickly caught up, carrying his books and wiping the dirt off her face with a chagrined expression like she was the one at fault. Which again, she totally was.

Already, several students were looking at him and murmuring amongst themselves.

Brin couldn’t help but smile, his nervousness suddenly forgotten. Alright, first day of school and his reputation was already in tatters. Thanks, Hogg. Things could only improve from here.

Bring it on.