Bog Standard Isekai

Brin was treated to the sight of four familiar faces. Of course they were all familiar since all the faces were his. Though whether or not he could say that the Child still wore his face was debatable–he looked like Mark had, and Brin was identifying with that man less and less as time went on.

He was glad to see them all again, but at the same time, he couldn’t exactly say he missed them. They were all him, after all. Even the Scarred One would never speak an opinion that didn’t already exist somewhere in Brin’s heart.

The landscape was strange and shifting, almost shadowy, but that was the only resemblance to his previous Class Selection. He could tell at once that this would be no epic battle. This was to be a peaceful and contemplative experience.

They were all sitting on Bog Standard chairs around a large table covered by mounds and mounds of Lego blocks. Little Mark would’ve killed to have this many to play with as a kid. Actually, Brin right now would be pretty excited about this if he had it in real life. He could just picture Hogg’s expression when Brin told him that all thoughts of Classes and levels were going to be put on hold while Brin played with little plastic blocks.

The Scarred One was there, looking as lean and feral as always. He wasn’t really building anything. Instead, he was just digging through and adding all the interesting and weird shaped pieces and adding it to a flat platform that had a few random figurines stabbing each other.

The Illusionist was there, a man looking like Brin in his mid-twenties. He was in a tightly cut black suit, wore a goatee, and was making a Ferris wheel. It was much larger than the other builds, and very technically impressive, but also simple in its geometry.

The Glasser was building a house. It was the first build anyone ever did as a kid, but there were all sorts of interesting little details like the way he used side pieces to manage textures on the walls and the way the flowers in the garden were built from a variety of techniques rather than only the premade flowers.

The Child wasn’t building. At least he wasn’t wearing lederhosen this time–he was dressed as a beggar from Brin’s new world. “I’ll keep my eyes on the outside. Right now it looks like the Master called a recess so everyone can get their Classes sorted out. I think that most of the other students already have an idea of what they’re going to choose. We should get this done in under an hour if we can.”

“Can we?” asked Brin.

The Glasser shrugged. “That’s up to you.”

The Scarred One punched the Child in the shoulder. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

"I was getting to it!" protested the Child, rubbing his shoulder. "You have a new Title."

Mage

You have been accepted as a student of magical studies at the Tower in Steamshield

"It doesn't say what the Title does yet because it's waiting for you to change your Class. Conjuror will get a minor bonus to summoning your element, for example. But if you get a Class with 'Mage' in the name, then it'll give you this," explained the Child.

The power of your spells will increase in proportion to your knowledge of the Language.

"That's incredible. Hogg was right. [Mage] is a whole different ballpark," said Brin. Knowledge of the Language was already powerful because of the efficiency gains. A well-worded spell did exactly what it was supposed to and didn't waste any energy on anything else. That was the difference between someone like Brin who could use his magic to push back a small group of enemies and someone like Lumina who was better considered a natural disaster.

He'd been primed to ask for a learning or student Class to start, but now he wondered if he'd be able to pass this up.

"Good. Then can we talk about Bia?" asked the Glasser.

"Why do we need to talk about Bia?" asked Brin.

"She's twenty." The Glasser raised one eyebrow suggestively.

"By all the gods, you four," said Brin. "Don't you think we have more important things to think about right now?"

"I'm not so sure," said the Illusionist. "Is camping out next to someone until their twentieth birthday really in keeping with the spirit of the promise we made? And if not--"

The Scarred One cut in. "He's right. We should really get to Classes."

"Thank you! Wait. What's the catch here?" asked Brin.

"This entire conversation is stupid. You can date Bia or anyone. Who cares? Twenty? Not twenty? You're not the kind of guy to let your sense of morality get in the way of something that you really want." The Scarred One put a supportive hand on Brin's shoulder.

"That is the worst thing someone has ever said to me," said Brin.

"Then you should wonder why you said it to yourself," said the Scarred One. "Now, Classes. Please?"

"Um, yeah. How's this one going to work? And what's with the Lego blocks?" asked Brin.

He also couldn't help but wonder why this Class Selection didn't seem to have any background beyond the table and chairs. His previous Class selections had all happened in places he would've described as home. Mark's old apartment, then Hogg's house, and he could even make an argument for the battlefield. Maybe it was because he'd been traveling so much, but then again, he'd stayed an awful long time at the monastery. But no, he'd never once thought of that place as home.

The Glasser dug into the bog and then lifted up a statue made from all different colored blocks. It was hard to describe, because his mind wasn't able to latch onto it well enough to really describe the shape, but at the same time, he was certain he had memorized every inch of it. It was made of three layers, with many rows in each layer. [Glasser], [Glassbound Illusionist], and [Delusionist].

"It's time to add another row," said the Scarred One.

"Frankly, you have too many options for us to want to list them one by one. Instead, we're going to let you build the Class you want," said the Glasser.

"This is assuming you want a magic Class. We've already filtered out all the Classes you aren't going to choose. If you still wanted [Mirror Knight], you wouldn't have waited until you got to the Tower," said the Illusionist.

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"Fair enough. So do I just..."

"Go ahead. Play around. See what happens," said the Glasser.

The first thing he noticed was that parts of the Class were already in place and couldn’t be moved. The attribute points he would get from [Workhorse] couldn’t be traded for anything else. He’d be getting 5 points in Strength per level no matter what he chose, even if he didn’t think he needed it anymore. Those were represented as white blocks.

Brin could see now that most of the different colors represented a different element. He chose a gray two-by-four, sensing that it represented air, since that was what he was the most curious about. He went to place it on the statue, but there wasn't a good spot for it. No matter where he tried, it didn't fit.

"Here," said the Illusionist, handing him a red fire. Brin could immediately tell where that one was supposed to go. He could press it right on top of his light magic. He chose a few more of the same color, adding them by instinct until something changed.

Summon Flame through Glass

"Do I need to keep this 'through Glass' requirement?" asked Brin.

"No. But it makes all of your magic a little bit cheaper. And there's never really going to be a time where you don't have glass on hand," said the Illusionist.

The Scarred One was suddenly at his ear. "That requirement is going to save your life some day. All your closest friends know magic comes from glass. They will inevitably betray you, but they'll know that if they cut off your access to glass magic, you can be captured instead of killed."

Brin didn't respond to the Scarred One. He didn't think like that anymore; he'd left it all on the battlefield. Things were different now.

He picked up the air piece again, and now there was a nice spot for it. He clicked it onto the fire section. A few more pieces, and the statue was now jutting precariously to the side.

Summon Air through Glass

He added a few pieces to keep it from falling apart, little whites that represented nothing much, but this would mostly have to be stabilized from above. It had the effect of changing [Call Light through Glass] and [Call Sound through Glass] into slightly stronger [Summon] versions. And that was all. For now, the statue couldn't fit anything else. This was a Class option.

Conjuror of Glass and Flame (Rare)

+5 Strength +1 Dexterity, +2 Vitality, +2 Magic, +3 Mental Control, +1 Will, +2 free attributes per level.

Mage (Title Upgraded)

You may now summon glass twice as quickly. Mana cost for summoning glass halved.

The new wording for the [Mage] Title gave him pause, because on the surface that sounded better than what the full [Mage] Class would get. The amount of possible power you could get from your understanding of the Language must be more than doubling it. Potentially a lot more.

Title aside, it wasn't a particular strong Class compared to what he knew he qualified for. The real benefit here was to gain access to two new elements and hopefully something better down the line.

"I'm not necessarily against a weaker Class with long-term potential," he said, thinking out loud. "But even so, this seems slim."

"First off, try this," said the Illusionist. He tore off the air pieces, and then most of the Fire ones. Then he shifted the few remaining Fire pieces from atop the Light pieces of his old Class and onto the intersection of Light and Sound.

The Skill for [Summon Fire through Glass] appeared again, but this time cost a third of what they had when Brin did it. He built the part for air again, but still didn't have enough room for much else. It gave him the same Class with slightly stronger air and fire Skills, and an extra point in Magic.

Brin was more satisfied with this version than with his first try, but he had to be honest with himself. He wasn't going to pick this one. He decided to try it the other way, and picked out some brown blocks to get to earth, and then from earth added some blue blocks to get water.

Conjuror of Glass and Wave

This one was even weaker than his first attempt with air. And besides, he didn't really have a use for water. With air, he could imagine adding force fields to his Mirror Images to make them feel real at a much cheaper cost than with glass. Not to mention flying. It was really hard to ignore the possibility of flight. But water? It looked like the word "wave" was implying that there would be future synergies with sound, but again, he wasn't really specialized in sound. Sure, he'd take water if the System dropped it in his lap, but he didn't think he'd be willing to sacrifice anything for it.

"What about combining glass and fire? Do any of you know something good for that?" asked Brin.

"I'll take a try," said the Glasser.

He cleared away Brin's selections, and then added one small piece of earth, and two larger blocks of fire.

Summon Glass (Upgraded)

You can summon molten glass.

"And now watch this," said the Glasser. He added two more pieces of fire, connecting his new node with sound and light.

Summon Flame through Glass

That was pretty neat. Unassuming and practical, much like the Glasser, but with a myriad of hidden benefits. This would help with his crafting, but also add an unbelievably nasty weapon to Brin's arsenal. It's not like he would never need it--he often faced enemies that were owed no quarter. The undead came to mind.

The best part of this new choice was that it was cheap. He still had a lot of Class left to build after this. He could go to air, or shore up some of his existing abilities. He did really want air, the more he thought about it. But did he need it now? This was the Tower. There were bound to be more Class selections on the way as he advanced through the Circles. Maybe he could promise himself to add one element each time? He could take fire now and air next time.

"You want to see what I'd do?" asked the Illusionist. He didn't think they were each going to represent a specific Class, but the Illusionist had always represented the strictly-business high-optimization part of him, so maybe it was obvious that he'd lean towards something specific.

The Illusionist tore down Brin's structure and replaced the entire Class with yellow pieces to represent light with a smattering of clear pieces for glass. He obviously knew what he was doing without needing Brin's fumbling attempts, and he quickly had a Class that looked quite nice.

Laser Mage (Epic)

+5 Strength +1 Dexterity, +2 Vitality, +8 Magic, +6 Mental Control, +3 Will, +4 free attributes per level.

Glass Foci

Increase the power of all light-based spells when cast with a glass focus. Effects of [Amplified Casting] can now apply to glass you've enchanted.

Master of Lasers (Title Upgraded)

You have uncontested dominion over lasers.

-90% reduced damage from any laser cast by someone with less comprehension of the word <Laser> than you.

Heavily increased laser damage. Heavily decreased laser summoning costs.

Call Light through Glass -> Summon Light through Glass.

Call Sound through Glass -> Summon Sound through Glass.

Mage (Title Upgraded)

The power of your spells will increase in proportion to your knowledge of the Language.

There it was. The Epic Mage Class. He'd told himself that he wanted a Class with high growth potential, but now that the opposite was in his face, he wanted it. Didn't ten points in Magic, and four free attributes count as growth? He almost couldn't believe attribute growth rates could get this high.

"It doesn't offer me any new elements," Brin said, trying to find a downside. He'd always assumed that if there wasn't an "of" after "Mage" it meant that they had all the general elements, but apparently that wasn't the case. This Class was still limited to sound, light and glass.

"I don't need any more elements. Illusions make me flexible enough on their own, and glass can help make them feel real. Why waste all my potential on air just to give me more of the same thing? Fire is a waste of time when my lasers will burn hotter, not to mention what all these synergies will do with lenses," said the Illusionist.

Solid, serious, and tightly reasoned. Just like the Illusionist. Brin was tempted to agree right there, but he needed to make sure he thought through the alternatives.

He tried to find the most important parts, so that maybe he could combine those with a Class that also gave him a new element, but what could he part with? [Glass Foci] was a must-have. He didn't know enchanting yet, but he had a school class for that and the Skill would light a fire under him. He'd also hate to lose the [Master of Lasers] upgrade, but maybe if the alternative was tempting enough.

"I'm going to be honest. After seeing this, it's going to be really difficult for any of you to persuade me to do something else," said Brin.

The Scarred One was there, wrapping his arms around Brin from behind. He opened one of Brin's hands, and then poured a stream of black blocks into it. Not all of them were mind. Some of them were Wyrd.

"Just hear me out."