Book 3 - Chapter 4 (Patreon)

Brin didn’t expect Calisto’s shop to be open on the way back. It was still before dawn after all, but he saw a light on inside. He ran back and grabbed the glassware he’d made for the [Alchemist]. A few beakers, several bottles, and different sized containers; he packed them all into a wooden box.. He didn’t know exactly what Calisto needed, but from the look of his shop the other day, he could use whatever he could get his hands on.

When he returned to the Calisto’s place, the door swung open before he could knock.

“Yes! Perfect! Bring it in, there you go,” said Calisto. “There, just place it down, there you go.”

Calisto was dancing back and forth, moving forward to grab the box out of Brin’s hands before hesitating and stepping back, caution warring against eagerness. He seemed even more energetic than he’d been last time, which was a strange mood for an hour before dawn. Brin felt like he was about to pass out. Whose idea had it been to pull an all-nighter, again?

As soon as Brin stepped away from the case, Calisto darted forward and started pulling things out. “Wonderful. Wonderful!”

There were three beakers, five flasks, ten regular bottles that could fit finished potions, five bigger bottles for whatever, some stirring rods, and even a measuring cup. Ademsi had come up with exact measurements, and then Brin had easily marked them with notches on the glass.

“I have some ideas about glass that’s resistant to thermal shock but… but something about Gudio? Sorry, I can barely think. I need Gudio for one of the ingredients. Yeah, that’s it,” said Brin.

“Resistant to thermal shock? How dare you say such beautiful words to me,” said Calisto.

“Did you get a chance to make what I needed?” asked Brin.

“I did, and in fact, I can guarantee the results. It works really well,” said Calisto.

“You’re using one right now? Gimme,” said Brin.

“Well, hold on, now, let’s back up a step.” Calisto held up a small cloth bag. “I can give you three doses, but–”

Brin snatched the bag from his hands and looked inside. There were three white pills, each about the size of a nickel. He plucked one out and gulped it down. It was always awkward to swallow pills dry. He could do it, but it always left a weird feeling in his throat, like it was waiting on the edge, wanting to come back up. And that had been in his old world, where the worst of what he swallowed was a tylenol. This pill was huge, and he felt the push against his throat as he forced it down.

“As I was saying, you should know that there’s a reason that people don’t completely replace their sleep with drugs,” said Calisto.

“Because it’s too expensive?” asked Brin, hoping that’s all it was.

“That and because of potion sickness. Remember that allergy you developed to mana potions?”

“I’m mostly over that now,” said Brin. “Besides, these are pills.”

“Are you really standing here telling me that you think that’s a loophole? I hate to disappoint you, but potion sickness doesn’t literally mean ‘potions’; it’s a colloquially referring to the body’s reaction to the buildup of alchemical–”

Brin felt a sudden wave of dizziness. His vision went blank and lost all feeling in his limbs. He tried to stay on his feet, but wasn’t sure if he was succeeding.

As abruptly as it came, the dizziness left. With it, all the tiredness and brain fog lifted as well. His exhaustion was gone. It felt so nice, that this time he really did fall to his hands and knees, panting.

“I would’ve told you to take it sitting down if you had given me a chance,” said Calisto.

“This is great!” Brin said, standing. His mind was clear. He felt better than he had since even before his sleep troubles. Whatever this wonder drug was, it hadn’t just taken his exhaustion, it was as if his built-up fear and anxiety from weeks under siege had left as well. He’d expected to feel sort of high, since that was Calisto’s general disposition, but instead it was more peaceful and calm. He felt like he’d just woken up from a long, restful sleep. Nothing more, and nothing less. “When can you get me more?”

“One per week, or you risk developing an allergy. This was created as an emergency measure. For emergencies. Not as a lifestyle supplement! Listen. Look at my mouth. One per week.”

“Of course,” said Brin. “But just for emergencies, I think I might want a few more.”

“Check back in three weeks. You wouldn’t need them more than that, would you?”

Brin smiled. “We’ll see.”

There was no point in arguing about this now. He’d find out if Calisto could scrounge up a few more when he dangled some laboratory grade glassware in front of his nose.

There were few people on the street in the pre-dawn light. It was nice to be out and alone in the cool fresh air. He didn’t exactly hate that people here were friendly to stop and chat, but it was nice to be able to cross town without having to exchange pleasantries with ten different people. When he crossed the town square he noticed that they were setting up a wooden stage for something. For the bigger festivals, they often planked over the entire town square, and then packed it up again the next day, but this didn’t seem to be like that.

He made his way outside, across the muddy fields, trampled by hundreds of undead feet. There were sections he could see here and there where new fields had been plowed, but Davi’s family hadn’t yet started to replant. They made plenty of money renting out Poco the bull, and the town had enough in store that no one would be in danger of starving, even if the siege had lasted for a year.

Their barn had been torn down, but the set of weights Davi had commissioned were still intact. Undead needed orders to do anything, so when they found something weird they tended to just leave it alone.

Davi had already started, laying on a bench and pumping six hundred pounds of black iron like it was nothing. After a quick set of ten, he stopped and put the bar on the rack. The bench and the rack were made of wood, but they didn’t so much as creak under the weight. Bog Standard wood was the pride of this town, and the highest level crafters could do miracles with it.

“I didn’t know if I’d see you today,” said Davi.

“Yeah, I’ve been a little bit out of it lately,” said Brin. “But I’m feeling good today.”

Davi stood to start pulling some of the weight off the bench press, but Brin stopped him. “Let me try it there.”

He lay back on the bench, and before he could talk himself out of it, pushed with all his might. He was almost surprised when the bar moved. He pumped once, twice, then three times. On the fourth, he strained to get the bar back up, slowing down, but with force of will, he made it. He decided to push his luck and went for five. He got the bar halfway up, but then it started to slide back down. Davi helped him, pulling from above, and together they got the bar back onto the rack.

Through training, you have increased the following attribute:

Strength +1

“That’s a new max for you! Great job!” said Davi.

Brin rubbed his arms. He liked how they always felt bigger right afterwards, although he still wasn’t anything like Davi. The kid was built like a brick house, and still a fair bit taller than Brin, which he thought was unfair. In contrast, Brin was still somewhat slender, although he had through consistent training developed a good pack of lean muscle.

By all rhyme or reason, Brin should be a lot stronger than Davi. Shouldn’t he? [Glassbound Illusionist] combined with [Workhorse] gave him five points of Strength per level. Davi only got one Strength per level from [Bard]. Although, he still had the same two from Workhorse. If he put all his free points into Strength, which Brin knew he did, then he’d have four to Brin’s five. And that was only for the last ten levels. Davi had been beating him before that.

Brin forced his mind to actually do the math, and he was surprised how easy it was. Thinking wasn’t that hard now that he’d gotten a good night’s rest, or the alchemical equivalent. Davi should have around 160 Strength, which was where Brin was at. Going forward, Brin would pull ahead.

For now, Davi’s bigger natural frame made up the difference. An adult with 100 Strength would always be stronger than a child with the same score. Attributes multiplied your natural abilities, they didn’t replace them. Brin had kind of assumed Davi had another hidden Achievement boosting his Strength, but that might not even be the case. Damn talented children.

Their workout was oddly quiet. Brin had sort of expected a slew of questions about Lumina, or that maybe Davi would want to talk about Siphani or the battle, but the big guy was oddly quiet.

“I’m leaving tomorrow,” Davi said out of the blue, right after Brin finished a set of squats that left him gasping.

“What?” Brin asked, but he hadn’t caught his breath well enough to follow up with more questions.

“Kevim is heading out towards Oud’s Bog with a few people, to let them know what happened here and see if we can get a caravan in. Normally we’d need him to stay and protect the town, but no one is worried about that now. Jeffrey’s going with them, so I’ll be tagging along as his apprentice.” Davi spoke somewhat mechanically, looking a bit nervous.

Brin felt his stomach sinking at the news. Of course, he didn’t have any excuse to keep Davi here forever, but he thought they had more time. And if he was being honest with himself, he’d sort of pictured that the four of them would set out into the world together when it happened. Him, Davi, Zilly, and Myra. They’d taken down a giant together, and he thought they made a pretty good team. “How long will you be gone?”

“About a month, we think. There and back, and maybe we’ll hit a few other Bogs on the way,” said Davi. “This is going to be my first time performing in front of strangers.”

Brin smiling, relaxing at the news. A month wasn’t that long. “That’s terrific! Man, that sounds like it’s going to be great! Is this your first time out of town? Hey, bring me back something from Oud’s Bog if you can.”

Davi smiled in relief, no doubt wondering how Brin would take the news. “It’s not; I’ve been there once before. I couldn’t believe how big everything was! Although, mom said that even Oud’s Bog is considered small for a city. I’m a little nervous though. Every performance I’ve ever done, my whole family has been on the front row. I think they’d clap along even if I sounded like a deaf mule.”

“The undead were an appreciative audience, were they? You’ll be fine. If you can face a horde of monsters and keep playing then you can face anything.”

Davi actually blushed. “Thanks, man.”

Brin didn’t get another point from the weight lifting, but they went for a three mile run after that and he was rewarded for it.

Through training, you have increased the following attribute:

Vitality +1

Their workouts lately, when they happened at all, had been very short and restrained, since they knew they needed to keep their strength for other things. It was nice to be able to go all-out again. It was also bittersweet, knowing that this would be the last one for a while. Well, no reason he couldn’t do them on his own.

He still felt pretty good walking home. He doubted he’d be up for any strenuous physical labor, but he doubted that was what Lumina had in mind anyways.

When he got home, Lumina was already up. That was rare, since she was the type to sleep in a bit. She sat at the dining table, drumming her fingers against the table. “Ah, there you are. Where did you go?”

“I do strength training with Davi every morning. I can stop if that’s going to interfere with your training, especially since Davi’s leaving town anyway.”

“Oh, not at all,” said Lumina. “A sound body for a sound mind, Master always says. I had in mind to suggest a bit of exercise, but I’m glad I needn’t bother. We can focus on other things. Now, why don’t you freshen up a bit, and then you can tell me about glass.”

Brin went to the restroom, washed himself down with a wet rag. Hogg had running water from enchanted faucets but no shower, and baths weren’t an everyday thing here. He changed his clothes, and even ran a comb through his hair. Looking presentable, he returned to Lumina.

“What is glass?” she asked.

Rather than answer, Brin held out his hand and pushed with his mana. “<Glass>”

A bead of glass appeared in his hand.

Lumina gasped. “By the Fundamentals!”

“Oh geez. Give me a break,” said Hogg. He was in his usual reclining chair, laid out and looking a bit less corpse-like, though he still wasn’t moving.

Lumina turned to him, looking offended. “Do you really not know what this means? Even you must be able to feel the difference in his magic between yesterday and today.”

“I can’t feel butts from faces right now. But I know what this means.” Hogg turned his face to Brin. “We’re really back here, huh? We’re really doing this again?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Brin shook his head, innocently. “I just think that if I set my mind to something, then I should give it my all.”

“An admirable sentiment!” said Lumina, still frowning at Hogg. “Definitely not something to be discouraged.”

“Oh don’t mind me. I’m just going to salt those words and preserve them in a nice little jar, you know, to keep them safe for when you’re ready to eat them,” said Hogg.

“Don’t listen to him. He’s jealous,” said Brin. “So what’s next?”

Lumina’s eyes went back and forth between Hogg and Brin, looking a little confused. “That demonstration shows an improvement in your understanding of glass. When I gave you this assignment, I meant I wanted you to think about the soul of glass. What it means to you. I assume you achieved this through practicing your art?”

“I did.” Brin nodded. He pulled a Prince Rupert’s drop from his pocket, as well as some other bits of glass he’d experimented with, and explained what they were and what he knew about tension and compression.

Lumina’s face grew more serious as he spoke, as if she were deep in thought. She considered him for a moment, and then said, “Let’s circle back to my original question. What is glass?”

Hogg chuckled darkly. “Yeah, go ahead and tell her. This should be good.”

Brin shrugged. “Glass is a non-crystalline solid that’s brittle and typically translucent. It’s usually made from silica and a few other ingredients which have been melted and rapidly cooled.”

Lumina tapped her chin. “What do you mean by non-crystalline?”

Brin knew exactly what he meant. His [Memories in Glass] had preserved a very nice diagram, showing how the atoms on most solids lined up in nice orderly rows, while amorphous solids like glass were all jumbled up. Of course, he couldn’t say any of that.

“I mean that glass and crystal look similar, but crystal doesn’t react with my magic.” But wait, that wasn’t true. There was such a thing as crystal that was also glass. “Or rather, not all types of crystals are glass.”

“I see,” said Lumina. She looked at him intently, still tapping her chin in thought. She placed her hands in her lap when she noticed her own nervous tick. One hand went up to tuck a strand of blonde hair behind an ear, but then it was back in her lap, and she sat still, watching him.

Brin started to sweat. He met Hogg’s eyes, and saw a self-satisfied twinkle that showed that Hogg had figured out exactly how this was going to go. He’d remembered one very important detail, that Brin had forgotten when he’d been so eager to show off to the [Archmage].

Lumina was smart. Lumina was very smart. A genius. She was going to figure Brin out, if she already hadn’t. His best move here was to come clean before she confronted him with it.

In a way, he was glad he hadn’t seen this coming, even though he really should have. He sighed.

“There’s something about me that you should know. I have memories from another life. I have all the memories of another world. The reason I don’t like being called Aberthol is because I was never him. I’m Brin the Mistaken. Before that, I was Mark Lambert.”