Edwin and Rashin rambled on for a few more hours, mostly about their respective worlds. Rashin, for his part, seemed quite entranced at the sorts of materials Earth had on hand, especially various types of steel and concrete. He was really, really obsessed with concrete for whatever reason, and kept steering the conversation back to it. Edwin partially understood, but they clearly had something similar enough or Skills were capable of managing a lot of the benefits of the stuff, if the citadel was any indication. Eh, whatever. Maybe he was just curious about the possibility of doing it nonmagically? Probably wasn’t important.

Still, all that paled in contrast to learning about Joriah! There were apparently two major landmasses, or two and a half depending on how you counted it, and he was on Korizan, the ‘and a half,’ a big Greenland-like subcontinent that just barely touched the much larger Tarneis continent up near the arctic circle. The other continent, which Rashin literally called ‘Enigma,’ was an almost complete mystery, and other than it being mostly covered in jungles, not much was known about it. Most of Korizan, along with a good portion of Tarneis, was ruled by the ‘Pretentious Empire,’ which had Edwin nearly spitting out his drink in surprise. He could only presume it wasn’t what the Empire called itself, and that name was just a result of Polyglot’s translation effect being overly literal. The Highpeak Kingdoms were, naturally, in the Highpeak Mountains (Rashin didn’t know which was named first), located near the southern tip of Korizan in the middle of what was apparently called ‘The Verdant,’ which proved that even on a fantasy world, people weren’t immune to boring names. There was supposedly an elven city somewhere in the Verdant as well, though nobody knew where exactly, allegedly not even the elves themselves. Edwin wasn’t sure how much he believed that, nor how it might work, but just shrugged and nodded at all the right points in the conversation.

Magic was a thing, too. While that wasn’t much of a surprise, it seemed like pretty much everyone had some level of potential for magic, though given the difficulty of actually developing it into something usable, it was generally left unexplored. Every once in a while you might have someone who had an innate connection with fire, shadow, or some other kind of magic, but other than the handful with a natural talent and whatever you might get from the System via a Skill, there wasn’t any dedicated study of the arcane. Apparently the gods- who were real and once in a blue moon even showed up in avatar form- also blessed a few followers with magical power, but Rashin hadn’t personally met any, so couldn’t speak much about them. Once you got to a high enough level in your skills, the result was hard to distinguish from magic anyway, but those whose skills were magic from the start grew into abilities with truly spectacular capabilities.

Which actually reminded Edwin to ask, “Oh, right. What exactly does completing a Path do, anyway?”

“Ah, but of course. I forgot you were not raised with such knowledge. Completing a Path will either improve an existing Skill or give you a new Attribute, which are a bit like a skill, save that they are always passive and can only improve by following Paths related to the Path you first unlocked it with. There are rumors of other rewards, naturally, though I have never seen one myself nor know someone who has.”

“Is there any pattern to what reward you get, then?” Edwin inquired, intrigued. Actual information about magic! Sure, they might be an absolute failure of a magical world if they didn’t have magical schools, but hey! Rashin had admitted he didn’t know for certain that there wasn’t some secret school somewhere, not to mention the entire continent of Enigma. There was still hope, “Or is it random?”

“It’s not random. If it were, the Legacies would be hopeless. That said, it is highly complex and difficult to replicate. A Path will target whatever Skill has been upgraded the fewest times, defaulting to whatever Skill is most compatible in case of a tie. How exactly it will upgrade the Skill has been debated by Legacy scholars for centuries, but it seems to be primarily influenced by the Skill, the Path, and your Class,” Rashin took a sip of his tea, “Though there are some patterns which are blatantly obvious. If you complete the Linguist path and have the Language skill, it will upgrade to Polyglot practically every time. Trophy paths- like the one you should have gotten for killing that Stonehide bear. Oh, wipe that look off your face. Anyone you tell that story to will know you got one. Regardless, Trophy paths nearly always yield a Trophy skill, one which takes a physical form. I believe the Dragonslayer path, when completed by someone with an Armor skill, tends to grant Dragonscale or Dragonhide Armor, which conjures a suit of armor made of the stuff. Very useful, as said equipment is usually of a high quality, which only improves with its level, cannot be lost, and if it’s damaged or destroyed, it is simple to re-summon the item.”

Edwin sat back, processing the information he had gotten. There was a lot to unpack there, and he was really keen on figuring out more complex interactions between the Skills, Paths, and Classes. From what he had heard, the Scientific Method just wasn’t a thing on Joriah, and experimentation was essentially just trial and error without any systematization, hypothesis, or anything else. There was probably all sorts of information to be gleaned if you used proper experimental procedure.

“So then, how many skills do most people have?” he asked.

“Well now, that’s a bit personal. Truly, it depends on what Legacy you follow. Twelve is the most common amount- I have head it is actually illegal in the Pretentious Empire to have more- fewer, and you do not have enough Skill Points to complete Paths in a timely manner, more and you simply do not have the time to maintain all of them, meaning it is harder to upgrade all of your skills to a higher tier,” Rashin counted off the points on his fingers, to just a shrug in response from Edwin.

“What are these Legacies you keep mentioning, anyway?”

“Well, Edwin, Legacies are following a route to power established by those who came before. Do it adequately, and you will find Paths which actually allow you to follow the Paths of your forerunners directly,” the dwarf explained patiently, as though instructing a child, prompting Edwin to furrow his brow in annoyance.

“So like a build? Take this skill, complete that path, make sure you end up with a specific Class?” Rashin nodded, which only caused Edwin to feel more annoyed for some reason, “Yeah? Well, what about just doing your own thing without following what someone else told you to follow?”

“Those people exist. I do not understand them, so often they simply cripple their potential for no gain. Once in a rare while, one manages to find a new Legacy for others to follow along, though most simply attempt minor variations to perfect their Legacies.”

While it wasn’t everything Edwin had hoped it would be, the discussion was quite fruitful beyond that. There were no ways to remove a Skill (though there were rumors that the elves had some secret method to do so, but there were apparently always rumors about elves), nor were there any reputable sources about Skills merging, or getting a Skill similar to one you already had. In general, practice would work to level whatever Skill was closest to it in scope, unless there simply was nothing similar enough, in which case it might allow for the formation of a new Skill. You could re-unlock a Skill you had rejected, though declining a Skill evolution was irrevocable.

All the talk about skills made Edwin’s Research skill very happy. A surreptitious set of questions led him to believe it was close enough to the more common Learning skill to gain experience from all this, though he’d probably forget most of the more fiddly cultural and geographical bits as soon as he left the room.

Level Up!

Research Level 10→18

He’d need to start thinking about what Path he wanted to fill out next, Edwin mused as he returned to his room, following directions given to him by Rashin and recorded on his fingers. The way back wasn’t nearly as complicated as he remembered, and the room he found himself in seemed like it might have been slightly different? It had the same layout, the same decorations carved into the wall, and looked all but identical to where he had slept last night, but it just seemed slightly… off, for some reason he couldn’t quite pin down.Was it larger? Was it shinier? He couldn’t tell. To make sure something similar didn’t happen again without his knowledge, he marked everything he could with his Almanac.

Level Up!

Outsider’s Almanac Level 23→24

Oh hey! 41-character limit, nice. Was it exponential? That could get carried away fast if it were. Anyway. He had no idea what had happened to his Earth clothes, but considering the state they had been in last he saw them, that may not have been too terrible a loss. He was quite content in his current outfit, though it wasn’t quite as familiar as jeans, a t-shirt and a light, comfy jacket had been. Maybe he could get his t-shirt back? It hadn’t been too badly damaged. Really, it was mainly his jacket that was full of holes, his pants would probably have been fine with a good wash.

Whatever. He could try to get his clothes back tomorrow. For the time being, a cotton shirt and pants were adequate. The shoes he was wearing were incredibly comfy, though. Maybe he’d be able to keep them? Inspecting them, they looked like they had been perfectly tailored for his feet, which seemed impossible… but then he remembered Skills, and that there was probably a Cobbling skill out there which improved the comfort of created shoes. If so, they must have had a really high level.

There was more food on the table, too, similar fare to the night before (though of significantly nicer quality for some reason), and Edwin wolfed it down, earning another skill level in Nutrition and Survival for his efforts. Before he retired for the night, though, he pulled out a book Rashin had given him- a primer on the local Dwarven, apparently optimized for unlocking and leveling the Language skill. Reading it was a bit of an odd experience, as every single dwarven word was written by someone with a high Polyglot skill level (Rashin hadn’t said it was him, but Edwin had a guess), meaning that he could instinctively understand the meaning behind every single word. It took a fair bit of effort to not just read the thing in English, even, the slightly different sentence structure resolving itself seamlessly into an equivalent English sentence.

It was only when Edwin analyzed the words letter by angular letter that he could really parse the fact it was a different language. For such a harshly-written script, though, Dwarven was a fairly flowing and pleasant-sounding language, very few hard sounds like ‘k’ or ‘t’ to be heard. Two levels of Research and several hours later, though, Edwin wasn’t having any luck getting what Rashin had wanted him to unlock, namely the Language skill. Why, exactly, Edwin needed the Language skill the scholar hadn’t felt fit to explain, but it probably was so the old dwarf wouldn’t need to spend all day working as a translator. It wasn’t until Edwin actually tried sounding out the words that he finally got what he wanted

Language

Tomato, tomato. Potato, potato

Speak more clearly

Enhanced pronunciation per level

By the time he called it a night, Edwin had reached level 4 in the Skill and was quite ready for rest. As he drifted off, he realized he hadn’t done anything to figure out his longer-term plans, but there was always tomorrow.

One fresh level of Sleeping later, Edwin found himself dragged out to meet Lord (he had been very emphatically informed he was not to call this person a King) S’fashkchlil Blackstone, which Edwin had tried and majorly failed to pronounce. He couldn’t even sound it out properly in his mind. Rashin functioned as an interpreter, repeating what Edwin said pretty much verbatim and presumably doing the same for the Ki-Lord, sorry, allowing them to each understand what was being said. Edwin gave a slightly awkward bow as he entered.

“You wished to see me, your Lordship?” No harm in trying to use a bit of charm for the person indirectly responsible for saving him.

“Indeed, little wanderer,” Oi now, what kind of dwarf calls someone else little? Edwin wasn’t even slightly short! Oh, he was talking again, “-heard my servant Rashin tell some marvelous stories about the land you hail from. Magical mirrors, horses powered by fire, and strange oils as hard as stone yet as transparent as water?”

“Well, that’s not entirely-“

“And you know how to make these wonders?” the dwarf asked, voice getting more demanding as the lord leaned forward on his chair, “You are one of the crafters who know their secrets?”

“I mean, I studied material physics, but that’s hardly-” Edwin defended himself, not sure he liked where this was going.

“Then as my right as Lord S’fashkchlil of Clan Blackstone, I declare the Outsider Edwin Maxlin to have been found in abuse of Hospitality Rights-”

“Hey!” Edwin interjected, “You can’t do that!”

Rashin continued repeating the proclamation undeterred, “- and with what little property he has on him insufficient to pay off the debt, I seize his person to pay off the debt of his stay through labor, until such a time the debt is equalized,” The lord narrowed his eyes at Edwin as two guards previously standing at his sides moved forward and locked his wrists in an ironclad grip, “So I claim in the name of King Shoroshal of Highpoint as my gods-given responsibility.”

Edwin’s struggles were utterly fruitless as his new captors dragged him out of the room. Before he left, they paused to let him hear one last statement from the person he thought he trusted,

S’fashkchlil leaning back on his throne with an avaricious look in his eye, “Make me Blackstone, Outsider, and I will set you free.”