A mirror image of Hogg returned minutes later. Brin expected to get right back into training, but Hogg said, “Hey, how much money you got left?”

“More than a thousand gold. Why?” Brin asked.

“The merchant caravan is leaving soon.”

“I know. They’re only staying for two days, and I’m banned for three. I think Elmon was thinking of that when he banned us from town for three days,” said Brin. “He saw how excited I was to see it.”

“Pfft. Like he even thinks about you that much. Anyway, you still want to invest some of your money? If so, we’ve got a good opportunity here. I don’t know if you knew this, but the average level of Hammon’s Bog is quite a bit higher than the average in a city. Being isolated like this can mean a lot of extra work and danger, but it also means levels. We have some crafters here who can make things as good as the very best in the city.

“Since caravans have been so rare this year, the town has a lot of built-up inventory on their high-Skill, high-quality stuff, especially Toros and Chamylla. We could front the merchants the money to buy it here, and they’ll sell it for you for a portion of the profit once they get to the city. And they’re headed straight to Blackcliff after this. With the Prefit guarding them on the way back as far as Oud’s Bog, well, it’s about as close to a sure thing as you’ll ever get in this life.”

“How much?”

“Five hundred gold, I think. More than that and they won’t bother to haggle,” said Hogg.

A huge chunk of his savings, but honestly he was glad to finally invest some money. He hated the idea that it was just sitting there. “Let’s do it.”

“Good. Someone will come by the house later to finalize things, but just to be clear: You’re fine with me negotiating on your behalf?”

“Of course,” said Brin.

Hogg nodded. “They’re going to have to meet me at the town gates and then do all the purchasing by running back and forth across town. It’s going to make Prefit Elmon look like a jackass.”

“Somehow I can live with that,” said Brin.

Hogg chuckled. “Me too. Now let’s talk about training. I don’t think you’re going to get to the second threshold on Will or Vitality, but with that 10% bonus it may be in reach for Dexterity.

“I’d really like to get to the first threshold in Magic and Mental Control,” said Brin.

“In that case, getting Mental Control to the first threshold is your best bet for locking in one last achievement before System Day.”

Brin had thoughts on that. It still bothered him that System Day gave nearly every other kid in town more time to rack up achievements, while it had stolen nearly six months from him, just because of an inconvenient birthday. If he left town, could he get more time? Maybe he could get to the first threshold in every attribute. There had to be something cool for doing that.

He didn’t bring it up, though, in case Hogg actually said yes and wanted to start packing immediately. He still wanted to hunt alone in the forest first. Once he’d killed a monster and got the achievement for that, then he’d bring it up.

“What about Magic?” asked Brin.

“If we had another year, and Lumina’s help… maybe. As it is, Mental Control will still help your chances at getting a magical Class, if that’s what you’re aiming at. It’s by far the most important attribute for magic. Hands down.”

Brin shrugged. “Mental Control it is.”

“Did you ever get any while practicing with Jeffrey?”

“No…” Brin guiltily thought of his lute gathering dust in his room. “I got a few Dexterity for it at first, but I sort of stopped playing after the attributes dried up.”

Thinking about it, he hadn’t wanted to play music for the sake of gaining attributes. He’d wanted to make music. He’d learned the first few songs Jeffrey had taught him with gusto, and figured out how to play Sweet Home Alabama from memory, even including the sweet little guitar solos between the verses. He didn’t remember the words past the first verse, but he’d started revising the lyrics to match his new home. At the time, he hadn’t been thinking about attributes at all. He’d been doing it because it was fun. When had that stopped?

Maybe everyone was right about him. He’d been consumed with his goals of gaining as much power as the System would give him, and completely forgotten to enjoy his life. Even if he wasn’t just a kid, an ambitious adult should remember to have fun now and again. He promised himself that after System Day, he’d slow down and live his life a little.

He realized he was zoning out while Hogg was talking. It almost felt good because that was a key personality trait from the old Brin, back when he had been Mark.

“...from concentrating on more than one task at once, and from taking control of your mind. Music is a good way to do that, but you have to be learning deliberately. Just playing your favorite three songs over and over won’t do anything. Actually, I’ll have someone fetch Jeffrey over. I’ll summon Gustaff too, if you catch my drift.”

Was Hogg hinting that he was going to use a mirror image to create a fake Gustaff? Wait a second. Did he do that all the time? He could. Now that he thought about it, had Brin ever actually seen Gustaff? Like, the real [Illusionist]? He only ever remembered seeing mirror images of the man, like the one near the town square that played movies and stuff.

“Is Gustaff real?” Brin asked.

Hogg’s hand twitched, like he wanted to slap Brin on the back of the head, but he didn’t. Well, he couldn’t because he was a mirror image, but he likely wouldn’t have anyway. Instead, he frowned and said, “Of course he’s real. You think I want to waste my magic with that garbage? Get a grip.”

“Sorry,” said Brin, emphasizing it hard enough to make it clear he wasn’t really sorry.

Hogg shook his head derisively. “We’ll have you meditate, I think.”

“Meditate? Isn’t there something useful I could be doing?”

“Meditation is useful. It trains your concentration. You’ll likely be able to snatch up a point in Mental Control or two before I get home. Now sit down.”

Brin sat. “Do you do this?”

“Not for years,” said Hogg. “My Class and achievements give me an absurd amount of Mental Control. One more point isn’t worth the days or weeks of daily meditation I’d need to get it, not when I can train it by using my illusions to their fullest instead.”

Hogg’s instructions were surprisingly similar to stuff he’d learned about meditation in his past life, but like everything he went a bit harder. Where Brin had learned that it didn’t matter how you sat, Hogg was adamant that he do the classic crossed legs and ramrod straight back. “We’re learning how to concentrate, not trying to put you to sleep.”

He talked about breathing, and set a long, slow rhythm. “Don’t try to stop yourself from thinking. If you’re thinking about not thinking then you’re getting distracted. Let the thoughts come and go, but never stop concentrating. Now, is there a prayer you like to do?”

“No, not really,” said Brin.

“Then make a sound with your voice. Anything you want. You’re going to concentrate on making the sound and on listening to the sound. Only that.”

Brin thought back to the old cliche of the buddhist monk sitting exactly like this saying “Aum” over and over. He always thought that was a Hollywood exaggeration. Was that a real thing?

“Aum.” He gave it a try, and to his surprise, meditation was actually kind of hard. His mind kept going to Jeffrey, the merchants, his night in town. Sure, he wasn’t supposed to try to stop all thoughts, but he was supposed to acknowledge those thoughts and then dismiss them, rather than dwell on them.

Part of what made it so hard was that he was exhausted. His rhythm was all messed up now that he’d been awake through the night two nights in a row. But doing mental work while you were tired was one of the best things for training Mental Control. He’d figured that one out all on his own.

He was a little jealous of Marksi, actually. The snake had climbed into his tank and passed out the second they got back from town.

“Stop saying it over and over. Say it once and draw it out as long as you can,” said Hogg. “Now concentrate!”

Brin tried again. It was still difficult, but he gave it his all, and after what was probably two hours or more, he got his first notification.

Through training you have increased the following attributes.

Mental Control +1