Chapter 1. Part 2. 

 

A Doorway to Another World.

Based on several anime tv shows of the isekai type.

By MJM 2025

 

 

You should knew a few things about Grandpa – Gavin Claymoor.
In light of the recent weirdness, Mark considered what he actually knew about the old man.

He was a wealthy independent merchant of unusual objects. A treasure hunter, a world traveller, an eccentric, and writer of fiction. He often told stories that seemed to be wild exaggerations, yet they usually had some sort of point or life lesson. Maybe he should have been a teacher. Maybe he had been, in his younger days.

Gavin had two sons, Mark's father, who seemed to get along well with the old man and his uncle, who did not. Mark never knew what had started the rift, but it seemed to go back a long way. Did they know about this door and the other world?

What to do with it?

Mark returns to the cabin in another world. He takes a slow look around the place. Opening cupboards and looking in cabinets. Glancing at the books on the shelf. Everything looks surprisingly normal, exactly what you might want for a summer home in the forest. Except for the human skull with the runes carved in it, on the kitchen table.

“Hello there.” He says, smiling at the absurdity of talking to a skull.

“Good day. Its about time you returned.” says the skull.

Mark looks on in disbelief as the spirit of the skull manifests.

Bob – the skull is that of Bobellin Vanderhoff, a long dead wizard. (like in Dresden Files books)

“Ah my apologizes for mistaking your identity.” Bob says quite pleasantly. “But you are the heir of the great adventurer Goodberry Crane, are you not?”

Mark recognizing that was the name his grandpa used, nods. “Yea he was my grand father.”

Bob paces around to get a better look at the boy. “You have a lot of potential. But from the confused look on your face, and the poor shape you are in, I guess Iv got a lot of work to do.”

Bob introduces himself and explains how master Crane had found him, after he had sat abandoned in a tower for a hundred years. It was one of grandpa's early adventures, so Bob helped him become a powerful and heroic wizard. “A talent runs in your family for magic, stronger than any Iv ever seen.” he concluded.

Mark listened to the story in stunned silence. The journal had mentioned Bob, but he thought it was a live person grandpa knew, not a hologram from a skull.

“Look, Im not really sure what is going on. But Im very sure I have no idea what I should do about any of it. It all seems like a dream.” he confessed.

“You dont have to do anything. The question is, what do you want to do?” Bob said. “If I was you, Id go home and think about it for a day or two. Then you can come back and we can talk more.”

MC nods, accepting the wisdom of that idea.

After all, he has all summer to deal with this fantastic situation. No need to rush.

About Time.

Returning home, Mark notices that only a short while had passed although it felt like he had spent several hours in the other world. He recalled that grandpa wrote “1 day there = 1 hour here.” Just another impossible thing that proved to be true.

In fact there was a chart drawn in the note book.

Earth 1 hour     Other world 1 day

1 day                 24 days         1 month

1 week             168 days         7 months         half a year

2 weeks             336 days       14 months       one year

1 month             672 days        24 months      two years

“It is not a game.” grandpa had written, “But looking at it like a game can make it easy to figure out many things. Life is always like that.” MC considered that bit of advice as he went to bed.

Note – the notebook grandpa had left, was an autobiography, summarizing important moments and ideas. There was also an extensive set of journals in the cabin, locked in a box, that went into detail about all of his adventures. MC has not found them yet.

Next Day.

Mark awoke with an emotion that he had not felt in a long time, excitement.

Life had become absurdly interesting and he was hungry for more of it. A small part of him expected that yesterday had all been a dream. He would go to the door and it would simply not be there. But most of him looked forward to visiting the other world again. Today he would embrace a new life.

Getting dressed quickly, he went to grandpa's room, to the closet, through it to the room with the magic door, through it to the cabin in another world. It was all there, just as it had been. It was all real, or he was totally delusional. Either way, he was determined to enjoy things.

He spends all day talking to Bob.

He asks lots of questions, often using video game references. Which confuse Bob. So he has to explain what games are. Eventually the mage says he understands the idea and he can answer the question.

“No you cant open a view screen to look at your stats and skills or hit points and spells. Life does not work that way. There is no easy way to measure who you are or what you can do.” Bob explained.

Mark was both curious and apprehensive to know how pathetic he was in game terms.

“What do you want to do?” Bob finally asked.

“I want to become an adventurer, I want to explore this world and become a hero.” A childish desire but an honest one.

“OK fine.” said Bob “I shall help you. But it will take a lot of training and practice before you are ready to face the world. Master Crane left you a lot of fine equipment, but it takes more than a magic sword to make you a man.”

The Training Montage.

Exercise to get in better shape. Education about the world. Lunch brake.

Weapons practice. Magic instruction. Then story time about Grandpa's adventures.

Each day goes like that for several weeks. Mark studies hard, fully committed to his desire.

Progress is slow but steady. There is no instant magic to make him a better person.

He fights some illusions of various monsters, in the yard. They dont pack a punch but they do give some idea what to expect, in how the monsters look and act.

He does progress quickly in magic use. As Bob explains, “A huge advantage you share with Master Crane is the ability to quick cast. Most mages need several moments to shape mana into a spell, with gestures, thought and incantations. You can do it with a single word or small gesture.”

He practices magic exerciser, basic spells.

In the span of one month, he accumulates about 20 months worth of training.

This point needs to be stressed, that his improvements are slow and steady. To a person on Earth it would seem that Mark changed a lot in just one month. He went from a weak slouching slob to a rather buff athletic build. The truth is he put in hundreds of days of training in the other world.

The Big Test.

Eventually Bob suggests Mark is ready for a walk in the woods. The monster filled forest.

He selects his favourite armor, weapons and equipment, having trained with a lot of different stuff. Bob assures him, “It is very unlikely anything out there can kill you with all the enchantments that your equipment has. But dont take that as permission to act recklessly.”

He is of course overconfident.

Note – In many isekai shows the main character is over powered from the start. This is not one of those. The MC here is naturally talented with magic, but not unstoppable. Experienced wizards and some natural spell using monsters will have the upper hand over him. This is even more true with experienced fighters, as he is starting with low stats.

Mark walks in woods, spear in hand, he is alert and serious. He uses sense mana to try and detect monsters. At first he only senses a few small creatures, but it is hard to tell what each thing is. All living things have a small amount of mana in them. Monsters and mages have significantly higher amounts. He picks a target and sneaks up on it. Of course he has never hunted before, so it detects him and easily runs away.

He walks in woods some more. This time a larger creature seems to be sneaking up on him. Following Bob's advice, he uses a magical flash, to disorient it, then makes his attack on the beast with his spear.
He goes in excited and confident, but it ends up being a tough fight. He gets hit several times and if not for his armor would have been seriously injured. But eventually he brings down the creature.

Unlike in some games, dead things do not simply drop loot and vanish. He is left with a very real corps of the monster he just killed. So he has to drag it back home. “You could just leave it there, but that is wasteful.” Bob had said. “Monster bits are often valuable and occasionally good to eat.”

Note - The first time out in the forest will be shown in detail, then we shall have a montage.
This will be a good chance to show off a few of the spells he has learned.

Although we are not a cooking show, we shall see Bob teach MC a bit about cooking and about what other monster parts can be used for. A hint at alchemy. But the cabin does not have a work shop for it.

At the end of this practice cycle we shall see MC has gained some muscle and changed his appearance a bit. No longer is he fat and weak looking with a hunched posture. By the time the summer training is done he is actually an accomplished hunter and monster slayer.