What skills do you have that you could use in an isekai/time slip? I don’t mean what your dream “cheat” would be, but the knowledge/skills that you ALREADY POSESS and how you would make them useful... For example, one could argue that Mark Twain was a pioneer of the genre, with A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court... But let’s also be honest; his MC was a little TOO capable... On the other extreme, in the last book of the Douglas Adams Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series, Mostly Harmless, the MC is stranded on a planet without technological development, and he realizes that even if he can regale them with wondrous tales of modern technology that he’s USED, he has no idea how to MAKE any of it. (Lucky for him, they’ve never seen a sandwich before and get VERY excited when they see him make one; he’s given the ceremonial position of “sandwich maker”, and the best meat of every hunt is given to his exclusive use, but I digress...) Personally, I’m a crazy artist, and a bit of an engineer; there’s plenty I COULD do, like I could probably design a waterwheel, or teach Heron of Alexandria a thing or two about working with gears and such, but realistically speaking, getting the tools to make things to such precision could be difficult, and while I do more complex things like lampwork glassworking and such, I’m unlikely to be able to easily obtain MAPPRO cylinders and such... but there’s one field I could *easily* revolutionize overnight, with only a little bit of wood and a knife to whittle it with; textiles. I’ve got the knowledge to probably be able to design a modern style spinning wheel (with scotch tension to boot, which is a lot more versatile than double drive; with double drive the twist and the winding function are determined by a set ratio; with a scotch tension drive the flyer is driven by your tension on the thread; if the line goes slack the flyer stalls and winds it on the bobbin. That means you have infinite control over how tightly the thread is twisted instead of being bound by a ratio), but even as revolutionary as that would be, it could all be superfluous.. All I’d need to do is to carve a crochet hook, and I could completely take the world by storm. Living in a mechanized society as we do today, something a lot of people don’t realize is how EXPENSIVE and sought after LACE once was; now that it’s made by machine, it’s cheap and plentiful, but once it was a luxury item up there with gold and jewels, due to the extreme amount of TIME required to MAKE it. There are dozens and dozens of ways of making lace, from bobbin lace where you work DOZENS of individual threads at once to cutwork lace where you cut pieces from existing fabric, to lace made on a mesh background, or tatting with needles or shuttles, but one of the easiest and most versatile methods would be crochet lace, usually made by working a single strand with a hook. Lace was such a big deal during the Victorian era that it was often made in sweatshops.. in fact, some historians believe that’s the origin of the word “hookers”; in an interview one lace factory owner basically said that he assumed his lacemakers were all turning tricks on the side, because HE sure as hell wasnt paying them enough to survive on... The prudish Victorians didn’t care for that much... Enter the legendary potato famine in Ireland; a group of French nuns travelled around Ireland spreading crochet as a cottage industry the whole family could participate in, the younger children making simple motifs like leaves, older ones doing more complex ones and adults doing the intricate assembly work, and Irish Crochet was born, which is typified by highly 3D patterns and floral motifs.. it was seen as a “sin free” lace alternative as well as a way to make a “charitable donation” to famine victims (while still buying their high class expensive status symbol luxury goods), but that means the technology to make it (while in essence the basic stitches it’s comprised of are quite simple) wasn’t developed until SHOCKINGLY recently, comparatively speaking, making it ideal for isekai/time slip innovation. Beyond lace-making, crochet has other beneficial attributes as well... While Naalbinding (not getting into what it was right now, as it’s an obscure art, and few of you probably CARE at all) was popular among the Vikings, knitting didn’t really go mainstream in Europe till about the 16th-17th century.. throughout most of human history, fabric was WOVEN. PERIOD. But there are drawbacks to weaving... For one, it’s not elastic, like AT ALL. If you want fabric that has stretch to it, for example for comfortable socks, you’re much better off with knitting or crochet. Weaving also produces a flat sheet, whereas the human body is distinctly NOT flat.. Crochet can be used to make all sorts of 3D designs; I can freehand all sorts of stuffed animals with it, for example. There’s also the matter of loom waste... each warp thread has to be tied down at both the front and back of the loom, and you need enough space and slack to make a clean shed to pass a shuttle through (yes, I weave too, and spin, and know a bit of tatting, sewing, felting, and other various fiber arts... I suck at knitting tho, unless it’s on a knitting loom. >_<) and when you spend countless hours hand spinning your thread (especially by hand on a drop spindle; the spinning wheel didn’t displace the spindle and distaff in Europe till the 18th century!) each INCH of waste is painful, let alone the YARDS AND YARDS that accumulate warping a loom for a large piece of fabric... And that’s not even taking into account the finished FABRIC you waste when you cut a piece to shape for sewing, or the seam allowances and binding you need to keep cut and sewn woven fabric from unraveling... With crochet you can create fabric to the shape you want, often with only a couple bare *inches* left at the ends, leaving almost NO waste.. it would be a true innovation, allowing all sorts of fitted garments to be made, and the little air pockets collected in the loops of crochet can make for a much more insulating garment than wovens to boot. With just a simple whittled wooden hook, the textile industry could be completely turned upside down overnight. So if anybody has actually made it through my huge discourse on textiles... What could YOU do in an isekai while starting from NOTHING? No cheats, no specialized tools or materials brought with you, just YOUR KNOWLEDGE alone... How could YOU realistically change the world with just your own two hands?
Well, it isn't difficult to make a voltaic pile, in the construction or the cost. Couple that with a rudimentary knowledge of electrical conductivity, electromagnetic induction and how a steam turbine could generate electricity, plus a little knowledge of early light bulbs, I could probably reinvent electricity? All the voltaic pile needs is some copper, zinc and brine (plus a frame, which i could just make from whatever). Electromagnetic induction and a generator I think would need a permanent magnet, which might be harder to find - I don't think there were many practical uses for them back in medieval times, and were more of a curiosity? Wires are copper and rubber - which I don't know how to make beyond that it comes from a specific type of tree, but I could figure out an alternate means of insulation, likely less effective but workable.
The biggest edge would have scientists, engineering and medecine branches specifically. But chemistry is pretty good as well in this regard. And this is because even slightly above average knowledge in these fields can completely warp a society. Engineering: Most of us would be capable of piecing together steam engines, even if a few years trial and error might be involved. And steam engines are the first step towards the industrial revolution. The tech for producing these is fairly simple and the impact is huge. Medicine: Unless healing magic is spammable all over the place (and even then....) knowledge about bacteria, blood types and anatomy would likely propel the worlds medicine branches almost centuries ahead of what they are. With magic being generally available developing superior spells should be possible as well. Chemistry: So much of our modern world is is based on this branch. Just proper concrete alone would be a boon. And it certainly does not end there. I'm an engineer, so that is what I would do. Not RTW style, as my memory is good, but not god, but who says I have to solo carry the entire thing? I'll just find myself a clever student or two and start from there. Glass.
Mein Gott! This is quite a monolithic text... Magic. Learn magic like how the natives in the other world learn magic, and hopefully, I won't be in the same case as a certain character in Mushoku Tensei, where by chance, I will likely happen to die out from the incompatibility of the world's air (magic poisoning). I refuse to believe there is no magic to adapt and master when I got isekai'ed here.
Just using magic differently is a cheat... Using magic to create an high oxygen area to enhance combustion magic... Now someone will say that this is a magic based world...so what? Unless some basic physics is altered, physical principles remain the same. Otherwise the biochemistry necessary to support life would not exist. Certainly no recognizable humans... So simple basic physics could significantly boost magic...
Part of the question comes down to not just KNOWLEDGE, but the ability to MAKE it... FROM SCRATCH. Depending on the time frame, you may be able to hire someone else to do the metal work... but how would you PAY for it? If it’s even earlier, could you smelt or shape the metal yourself? While the CONCEPT isn’t difficult, could you really do it with your OWN HANDS, starting from NOTHING? I just need some sticks, a small ( ideally... or even just a sharp rock, or something I could use as a file; even a natural rock could work) and some fluff to spin (either animal fur or vegetable fiber would work).. I could go back as far as *prehistoric* and be able to make things, and as late as Victorian and still be innovative and relevant.... it’s easy to understand the PRINCIPLES behind things, but a lot harder to MAKE them from scratch, unless you’ve had training with things like fine metalworking.That’s precisely why I specifically excluded myself from my glassworking experience. And magic counts as a cheat. YOUR HANDS AND MIND ALONE, guys!
Uh, yeah, I could. Sure, I'm no blacksmith. But just being literate, able to write and able to perform advanced mathematics could get me a job in some noble's house, either keeping ledgers, helping him write letters, poems or even a biography. Such a job would net me more than enough cash to buy some simple metal discs - they won't even be expensive. Not like it takes a master to bash some metal into a simple shape, or much of the material itself. Through the contacts I would gain at such a job, I could also inquire as to where I might find a magnet. And if we were to go back to prehistoric times, I could still do well enough. Lace and textiles are great and all, but if you go back THAT far, there wouldn't be any demand for it, because everyone would be more preoccupied by gathering resources and hunting. Better to make things for transporting goods, like a wooden wheelbarrow (could be made roughly with even stone or flint tools), and even better - more advanced tools. As I said before, I'm no blacksmith. But if I could manage to mine with flint or stone tools, find some coal and some ore, it wouldn't be too complicated to cobble together a furnace from rocks and attempt to smelt some iron tools. Just knowing of the existence of these superior materials, even if I don't know exactly how to make or procure them, would put me miles ahead of the technology of the times.
I have magical paws that could fluff humans to death. No, seriously I'm just a normal cat (with a harem of kittens) who knows random knowledge from here and there. For example, I know that poopoos go to holes. Sand is fine, but you must still dig a hole.
I'm not a one-man guy who's capable of pulling an industrial revolution right out of there ass nor have the delusions of having one, if i'm too be Isekai-ed i'll try going with "Do what the romans do" approach to the new world within my modern sensibilities of course.
I'll probably be a poop Smith, like strong bad. Making fertilizer is hard work. Figuring out that or how to manage jobs like The ARC might end up making me popular with odd people of society. I had a job as a cleaner so I gotten to saw a bit too much about common issues with uncommon people. I might bring the phrase X Y Z to another world. Or just recount story ideas. I have a social skills disability and issues with carrying children for tmi reasons, so I could be an early feminist person in a medieval world. Bring me your spinsters!
I don't have many practical skills, but there's probably a lot that I could do nonetheless. For example, I know a lot about neurodivergency and, as a modern person living in my country, I've heard a lot about the various effective ways to teach people. I've also partially learned a few languages; I really know how to go about picking a new language up. I might need to teach myself some new things before I could make a profit from it, but I could make a killing as a tutor in the isekai world. I'm damn good at office work, too. That has to mean something to someone. I have some sewing skills, so maybe I could get a job as an apprentice seamstress. Or I could do what the MC in "I Favor the Villainess" does and recreate some simple but incredibly useful recipes to sell off (she used chocolate and mayonnaise, as a few examples).
All humans are poop factories. But cat poops are the best, since the human slaves in my house always digs them up. Though, I wonder how they use them. Human poops ain't working on plants, last I read. Or maybe it would, not that I'd know. I don't know if cat poops are effective too, since the humans like to dig them up that much. Though I'm sure those monstrosities that goes moo moo are effective on plants. Human plant slaves always have them where I'm from.
Make modern soap. It's easy and it's reliable. They didn't have modern body soap back in the stone age. They used ash and animal fat, but that's it. With soap, you can even make explosives! Or sell a nonexistent country somewhere. Medieval people were idiots. If you tell them that you're a king in the 'New World' with letter of declaration from a real king somewhere (fake) or letter of declaration from the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (real, if you can pay him enough to forge something like that), there will be no shortage of shmucks who'd fall for your scheme hook, line and sinker. By the time you run away rich, you'd have cheated a lot of rich people of their money, who would later realize that they all own a deed title of a nonexistent land.
I will use my weeb power to show the peasants the GLORIOUS NIPPON CULTURE soy sauce, hentai, reversi, used underwear vending machines...etc
I can knit. Uh.... I know some anatomy stuff? I know some 'from-scratch' cooking recipes. I know some stuff about composting and water purification. I vaguely remember some wood jointing techniques, but those need glue. I've got a smidgen of experience tying things with just plant bark or grass and making (fragile) mud bowls, that could be useful if I get sent to cave man times. I didn't do it myself but I was taught how to make and maintain a mud hut by someone who actually had to live in one for awhile as a kid. Spoiler it's simple. Make a less-steep teepee-like shape with sticks leaning against a strong center pole with the end buried to be stable (better to bury ends of all the sticks actually?), put a second later of sticks around it, fill the space between the two layers with rocks and mud, but don't put rocks too high, only like 2 feet(?) (you don't want to get hit by falling rocks while sleeping). Cover the top with palm leaves tied together in a pattern like shingles on a roof. Dig a dip down in the middle to protect you from cold wind when sleeping.
I could probably rigourously prove a lot of calculus (maybe some probability theory, too) from scratch if I had a few weeks or months to work it out from my befuddled memories. I think that would be pretty useful. Also, the germ theory of diseases. Use a spherical glass bead (presuming someone can make one) as a microscope to 'prove it.
I like how all ya engineers and etc assume tools will be readily available and cheap enough to construct your contraptions, even after OP raised that specific point. xDDD I can do a bit of blacksmithing, some sword fighting, can sorta shoot a bow, I've done some horse riding, I know how to do farm work to an extent, I can knit, sew, make lace, cook on a fire, brew alcohol, preserve food, navigate in forests and using the sky. Haven't done much skinning and tanning, on the other hand. I can also make thread, but it's kinda hard without certain tools. I know how to use more primitive ones for that purpose. With all of those, I'd rather be reincarnated as a baby, as they are no real advantage compared to the natives. Now, I'm also versed in ancient and medieval astrology, and just to give you an analogy on how spoopy it is to think your convenient modern day science will apply to a fantasy setting, imagine me trying to figure out the isekai sky to apply this astrological knowledge. I'd be A bullshitting a lot, B anybody with even a basic understanding of constellations will immediately punch me. Now consider magic affecting any physical laws at all. The entire periodic table becomes a different monster just by adding mythril. What is mythril even? A silver atom with manaons or something? Some alloy of silver and what? You'd be reinventing the entire periodic table, with possibly increased difficulty. A water wheel would surely work, but what will you even write the schematics on? Did you know that masons were paid wages in gold just for the pictures? Do you know why this expense is justified? The materials were expensive as fuck, hard to obtain, required years of apprenticeship to justify being allowed using them, and finally you had to have both experience/knowledge AND talent. Imagine being your average weeb artist. You'll need to spend a friggin' eternity cleaning the house and mixing paints at some established craftsman's place as a live-in, before even getting to touch the tools. By the time you can apply any modern knowledge, you won't even remember any specifics, since it would be completely out of context for your brain. It's even possible your mind would either go insane or reject its knowledge completely over time. Realism in mah isekai? Pls, just give me magic and OP.