"And how big average spells are in scale? If 'average' is a term that makes sense here. A spell that isn't very big and isn't very small."

"I mean, there's a progression, but I'm not actually sure how to identify a point along it as 'average'. The overwhelming majority of people who make their living off wizard spells do it with cantrips and one or two first-circle spells. Getting past that takes a lot of luck and cunning. But the circles go up to nine."

"Totally, that's useful. Fourth..no, let's say third circle spells, then. How big they are in scale? How much can they do?
I am trying to understand how much energy they contain. But it's not something that can be asked directly, you probably don't have the same measurement for amounts of shipru I am familiar with. And even the one I am familiar with is only accurate to an order of magnitude."

"Third's a pretty good circle, lets you fly and do fireballs - that's a classic combat spell - and breathe underwater and dispel magic - that one doesn't always work, of course, depends on how strong the magic is you're countering."

"I am not fully sure yet, but this may mean the local practice of magic is higher on both energy and complexity than what I am familiar with. So I am...well, not technically 'excited' as most people would use the word. But It's very cool and important!"

There are important logistics to consider, unfortunately.
"How long will the translation spell last?"

"About an hour. I can maybe dig up a Share Language spell trade and that lasts all day, I speak enough languages it hasn't made sense before. I'll still be able to understand you, that one is lower circle and I can cast it a bunch of times."

"Yeah, I thinking about the general situation. I'll have to live here and interact with people, which is made harder by not knowing any local languages. Made easier by spells; great general inefficiency, that would be so hard without any spells! And in...ok that's stupid. I forgot how the kingdom was named. After living in it for 15 years! Anyway, we don't have any spells that can translate, and if any other kingdoms had it was highly prototypical and experimental...
But the spells aren't a miraculous solution either, they have limitation that still pose logistical difficulty. So I try to figure out what it is.

Not sure if I understood you correctly: 'dig up a spell trade', is 'spell trade' some specific term for an object or ability, or do you just mean 'find someone who can cast the spell and trade with them'?"

"Second thing. I could also buy it but it's much cheaper to find someone who wants to copy out of my book."

"I am still confused about the logistics of the process. Assume 'you will find someone who will cast the spell for you casting another spell', but that may be wrong. Also, what Circle is it, and how much does it cost? If castings of spells can be bought for money. Which I assume they can, but again, may be wrong."

"Wizards have spellbooks. If I let someone look at mine to copy a spell they don't have, they will let me look at theirs to copy a spell I don't have. I just have to find someone who has Share Language and wants something I've got. Share Langauge is second circle, and, yes, you can buy spell castings for money. Probably the cheapest way to get Share Language in particular would be to show up shortly before dawn at a temple and ask if anybody has one left from the day before - if they don't use it it's wasted and clerics get their spells at dawn specifically. The Abadarans will still charge you because charity is against their religion but if you go to, like, Sarenrites, they probably wouldn't."

"Ok, that's a useful long term plan. If it really is successful that you don't need to bother with a new spell and...uh, waste the resource of having spells that are not copied, and could be copied in exchange for something else.

I was just worried about the basic cost of living being very high, requiring spells most people don't need to have cast all the time (I assume), and being unable to compensate for it with the value I can currently provide.
I do have some materials on me I can try to sell, that would maybe even sell well. But I may need for...projects, if the same projects make sense to do here. Despite the difference in factors that decide whether a thing is efficient to do or not."

"What I would recommend about that is inviting the pharaoh's dad to learn your language from you and then show him the weird foreign magic tricks. He'll pay you for it and then if you're willing to live like a commoner you're set for life. If you are not willing to live like a commoner you are only set for a shorter period of time, though, I don't know what standard of living you're accustomed to - plausibly still long enough to learn a local language, Osiriani if you want to stay in this country and Taldane if you want to go across the Inner Sea."

"I don't consider my standards of living high, but that is not an accurate measure, even living in the same world.

I would not be very eager to interact with royal families in a theocracy, especially when lacking information about new a world, to avoid offending anyone.
But if, indeed, there is a way to invite him, and he has a lot of money, and sees learning a language and seeing the magic as worth this money to him, which would grant me the resources to start adapting before I can start producing value, presumably by developing something magical, as that's the main thing I am good at...well, that would be, not just 'very good', it would be...Deeply Efficient as a way for the world to be configured so that most potential value is produced!
Applying to me, that is, not sure if it is that optimal for everyone in the world. But nothing is."

"I taught him Drow and he paid me market rate for my time, which is pretty high since I'm a third circle wizard. He'd probably pay you at least that much - you don't have as many other ways to sell your time, but there also aren't millions of you underground who could provide the same service. He isn't touchy or anything, he just really likes languages. I can send him a note about it for you."

"That is very great, thank you so much!"
Very fortunate coincidence. Maybe even implausible, but he can't judge plausibility not having information on the world, and having a long stay in the previous one. Still things...wrong, unsettling, metaphysically, to his Intuition. Not very wrong, though, only slightly.

"Don't remember if I have any other important topics to ask about. But could answer questions. Or just keep talking about anything, I usually do it by myself even if nobody is listening."

"You should ask questions till Tongues runs out and then you can ramble when I can't talk to you intelligibly any more."

"Oh, that's right. I am stupid about things sometimes.
What makes Wizards more 'academic' than Sorcerers? How does that work? And what circumstances make you unusually a sorcerer and a wizard?"

"Sorcerers know only a few spells. Don't prepare them, just cast them spontaneously, much harder to learn new ones on purpose. Sorcery ability is inborn - some people don't discover it till later in life, but usually it's obvious in childhood, I was. So I did sorcery for a while, but I'm actually over a century old - drow are a kind of elf and elves have long childhoods and long lives. So I had plenty of time to also pick up wizardry, which anyone smart enough can, and I was second circle in both before I came to the surface. My mother was supportive of all this educational investment for reasons of her own, not everyone is so lucky."

"Wait! If I can't understand you you can't ask questions either! Took me several seconds to realize.

'Anyone smart enough can pick up wizardry' is very interesting, and may mean important things about either the magical nature of people here, or the source of energy."

"If you can't understand me I can still write down questions for later. I guess I can also do that with your questions, but still."

"That's fair. Do you know anything about...best way to say this...background energy, places that are more magical, level to which magic is or isn't present?"

"There are ley lines. Worth knowing how to use if you're going to be right on top of one for long enough, but I never have been."

"Intensity of background magic was one of the main things I studied. It...I don't have the tools to really check, my senses are not that reliable, but it feels like the background here is slightly higher than in the previous world. Around 1.3 Illamars, maybe. Though that probably doesn't tell you anything."

"Huh. There are also dead magic zones - there are demiplanes made to be that way, and places where it happened for other reasons like the Mana Wastes. I guess it's possible you're from a world that's mostly dead-magic."