The Dive: Birth of a Wordsmith

by Justin Miller

  “Er.. thank you. I’m sorry to impose on you like this. I arrived here with my clothes and little else.” I grinned a bit as a thought crossed my mind. “I should consider myself fortunate that the fates allowed me an outfit.”

  I could hear a laugh from the kitchen as my words reached her, “I believe we all consider ourselves fortunate that foreigners do not appear naked.”

  I nodded, and then spoke up again as I realized something. “It occurs to me that I never told you my name. I’m Jin. And now that we are actually introduced, it is a pleasure to meet you.”

  A moment later, Denise walked back into the room carrying two steaming bowls of soup. “Here you go.” She handed me one, and sat beside me to eat her own. “So, you’re wanting to be a mage, huh?”

  I smiled to her while eating the soup. It wasn’t really that great, but it was a lot better than going hungry, so I couldn’t complain. “Yeah. In my realm, I am what you would call a scholar. Magic has always fascinated me. so when I got the chance to come here, of course that was the first thing I thought of.”

  “Well, good for you. Even in an unfamiliar land, you are able to tell what you want.” She smiled a bit more, almost hidden while eating.

  Satiety Replenished.

  As the message appeared, I smiled inwardly and set the empty bowl down. “How about you? Is this a family business, or your dream job?”

  The question seemed to startle her, but after a moment Denise laughed. “Oh, neither of those, really. To be honest, I’ve always wanted to go on an adventure. But the thought of going out into the wilds alone… well, let’s just say I’m not the bravest of girls.” She gave me another of her smiles.

  “Well… if you’d like, you could join me?” I blushed a bit as I asked that. Why am I embarrassed? I mean sure, she’s gorgeous, but she’s an NPC. Well, I guess I’ll chalk it up to gorgeous.

  She blinked for a moment, her eyes as wide as saucers. “Are… are you sure? I mean, I don’t want to get in the way or anything…” Her own shyness made me laugh a bit.

  “Nonsense. I’m not sure how it is here, but in tales I’ve read a solo mage is an unfortunate mage. Besides, I honestly don’t know where my adventure will take me, and having some company would be nice..”

  That seemed to be enough to convince her, because she quickly nodded, as if a moment’s hesitation would make me change my mind. “Okay! Well, you’ve got four weeks before you can go anywhere anyways. That gives me some time to get ready. Oh dear.. I’ll have to sell the inn before we go.” She didn’t really seem that upset with the idea, so I didn’t comment on it.

  Denise has joined your party as a companion!

  Companions are NPCs that have built up enough familiarity with a player and agreed to join them on their adventure. Their levels grow alongside the player that they follow.

  I blinked as the two messages appeared before me, and noticed that the single red bar at the corner of my vision was joined by another one. So, that’s the party window? The new bar had the name Denise written by it in small letters.

  “I’ll be happy to have you join me. Since your dream was to be an adventurer, I take it you know what kind of skills you want to take up?”

  “Oh, hmm.. Well, I always thought about being a fighter.. But honestly, I’m not that strong. I’d have to join a church to learn a lot of the blessed arts… What do you think?” She looked towards me expectantly, honestly relying on my opinion to shape her future.

  “I’d rather not have you in the front line of a battle… and if faith isn’t your strong suit.. maybe you could be an archer?” I suggested to her, looking over her build to see what would suit her.

  Denise thought that over for a minute, and then nodded. “Okay. I can give that a try. I’ll hire someone to run the inn during the day, and take lessons at the Fighters’ Hall for archery.” She smiled to me again. “Guess that makes us partners now, huh?”

  I laughed at her straightforward comment. “I guess so, partner. I’ll stop by here whenever I need a place to rest. If you can’t find me, I’ll either be at the college, or back in my world so don’t worry. I’d say that I’ve got plenty of reasons to come back here now.”

  She blushed as I spoke, and nodded. “Thanks.. I look forward to working with you, Jin.” She quickly stood up, collected both bowls, and went to wash the dishes.

  Seems that she is a bit more shy than she looks. Well, it’ll be fun to have her with me.

  Chapter 2

  It was unusual to sleep in the game, and yet it felt perfectly natural. A few hours later, I woke up on the couch where she left me. This game really is too real. It’s hard to even think of it as a game anymore.

  Giving Denise my thanks, I turned to leave for the college when she stopped me by tugging on the back of my tunic. She was blushing when I turned around and was handed a small lunchbox.

  “Since you don’t have much money… I made this for you.” She said softly, making me smile.

  “Thank you very much. I’m sure I’ll enjoy it. I should be back tonight if nothing unusual happens.” I gave my goodbyes again, and got directions to the college. The first thing I noticed was that as soon as I stepped outside, I turned the direction I needed to go. I didn’t even have to figure out where north was, I just knew.

  Guess that’s the benefit of Navigation, huh? Built in compass… maybe eventually it will include a mini-map.

  As I thought it over, I took a bit to admire the surroundings. With how busy I had been last night, I hardly noticed, but Rosenheim is quite a remarkable city. The streets are kept clean, the buildings are made of stone, everything looked like a large fantasy city. As I got closer to the College at the center of the city, even the outfits of the NPCs became fancier, marking their status. At that point, it was easy to identify other players, because there weren’t many people with outfits similar to mine. Sure, some of them were probably NPCs as well.

  When I saw the Mages’ College, the first thing I could think of was a typical fantasy tower. Rising up above all the other nearby buildings, the spire overlooked the entire city. Its base was a large square building that filled up an entire block by itself, with two guards standing by the gate.

  As I approached the gate, both guards turned their heads to watch me, and one stepped forward as they saw I wasn’t stopping. “Halt. Speak your business here.”

  I nodded to the guard before replying, “I come in search of knowledge. I wish to enroll in this esteemed institute.”

  As the guard glanced over my attire, it was clear he thought I didn’t have the funds to do what I asked. “You are aware of the tuition? 200 gild, up front at the start of each week.” When I nodded to him, he sighed, looking towards his partner. “Go get one of the professors. They’ll take his tuition out here, if he really has it.”

  The other guard calmly walked inside, clearly believing it wasn’t worth rushing. Nearly ten minutes of waiting later, he walked out with an elderly gentleman. It wasn’t the ornate blue and black robes that caught me by surprise, or the satchel of books tucked under his shoulder. No, those I was expecting. What caught me off-guard was his almost shining bald head. “...Thurgrim?” I asked, blinking to the man as he approached.

  “Hmm… have we met? Ah, right, you were the boy who delivered my lunch last evening. Thank you for that, again. So, what business do you have here?” He glanced over me as the other guard had, as if looking to see if there was another delivery.

  Instead, I pulled out a pair of golden coins from my pocket, each engraved with a 100 on it, which I had been given by Denise in exchange for smaller coins. “I wish to enroll, if you will have me.”

  Thurgrim took the two coins and inspected them carefully, pocketing them when he was satisfied. “Very well.” He nodded to the two guards, who stepped aside to let me pass. Once Thurgrim began walking back inside, I followed him. Never thought that old fisherman would be someone important.

  “So, tell me wha
t you currently know of magic. That will make it easier to teach you.”

  “I am afraid, sir, that I am a novice. I am one of the foreigners, and as such have no knowledge of your magic.” He nodded, accepting this story. Looks like it really did spread throughout the city overnight. Maybe one of the customers overheard and started the rumor mill? I wasn’t even thinking of this in game terms anymore, just how it would happen in reality.

  “I see. Well, then I should tell you. Your tuition covers access to our library, however you may not remove any of the books from the college. Doing so will see you banned from this institute and tossed into the city jail. Am I clear?” When I indicated he was, he continued. “I’ll have to teach you the most basic of the basics before you can even be permitted to attend the classes. For now, you’ll be spending your time in the library. Know that I don’t expect much from you. As far as I can tell, you don’t have a bit of magical talent.”

  I gulped a bit, inwardly hoping that magic was indeed a Talent, and not something that you had to be born with. If the latter was true, then the concept of choosing your own path would be a lie. “I understand, sir. I’ll do my best to learn while I am in your care.”

  “You said your name was Jin, right?” When I nodded, he handed me a silver disk, a bit larger than a 10 gild coin, with an emblem of an eye on it and two curved lines descending from the eye. “This is your pass. Have it with you at all times, or you will be evicted from the college and forced to pay your tuition again.”

  We went down several stone hallways, the ceilings curved inwards before coming to a vast library, which had to occupy most of the floor. “This, if you didn’t notice, is our library. Now, follow me…” He led me through to one of the nearest bookshelves. Pulling a book from the shelf, he handed it to me. It was a dusty tome, obviously unused for some time, the letters almost faded against the cover. ‘The Magical Arts for the Mundane reader’.

  As I brushed the dust off of the book, I accidentally breathed some in and was sent into a temporary coughing fit. Thurgrim waited patiently for my outburst to end. “This book will teach you the most basic rules about magic. If after reading it, you are still as.. mundane as you are now, then I am afraid your time here is wasted.” He pointed me towards a table along the wall so that I could read in private while he attended other matters.

  When I sat down, I opened the book, having to blow the dust off of a few pages as I read intently. From what I have noticed, this game works as much on thought as it does action. I got Navigation because I knew the directions by looking at the sky, not because I guessed. That means that simply skimming won’t give me anything. I have to earnestly read, and commit this to memory as fact.

  As I proceeded to read through the book, absorbing the information, I was growing increasingly worried that all this was for nothing, and that magical talent is indeed something a character is born with. I got so distracted that I ended up reading through the book three times before a series of messages flashed before my eyes.

  New Talent Unlocked!

  Magical Talent- The ability to perform magic. Not all are able to perform this, and being capable of magic sets you apart from normal man.

  Stat Unlocked!

  Mana- Now that you are capable of casting magic, the mana stat is available to you. Your amount of mana will increase by 5 for every point of Intelligence, and may also increase as your Magical Talent levels up. Your mana regeneration will increase based on your Wisdom stat.

  By devoting yourself to your studies, your Intelligence has increased by 1.

  I smiled wide to myself, mentally pulling up my character window to review the new information.

  Name: Jin

  Race: Human

  Title: None

  Fame: 20

  Gild: 10

  Level: 2

  Health: 100

  Mana: 70

  Strength: 10

  Agility: 10

  Endurance: 10

  Wisdom: 12

  Intelligence: 14

  Luck: 5

  Attack: 10

  Defense: 10

  Points available: 5

  Talents: Magical Talent 1, Navigation 1

  Nice. With this, I pass the first test. I put four of my points into Intelligence, bringing my mana up to 90, and the last one into Wisdom. Even though I already read through the book, it would be a little bit before Thurgrim returned to check on me, so I read it through one last time to make sure I got everything I could from it.

  A short while later, the old professor returned, raising an eyebrow as he saw me. “I’m not sure how you did it, but it seems that you possess the ability to use magic now. Very well, I’ll take you to the beginner lessons.” He moved to put the book back where it came from, and got a pair of textbooks from near it to give to me. “You’ll be needing these. Also, tomorrow I expect you to bring your own journal to use to keep notes.”

  And with that, he led me off to a classroom, where students were just piling in and taking their places. I’m ashamed to say it, but I was the oldest in the class by a considerable margin. Enough so that the others, most barely teenagers, were asking if I was going to be the instructor. It seems that magic is taught young for those who can use it. Okay, maybe I’ll learn a spell or two to get me started.

  At least, that’s what I was hoping for. When the teacher, a petite woman who couldn’t have been older than me, walked in the door, she began going over the beginner’s basics. Incidentally, those were a step above what I had learned. The book I had read merely explained to me the barest nature of magic and easy to remember techniques for manipulating it. Now we were diving into the meaning of runes and significance of a circle in a ritual. Still, I paid attention to a degree where a few of the kids started giggling near me, and even got a few confused looks from the teacher when I asked her to explain something. Nonetheless, by the end of the day my Intelligence had risen another three points. I also got a new talent just before the end of class.

  New Talent Unlocked!

  Magical Knowledge- By earnestly studying magic, you may unlock its mysteries.

  When I unlocked Magical Knowledge, I instinctively put three more points in Intelligence, and two more in Wisdom, bringing them up to 25 and 15 respectively. I also noticed that when I looked at the runes on the board or in the book, their meanings flowed into me as if I were reading perfect English. Not all the runes, though… Many were still clouded as strange arcane symbols.

  Class let out after that, and I was confused because there apparently wasn’t another class scheduled, but none of the students seemed ready to leave yet. When they left, they moved in a crowd, so I naturally followed along. Maybe there is another class and nobody told me?

  The room that most of the students led to was a large open area, where many separated to move off by themselves and sit down on the cold floor. Others stood, closing their eyes in focus. That’s when the meaning of the room came to me. This was a practice room! So, study hall. Taking the books I had with me, I moved over to an unoccupied corner, thinking back to what I’ve learned so far, starting with how to channel magic. Around me, several students were creating balls of fire or water, or shooting the walls with weak bolts of magic.

  “Hey, mister.” I heard a high pitched voice calling to me as I was concentrating. Looking for its source, I noticed a small boy, no older than 15. “I’m Devlyn, what’s your name?”

  I smiled to him. He was a fellow student, so I should try to get along with him right? “I’m Jin. Nice to meet you.”