The Dive: Birth of a Wordsmith

by Justin Miller

  She turned her head to look at me, and there was a wicked grin on her face. “I am deciding whether that’s a compliment or not.”

  “Compliment. Definitely compliment.” We both laughed then, and proceeded to have dinner, though we were never more than an arm’s length apart. She told me how her training had been going, and I explained my classes. She found no end to the amusement when I told her how I almost buried myself alive by accident, or nearly turned myself into a statue. And when I told her about the summoning spells I learned. She told me that she wanted me to put the Binding on her. To that, I shook my head, flat out denying it.

  “Why not?”

  “Maybe later, after I’m better. But I won’t risk testing an unsure spell on you.” That answer seemed to be the right one, because she leaned forward and gave me a kiss on the cheek to thank me. It’s funny, we’ve hugged regularly, and now I had almost seen her naked and we were about to share a bed, but we had never kissed.

  Deciding that was a crime worthy of imprisonment, I smiled and softly planted my lips against hers, causing her to blink for a second before she closed her eyes. I couldn’t help but think that her expression was extremely happy. That, and marvel at how soft her lips were.

  After that, we forgot all about dinner. At times I thought we only kept our clothes on through sheer force of will, wrapped in each others’ arms on the bed until we eventually fell asleep.

  Chapter 4

  It was Friday again, and after class I ran into Kevin outside the campus. “Hey, long time no see.”

  It hadn’t really been that long, but given the time I had spent in The Dive, it felt nearly like two weeks. “Yeah. How’re you doing, man?”

  Kevin smiled to me, “Doing good! Tonight I’ll finally be able to leave the city. Oh, by the way, I managed to find out the name of where I am. They call it… the Shattered Realm? How cool of a name is that?”

  I couldn’t help but shake my head as I remembered what Denise told me. “Yeah, I’ve heard about that place. Good luck getting to the mainland from there.”

  As I spoke, his expression went blank, confused. “What do you mean?”

  “You know why it’s called the Shattered Realm right? There was a really big earthquake that turned it into a bunch of islands. Though, you probably can’t see the ocean past the city walls.”

  “You mean I’ve got to find a sailor NPC now too? That is so not fair.”

  “Well, you could always learn to do it yourself, right?”

  He drew back as if I had slapped him. “Are you crazy? A mighty warrior would never stoop to wasting his levels on such things! Just give me a ship and a crew.”

  “Yeah, but in The Dive, everything you do could turn into a level. Are you telling me that the only Talents you’ve collected were combat ones?”

  “Yup! I’ve got level twenty eight swordsmanship, level eight speed, and level four medium armor.”

  “So you’re a level forty samurai?”

  “Exactly! What about you? I take it you’ve gotten more general talents?”

  “Well, one. I picked up Navigation on my first day. Almost as good as a built in compass.”

  “Why would you want that? Just get a regular compass…”

  I shook my head again. “I’ve also got a partner I’m going to be traveling with. She’s working towards being a pretty good archer.”

  Kevin suddenly had a mischievous grin, “Oh, a she huh? I’ll be sure to get all the details of THAT from you one day.” He said with a laugh, and before I could reply, he turned and rushed off towards the bus stop.

  Why didn’t I tell him that Denise is an NPC?

  After that, I had to pick up some groceries, my stomach telling me in no uncertain terms that we were done with ramen for a few weeks. It might mean I’d be gone from The Dive more, but what the body wants, the body gets.

  Dinner took about an hour to make and eat, just simple hamburger helper. Hey, at least there’s meat.

  No arguing with that logic.

  I was in a hurry to get back into the game, since I was already running at least two hours late in game time. And sure enough, as soon as I connected, I heard a familiar cute squeak, a happy cry, and was tackled onto the bed. “You’re late I was worried I’m so glad you’re back!” Denise was clinging to me like she thought I’d disappear again.

  I laughed lightly as I patted her head. “Sorry, dinner took me longer than I thought. Miss me?”

  She nodded quickly, her head buried against my chest. “Always. So, you already ate?” I realized I hadn’t explained this part to her, so I nodded.

  “Yeah, but I still need to eat here too. Since I exist both places, got twice as many mouths to feed. You don’t mind cooking an extra meal, do you?” I smiled down to her, and got a bright smile in return.

  “Already did, and was afraid it’d get cold before you showed up. But really, having to feed both bodies, no wonder you disappear like you do.”

  “Oh, by the way, Denise. I had something I wanted to ask you.”

  She lifted her head up to look at me, propping herself up on her shoulders. “Hmm?”

  “We’ve gotten so close, and I don’t even know your last name.”

  The way her head tilted to the side was kind of cute, “Pardon?”

  “A last name… you’ve got one, right?”

  I couldn’t help but notice her blush, though I wasn’t sure what it was for. “Why would I?”

  “...” I sighed, “Okay, unforeseen cultural difference here. Where I come from, everyone has at least two names, usually three. For instance, my name there is Christopher Weston.”

  She nodded, “Ohhh. No, it works differently here. Well, it works differently for the different races. I figured that you were like us and born with one name. Okay, let me explain.” And with that, she was in teacher mode, despite still being draped across my body.

  “The elves are probably closest to what you said. Even though all the races have given names that they are born with, the rest is a bit different. With the elves, they have a clan name, like Silverwynd or Shadowblade. With the dwarves, they have earned names, which they get when they accomplish some great task. So, a famous blacksmith might have the name Ironforge. Goblins… now they are really different. They pick up names like you’d pick up spare clothes. Whenever they feel like it, they’ll just add something to their name for fun, so it’s not uncommon for one to have at least five names.”

  Her blush returned as she got to the fourth, inevitable race. “And humans.. well… we have unity names. Whenever we find the person we want to spend our lives with, we register our union and decide a name to share. Something more than physical, which will last forever.”

  I smiled to her, and couldn’t help but kiss her forehead. “I see. That is definitely a different method than what we do in my world.”

  “Oh? So tell me about what you do when you find someone.” Now she was back into her curious mode, wanting to learn as much about where I come from as I did about her world.

  “Well, after we are sure that we want to spend our lives together, we exchange rings. A visible reminder of our vows to each other. It is also common for the woman to take on the last name of her partner.”

  “Ehh? You really are more like the elves. N-not in a bad way!” She blushed and looked away, causing me to laugh again. And it was at that precise moment that my virtual stomach decided it wanted to be part of this conversation as well, causing her to join in my laugh. “Yeah, yeah, I hear you. I’ll be right back.”

  As she stood, I couldn’t help but notice that she had a better muscle tone than when we first met. The frail innkeeper was vanishing a bit day by day, being replaced with a cute archer.

  So, I should aim to hit level forty before leaving the city, huh? Well, he’ll be overpowered in combat, but I wonder if he’ll even be able to survive outside the city.

  Ever since learning my summoning magic, I’d been spending my days practicing my different spells. Of course, I never
forgot about heading to the library to read the various books. It was a good chance to increase my skills. And as such, I had gained another two points of intelligence, one of wisdom, and various ranks and spell levels. I hadn’t really tried learning new spells yet, though I figured it would be a good thing to work on. Now that I had Magical Knowledge 10, I could take some time off from the college.

  Part of me didn’t really want to, though. I still wanted to learn more, to get as good as I could before setting off. I was nowhere near mastering any of my magic, but that was the whole point of an adventure. I decided to attend for one more week, but after that I’d practice by myself.

  Denise returned with a tray of well cooked eggs and sausage, offering me breakfast in bed. Since meeting up with me, her cooking really has improved--to the point where she even gained a talent for it. “Thanks.” I smiled to her, accepting the food.

  It was very important for me to make sure to eat properly. Whenever I logged out, my satiety paused, but since I left right before breakfast last time, I came back and my body expected food. “Just two more weeks, huh?”

  I looked over to her and nodded. “Yup. Not long now. Oh, and if you don’t mind, I’d like to spend the last week here instead of at the college. I can only get so far with classroom lessons. Also, you’ll be able to save on that week’s tuition.” I winked playfully to her, and she laughed.

  “You mooch. Getting me to pay for all your things. Oh well, in another week, I’d love to have you here. Though don’t think that means I won’t be training still! I’ll let you work in the inn while I get ready for our big adventure! You can pay back some of that debt you owe me.”

  “Yeah, yeah. I look forward to it.” I gave her an approving thumbs up to her plan, because really I did owe her a lot.

  Like always, she gave me a packed lunch when I left for class. To the surprise of the teachers, I had advanced several years ahead of my former classmates. I was curious why they were surprised when there had been other foreigners that joined the college, but was informed that after they burned themselves and died a few times with fire magic, the foreigners had stopped coming to the college.

  “So, I guess that will make me the first foreigner to graduate, huh?” I asked, mostly as a joke. My earth instructor, who I had come to know as Luc, nodded though.

  “Indeed. And the fastest graduation in a hundred years at that! Why, you’re almost ready to take your final tests already.”

  “Final tests? I haven’t heard anything about that.” I looked over towards Luc.

  “That’s because nobody ever expected you to be able to reach that point in the four weeks you would stay in the city. For your final exam.. well.. it’s different for each mage. The point is to show the results of your labor and research. You should think carefully how you want to present yourself for this, because it’ll be the difference between passing and failing. And if your work is deemed not good enough and you fail, you are not allowed to retake the test. That’s why there are so few true mages.”

  “I see… so I need to create a spectacular magic in order to pass?”

  “Right. And it has to be original. You can look through the library, but those are all examples of what NOT to do. The spell you create for your final exam will be one that only you possess. That is the mark of a true mage.”

  “Wow… how long do I have?”

  “You can postpone the test until you are ready, but remember that you can only take it once.”

  New Quest!

  Mark of the Mage

  Luc has informed you of the impending Final Test, in which you are required to create an original spell. This quest has no time limit, but cannot be repeated.

  Difficulty: D

  Reward: Fame as spell’s creator, prestige with Mages’ College.

  “I understand, sir. I’ll do my best to succeed.” I spoke politely, but inwardly, I was panicking. That vast library, full of magic and spells, and I had to create something unique. How am I going to manage this…

  Quest Accepted!

  What have I gotten myself into now..

  “If it’s you, I’m sure you’ll think of something. After all, you’re my prodigal student! Of course, if you fail, we’ve never met. You understand, right?” He grinned to me, and I had to wonder if he was joking or not.

  “Right, right.” I turned and went for the library. That was where I usually went when I wanted to talk to Denise.

  “Message..” I had leveled up the spell to Advanced, meaning that it could now reach anywhere in the kingdom without the chant, and according to the description it had unlimited range with it.

  “Jin, is that you?”

  “Yeah, it’s me…”

  “What’s wrong? You don’t usually call this early. I haven’t even had a chance to head out yet.”

  I started to fill her in on the final test that Luc warned me about, and she waited patiently until the end. “I’m just worried that I won’t be able to come up with something.”

  “Oh, is that all? Don’t worry so much! I know you can do it. Not just because you’re a foreigner, but because you really are amazing. Just put your mind to it, and you’ll figure it out.”

  I smiled despite myself. “Thanks, Denise. Don’t know where I’d be without you.”

  “Oh, now that I can answer. You’d be in a gutter somewhere begging for gild so that you could afford that fancy tuition of yours!” She laughed after saying that, and I couldn’t help but agree.

  “Alright. Well, I’ll be spending some time in the library for a bit. I need to really think about what I want to do. The entire history of mages, and I need to create something new..”

  “See you tonight?”

  “You know it. You’d come bust down the gates if I was late.”

  “I would, too!” She laughed again, and we said our good-byes.

  Okay… Let’s get started! Cheered up by my chat with Denise, I went about looking for books. I wasn’t going to be able to use the Spell Creation window for this. Anything with so few runes would either be used already, or would be a failure.

  No, I needed something new. Something only for me. The problem was that everything I thought of, there was already an example for it. Lightning storm, lava fonts, whirlpools, earthquakes, even gravity and void magic. When I asked Luc, he told me that when he took the test, his creation was a diamond golem. Of course something like that is beyond me, simply because I don’t have the resources for it.

  As I studied the history of the college, I began to realize that in the last few years, that has been the trend. Rather than a spectacular magic, people have been submitting spells that had some large requirement to achieve. Since it’s a spell you can only do under specific circumstances, of course it wouldn’t be something that’s been used before.

  What I needed… was impossible. I spent the entire day in the library, and the only result I could find was that nothing I’d be capable of casting would be new. I even tried selecting runes at random and referencing them. Who knew that there was a spell for the runes ‘A’ ‘Yellow’ ‘That’. Apparently, all it did was turn the user’s eyes yellow, but still.