The Dive: Birth of a Wordsmith

by Justin Miller

  As my vision turned a light green, I saw the outlines of several animals in the distance, hidden behind tree and brush. I also saw vague shapes moving among the treetops, though they were too far away for me to zoom in and identify them. My best target was a large animal about twenty meters away, though I’d have to shoot around corners to get to it. “Okay… found something. It’s a bit off, and hidden behind stuff.” I looked to the ape. “I need you to draw it out. Grab its attention and we’ll do the rest.”

  The ape nodded, moving around to the direction I pointed. With any luck, this should pull the armored bear to where we could hit it. “Now… Time to get ready.” I opened my book and began chanting my spell, focusing on both Delay and Multi-cast. “Guardians of the earth, bestow unto me your spear.” I recited the spell twice, and four spears of earth formed next to me, Denise preparing an arrow.

  Just as I finished chanting the spell the second time, the ape charged into our field of vision, followed by a large bear. Now, with the Scan spell, I can see outlines and certain details if I focus. However, I was still surprised when I saw that this bear was actually armored. Several stone plates grew out from its skin in various places, and I had to aim for the unarmored joints as my spears flew at it. Thankfully, two of them managed to hit their mark and cripple the beast.

  Denise was clearly waiting for something, so I went ahead with my next spell. “Spirit of wind and chaos, eyes which gaze upon the hearts of man, place the mark upon this soul. Binding!” Only after the rune appeared on the bear’s head did Denise unleash arrow after arrow into the creature, finishing it off by striking its neck.

  I waited a few moments, and didn’t get any messages about succeeding in binding the bear, so I sighed. “No good, that one didn’t stick.”

  “Well, let’s try again. It was good practice, right?” I nodded, so she retrieved her arrows.

  Our next target was an iron falcon. I wasn’t really sure how we were going to fight that, so Denise let me handle it. After all, its feathers were as strong as her arrows, so she couldn’t hit it. My first act was to draw its attention with my Binding spell, fully chanted. Then, it turned and quickly dove towards me.

  “Ohfuck, Summon Aspect of the wolf!” I quickly jumped to the side, aided by the wolf’s agility. “Guardians of the earth, bestow upon me your spear!” I brushed my hand against the ground, and whipped it out towards the retreating falcon. The spear hit its mark, but might as well have been a club. All it managed was to knock the thing down for a second.

  Ohshit, need a different spell. Why not, worked last time. “Warriors of light and magic, bestow upon me your spear!” I held the ball of magic in front of me for a moment, and prayed to the spirits that this worked. “Become!” Using my original spell, I placed the rune for lightning into the spell, and then shot it off towards the falcon.

  Spark Bolt has been added to your Spell List

  I’m not sure I had ever been so happy to see a window appear as that moment. The ball of magic I had been holding turned into a tiny lightning bolt, immediately striking the falcon and bringing it down.

  You have succeeded in Binding an Iron Falcon.

  “Yes!” I cried out, laughing for a moment, letting my mana fill back up. Summon Aspect used quite a bit it seemed.

  “Nice, I didn’t know you knew any lightning magic.” Denise walked up to me, smiling.

  “I don’t!” I laughed again. “It looks like my mana bolt can be given elemental qualities now. I got the idea from how I learned earth spear. Though.. I doubt I’ll be able to use that spell normally before I really learn lightning magic. I’ll just be stuck with this method.” I gave it a try, aiming my hand out and whispering Spark Bolt.

  You do not meet the requirements to cast this spell. Spark Bolt has been removed from your Spell List.

  I shook my head and grinned. “Nope, can’t cast it. Well, looks like I captured the falcon, though.”

  “Nice, now we just need to grab a bear, and see if we can find any of those hunter spirits.”

  “Yup.” I looked at the ape, and summoned my new Iron Falcon, which perched atop my shoulder. “He’s so much nicer when he’s on our side. But… give me a minute, took a bit of mana to summon this guy.”

  Denise nodded, and we waited for a few minutes while my mana climbed up. In the meantime, I sent the falcon to scout the surrounding area. “I wonder what would happen if I fused one of my creatures with that thing? Would they gain its natural armor, or wings, or both?”

  “No clue. We can find out once we’re on the other side of this forest.” She nodded to me, and I stood up as the falcon flew back.

  There is a single stone bear to the south, and two to the west. The ones in the west are being watched by the branch hunters.

  “Branch hunters?” The falcon nodded its head. “Who are they?”

  They are the branch hunters.

  “...Thanks. Okay, he says there is a lone bear to the south. That’ll be our best bet for another binding, and we can see how this guy does in a fight.” I turned my attention back to the falcon. “After I cast the binding on him, I want you to attack. Denise and I will back you up, but honestly I think your chances of surviving a hit are a lot better than ours. That, and I doubt it could hit you if it wanted. Hell, I barely could.”

  The falcon preened as if it were being praised, and flew off into the trees. Denise and I, followed by the ape which was now in bodyguard mode, went to the south until we saw the bear that the falcon had mentioned. “Alright… let’s try this again. Spirit of wind and chaos, eyes which gaze upon the hearts of man, place the mark upon this soul. Binding!” As soon as the sigil appeared on the stone bear’s forehead, there was a screech, causing it to lift its head up just as the falcon dove.

  The iron wings of the falcon must be as sharp as a sword, because a deep gash opened in the bear’s neck, and the falcon flew off before it could retaliate. I smirked to the falcon, thinking that was a particularly good summon. Denise followed up with a pair of arrows, and I finished it off with a mana bolt.

  You have succeeded in Binding an Armored Bear

  Summoning Magic has increased to 8

  Magical Talent has increased to 13

  After assigning my stats, I received another welcome message.

  You have earned a new title!

  For focusing on your magical prowess and reaching over 1,000 mana, you are now an Arcane Savant. Many mages will be able to recognize your power at a glance, allowing you to enter magical facilities undisturbed.

  Fame + 200

  2 to Magical Knowledge and Magical Talent

  This seems to be along the lines of the Beastmaster title that Denise got, but for a Mage. I guess that would make Denise’s official class a Ranger at this point, or at least Hunter.

  Denise looked over to me and saw my wide grin. “You know, I realize you just got the bear and all, but you look just a bit too happy, don’t you?” She tilted her head curiously. “Did you get a strange window?”

  “Oh, right. Sorry, it’s easy to forget that you can’t see them. Thanks to that fight, our abilities improved a bit. I also got a bit of an extra bonus because I’ve been focusing so much on my magic. But yeah, I also got the bear which was nice.” Denise nodded, and smiled at my explanation. She may be the most knowledgeable native in this world about the game features, so she can easily accept my explanations.

  “Still, that falcon was pretty useful, right? I barely even saw it move, and it did so much damage.” I nodded to her question, agreeing with her.

  “Guess I should summon the bear to replace my ape, then. It’d be a much better choice now. At least, until we need to summon the wolf-man for something.”

  Denise nodded, and I dismissed the ape, calling out my new Armored Bear. It appeared with a mighty roar that at first made me wonder whether it was really under my control, but then the falcon landed o
n its head and it settled down. “Okay. Now we need to see if we can find any humans. Denise? You’re the tracker.”

  “Uh.. I am?” She sounded confused by this, so I chuckled.

  “Sorry, I thought you realised. One of your skills is to be able to track. I figured you knew about it since you got that talent before we left the first time.”

  “Well, this is news to me… worth a shot, I guess…” Denise looked around, and knelt down next to a tree. Just beside the base of the tree, I thought I saw some torn moss, but Denise jumped slightly. “Wow… I uh… I don’t really get it, but I can kinda tell what’s happened around here.”

  She got up from the tree and scanned the ground until she found something that grabbed her attention. “This is really cool. Is this how it is for you? Just suddenly being able to do things you never imagined you could?”

  “Kind of, yeah. Though I imagine it’s a bit more convenient for you. The information you get in your head we generally have to read off of windows that obscure our view.”

  “Yeah, I can see how that would be an issue. Especially in a fight. Okay, I think I’ve got something. Human foot prints, a group of small ones a few days old, and a larger one following alongside them that are a bit newer. Sounds like our missing hunters.” I nodded, and she pointed to the south.

  “Let me see if I can pick up anything.” I closed my eyes and focused. “Scan.” When I opened my eyes, the green tint of the spell faded into my view. Looking down at the tracks Denise had mentioned, I focused on them, allowing my Discovery talent to work. A moment later, I saw orange outlines of tracks along the ground leading in the direction she was pointing. “Alright, looks like I’ve got them.”

  Denise and I, followed by my summoned companions, quickly proceeded down the trail of tracks, avoiding any of the local wildlife. The trail ran for a good sixty meters before I lost it. “Crap.. Where’d it go..” I looked around, and could clearly see the footprints leading up to this point, but after the spot I stood they vanished. “Denise, you got anything?”

  She looked around the area while I kept watch, but sure enough she couldn’t find any tracks either. “They couldn’t have just vanished, right?”

  “...Denise…”

  “Yeah?”

  “You remember what the chief said?”

  “He said that the forest took them, right..?”

  “Yeah… and that there were hunter spirits… The falcon earlier said something about branch hunters. I’m going to look up slowly, and when I do there’s going to be nothing there.” I said this mostly to reassure myself, because I did indeed look up. And so did Denise.

  And we saw a dozen figures standing above us in the branches, with bows out and aimed at us. “Elves?” I asked Denise without looking at her.

  “Elves.”

  “Guess we found the hunter spirits.. Don’t suppose you speak elven…”

  “Nope… better think of something quick.. they don’t look happy to see us.”

  Translator spell, translator spell! Uh.. language… no, understanding, or… communication! Communication, self, persist!

  Tongues has been added to your Spell List.

  “Oh thank god. Tongues!” I waited a moment for the spell to activate. Knowing that this was still a Beginner level spell, and so there could be problems expected, I decided to keep my sentences simple. “Don’t shoot!”

  Yup, that’s me, master of eloquence.

  It seemed to do the trick, though, because the elves paused, a few lowering their bows as they spoke amongst themselves. Finally, one of the elves jumped out of his branch--I would like to point out this branch was at least ten meters up a tree-- and landed in a crouch, before fully standing and looking between the two of us. “Who are you, and why do you know our speech?”

  “We are human adventurers, and I have used a spell to temporarily allow us to communicate. I thought it would be better than simply being shot.”

  The elf scoffed, “Humans. We know of your ilk. Savages, like the painted men that desecrate the forest. What business do you have in our woods?”

  I glanced to Denise, and then remembered my spell was only affecting me, “The village outside the woods asked us to find their missing tribesman. Though, honestly, we were hoping to encounter an elf tribe at some point along our travels.”

  “And why is that?”

  “I am a student of magic, and my companion is an archer. We felt that there was much that we could learn from the elves. As for the villagers, they did not realize that they were committing any crimes. They come to the woods because they need the food. Their fields will likely not sustain them another season.”

  “So they enter our woods and get their fill of blood?”

  “No. Not really. Please, if you could take me to speak to whoever is in charge of your clan, I believe that we can settle this, without more blood being spilled.”

  “You will be brought to our elder, as you request, but if your story proves to be nothing but a tale, you will never leave these woods. Do you understand.”

  I nodded, and then nodded again towards Denise as two more elves dropped down near us. I really hope I’m not starting that invasion event I was afraid of.

  The two elves moved to our sides, and extended their hands to us. I took the hand of the elf maiden standing next to me, and Denise took that as a sign to take the hand of the elf that appeared near her as well. A moment later, large vines whipped down around the four of us to pull us all up into the trees.

  I squeaked, I admit it. It might have been a yelp. A beautiful woman with long blonde hair and green eyes grabbed my hand, smiled at me, and suddenly I was being flung into the air like a slingshot? You try doing that without some kind of reaction.

  When the vines finally released us, it was thankfully not to drop to our deaths. Instead, they set us down on large wooden platforms high in the trees. My first thought was that I really did not want to get on their bad side while I was up here. My second thought was interrupted by a helpful message.

  Tongues has advanced to Intermediate

  I guess that means I’ll actually be able to talk to them? Good thing this spell doesn’t use too much mana, I don’t have to worry about running out.

  I smiled to the elf that brought me up here, “Thank you.” She returned the nod and smiled, and then Denise came over and lightly slapped my arm.

  “You flirt.” She teased me.

  “All I did was say thanks.” I chuckled and shook my head, and once the elves started walking off we followed them. “So.. I should probably work on a spell to let you understand them too.”

  “Might help. It really is nice that you can pull a new spell out of your robe whenever you want.”

  “Yeah, just don’t expect them to always work. When I learn a spell, it is at its weakest. I had to keep my sentences easy to understand to avoid accidentally insulting them.”

  “That… would have gone badly, yes.”

  I began working on a second spell, but when I managed to cast it on Denise, I got a message I wasn’t expecting.

  Tongues has been expanded to include additional targets.

  Huh.. so I can modify certain spells in this way too? “Okay, you should be able to understand them now too.”

  Finally, I took the chance to look at our surroundings, and noticed that we were no longer alone. Not including the elves guiding us, there were also various others gathered on spiraling platforms built along the trees, some leading to hollowed out sections that I assumed were their homes. “Looks like this is their city. Actually looks pretty good.”