The Dive: Birth of a Wordsmith

by Justin Miller

Denise glanced to me at Kevlar’s constant use of the word level. “Just a bit over seventy. And could you please stop using those terms? It’s best if you actually put in the effort, you know? You’ll get better rewards if you have the mindset.”

  “Eh? Really, is that true? Well, it’s alright. We’re all ‘foreigners’ here, yeah?” He smiled brightly to me, and I sighed again. I’m going to be doing that a lot I think.

  “Denise isn’t. She was the innkeeper at Rosenheim.”

  “Eh?! Really? She’s a--... well, a ‘native’?” He looked at Denise again, wide eyed.

  “Yeah. She decided to join me on my adventure, so now she gets stronger as I do.”

  “Oh! Right! How did you end up stuck here anyways? Everyone’s freaking out! They don’t believe me when I tell them I got a call saying you were here.”

  “I’ve given it a lot of thought.. and I can’t tell you why I’m here.”

  “Why not?” He glared to me, like I had just insulted him.

  “I can’t tell you that either. All I can say is that you are really better off not knowing. Besides, I’ve got a plan to deal with this.”

  His glare didn’t lessen, and he crossed his arms in front of him. “Do tell.”

  “I’m going to kick god’s ass.” I said with a smile, looking up to the sky.

  Well, that wasn’t what he was expecting apparently, because he froze. Then, he suddenly let out a big laugh. “Dammit, you really are Chr--er, Jin, aren’t you?”

  “The one and only. You still only have combat skills?”

  “Duh. Why would I waste my time learning useless stuff?”

  “...Says the guy that had to hitchhike with a caravan because he couldn’t take care of himself.”

  “Low blow, dude..” He took another look at me and Denise. “So, you’re both archers right? She also has a sword, and you’ve got some magic. And you took on a dungeon by yourselves?”

  “Well, we got in town last week. Had to do something to pass the time.”

  “Last week? But-- oh right, time goes faster here. So, what about that cool bow you got? Some epic boss drop or something?”

  “Kev… please treat this a bit more seriously. It doesn’t sound like the story of the foreigners has spread outside the kingdom yet.”

  “Ah, so you know about it?”

  I smiled over to Denise. “Well, yeah, I’m the one that told it.”

  “You… you’re serious, aren’t you? Damn, you always were the best at this roleplay crap. Er, sorry Denise.”

  “It’s alright, Kevlar, Jin has explained a great deal about where you come from, so I’m able to understand.” Though she was smiling, it felt like she was about to bash his head open, and she was gripping her fists tight.

  “Oh.. uh … right.”

  “So, what do you plan to do now, Kev?” I couldn’t bring myself to call him Kevlar. I just couldn’t.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, you’ve still got to take care of your normal life. You can’t be over here all the time, and we won’t always be able to wait a few days at a time for you to get back.”

  “Well… that’s true… What did you plan to do?”

  “I’m headed for the Shattered Realm. The event that split the kingdom should have left some good dungeons to explore.”

  “Ehh… I just came from there and I’m going back already? You know how long that will take?”

  “About twenty minutes?”

  “Say what?” Kev asked with a dumbfounded expression.

  “Well, to the port, really. I’d like to navigate the ship myself to one of the less explored islands.”

  “You… realize it took me over a ‘week’ to get here right? And you expect to make it in twenty minutes?”

  “Give or take. How good’s your memory?”

  “Decent.. why?”

  After checking that we were out of sight from the city, I got to work drawing on the sand. “Try to remember and describe the port city as clearly as you can. Leave the rest to me.”

  “I don’t really know if I should trust you with this…”

  Denise groaned, and looked at him. “Just do it. If Jin says he can get us there, he can get us there.”

  By now, I had drawn a mostly even circle around the entire group. “And don’t smudge any of these lines.”

  “You… is this what I think it is?”

  “If you think I’m about to teleport us to save a bunch of time and effort, then probably. Now, details please.” I began working on drawing the runes inside the circle with my fingers. Given the size, it would take a good while to finish.

  “Uh, right… Well, obviously there was the sea. A bunch of scattered islands in the distance… they called the city Grazel. All the buildings were wooden, and the whole place smelled like fish.”

  “Is that seriously all you can remember?” I glanced up to him.

  “Uh.. oh wait! There was a sign above the entrance, it had an eight pointed star. You know, like the directions on a map.”

  “Much better. Now shut up and stay still.” After several more minutes of drawing, I carefully stepped into the circle to observe my work. “Keep in mind, this is the first time I’ve done this to travel so far.”

  Denise paled a bit, remembering the normal teleport feeling. “I think we can make it if we walk!”

  I smirked to her, and forced myself to use the user interface to find the spell chant. Can’t bring out my grimoire here. “Thirty-seven points of divinity, eighty-nine signs, may the wheel of fate be my guide.” The runed circle around us began to let out a white glow. “Open the twelfth gate, and grant this traveler passage through the shadows! Teleport to the city of Grazel!”

  The light of the circle exploded, wrapping around us and then becoming pitch black in a single moment. Slowly, the world began to fade into view around us. First thing noticeable was indeed the strong smell of fish and sea in the air. The temperature had also dropped a few degrees from the desert. Then came the buildings, all wooden just as Kev had said. We were standing under the town’s entrance gate, amidst a very surprised group of fishermen.

  “Sorry, first time teleport.” I smiled to them, and they nodded, going back to their business. Denise let out a sigh of relief from not having the usual feeling when teleporting, but Kevin was just still as a statue.

  “Wow… really.. really back. So this is magic, huh? I’ve only seen a few small tricks before.”

  “Yeah, there’s a rumor around Rosenheim that almost nobody has been able to graduate from the college. So there’s no surprise that not many people know more than the first couple spells.”

  “And how did you manage to learn all of this?”

  I noticed his suspicious look, and shrugged. “How do you learn anything? I got it from a book.” I haven’t actually told him I wasn’t a full mage. In fact, I haven’t said a single lie yet. Just well concealed truths.

  “Figures. But yeah, I heard the rumor. Just before I left the capital they were saying that a foreigner from Rosenheim had actually managed to graduate in just four weeks. All the ‘natives’ were saying it was impossible. I figured it’d probably be you.”

  “You do see the bow, right? What would a full mage possibly be doing with a bow?”

  “Yeah… you have a point. I guess I put a bit too much faith in your study skills, heh?” He smirked to me, and I laughed.

  “Maybe. But yeah, we need to find someone selling a ship. Would be nice if I could get pointers on running it too.”

  “You.. clearing a dungeon gave you quite the reward, huh?”

  “We didn’t really clear all of it. But yeah, we got a lot during this last week or so.” I smiled to Denise, who shook her head with a grin. She must have noticed that I haven’t lied yet either. Just let him make his own assumptions.

  “We should team up some time for one!” Kev declared loudly after thinking that I got rich from a single dungeon. Though really, I got my money before that, because… I’m a cheat characte
r.

  “Maybe.” I glanced around to check our surroundings. “How strong are the monsters around here?”

  “Uh.. not that strong, I guess? The sea monsters are badass, but ships typically have ways to deal with them. At least, the one I was on did.”

  “Right. Well, since we made it here in good time, how about you show us your fighting style? It’ll be easiest to work together as a team if we know how each of us operates.”

  “Oh, right! Sure, I’ll show you!” He pressed his chest out happily, and we left the city. “There should be some dire wolves around here..”

  Dire wolves, eh? Step up from the Angry Wolf. Should be interesting.

  After a while of walking in a random direction, we found a pack of wolves at the edge of a forest. Though I say wolves, each one was nearly as big as Midnight. “Ah, there they are. Quite a large group..”

  I glanced at the wolves. “How many can you handle yourself?”

  “Two or three at a time?” He glanced over to me, and I nodded.

  “Alright. Go get em.”

  “Eh?! What do you mean go get them? There’s at least a dozen! Do you know the penalty for dying here?”

  I looked over to him, “No, I don’t. I’m not even certain if me or Denise will come back if we do. That’s why you, as the tank, will get their attention.”

  He paled a bit as I mentioned that I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to respawn, and gulped. “Okay.. but be careful. No wonder you picked a ranged class…” He drew his sword, holding it in both hands and screaming as he charged forward.

  “Why… is he screaming?” Denise looked to me, and I shrugged.

  “No idea, but it got their attention. You want to pick off the rest, or should I?” I looked at her as the entire pack began charging to the lone samurai.

  “You do it. We haven’t tested your damage yet.” She smiled, offering me first shot. By now, Kevin and the wolves were in a melee, with him frantically swinging his sword at them, inflicting small wounds while trying to dodge their attacks.

  “Alright…” I pulled my bow off my back, and created an arrow using my Spell Shot skill, etching the runes for Shock Bolt onto it. Nocking the arrow, I pulled it back and took aim. “Warriors of the thunderstorm, bestow upon me your spear.” Lightning began swirling at the arrow just as I released it, shooting out in a bolt that tore through two of the large wolves in an instant while I grabbed another arrow. Kev had already managed to take out one, so I decided to change it to a Nature’s Grip arrow.

  You have defeated 2 Dire Wolves, and gained 10 Soul Energy

  “Ah… good. I wonder…” I decided to experiment. “Crimson light which burns all things, come forth from my hand.” This time, despite being a Nature’s Grip arrow, it was shrouded in fire and tore through another dire wolf before striking the ground. Immediately, flaming vines rose up around the arrow and snared three of the remaining wolves, strangling them and burning them.

  With Kevin having killed two wolves, and me killing six, there were only about six left. Not to mention, those six looked like they were ready to run after seeing their pack fall one by one. “Denise, why don’t you show him how a sword works?”

  She grinned, pulling out her scimitar and leaning towards the wolves. In a single motion, she vanished, appearing next to one of the wolves just as blood began pouring from a wound that wasn’t there a second ago. In the next instant, she seemed to split into three people, striking three wolves simultaneously and moving in a blur to kill the last two.

  Body Flicker, Lightning Dash, and Shiva Arms, right? I had studied her skills before hand, so I knew about her ability to attack three times in the same moment. Kev was at a total loss though. He was struggling to take out two, yet she took out six in the blink of an eye.

  “How… how did you move like that?” He looked to Denise, seeming more than a little scared of her strength.

  I walked up behind him, glancing over the wolves. “You know there’s a skill window too, right? Whenever your talents hit certain levels, you’ll gain a skill based on how you use the talent. Denise has speed and evasion high enough to get skills that let her move like that.

  Kev’s hand raised to the air quickly, apparently going through the menus manually. “Wow… there really is. How come I never noticed it before?”

  “I didn’t either at first. Though, you should change it so that the windows can open automatically. It’s too distracting to do it by hand, isn’t it?”

  “Automatically, you mean?”

  “Yeah, you just have to think about it. It’s a lot more useful.”

  “Heh.. I was wondering what that option was. I was just worried I wouldn’t be able to figure out how to open it again and left it alone.” I saw him making the movements to go to his settings and change it.

  Denise walked over to us, barely a drop of blood on her. “Kevlar, you really need to work on your swordsmanship. You leave too many openings. I know you foreigners get strong easily and all, but still you have to have a good foundation.”

  “Uh.. right… where’d you learn?” He glanced to Denise, having seen her fighting just now.

  “Oh, I had a trainer back the way we came from.” She smiled sincerely to him, having learned quickly to tell only a half truth.

  “Ah, right.. so I need to find a trainer? Aren’t they expensive?”

  I shook my head. “How much do you have right now?”

  “About four silver?”

  …

  “Say again?”

  “Four silver, why?”

  “How… how did you make it this far with so little?”

  “The ride across the ocean was expensive, okay? And nobody’s been giving me any quests.”

  “Okay.. while we’re getting a ship, your job will be to run around the city and help out.. everyone. If someone needs something, help. And put your mind to the roleplay, will you? You know they jailed someone in Rosenheim for just running around asking for quests.”

  Kev’s eyes went wide. “Oh.. fine… yeah.. How much do you have?”

  “A few platinum?”

  “Platinum? I thought it only went up to gold?”

  “Ah, you know how the currency works right?”

  “Yeah. Copper, silver, and gold are all called Gild. Copper coins are one gild, silver are ten, and gold are a hundred.”

  “And platinum coins are ten thousand.”

  “....One platinum is not ten, but a hundred gold?”

  “Right. We did some quest lines on the way to Coatin. We were able to make a great deal.”

  “I can tell.. fine, I’ll play errand boy.”

  “Good. Your goal is to earn at least two hundred gild.”

  “Why two hundred?”

  “That’s how much it cost for a week in the Mages’ College. Figure Fighters’ Halls have a similar price.”

  “...Really? That’s expensive. How’d you manage to pay for it?”