“Easily. I earned the friendship of one of the natives and did work to earn my tuition.” I cast a glance to a smirking Denise.
“I got it, I got it. Okay. But those arrows were awesome. Any idea how much they sell for?”
“Can’t sell them. The bow makes them. And before you ask, the bow is bound to me, so you can’t sell it.”
“Damn, they have bound items even here?” He glances to Denise. “Would say she should have gotten it, but she seems a bit overpowered even with just a sword.”
“Her Swordsmanship rank is actually lower than yours, if I remember right.”
“No way, it can’t be less than thirty.”
“Only fifteen. That’s the difference when you have skills and technique. Right now, you might as well be swinging a wooden stick.”
“So, if I get a good trainer and learn properly, I’d be better than that?”
“Yeah, those wolves were not really that tough. By the way, from what I’ve gathered, rank thirty is the beginning of master rank. So your movements should be no worse than a true samurai if you had the training.”
“Really? What’s your highest?”
“Me? What do you think? I’m a nerd, so obviously my highest will be my Magical Knowledge, which is only in the lower twenties.”
Denise tilted her head, looking to me. “What’s a nerd?”
“Ah, sorry. Expression from our world. It’s someone that enjoys studying.”
“Ah, so a scholar. I see.” She nodded to confirm that it made sense to her.
Kev smiled to me. “You really are teaching her, huh?”
“Of course. But you’ve got to go do some jobs. We’ll go get a ship that me and Denise can crew. You’ll just be popping in and out whenever you’re around, so no sense in having it require more than just the two of us.”
“Right. Well, I guess I’ll be off. By the way, how do I use these skills?”
“You have the speed talent, right? What skills do you have in it?”
“Lightning Dash, Speed Clone, and Tunnel Vision.”
“Heh, figures you’d get something like Tunnel Vision. Well, this should mean your rank is around eleven. Denise has Lightning Dash, and we’ve found out that if you focus on trying what the skill describes, you can do it. It’ll get easier as the skill levels up though.”
He nodded to me. “Alright, I’ll give it a shot.” He began running towards the village, every now and then getting a brief boost of speed.
“You sure you want to leave him alone? He is your friend from home, right?” Denise looked to me with a hint of concern in her eye.
“It’s alright. He’s the same idiot as ever. Besides that, let’s actually find a ship. Even if I might be able to make one myself, it’d probably vanish if I slept and that would be bad.”
“...Agreed.”
“Also, I need to save my mana for in case a sea monster really does appear.” She nodded and we began walking towards town at a more casual pace. It’ll take him a while to earn a full two gold pieces, so we weren’t in any hurry.
Chapter 18
When we got back to town, we went off to find the harbormaster. Who we met was an overweight balding man wearing a shirt two sizes too small. Is this guy really the one in charge?
“So, what can I do for the two uv’ya?” The man looked to us with narrow eyes.
“We’d like to buy a ship, and a book on sailing.”
“Eh? A ship, for just you two? Where ya planning on sailing?”
“We plan to explore the Shattered Realm. That said, if you have a ship available with defenses, it would be preferable.”
“Ya realize what you’re asking for is awfully expensive, right?”
“I’m confident that I can meet your price, sir. I need a ship that can be crewed by me and my friend, with some level of defenses. I also need a book on how to sail.”
The man’s eye twitched visibly. “Asking for all of this, and ya don’t even know how to sail…”
“I can navigate fine, but I’ve yet to have experience sailing.”
He let out a deep sight. “Fine.. I don’t have a ship like what you’re wanting on hand. But give me a few days and I can get one together. But you better pay in advance.”
“I can do that. How much do you want for it?”
“Hmm.. how big of a ship?”
“As big as you can manage and still be crewed by just the two of us. I’ve got someone that may be joining us at times, and there’s a chance we will have passengers.”
“Fine, I got it. Let’s see. I can get you something. Custom job, about.. sixty-eight thousand gild.”
My turn for an eye twitch. “A bit much. But very well. I suppose there’s nobody else that we can entrust with this.” I reached into my coinpurse and pulled out seven platinum coins, handing them over to him. “I’d like to purchase the sailing book with the remainder. That shouldn’t be a problem, right?”
The man’s eyes seemed to glow as he looked at the coins. “N-n-not a problem sir… I’ll be right back.” He pocketed the coins and quickly ran inside his shack, coming back with a thick book. Definitely not the basics I was looking for. He probably thinks I’m some noble since I met his extreme price.
“Thank you very much. When can I expect it finished?”
“Ah, about that... I’ll get my men on it, but to meet your specifications it will take roughly a week if we focus on it.”
“I see. Is there anything I can do to help expedite the process?”
“Well, I notice that both you and your companion carry weapons. If you’re suitable adventurers to really sail the seas, then maybe you can help. To make your ship, we’ll need plenty of wood.”
“You want us to guard your men from the beasts in the forest so that they can gather the wood more quickly, yes?”
The fat man smiled. “You catch on fast. Can you do it?”
New Quest!
Building your Ship I - Gathering wood
You have convinced the harbormaster to make you a grand ship. However, the required wood is in a forest full of dangerous creatures! In order to quickly get your ship finished, you will need to protect the crew as it gathers the necessary materials.
Difficulty: D
Reward: Construction +25%
“We’ll do it. When do we leave?” I glanced over to Denise with a smile.
Quest accepted!
“Let me call up the men. They’ve been bored without a project for a while!” The harbormaster shouted out a laugh and walks off. Quickly we saw people running about, gathering saws, wagons, and ropes. After only a few minutes, there was a small caravan waiting for us.
“Alright. This should do it. With this many people, it should only take two trips to get all the wood we need.” The harbormaster nods proudly. “My cousin Godrick will be in charge of the workers in the forest.” He pointed a fat thumb to the person sitting at the reins of the leading wagon. “You just make sure they all get back safe. There are some bad things in these woods.”
“I’ll hear it on the way. After this, it should cut a couple days off the time for construction.”
“Aye. Half the time for the building was just going to be going to the woods for a piece at a time. The wood you’re needing isn’t found at the outer edge. Ya need the wood of the Mana Trees, deep in the forest. Best wood for any magical makings.”
I nodded, and headed over towards Godrick’s wagon. “Let’s go.”
He smirked, and we started off towards the woods. On the way, I had him describe for me the type of creatures found in the forest. Mostly, they were just dire wolves like we fought earlier with Kev. But there were also armored bears, lightning foxes, and vine snakes. Some of the animals can even use magic. But what caught my eye was the so-called boss of the forest.
“Yeah, there’s this one creature living in these woods that nobody wants to mess with. And we’re awfully glad there’s just one of him, too.
”
“What kind of creature?”
“Well, we suppose it musta been one of them dire wolves what ate too much from the mana trees. Now it’s walking about on two legs, with fur as black as night. Can hear it howling if ya leave town at night sometimes. Call it the king of the forest.”
“Interesting…” I glanced over to Denise, and she nodded. It sounded suspiciously like my Wolfman fusion summon. Which means an actual boss monster, so there was a chance we’d have to get serious to take it down. “Well, hopefully we won’t run into it.”
“Shouldn’t. But can never be too careful, right? That’s why these magic ships like what you’re wanting are so pricey. The Mana Wood ain’t exactly hard to come by, but with the king guarding the woods we’re risking our necks every time we head in.”
“Just what kind of magic does the ship have?”
“Well, I reckon you’ll need to discuss that with my cousin. Some people want different things, so we try to get a feel for the customer, ya know? But enough of that, we’re almost there. Looks like someone took care of the first group of wolves too.” He said with a nod as he looked over to a rather familiar scene.
“Oh, me and my friend were here earlier to see how strong the monsters around here were.”
“And ya took out the pack without gettin’ hit? Impressive, I’d say. We may just survive this yet.”
“Don’t worry too much about it.” I looked back to Denise. “I’ll stay up here. You make sure the back is defended. If danger comes up… don’t hesitate.” She nodded, understanding my words, and jumped back to one of the rear wagons quickly, drawing her bow and an arrow and keeping an eye out for enemies.
“Just the two of ya, think ya can guard us all?”
“We just need to take out anything that approaches, right?”
“Well, yeah…”
“Good.” I pulled out my bow and nocked an Ice Lance arrow. Activating my Scan spell, I quickly found a snake that was moving just a bit too unnaturally near one of the wagons, and shot into it with my arrow. The ‘vine’ let out a loud hiss before it froze over and shattered. “Then this shouldn’t be a problem.”
I could hear the sounds of Denise firing her bow behind me, and knew that she likely spotted a couple of vine snakes like I did. Godrick was just blinking a bit as he drove. “Uh… yeah. I guess not..”
Soon after, I noticed an armored bear, and smiled, testing my damage output with a Stone Spear arrow. The arrow cleanly hit the bear, and then it was immediately skewered by three spears that rose up out of the ground. “Just what kind of archer are you? You seem like you’re shooting spells, not arrows.”
“That’s because I’m doing both. Studying two fields can yield interesting results, you know? Just a second.” The next arrow was a Gust arrow. I wasn’t exactly sure what effect this would have when I shot it, but I felt like something was waiting up ahead. As soon as I fired, a strong wind followed the arrow traveling through the air, blowing aside leaves and fallen branches. What it revealed was a pair of yellow foxes with sparking tails. “Lightning foxes, huh?”
“Damn.. we must be getting pretty close to the center if these guys are coming out..”
“I said before, you worry too much.” I pulled out an Earth Spear arrow like I used on the bear. “Guardians of the frozen north, come to my aid and show your fury.” When I shot the arrow, it impacted between the two foxes who deftly dodged to the side. A thin sheet of ice formed on the ground, and spears of ice shot up in all directions, striking both creatures. I just threw a weak fireball to get rid of the ice so we could pass through, and we continued on.
“Huh… well.. we should be able to harvest the trees here.” He looked to some large nearby trees that had bark with a blue tint. “Just keep an eye out while we get to work.”
The rest of the wagons pulled up alongside, several workers grabbing saws and heading to the Mana Trees. Though they were spread out now, between Denise and I using our detection abilities we were able to keep the monsters at bay long enough for them to cut down a pair of large trees, chopping them up into logs small enough to fit on the wagon. I did get some good pop up messages during this time, though.
Arcane Marksman has increased to 6
Arcane Marksman has increased to 7
Your Level has reached 100! You may now awaken to your Hidden Power.
Hidden Power is an exclusive ability that can not be learned through conventional means, and must be obtained through such methods as level benchmarks. The Talent you receive as your Hidden Power is based on your current Talents and your method of playing.
You have unlocked the Hidden Power: Magus Wrath
As one who wields the magical powers of destruction, you can sacrifice your entire mana pool to create a massive area spell that deals damage to all caught within the blinding light.
Magus Wrath has been added to your Spell List.
Nature Magic has increased to 3
Nature Magic has increased to 4
Nature Magic has increased to 5
Nature Magic has increased to 6
Nice! Not only did my Nature Magic finally start rising, but I got a new ability. It even sounds like the Grand Magic that Lilith told me about. Since I kept firing arrows with Nature spells, it seemed like it was leveling two talents at once. Furthermore, my new skill that Lilith taught me seems to have greatly increased how fast it grows.
By the time I was done looking over my new bonuses, the first wagon was already loaded up and tied down. It was a fairly quiet trip back to the town, before we immediately turned around and came back after unloading. “It’ll be troublesome if we don’t get it all now.”
The second trip went just as well as the first until we were ready to leave, the sun nearly set. The workers were all getting anxious as well now, having all heard the stories of the King appearing after dark. Denise kept her eyes peeled for danger, and would track even the smallest rustling of a bush. That’s likely how she caught the glowing yellow dots staring at us from several meters away in a shrub. “Jin!” She called out to me while nocking an arrow, getting my attention.
“There you are... Let’s see who the King is now, shall we?” I grinned to him, tilting my head to the side and popping my neck. I’ve always wanted to do that. Since I had seen his speed firsthand before, assuming this is the same type of monster, I didn’t waste any time in preparing a spell. “Darkened wings which mark the end, grant aid to this weary traveler. Summon Dariel!”
A white light appeared next to me, like a doorway in the air. Definitely different from the Calling spell. Stepping through was a beautiful elven maiden carrying a bow on her back. “I was beginning to think you’d never call, you know?” She turned to pout to me, and I smiled.
“Sorry, never had the chance. Been busy. Anyways, got a big bad wolf, and could use your help.” I nodded to the bush with the yellow eyes still watching us. Guess it didn’t expect our new arrival.
“Big bad wolf, huh? Alright. I’ll be your sword and your shield.” Dariel steps forward, extending a hand towards the bush. “Sacred grove, hidden vine, uproot and upturn, and show this rose’s thorn.” The wolf seems to sense danger, jumping straight upwards like a blur, followed quickly by dark vines extending from the shrub.
The Dive: Birth of a Wordsmith Page 31
