The Dive: Birth of a Wordsmith

by Justin Miller

  Just a moment later she appeared next to Levy, cradling him in her arms. “The evolution is being held back forcefully! You’ve got to hurry up and pick one!” Given the current situation, Lilith was quite frantic as well. The problem was that I didn’t know any magic specific demon races!

  “Okay, fine, sorry if this goes wrong.” With no other option clearly visible, I chose the Bonded Acolyte as the desired evolution. Immediately, Levy’s body was bathed in another Hellfire Aura, except I didn’t think this one was from any spell. First, Levy shifted into the obvious appearance of a woman, with paler skin that almost looked human. Then, her size rapidly increased until she was about four and a half feet tall. All in all, she looked like a teenage human girl, but with pitch black eyes, a tail flicking back and forth behind her, and a black rune etched into her forehead.

  Lilith blinked at the change, but since Levy had stopped struggling and settled down, it was clear she wasn’t in any pain. “Is… she a Reborn?” Given the change in size, all of Levy’s former clothes were shredded, leaving her naked in Lilith’s embrace.

  Levy has successfully evolved into a Bonded Acolyte

  Bonded Acolytes are automatically bound to the [Otherworldly Mentor] that helped them grow into their new power. This bond enables the Acolyte to appear at their master’s side from anywhere, as if summoned. They can also hear their master’s voice across any distance, so long as they are in the same dimension. Due to this magical connection, the Acolyte is treated for all purposes as constantly being in her master’s presence at all times. Finally, the Acolyte can sense the condition of their master at will, and if in the same dimension can sense his location as well.

  Acolyte bonuses: +5 all talents, +100 Intelligence, 50 Wisdom, +20 Endurance, Agility, and Strength

  Name: Levy

  Race: Demon(Bonded Acolyte)

  Title: Arcane Savant

  Fame: 50

  Gild: 30

  Level: 80

  Health: 50

  Mana: 2184

  Strength: 28

  Agility: 31

  Endurance: 25

  Wisdom: 214

  Intelligence: 390

  Luck: 4

  Attack: 10 + 14

  Defense: 10 + 21.75

  Talents: Magical Talent 17, Mana Recovery 9, Mana Pool 9, Infernal Magic 15, Magical Knowledge 20, Scholar 10

  Lilith looked over to me wide eyed as she saw the messages appearing through the shared sight. “..Bonded Acolyte? And… master? Tell me you didn’t know about that…”

  “I swear to you I had no idea what that race was. I didn’t know any other options, so I just picked it.” I sighed, looking down. From the corner of my eyes I saw Lilith nod.

  “No, I believe you. I didn’t tell you what to choose, so there was no way of knowing. Typically, the next evolution for the magic path would be a Scroll Fiend, but you haven’t met any yet so there was no way for you to know that. Just.. promise me you won’t take advantage of that bond?”

  “I won’t. I’ll even let her stay here in Hell so that there is no risk of something happening because of it. I take it.. you’re related?” Lilith nodded slightly, looking down to Levy.

  “I guess you could call her my daughter. Demons aren’t born through sex like other races. When we gain enough power, we can crystallize some of our own essence, which later develops into an imp. Family doesn’t have the same meaning to us as other races, but they are still a part of us. Perhaps more so than with others.”

  “I see, I’m sorry that this happened. I just thought she was learning really fast and would evolve on her own. I never expected to have to choose what she turned into.”

  “I know. If there was a warning like that in the message you received when you took her as a student, I would have warned you in advance. But still, I can’t help but feel proud of her, you know? I mean, just looking at the growth she achieved. Some of her abilities are even close to your level. Can you imagine if a foreigner trained a large group at once?”

  “Thinking about it objectively, I don’t think it would work out that well. I’m pretty sure that if I took on two students at once, their growth rate would be half of Levy’s.”

  “Ahh, yes. That would make sense too. So, a classroom wouldn’t train that much faster than with a normal instructor. I wonder what her next evolution will be? You know that we don’t just get one, right?”

  “Yeah, I talked about that last night with another demon. Levy should at least have one more form, according to what I heard.”

  “Exactly. But when that time comes, hopefully you won’t be needed to dictate the evolution. We might not be able to bring you back here in time before the damage becomes irreversible.”

  “I understand. I’ll stop teaching her immediately. With her increase in skills, she should be able to learn any of the spells I know simply by reading about them in a book, so there is really nothing left to teach anyways.”

  Ending Mentor mode. Confirm? All current students will be removed from mentorship.

  I mentally confirmed it, and the message disappeared. Lilith nodded again, smiling a bit. “Thank you. A Bonded Acolyte huh?” She suddenly started laughing. “Even I’ve never heard of such a ridiculous thing.”

  “It’s alright. From what the message said, it seems to be entirely a one sided relationship.” I smirked to her, and she looked at me, confused. “She can hear my voice, know my condition and location, and appear before me at will. However, if you remember it didn’t really say that she had to listen to anything I said, did it? I think the ‘master’ relationship is meant to be one of trust, not a forced pact.”

  Lilith blinked, and then grinned, finally letting out a heavy laugh. “I see! Yes, that would seem to be the case. Well, if it’s just that then it’s fine. You should know, there is really only one law to be upheld within Hell. Never remove a person’s ability to decide something for themselves. Even if it was you, a forced pact like that would have become a difficult situation. But if she can still make all of her own decisions, then there is no problem.”

  I nodded to her. “When she wakes up, let’s test it. You tell her to absolutely not do whatever I tell her, and then I tell her to do something like hop on one foot or clap her hands. Naturally, you as the Demon Queen have the greater authority between us. So as long as she doesn’t do what I say it’ll be alright.”

  “Hmm, that sounds like a good idea. Alright, we’ll go with that. If the connection does force her to obey, though, you’ll have to be kept apart in order to uphold our law.”

  “That shouldn’t be a problem. After all, that rune on her forehead doesn’t seem to say anything like Obey.” I smiled, pointing to Levi’s forehead. Lilith, as if noticing for the first time, looked at the rune for a few moments. Then, she grinned widely, a small giggle turning into a long laugh.

  “Freedom… oh that is too perfect. You’re right, with this there shouldn’t be a problem. If anything, the marking will protect her from forced control.”

  “Yeah. Maybe with the angels it would be something like Order, where they were forced to obey, but that’s not really how demons work is it?”

  “No, it’s definitely not. This training seems to have been a great idea. She might be mistaken for a Reborn, but with the abilities being so close to your own, she could easily defend herself if need be.”

  Just then, Levy began to wake up, stirring slightly in Lilith’s arms, and then looking down to herself. “I.. what am I? Reborn..? But.. that’s a third evolution..”

  “No, sweetie, you aren’t a reborn. You’re the only one of your kind, a Bonded Acolyte. Is it alright if we check something real quick?” When Levy nodded, Lilith smiled again. “Okay, Jin here is going to tell you to do something. No matter what, you mustn’t do it. Understand?”
<
br />   “Not really.. but okay…” She turned her head to look at me.

  “Hmm… poke Lilith’s nose.” I nodded to my random instruction, causing Lilith to laugh again.

  “Eh? Why?” Levy looked up to Lilith, and for a moment I thought she’d really do it. “I don’t get it..”

  “It’s alright, sweetie. We just had to check something. There’s a lot about your race that we don’t know, and we were afraid that you would be under a compulsion to obey.” Lilith hugged Levy close to her chest, and nodded to me. “I guess you could consider your race to be a powerful variant of the Reborn, that could only be reached because you were taught by Jin. And, since he’s the one who taught you, you were given special abilities that let you spy on him any time you want.”

  That must have been her revenge on me for this sudden scare, so I just let it go. “Spy on him..? Why would I..?” Levy seemed confused again, causing both Lilith and myself to laugh.

  “It’s okay, Levy. What she means is that as a Bonded Acolyte, you’ll be able to hear or find me from anywhere as long as we are in the same world. Even when I’m gone, if you focus you should be able to sense my condition. It might be a bit strange at first, so I apologize. Also, after today I’ll no longer be teaching you.”

  That last line seemed to hit her like a punch, her face tightening up, her eyes watering. “Was I a bad student? I did whatever you told me..”

  I smiled to her, shaking my head. “No, that’s not it at all. Honestly, I can’t teach you anymore because you’re already almost as strong as I am. All you have to do is learn the spells to match your new strength.”

  Levy blinked, the dampness clearing from her eyes after a single tear fell. Then, she turned to look at Lilith. “Is that true..? I’m almost as strong as him?”

  “That’s right, sweetie. You did really good, and I’m proud of you. Jin said that you should be able to learn most of the spells he has just by reading about them. Isn’t that great?”

  Levy smiled wide, nodding her head. “Yeah!” She then turned to look at me again,her former shyness gone. “Thank you. I can honestly say I never would have gotten like this without your help.”

  Quite literally.

  She grinned again, looking to me. “I heard that… you didn’t say anything… but I heard it…”

  ...It lets her listen to my inner voice, not just my outer one? So not fair.

  Levy laughed at my thought, sticking out her tongue. “Deal with it.” She then turned to Lilith. “I can hear him thinking! It’s not very loud, but I can!”

  Lilith chuckled, “So, what’s he thinking now?” She looked to me with a wicked glance, but I have to admit I was trying to avert my eyes from the two of them.

  Levy’s blush almost heated up the air around her. “He’s thinking I should get some clothes on. Why didn’t you tell me I was naked! Gah, this is embarrassing!” She covered her face with her hands, as if she could disappear. Of course, her reaction just made Lilith laugh even more.

  “Fine, fine, let’s get you home and into a proper dress! I never imagined your first time evolving would turn out like this! None of the dresses I had prepared will suit you.” At my confused appearance, Lilith immediately clarified. “Scroll Fiends have four arms.”

  “Ah. So you need a two-armed dress sized for a human child.”

  “Exactly. And who knows if she’ll turn into an adult before her next evolution. We must prepare!” Lilith stood up excitedly, picking Levy up and cradling her in her arms. “To Envy!”

  Before she had the chance to vanish on me, I shouted out, “Hey, wait! I have a quick question!”

  Lilith, in the process of getting ready to jump, paused to look at me before I continued. “Levy has two abilities called Mana Recovery and Mana Pool. If you remember, I didn’t have anything like that. I was hoping you could tell me if there was somewhere to train it, or if it was something I’d have to work out on my own.”

  “Hmm… because I’m in a good mood… I’ll tell you.” She smiled wide. “We don’t have any facilities like that. Her magic talent is something she was born with.” And with that, Lilith hopped away at super-demon speed.

  Chapter 25

  Shaking my head at Lilith’s departure, I decided that if I wanted to get the mana talents, I’d have to do so on my own. Thankfully, with Levy’s evolution my mentorship ended. That gave me the rest of today and tomorrow in order to train myself. There were several methods I had that could let me burn through my mana quickly, like firing a series of extremely high powered mana-arrows, or casting Magus Wrath. But I decided to go a different route.

  Getting back to my cross-legged sitting position, I closed my eyes. If there’s one thing I learned from studying Enchanting, there are rewards to doing things the normal way. As such, I decided to work on practicing a certain spell without the auto-assist feature. Basically, this meant I’d be using my magic in Hard Mode, but given the concentration it takes to run a spell like that I should get quite favorable returns.

  Bringing my hands together, I overlaid my palms and touched the tips of my thumbs together above them to form a circle with my hands. It may seem silly to strike a meditative pose in the middle of Hell, but if something works, it works. Next, I focused on the very diagram I had made Levy memorize before her evolution. Unlike before, this time I wasn’t relying on any of my game skills to accomplish the task, and using only my will, as if this were my first time casting the spell.

  The image of the diagram wavered in my mind for a few moments before I was able to lock it in, and then I took a deep breath, channeling my mana around me like a protective layer while feeding that image into it. Rather than the progressively rising heat from before, this time I immediately felt heat permeating my entire body. Likely, preparing my mana like this made the spell activate instantly.

  I made sure to keep the spell’s image firmly in my mind, so as to not force my other skills to take over. As I did, I opened my eyes to watch my mana. It was indeed dropping, but barely, going at roughly one point per second. This wouldn’t help me at all, not when I had nearly three thousand mana to burn through. Instead, I tried a different tactic.

  Focusing again on the diagram for the Hellfire Aura, I poured more and more of my magic into it, causing the flames around me to burn larger and hotter. At the same time, the mana consumption increased to fifteen points per second. That’s much better, since at this rate I will run out of mana in just over three minutes. All I had to do was maintain the pressure and resist the heat enveloping my body.

  Normally, my standard Hellfire resistance would prevent my aura from causing me the least bit of inconvenience. But now, it was more powerful than usual, making sweat run down my face. Focusing on a detailed mental image, exerting pressure on my magic to steadily drain it, all while feeling like I was sitting in an oven was at times more than I could handle. Every now and then, my concentration would break and the aura would return to its normal consumption speed. Well, this is fine as long as I keep the image. If the spell doesn’t cancel, my mana won’t return.

  Thanks to this unsteady pace, the three and a half minute plan turned into well over six minutes, the concentration getting harder and harder as my mana dropped lower. Once I was below one quarter of my mana, I could feel my control slipping as the exhaustion began to set in. When I dropped below one tenth, it was all I could do to hold onto the spell in its base form.

  Once my mana hit five percent and I felt like I was about to pass out, I finally released the spell. On the one hand, my Infernal Magic and Magical Talent both raised a level during this slow drain. But I wasn’t anywhere near done yet. My mana recovered over a thousand points per minute, so I only had a few seconds to rest.

  As soon as I was back to about a fifth of my maximum, I reactivated the Hellfire Aura. Though, this time I kept it at its base output. Thankfully, that meant I was no longer being bothered by the intense heat and constant pressure. All I had to worry about was holding the image. At one point per second,
it would take me another five minutes to get back to the point of exhaustion.

  This cycle repeated for over a half hour, me gaining another level of Infernal Magic while I drained myself down to the bare minimum and then recovered for just a few breaths. Eventually, though, my efforts were rewarded with a few messages that appeared all at once.