The Dive: Birth of a Wordsmith (7 page)

Curious, I selected
Magical Talent next, to see if something similar would happen.
Instead, a different window popped up.

The runes I knew from just
a moment ago were still clear in my head, but there were only two
slots available.
Maybe the amount of runes you
can use in a spell goes up with Talent level?

Focusing, I brought in the
runes for Earth and Water into the window, and attempted to finalize
it.

Grumbling, I tried again,
this time using the runes for Earth and Shield. As I attempted to
finalize it again, the ground shifted around me. I had intended to
create a wall of stone, or a block to use as a shield even. Instead,
a thin layer of dirt rose up and covered every inch of my skin.

As I struggled to move my
body, I heard my teacher doubled over in laughter behind me. “Oh,
that’s just great! You picked THAT spell!”

Even after I had turned
off the spell, a thick layer of dirt stuck to me. “That’s
not actually what I was trying to do, you know..”

He shook his head, still
grinning, “Oh, oh.. Still, most earth mages try it at some
point. It’s the easy answer for the problem of a mage’s
inherent weakness to physical attacks. Most don’t realize that
being covered with earth is actually really heavy! But alright, since
you admitted that it wasn’t what you intended, you can try
again.”

Okay… so there
are two ways to create spells. The easy way, of course, is to go
through the Talent screen and put in the runes you want to use. But
the safe way is to do it manually. Let’s go with safe. Okay…
a wall. Shield didn’t work. Or maybe it just didn’t
understand?

I set my palms down on the
floor, and closed my eyes. Again, I visualized the shield rune. I
filled it with my new earth magic. But just as the dirt began
creeping up my skin, I flung it out of me just as I would with
casting a Light spell. Waiting… I realized nothing was
happening.

Maybe that was a buff
spell? Either way.. not what I wanted.

I tried again, this time
forgetting to use Shield, and switching to Wall for simplicity. There
was no response again, and my mana was taking a nosedive.
Maybe
it’s a three rune spell? There was one for control..

Since I couldn’t put
three runes into the Spell Creation window, I had to do it manually.
I sat down, crossed my legs, and focused. Control… I placed
the rune in my mind, letting it fill my body. Earth… as I
filled the Control rune with my earth magic, I began forcing the
image to shift, from Control to Wall. Over half of my mana
disappeared in the blink of an eye, but I managed to hold onto that
image. Then, I flung the spell out like I did earlier, and this time
got a reaction.

About three meters away, a
small mound of dirt rose up into a one foot wall. Okay, so it’s
not the great shield I wanted, but it’s a step in the right
direction!

I was getting dangerously
close to level 20, and had a feeling that it would start to slow down
once I hit that. So far, I had been gaining levels quickly. Now, I
needed to focus and make sure that the Talents I leveled were ones
that I need most.
So, Magical Talent increases
with casting, and Magical Knowledge increases with studying. Talent
lets me use more complicated spells, but Knowledge lets me have
access to more information.

I decided that for now, I
would focus on Knowledge, and once I hit level 20, I would put more
effort into the practical skills. In the meantime, I had an annoying
teacher to impress.
Spell window.

Having gotten the
information I needed from the window, I waited a few minutes for my
mana to finish recovering. Then I placed one hand down on the ground.
“You want a spell… Guardians of the earth, answer my
call and become my shield. Wall of Clay!” I focused on a point
a few feet in front of me, and immediately a wall rose up at that
point, reaching up to five feet high. It looked soft, but given that
I was still a total novice I was proud of it. I also noted sadly,
that my talents didn’t increase that time.

Turning back, I smiled
smugly to the teacher, who was staring wide-eyed at my spell. “You..
how… you couldn’t have… How did you come up with
a new spell on the spot, and even decipher it’s incantation?
Did you use some of your foreigner magic?” He glared at me
suspiciously, unable to believe that I had accomplished his request
so easily.

“
Not at all,
teacher. I simply followed the guidance that you and the other
instructors here have given me, and applied it to this task.” I
bowed my head, smiling.

He shook his head, and
then laughed for a bit again. “You.. you’re the first
foreigner to pass through these tests. You may have the potential to
become a powerful mage in your own right.”

I lifted my head, looking
to him. “Sir? Does that mean that there have been others like
me that took on different elements?”

His response was a quick
nod. “Oh, sure. But from what I’ve heard, they all took
fire. I hope the bastards burned.”

“
Figures…
fire is overrated. It’s destructive, sure, but it is too
unreliable. In my opinion, it is the lowest of the elements.”
That seemed to get his attention, because he had a new sparkle in his
eyes.

“
Exactly! Why does
nobody ever see it that way! They all just want to be as flashy as
possible! Bah! Those aren’t true mages. They’re nothing
more than idiots clinging to delusions of grandeur. You.. I like you.
Tell me, what is your goal in studying magic?”

My goal?
I hadn’t really considered a long term goal. I paused, and then
sat down, holding my chin in my hand as I thought. “After my
binding to Rosenheim has expired, I wish to leave and experience this
world. But my goal in magic.. The subject has always fascinated me. I
suppose, if I had a goal, it would be to learn as many various fields
of magic as I can, and master them?”

My instructor nodded
patiently. “I see. A common goal, I must say. Many mages choose
to learn many schools of magic. But in doing so, they neglect what
they know. Very few have ever truly mastered more than two forms of
magic. But if it’s you… then maybe you can do it.”

“
Thank you, sir.
Those words mean a lot coming from you.”

“
Oh, shut it. I was
planning to beat you into a bleeding pulp once you passed the second
stage, but I’ve got something else in mind for you. Go up to
the library. Your job is to learn a new type of magic, without any
help aside from the books. You’ve passed my tests.”

My smile grew anew as the
quest appeared.
A long term quest… and
one with a high difficulty.

“
I understand, sir.
I’ll do my best. I do not know what hardships may await me, but
I am grateful for your teachings.” I bowed my head to him and
went up to the library.
The minimum level I’d
need to be to finish this quest is 103. But it’s unrealistic to
believe that I won’t level Talent and Knowledge as well. So,
most likely I’ll be over 150 by the time I finish this. Does a
game like this even have a level cap? Well, first thing’s
first, what type of magic do I want to use for my second school?

I went along the shelves,
freely browsing as I scanned all the different titles, or at least
the ones that could still be read.
Maybe I
should get Denise’s opinion?
I smiled
at that immediately, and nodded to myself. That did give me an idea,
though. A spell of communication. There might be a whisper system
built into the game, or there might not. I haven’t positively
identified another player yet to check. Either way, a communication
spell would let me speak to the NPCs I’ve become friends with.

Opening the Spell Creation
window, I began thinking about what runes I should use. It’s
difficult to decide, because runes are practically their own
language. You could put in speak, speech, message, communicate, send,
whisper, or any number of runes to describe sending a message.

In the end, I opted for
the Speak and Friend runes.

“
Message.” I
attempted to cast the spell, focusing on Denise.

Shaking my head, I
grumbled, opening my spell window to get the chant. “Wings of
Light, signs of beginning, may my voice reach the farthest corner.
Message.” I heard the briefest ring and saw a faint light
around me for a moment.

“
Hello?” I
spoke to the empty library.

“
Huh?! What-Jin, is
that you?” I heard a startled female voice on the other end,
followed by a short squeak.

“
Sorry, bad time?”

“
Oh, not at all!
But, how are you.. oh right, magic. Guess your lesson today went
well.”

“
I’ll be sore
for a week. But I had a question for you, if you’ve got a
minute?”

“
Of course! Sorry
guys, I’ll be back in a bit!” I could hear her calling
out to someone, and then walking a short distance. “Sorry, you
got me during a run. So, what’d you need?”

“
Well, you remember
how you asked me to help you decide on a path to take for when we go
adventuring?”

“
Well, yeah! That’s
the reason I’m out here running laps around the city!” I
could just hear the laugh at the end of that.

“
Your turn. My path
as a mage requires me to pick multiple types of magic. So far, I’ve
started to learn earth, but my teacher told me to learn another one.
I wanted to hear your opinion before I made a decision.”

There was a pause, and I
heard her stutter for a second before she got her voice under
control.

“
Y-you really want
to know my thoughts on it?”

“
Of course. Out of
everyone I’ve met since coming here, I value your opinion
most.”

“
W-well.. If I’m
shooting my bow, and you’re casting… maybe something to
keep the monsters from getting to us? Like… oh! Maybe you can
learn how to summon?”

I nodded silently,
momentarily forgetting that she couldn’t see, and she must have
taken my silence as hesitation. “Or, you know! Something else
would work too..”

“
No, sorry, no. That
was a really good idea. Still getting used to this spell. Forgot you
couldn’t see me nod.” That got a laugh out of her, and I
watched as my mana crept down to the halfway point. “So…
summoning.. I think that would be pretty interesting. Thanks, this
was a big help.”

“
Oh, you’re
welcome! Glad I could help you with this. You going to be home
tonight?” She asked that last part in almost a whisper, and I
could barely hear her.

“
Yeah. I’ll
have to go back in the morning, but until then I’m free.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “I’ve got mage classes
in this world, and scholar classes in my own. How am I not sick of
reading yet?”