The Dive: Birth of a Wordsmith Page 12

  “...With that explanation? Too late, mister!” She laughed briefly, but I smiled and ended the call. A few moments later, I heard a ‘ding’ indicating that the book was finished, and then a flood of words flowed into my head, immediately giving me a headache. So this is why I don’t do it more!

  Hidden in the words were diagrams, circles, runes, spells, instructions, everything that was contained in the book slamming into my head in the span of a second. And as the words enter, I felt a growing sense of familiarity with the knowledge, like it was imprinting itself on me.

  Fusion Summon has been added to your Spell List

  Merge has been added to your Spell List

  Contract has been added to your Spell List

  Summon Aspect has been added to your Spell List

  Summon Ritual has been added to your Spell List

  Share Life has been added to your Spell List

  Sacrifice has been added to your Spell List

  When I opened my eyes, I was laying back on the hard stone floor. Owwww…

  I saw the seven new spells that had been added, and decided I should check them out later, when I go over Denise’s new abilities as well. That is going to be an interesting conversation.

  Slowly I stood, putting the book back where I found it, and left the college at a brisk pace, heading for the inn. I had told Denise that I was about ready to leave, so she should be there ahead of me. Sure enough, when I arrived, there was a nervous looking woman standing out in front of the inn. As I approached, she spotted me and ran forward to tackle me. “Iwassoworriedwhathappenedwhattookyousolong?!”

  Either because of the tackle, or the rapid string of words, it took me a minute to understand and reply. “Uh.. am I late? I just got out..”

  She lifted her head up, looking at me with watery eyes. “I’ve been waiting here for an hour!”

  “What… oh don’t tell me that thing knocked me out..”

  “What thing, were you attacked?!” She quickly set about inspecting me for injuries, and I could only laugh because of how much she was worried for me.

  “I’m fine. It’s related to what I told you earlier, so I’ll explain later. First, let’s go see Rusty.” She slowly nodded, still concerned, but detached herself from me just enough that we could walk into the inn.

  Maybe it just wasn’t that time of day, but the inn didn’t seem so crowded anymore. Or maybe it was because it no longer had the most beautiful innkeeper in town. I smiled a bit at that thought, and made my way over to the man behind the counter. “Any news, Rusty?”

  He nearly jumped out of his skin, looking like a ghost had just walked in. “Jin? Is that you?”

  “Uh.. Yes? Is this a trick question?”

  “But..” He shook his head, and decided that an explanation would serve better than idle what-the-fuckery. “I called your friend, like you asked. He didn’t believe me at first, no surprise, but when I insisted that it was a medical emergency like you told me he said he’d go check it out. I wasn’t really convinced that he would, but a couple hours later--well I guess only one hour later over there-- I got a call back from him asking who I was. I told the truth, that I was just someone that you met in the town.”

  He took a deep breath and continued, “Well, he told me that by the time he got there, there was an ambulance in front of your building.” His eyes shifted to the side like he was holding something back. “I… don’t really know how to tell you this, so I’ll just say it. You’re in a coma. According to what Kevin told me, there is no brain activity beyond keeping the body alive, and even then just barely. Just being here… you aren’t possible!” He shook his head, as if when he opened his eyes again I would be gone.

  “Huh… Well… that’s better than I was afraid, at least. If you can, could you get ahold of Kevin again and tell him that I really am still in here, and that I need the doctors to hook me up to a Link capsule? If I manage to find a way back from this end, I’ll probably need to be in my capsule or else… well I don’t really want to think about the possibilities.” Or else I could be stuck in cyberspace, or deleted like some suspicious file, or any other nasty thing..

  He paled a bit, “Uh.. sure. I don’t really think he’ll believe me, though… I wouldn’t believe me.”

  I sighed, and put my face in my hand. “If he doesn’t believe you, tell him that I wanted to date his sister in high school, but he threatened to kill me a hundred times over if I touched her.”

  Both Denise and Rusty raised an eyebrow at that, but he nodded. “Alright.. I take it you’ll be staying in town now?”

  I shook my head to him. “No. If there is a way to fix me, the answer won’t be here. I guess my adventure just got a lot more.. directed?”

  “Then, from the bottom of my heart, I wish you good luck and safe travels. Lord knows that whatever you’re involved in, you’ll need it.”

  “Thank you, Rusty. I’ll call you again tomorrow to see if anything has changed.”

  “Oh, speaking of which. If you can’t call Kevin, how are you able to call me?” Rusty tilted his head curiously, and Denise seemed to think that was a perfectly valid question, because she nodded.

  “I haven’t met Kevin on this side yet, so the spell I used to call you won’t reach him. To be honest, you might be the only foreigner I’ve spoken with since I first came here.”

  “Yes, I could see how that would happen. I imagine there are no more than a hundred of us in any major city, with how recently it was discovered.”

  “Exactly. We’re headed southwest next, which should take us closer to the Shattered Realm. If you get the chance, tell Kevin to head towards Coatin. That’s our next stop, and we’ll probably be there for a couple days.”

  He nodded, and with that Denise and I went back to her former apartment, Rusty allowing us to use it for a quick rest so she and I could talk. “Alright, now I can explain to you what I meant before. You remember how I said that when the foreigners come here, we start with nothing? No skills, magics, or anything?”

  She nodded, so I continued. “Well, I guess that isn’t entirely true. No, I wasn’t lying to you, or keeping any secrets. While we’re here, certain things are.. different for us than they would be for you. We get messages that give us certain pieces of information, like when we learn a new spell. We call these ‘windows’. Also, these windows classify abilities such as magic, archery, or even cooking to be something called ‘talents’. Like you, ever since you started training, you have a large talent with archery. Well, just today I found out that within the talents are abilities called ‘skills’.”

  “And what does all of this have to do with you getting knocked out?” Denise asked cautiously, trying to absorb all of this information.

  “You see, one of the skills I have related to magic allows me to read a book just by holding it.” When I saw the exaggerated look on her face I nodded, “That was my first reaction too. But I really held one book for a half hour, and then it all just slammed into my head at once. I thought I had just fallen down, but I guess I got knocked out for an hour or so. I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to worry you..” I put my hand on hers comfortingly, and she nodded.

  “Okay.. and you think that I have these talents and skills as well? ..I can tell you now I can’t read books by holding them.” She gave me a forced smile, and I shook my head.

  “No, you don’t have the talents for magic. But you do have some talents. Like your exceptional cooking and archery. And, with your permission, I’d like to see if you also have a hidden list of skills that you could use.”

  She nodded again, “Okay.. but why do you need my permission?”

  I smiled and gave her a kiss on the forehead, “Because I don’t want you to be uncomfortable. If you wanted me to leave it alone, I would have respected your wishes. Honestly, I wish there was a way I could let you see the windows I see. It would probably save a lot of confusion.”

  Then, I looked to the side,
“Okay.. here goes.” I focused on Denise and tried calling up her skill window.

  Denise’s Skills

  Merchant 2

  -Haggle(3/100 Intermediate)-The ability to receive a better price from shops, either for buying or selling.

  Archery 20

  -Power Shot(89/100 Intermediate)- A strong attack with the bow, giving increased damage.

  -Rapid Shot(30/100 Intermediate)- The ability to rapidly fire arrows from a bow.

  -Multi-shot(1/10 Beginner)- The ability to fire multiple arrows at once. Current maximum: 2

  -Trick shot(1/10 Beginner)- The ability to use special arrows to achieve new effects.

  Reflex 10

  -Blindfight(8/10 Beginner)- The ability to anticipate and respond to attacks outside of your field of vision.

  -Evasion(1/10 Beginner)- The ability to quickly escape from an area effect.

  Speed 6

  -Lightning Dash(11/100 Intermediate)- The ability to temporarily increase your speed beyond human limits.

  -Body Flicker(1/10 Beginner)- The ability to go from stationary to moving so rapidly that you can make others momentarily lose sight of you. Distance traveled depends on rank.

  Chef 5

  -Salvage Ingredients(8/100 Intermediate)- The ability to salvage meat and other ingredients from fallen enemies.

  Tracking 3

  -Identify Tracks(9/10 Beginner)- The ability to identify the tracks of an animal you have seen before, and follow them.

  Light Armor 1

  -Light Armor Damage Reduction(9/10 Beginner)- As long as light armor is equipped, this ability grants a small reduction in damage.

  Taming 5

  -Tame Wild Beast(6/10)- By interacting with an animal, you are able to improve its disposition.

  I nodded as the window appeared. “Okay, you do have some skills. Most of them you would have noticed and used by now, so let me tell you about the others, alright?” She nodded curiously, so I began. “You are able to fire two arrows at once accurately, and can use special arrows that would normally require extra training. You can also react to attacks coming from behind you, thanks to your reflexes. With your speed, you can briefly move faster than should be humanly possible, and can move in such a quick burst of speed to seem to disappear. Finally, a skill that looks like you got just recently, you are able to tame wild animals. I… wouldn’t try that one too often, if I was you, it sounds dangerous if it fails.”

  She nodded again. “Wow… I had never even thought of trying some of that. But that, I guess you never thought of trying to read a book without opening it either huh?” She smiled to me, and I nodded. She seemed to be accepting this more and more as I got her introduced to the game terms. “So, every time you get better at one of your.. talents you called them? That’s when I get better at something I can do..”

  “Right, but that’s only for the talents. It looks like our skills improve individually.” I smiled a bit sheepishly. “That’s why you are so much more useful in a fight than I am. Your archery skills are well beyond my spells.”

  She nodded sagely, and wagged a finger at me playfully, “You really must train more. I mean really, what kind of adventurer gets knocked out by a book?” She grinned a bit at that last bit, and I laughed.

  “Thanks..”

  “For what?” She now looked confused at me.

  "For accepting all this, not thinking I’m crazy, and not running out the first chance you get.”

  “Oh, you are definitely crazy. It just happens to be a delusion I share.” She nodded sagely again, and we both laughed. “Alright, let’s go get a horse, before we get sidetracked again.”

  The wicked look in her eyes told me what she meant by sidetracked, and I laughed, standing up. “Yeah, we better get a move on. I also learned a few spells from that nasty book I want to try out once we’re outside the city again.”

  “Oh? You mean that book didn’t get a complete victory after all? You still managed to win some spells from it?” Denise was obviously enjoying the fact that I got knocked out by a book, and would likely continue this for some time. Still, I made her worry about me, so I’ll let her.

  “Yeah, yeah. You try looking around the college library and stay awake.” I grinned playfully to her as we made our way down the road towards the stables. “Oh, by the way, one of the new abilities I got is actually pretty handy. Though, so far it only works in towns.”

  “Oh? What is it?” She was back in her curious mode, eager to learn what else I had hidden up my sleeve.

  “Apparently, I now have a map in my head of the city. If I focus hard enough, I can even tell where you are on it.”

  “Really? Well, that’ll come in handy when we reach Coatin. I’ve never visited there before, so I’ll get lost pretty easily.” She smiled to me, linking her arm in mine.

  “Yeah. Maybe eventually it’ll work outside of cities too. Wouldn’t that be nice?” We could hear the neighing of horses, so we knew we were approaching the stable. “Hmm.. my mental map is telling me that our target is that way!” I grinned to Denise, who slapped my arm lightly.

  “I could tell you that without all the flash.” She shook her head with a smile.

  When we got to the stable, the first thing that hit me was the smell. I know people say ‘well that smells like shit’. Well trust me, this smells like shit. Great, steaming piles of it.

  “Warning, not for the faint of nose.” I grimaced a bit as we walked up to the person who seemed in charge. “Good day, sir. We’d like to purchase a horse for our travels.”

  The man looked at us, most of his expression hidden behind his dirty face. “Oh, you too huh? Well too bad! I just sold the last rideable steed. Now I gotta either go find some more stock, or pack up and get a new job.”

  I winced upon hearing this. “So… there are no more horses?”

  “What, are you deaf? I said there were no more that could be ridden.” There was a loud neigh coming from the back again. “That’s Midnight. He’s actually my last horse, but I can’t sell the damned guy.”

  “Sentimental reason?” I asked curiously.

  “Oh, hell no! I’d unload him on anyone that could take him! But he won’t let anyone near him, so I’ve had to give up on him.”

  I glanced over to Denise, who looked back at me. “You’re not thinking… oh no.. I couldn’t..”

  “Sure you could. I’ll be here to make sure nothing goes wrong, but remember what we talked about. You can do this.” I assured her, patting her back.

  “But.. how?”

  “Just trust in yourself, and maybe give him a carrot?” I offered up a smile, and the stable master raised his eyebrows.

  “You want to give a shot at calming him down? If you can do it, he’s yours. Hell, I’ll toss in the saddle and feed for free.”

  New Quest!

  Taming Midnight

  The stable master has told you about his troublesome horse, Midnight, who does not allow others to approach him. Tame the horse and earn your reward!

  Difficulty: F+

  Reward: Earn Midnight as a mount.

  I nodded again to Denise, and she sighed in resignation. “Okay… I’ll do it. But you better make sure nothing happens, Jin. Please?” She looked to me with pleading eyes, and I nodded, assuring her it would be fine.