The Dive: Birth of a Hero Page 23

  He had a hood up over his head, so I wasn’t able to get many details about him. However, he was walking with a staff, and had a short beard poking out from below his old cloak. Something about him seemed odd, so I silently chanted the spell for Read Talents.

  Name: Kor

  Race: ???

  Title: ???

  Level: ???

  Gild: ???

  Fame: ???

  Health: ???

  Mana: ???

  Strength: ???

  Agility: ???

  Endurance: ???

  Wisdom: ???

  Intelligence: ???

  Luck: ???

  Attack: ???

  Defense: ???

  Talents: ???

  Seeing the information that popped up, I was left even more curious. I could see his name, with both my Worldlore and the spell, but everything else about him was hidden. I had yet to experiment enough to know the upper limit to what Read Talents could identify, though. I should have tried it on Darion before our duel.

  “Something the matter, Jin?” Denise’s question pulled me back to my senses, and I looked back at her. When I looked back at the old man, he was gone.

  “No.. nothing… Just a bad feeling, I guess.” I shook my head, and we continued on in relative silence. Every now and then, a message would appear indicating that Cynthia had gotten a bit better with Blacksmithing.

  By dusk, we had barely made it halfway back to Kirla, and decided to set camp for the night. Moving a bit off the road, Denise quickly set to work building a fire, while I was looking off towards the way we came uneasily. Ever since crossing that man on the road, I had been feeling like something was off.

  As the campfire was being set up, I felt.. something. It was like static filled the air for a few moments. Afterwards… nothing. Even the feeling of something being wrong had suddenly cleared.

  “Huh…”

  “What’s wrong?”

  I glanced over to Denise, and shook my head. “Sorry, just one of those nights, I guess.”

  She nodded, and went back to work preparing dinner. Cynthia had finished the book, and received a total of ten levels in Blacksmithing. Considering she hasn’t actually made anything yet, that was excellent progress.

  Sitting down on the ground, I waited for the dinner to be ready, while finding myself looking back in the direction of Durlin now and again, thinking that something might have happened. Eventually, my paranoia, or maybe curiosity, got the better of me. After making a small bowl from stone and filling it with water, I glanced through my grimoire for one of my lesser-used spells.

  “Eyes that transcend space, search for the one I seek. Show me the fate that has befallen this land.” Hoping my request was well-worded enough, I watched as the water began to shift. Once it had finished, I could clearly see what had happened in the forest, but I had no idea how or why. All I could do was stare.

  The grass was dyed red with blood. Trees were toppled one after another, seemingly pushed aside by massive strength. The vision the scrying spell gave me showed a crater in the forest, where pieces of bodies were strewn about, one after another gradually fading into mist. I saw that familiar great-sword that Darion had fought me with earlier today shattered near the epicenter of the crater, the two Mana Stones being the only way I could identify it.

  “Fuck… what happened?” Possibilities were going through my mind one after another. I might have been able to cause a scene like that if I went on a rampage, so it being a mage was entirely possible. At the same time, it seemed more like the work of a monster than anything else.

  Knowing that I needed to find out the truth, I turned to another spell. “Spirits of wisdom and knowledge, I ask thee for guidance. Carry my words upon the wind and reveal to me the truth. I seek the truth as seen through the wind, I wish to know what has transpired in this forest.”

  Ask the Winds has been activated. Once the spell has gathered the information requested, it will be given to you.

  I sighed, waiting while I went back to the others to have some of the stew that Denise had prepared. Naturally, I told her and Cynthia what my scrying had shown me. They both seemed surprised when I relayed the devastation I saw. It didn’t stop us from having our dinner, but it certainly cast a shadow over our thoughts. If we had not left quickly enough, then the two of them might have been caught in whatever that was.

  Shortly after our meal was complete, motes of light rose up from the ground around us, signaling the answer from my spell. “He walks among the worlds again, bringing chaos in his wake. Once he served the light, but now only himself. He goes by many names. The Sage of Oblivion, the Tipped Scales, the Harbinger. Few who know his face still draw breath, and fewer still his name. When Kor walks among you, you will drown in a sea of blood.”

  Ask the Winds has successfully retrieved the answer to your question.

  Divination has increased to 6

  After relaying their messages, the various lights all faded from existence, leaving the three of us struggling to pick up our jaws. “Wow… Didn’t it just leave you a name last time?” Denise was the first to break the silence.

  “Yeah… kinda wishing it did the same this time… Okay… so… new project. We’re going to stay the hell away from this Kor person, and maybe ask Lilith if she knows anything about him…”

  Cynthia nodded silently to my suggestion, still staring at where the lights had come to answer my divination. Even Denise, who had recently become more of a battle fanatic, didn’t disagree with my plan.

  Chapter 16

  The next morning, before we set out, I sent a message to Lilith in order to explain what had happened and see what she knows. I made sure to tell her about the strange result from the divination spell, as well.

  “Well, I can understand the divination result. In truth, you were lucky when you used it before, since it was straightforward information. But this time, you were asking for details. The more you want from a divination, the more you get. But, you’re absolutely sure that it was Kor, right?” Her voice seemed to convey a bit of worry.

  “Positive. I watched him heading to the area a few hours before the incident, and the information that came back from scrying was about him.”

  “Okay… then you need to get out of there. Kor is one of the fallen, and one of the few that have survived becoming so. As I’ve said before, whenever an angel goes rogue, the armies of Heaven assemble to hunt them down. However, Kor was strong enough to survive that after hundreds of years. If he’s in the area, and looking for a fight… I’m sorry, but honestly you don’t stand a chance.”

  “Yeah.. I figured he was something like that. Do you have any more information on him?”

  I could hear her laughing on the other end of the call. “Aside for ‘run away’? Yeah… he believes himself to be the bringer of balance, the true archetype for an angel. From what you’ve told me, the foreigners had hunted the monsters in that area to extinction. Likely, he went to ‘restore balance’. Probably summoned a few nasty surprises there while he was at it.”

  “Okay… so we definitely do not want to come back. There was something else I wanted to know about him, before I let you get back to what you were doing.”

  “Oh? What is it?”

  “One of his titles was the Sage of Oblivion. This was the first I’ve heard of anyone being called a sage. Is there anything special about it, or is it just a title that was attached to him?”

  Lilith seemed to consider this a few moments before speaking up. “A sage is a really terrifying existence, you know. There is only one for each type of magic, and that is the person who is the absolute best in that field. His magic is the magic of Oblivion, which could be considered the opposite to your Origin magic. It is a type of magic that simply destroys, and he has risen it to a level beyond anyone else. In a way, Levy could be considered the current sage of Origin magic, since her level in it is a bit beyond yours, and it is otherwise a lost art.”

  “So, even an archmage woul
d have problems dealing with a sage.” I thought back to my goal of becoming an archmage, frowning slightly.

  “Right. Look at it this way, a sage of enchanting magic would be capable of creating the most powerful artifacts. A sage of water could cause the oceans themselves to part. A sage of oblivion… if he wanted to, destroying the world is not beyond his abilities.”

  I’m not positive, but I could feel the blood rushing from my face at that comment. “So Origin magic has World Creation… and Oblivion has World Destruction.”

  “Exactly. He might not be able to pull it off on the middle world, but if he made it into Heaven or Hell, it would be within his power to destroy those realms. That’s why he is a fallen. The King of Heaven feared him, and forced him out. It was the only way to make sure he could never destroy their world.”

  “Okay.. so we really need to stay away from this guy. Being a fallen means that he isn’t bound by the treaty, so there is nothing to stop him from going crazy.” I looked to the others and nodded. After ending the call, we were on the road within minutes, encouraging Midnight to move as fast as he could to escape the area.

  Denise glanced back at me, a look of worry on her face. “Why do I get the feeling that one day we will be fighting that guy?”

  “Because you know our luck?” I let out a sigh, keeping my eyes on the road behind us, as if to make sure we weren’t being followed. “We’ll do our best never to have it come to that. From what Lilith said, I doubt even her and the Knights of Hell could stop this guy when he gets serious. But I don’t know all of the rules of his magic, either.”

  “The rules?” This time it was Cynthia, who looked over to me questioningly.

  “Ah, yeah. Different types of magic has different rules. For instance, with my Origin magic, if I only have an image of what I want to make then I get a mediocre result. But if I also have the knowledge of how to make it, I can make a masterpiece. With him, it should be similar. If he doesn’t know what something is made of, he should only be able to hurt it, not completely destroy it.”

  “Ahh…” She nodded her head slightly, though it seemed like she still didn’t understand.

  “Other magic systems have different rules, though most of them are rules for learning the magic, rather than casting them. Take Nature magic, in order to learn it you have to know how it feels to be a part of nature. Same with Infernal and Holy magic. I guess that is the difference between magic systems that cover a concept, and systems that cover a domain.”

  Magical Knowledge has risen to 28

  Thanks to your title bonuses, Magical Knowledge has hit the Master level. As a master of magical lore, you are now capable of creating the most devastating spells, known as Grand Magic.

  I blinked at the message that appeared in front of me while Cynthia nodded again. I hadn’t really thought about it much before, but once I did it moved my knowledge up a level. This supported the theory that, at this level, I had to make revelations about magic before it would increase anymore. Of course, that was easier said than done. It was hard to come up with an idea to research, because what I can think of is stuff that I already know.

  What surprised me even more was that I was technically a master of the talent now, even though it was only twenty-eight. Not to mention that becoming a master allowed the creation of Grand Magic spells. Spells like that are on the level of Hidden Powers, things that can turn the tide of a battle. Of course, the only things I had to compare it to were my Magus Wrath and Dariel’s Emperor Storm.

  A few hours later, after stopping for a brief lunch, we made it back to the port city Kirla. Thankfully, it looked like the Unity was still there, and an armored man was standing out in front of it. He must be the guard we paid for.

  Nodding to myself, we informed the harbormaster that we were ready to depart, and got onto the ship. Cynthia, meanwhile, was looking around the dock curiously. “So… where’s the rest of the crew?”

  “Hmm? We haven’t told you yet?” I looked at Cynthia, raising an eyebrow. She shook her head, so I explained. “The Unity is a magic ship. I can pilot it myself without any problems.” I smiled to her and continued onto the ship. The guard seemed hesitant, but allowed me to pass after getting a look from the harbormaster.

  Once on board, I took direct control of the ship, raising the anchor and untying it from the dock. Cynthia led Midnight up with the wagon, while Denise checked to make sure everything was as we left it. When she came back to the main deck, she nodded. Guess everything’s fine.

  In no time at all, we were out on the seas again, this time with our extra crew member. I went into the captain’s quarters to charter a course, and set us to arrive at the coast some distance east of Grazel. Since we didn’t know how long we were going to be at the mainland, I didn’t want to deal with the port authorities and risk the ship getting stolen.

  Once that was taken care of, I measured the distance and guessed it would take a little over a week to travel. Afterwards, I went below deck to one of the unused rooms. I had a promise to keep with Cynthia, so first I made a stone platform on the floor. Then I began creating a forge based on the schematics in her book. Finally, once that was taken care of, I made a large pile of iron in the corner of the room for her to work with.

  Before leaving the makeshift blacksmithing station, I made a piece of paper and drew out the design for a Mana Stone socket so that she could practice with that. Next I started working on her bedroom, since she wouldn’t need to share a room with me and Denise anymore. All I put in it was a bed and a dresser, so that she could decorate it herself.

  Once I was done decorating, I went up to the main deck, to find the girls. Cynthia was smiling wide and looking off in front of the ship, while Denise was up in the crow’s nest as usual. “Hey Cynthia, I made your forge, and set up one of the spare rooms for you.”

  Hearing me, Cynthia turned back and nodded heavily before rushing downstairs to find her new station. Denise, however, just glanced down to me with a small smile. “Going to lock yourself up in your work again while we travel?”

  “Yeah.. There’s a spell I really want to make that would make our travels so much easier.” I nodded, moving into the captain’s quarters again. At this point, she was used to me doing this, so she only gave me the briefest of nods before looking out at the distance again.

  After arriving in the captain’s quarters, my first order of business was to send a message to Kev.

  “Hey, Chr--er, Jin. How’s it going?” Kev spoke from the other end of the call, almost forgetting my name in this world.

  “It’s going alright. Sorry, but I won’t be able to pick you up for a while. I’m starting a new journey that will take me out to the far side of the mainland, so getting back quickly is out of the question.”

  “Eh? Is that alright? You’re not worried about being defeated?”

  I smirked to myself, shaking my head. “No, we don’t have to worry about that. I picked up a pretty decent tank recently, and our levels are pretty high.”

  “Oh? Did you already get your Hidden Power?”

  “Hmm? Yeah, we got those a while ago. Right now, Denise and I are somewhere around two hundred.”

  “T-t-two hundred?! What the heck have you been doing, man? I’ve barely made it to one-twenty.” Kev seemed considerably surprised when I revealed my real level to him. Though actually, it was still a bit of an understatement, since my level was 235.

  “That doesn’t really matter much. The only thing that the level directly affects is stats. I’ve still not mastered any of my abilities yet, but I should be getting around to that soon. I just wanted to let you know we probably won’t be meeting up for a while.” Well, I had technically mastered Magical Knowledge, but since my actual talent level was below thirty I didn’t count it.

  “Fine, fine, I get it. Well, good luck on your journey, anyways. I’ll catch up with you if I can.”

  With that, we ended the call, and I got to work making my new spell. Although I really wanted to get to
work making a Grand level spell, this was something I needed for more of the long term. What I was going to start on was an Origin spell, to create a pocket dimension. It would be similar to World Creation, though on a much, much smaller scale.

  Okay, I know that Origin Magic is capable of creating new worlds. Technically, the rules of the system itself say that it is capable of creating anything. The problem is, how do I do it? There were countless runes in existence, so picking the right combination was difficult. Furthermore, unlike World Creation, I needed to put a limiter on the spell so that it wouldn’t go out of control.