The Dive: Birth of a Hero Page 4

  “Hmm… while that sounds interesting, I don’t think I could do it?”

  “Why not?” Levy looked up at me curiously, and we stopped in front of my ship.

  “Well, I’ve devoted so much time to becoming a mage, I suspect it would be a lot harder for me to gain the abilities of a warrior. If I had worked towards that from the start, then maybe I could pull it off. But right now, the best I would be able to do is mimic fighter abilities with my magic.”

  “Ah… it’s one of those issues.” Levy made a pouting face, and I could tell she meant issues with the concept of a game. It’s true that in games, it is harder to pick up new types of abilities the higher level you are. Certainly the concept of an armored mage wasn’t unfamiliar to me, but if I were to devote my time to that I would likely lose sight of my first goal.

  Reaching up to pat Levy’s head, I sighed. “Sorry. But it should be the same for reality, right? I mean, otherwise Krath would have been able to pick up a bunch of magic in the time he’s been a general. But from what he’s told me, he can only recognise a few basic runes.”

  Levy nodded to me quietly, the silence lasting until we had walked up onto the ship. “I guess, yeah.. But armor that can change itself is really hard to come by, you know?”

  “Well, that’s why I don’t plan to use it.” I smirked down to her.

  “What do you-- ohhh… That probably won’t be as good, but it should work until you reveal yourself and can get a better robe.” Levy nodded to me once the thought occurred to use my creation ability to make my armor like I had done before. Really, it won’t be as good as if I personally enchanted some armor I made with Origin magic, but if I did it that way I wouldn’t have the automatic proficiency.

  So my plan was to work on a good defensive robe to have ready for when I finally reveal myself. If it’s just a robe, then I won’t need something like proficiency. But, to get the robe on a level where I can make full use of it, I’ll need to master a few spells. Especially my Create Item spell and Enchant Defense. If I can get the former up to a level where I can create items with special materials, then maybe there is a tailoring equivalent to Mana Wood that I could make the robe out of.

  By that logic, there should also be magical stones as well for blacksmiths. Once we get a warrior to join us, I’ll have to see about equipping him in some gear like that. Come to think of it, I had been so caught up with adventure, I had completely forgotten to learn the various aspects of this world like that. Thinking back, I couldn’t remember seeing any of the blue shaded trees in the Vinehaven’s forest, so Mana Wood shouldn’t be very common.

  “Why don’t you go do that, then?” Levy smiled to me. “Instead of heading to the college, take a trip to learn about this world. You said it was your new home, so you should become familiar with it.”

  I chuckled, nodding to her. “Alright. There’s not much I could learn from the college right now anyways. I want to master some of my current magic before I grab a new one.” In order to become an Archmage, the first step was to master three fields of magic by raising them to rank thirty. Along with that, I had to raise ten spells in each to the master rank.

  Towards that goal, I have not mastered a single field of magic. My Infernal magic was getting close, but everything else still had a long ways to go. And even among Infernal magic, I had only mastered one spell. That was even a field I had a major head-start in, thanks to Lilith granting me ten spells at Advanced rank, and the talent itself at level twenty.

  Looking through my current talents, my magic could be divided into the following schools; Infernal, Nature, Divination, Summoning, Origin, and Enchanting. That’s six different schools of magic, and I haven’t made hardly any progress. It would be difficult to master Infernal magic while hiding my connection to Hell, and Divination is a more situational magic. If I don’t have a goal for a divination, then I might as well not cast it.

  Among the other four, Summoning and Nature magic are my highest level. Likewise, I could level the two of them together since they are both magic that can be used in combat. Origin is an entirely non-combat field, since it is too complicated to use quickly. Enchanting is something I can level up at the same time as Origin, since I can enchant the items I create with it.

  Okay, so while I’m traveling casually, I can practice my Origin and Enchanting. When I get into combat, I can work on Nature and Summoning magic. That should let me get them to the master level pretty quickly. The problem is the spells. I’ve got the ten I need for Summoning and Nature, but for my other fields of magic I’m still lacking. Also those ten I have are almost all basic spells. The only way they’ll be useful against strong enemies is if they give extra abilities when I master them.

  Levy was standing next to me, nodding silently at my thoughts. I guess I had a goal now. No more trying to conquer dungeons or seeking fights. Once I left here tomorrow, I’d head to a populated island and just focus on gathering knowledge.

  “Oh, right, we came here for Denise and Midnight. I can think about that stuff later”

  “I’ve noticed that you have trouble keeping yourself on a single line of thought..” Levy giggled at me, and we went below deck. Indeed, Midnight was resting there where he usually was when we traveled.

  “Hey, boy.” I smiled over to Midnight, and he whinnied, looking to me in surprise but not saying anything. Usually I could communicate with anything I formed a summoning contract with, so I could understand him. “Miss me?” He stared at me for a few moments, like he was expecting something.

  After a little while of this, I became slightly creeped out. “I know I was dead for a few days, but is the silent treatment necessary? I even brought Denise back, too… though it looks like she hasn’t made it here yet.” At the mention of Denise, Midnight bolted to his feet, glancing side to side as if she might suddenly appear. “And I can’t understand a word you are saying… assuming you are saying anything.”

  Well, this could be bad. I opened up my interface, and looked at my summoning spell for the list of things I could summon. What… why is it empty? Did all of my contracts get negated when I died? Fuck, I’ll have to visit the Vinehavens again to renew my contract with Dariel. “Okay, I’ve got to reapply the summoning contract we used to have. Just a moment.” I pulled out my grimoire, and aimed a hand to Midnight.

  “I swear to not abuse this contract and command you against your will.” Nodding to the terms of the agreement, Midnight indicated his acceptance. “By spoken pact, may this deal be final.” Strands of light snaked out from my hand, driving themselves into the horse’s body.

  You said you brought Denise back? Is that true?

  “Good to see you missed me, too.” I smirked to Midnight, who shook his head with a snort.

  Yes, yes, nice to see you again. You’ve probably been here for days and forgot about me. Now, Denise, she’s really back, too? Levy giggled next to me, apparently hearing Midnight through me.

  “Yes, she’s back. Though, she’s a bit different. Don’t worry, I’m pretty sure it’s not a bad thing. She still seems like her old self.”

  You fucked up when you brought her back, didn’t you?

  “..There is that possibility. But she’s back, and seems to be the same as ever. If anything, the few changes just make her stronger.”

  Well, where is she?

  “Ah, when she came back, she was famished, so she ran off to get something to eat. I had expected her to be done a long time ago and already be here to visit you. She might be spending some time with Lilith before that, though.”

  Hearing my words, Midnight light out a whinnie. I hope she visits soon.

  “I can try calling her if you want. That way we can at least find out when she’ll be here.” When Midnight nodded his approval, I cast the Message spell to call Denise.

  “Hey, Jin! That you?”

  “Yup. Where are you at right now?”

  “Ah, Lilith and I just left Pride. We wanted to see how much stronger I was now. I’m surprised yo
u couldn’t find me, didn’t you say before that you always knew where I was with your cheat powers?”

  “That used to be the case, since we were part of a group. That group seems to have been destroyed when we were killed on the island, though. Same with all of my summoning contracts. So, until you decide to team up with me again for our adventures the normal benefits won’t apply.”

  “Oh, Jin, are you asking me to go out with you again?” Denise’s voice was a bit more teasing than usual.

  “I guess so. You in? We won’t be doing quite so much exciting stuff for a little while, because I’ve decided to learn more about this world first. But there will still be quite a lot of travel.”

  “That’s fine. Just so long as you let me stretch my legs whenever a problem does come up.”

  Denise has joined your party as a companion!

  Midnight has joined your party as a mount!

  “Great, the group was just remade.” I smiled as the pop ups appeared. “By the way, Midnight is a bit depressed that you haven’t visited him yet.”

  “I was just on my way there!” She sounded a bit embarrassed, and I heard her whispering. Don’t tell me that she forgot this time..

  I chuckled, turning to look to Midnight. “She’s on her way over now.” He nodded, seeming pleased by the news. “Oh, and Denise, I’ve got something for you when you get here.”

  “Oh really? What is it?”

  “Nope. Not until you get here.”

  “Fine, fine, I’ll be there soon. You’re at the ship, right?”

  “Yeah, they’ve been keeping Midnight here.”

  “Alright, we’re on our way!” And with that, the call ended. Levy was still just standing next to me and smiling.

  Nodding to Midnight, the two of us went up to meet them on the deck of the ship. “It’s going to get dull again when you leave.” Levy smirked a bit as she looked out towards the road, where Denise and Lilith would soon appear from.

  “I’ll be back. You going to practice some new spells while I’m gone?”

  “Of course! I really want to work on that Origin magic! It’s supposed to be able to create anything with enough skill, right?”

  “So I’ve heard. I know that the description says it can create creatures as well as items.”

  “I want to make my own magical beasts! Like miniature dragons!” Levy seemed thrilled by the idea of making new forms of life, so I smiled.

  “Maybe by the time I get back, you’ll be able to teach me a thing or two about it.” She nodded happily at that idea. Really, she should be able to improve that faster than I can, since the only other Origin magic user I’ve heard about was the first Archmage, a demon. I don’t know if any of the magic colleges would even have information on this.

  “I’ll be sure to learn all I can, and help you out when you return!”

  After that, we saw the two women in the distance running down the road. Denise crouched down mid-sprint, and seemed to vanish, immediately appearing right next to me. Lilith followed suit, likewise appearing next to Levy. “You said you had something for me?” Denise grinned to me when she said that.

  Laughing softly, I nodded and pulled out the ruby pendant I had bought from a shop in the District of Envy. It wasn’t a magical object, but it had both silver and gold worked into the filigree, forming a spiral pattern that held the gem from above and below. “I thought this would look good on you.”

  Denise’s eyes seemed to shine as she looked at the pendant. Gems were abundant in Hell, as I had learned when making a finely decorated statue of Lilith and Levy, so it wasn’t very expensive. But I had purchased this because of how it would look on her, rather than the price. “It’s beautiful.”

  She whipped a hand out and snatched the gift from me, laughing as she put it on. The pendant fell down just above her cleavage, the stone matching her new eye color. Taking a moment to look it over, I nodded. “It really does work for you.”

  “Thanks!” She laughed out again, seeing where my eyes had wandered, and then hopped off to go below deck. Likely to visit Midnight. Once she was gone, Lilith came over and put a hand on my shoulder to get my attention. Looking over to her, I saw that she was now wearing the same dress that I had come up with when I made that statue.

  “So, my little girl wants to be a master of Origin, huh?” She was smirking to me, her daughter happily nodding behind her.

  “That’s what she told me a second ago. Guess you were listening?”

  “Not really, Levy just filled me in on it while you were preoccupied with Denise.” Lilith laughed softly revealing that she had not actually been spying on me this time.

  “I hope there’s not a problem with that?”

  “Oh, there isn’t. I’ll be watching her growth to make sure. But since you plan to use it too, I need to warn you about something regarding that magic.” At that, her face became more sad, like she was reliving a bad memory.

  “What is it, Lilith?”

  “There’s… a certain spell in Origin magic, that you absolutely must never use. You shouldn’t have a reason to, but even if you think it is necessary, please don’t.”

  Levy appeared to be just as confused about this as I was, so I went ahead and asked first. “Okay… what spell?”

  “World creation. It was the last spell used by the first Archmage, to bring an end to the war. By trading his own life, he created two new worlds, which kept growing until he passed away. These worlds were for the angels and demons… designed so that neither could enter the others’ domain without permission…”

  “So then he…”

  Lilith gave me a sad smile. “Yup… he made Heaven and Hell. Places where the races could be at peace. But you can’t ever do that. Even if you revive afterwards, there is a chance that the spell would immediately begin draining you again and send you into an endless spiral.”

  I nodded, patting her shoulder to try and comfort her. “It’s alright, I promise. I won’t try anything like creating new worlds. Though, I bet the angels hated to have their home created by a demon.”

  Lilith tilted her head back to laugh loudly. “Oh, like you wouldn’t believe. Maybe that’s why they spent so much time in the human world afterwards and made that religion out of spite. I don’t think they ever really got over it. Hells, maybe they don’t even remember why they hate us so much, and have convinced themselves of their own lies.”

  “That is entirely possible. By the way, there’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you about for a while, but never really got the chance?”

  Nodding, Lilith smiled widely, seeming happy to help me with any questions I had. “What is it?”

  “I was going through some of my abilities, and the term Unbound came up in reference to demons. Do you know what it means?”

  Immediately, Lilith cast a startled look towards Levy, who shook her head. “It wasn’t about her?”

  “No, ah, sorry, this was back before I met Levy.”

  “Oh.. I see. An Unbound is someone who does not offer allegiance to Hell. When Azamoth created these worlds, he set up the system of Unbound and Fallen. When a demon leaves Hell and refuses the authority of the throne, they become Unbound. The same thing happens with angels and the Fallen. That was actually the basis for the contract treaty we created, since it is a binding force that covers the entire race.”

  “Oh.. so.. that would also be a way out of the contract, wouldn’t it? If all of the angels or demons left their home?”

  Lilith nodded slightly, looking sad again. “We had considered it before you arrived, but none of us wanted to forfeit our homes just to be thrown into another war. The demons that you often hear about, the evil ones that torment humans, are either lies made up by the angels, or stories of the Unbound. Hypocrites cover up any mention of their own Fallen, and send executioners to take care of them before word can spread.”

  “Yikes… you are making me more and more relieved that I did not side with those guys..”

  Lilith gave me a sligh
t smirk. “You never would have joined them. That’s just not the type of person you are.”

  “True. Thanks for clearing that up.”

  “It’s not a problem. Can I ask what the term came up in relation with?”

  “Sure. After you gave me the Emissary title, I received a skill that lets me command any demon aside from the Unbound, the generals, and of course you yourself.” When I said this, Lilith had a confused look.

  “You were actually entered into the hierarchy? And at such a high rank. I thought you’d need to become a demon to get the literal authority of Hell.”