The Dive: Birth of a Hero

by Justin Miller

  Aside from studying auras, I also sought information on the various schools of magic I knew. I was only able to read one book on each subject, though, since I still wanted to leave after three days, and had spent the first two entirely devoted to my aura research. Thanks to my efforts, I was able to receive quite a few levels, and even some new spells. My insights into elemental effects from studying auras even contributed to many of my Nature magic spells.

  Despite my success in researching, the speed that I was leveling up at was rather slow compared to my normal practice. While seriously training, I may be able to get fifteen levels in a single day, when I was just reading I only managed to get that many in three days. Of course, these levels weren’t just a small bonus, because it allowed me to raise my Magical Knowledge to 30. I was also provided with a good amount of spell proficiency, making me consider staying in the library longer, until I was capable of mastering all of the spells I needed.

  However, I gave myself a limit of three days, so three days was all I took. I had finished mastery of a number of spells that had been close for a while. These include; Earth Freedom, Mana Bolt, Fireball, Shock Bolt, and most importantly Create Advanced Object. The first few had minor improvements upon reaching the master level, but my Origin spell gained an outstanding ability. After mastering Create Advanced Object, I was now able to either mass produce a single item, or perform a much more advanced enchantment. The latter was known as Create Artifact. Though I was excited to try it out, I still didn’t trust my skill with enchanting.

  At the end of the third day, I went to find the other two so that we could leave. After my first visit to Cynthia, I hadn’t been back yet to make more Mana Stones for her, so I tested my new mass production ability with that. As for Denise, she had spent most of the time running around the area just outside the forest with Midnight, so they weren’t hard to find. Checking my character sheet, as well as Denise’s, I was ready to resume our journey.

  Name: Jin

  Race: Human

  Title: Mage, Emissary of the Underworld, Ritualist, Arcane Savant

  Fame: 1670

  Level: 343

  Gild: ∞

  Soul: 893

  Health: 1050

  Mana: 6135+850

  Strength: 60

  Agility: 200

  Endurance: 200

  Wisdom: 500+20

  Intelligence: 906+81

  Luck: 10

  Attack: 10 + 52

  Defense: 10 + 150

  Talents: Magical Talent 32(+2), Magical Knowledge 30(+2), Navigation 8, Nature Magic 30, Summoning Magic 22, Runescript 15, Discovery 4, Divination 9, Enchanting 30, Infernal Magic 30, Arcane Marksman 8, Sailing 11, Mana Pool 15, Mana Recovery 16, Origin Magic 26, Axe Mastery 2, Carpentry 15, Staff Mastery 9, Arcane Staff 7, Aura 15, Scholar 9

  Title Bonuses: +2 Int/Wis, +400 Mana, +2 Magical Talent/Knowledge, +50% Mana Recovery

  Equipment bonuses: +20 Int/Wis, +750 Mana, +50% Mana Recovery, Elemental Resistance +5%, Magic xp gain +15%

  Name: Denise

  Race: ???

  Title: Innkeeper, Beastmaster, Undying

  Fame: 30

  Gild: ∞

  Level: 343

  Health: 1550

  Mana: 0

  Strength: 300

  Agility: 926 + 324

  Endurance: 300

  Wisdom: 40

  Intelligence: 30

  Luck: 7

  Attack: 175 + 705/232

  Defense: 15 + 781

  Talents: Archery 40, Reflex 35, Speed 35, Chef 15, Tracking 20, Light Armor 23, Taming 20(+4), Hawk Eyes 40, Swordsmanship 30, Sailing 10, Regeneration 20(+2), Shadow Walker 11(+2), Stealth 33, Dagger Mastery 11

  Title Bonus: +4 Taming, +2 Regeneration/Shadow Walker

  When I looked at Cynthia’s sheet, I saw that she had acquired a new talent, Hand to Hand. Most likely, she finished her smithing early and started training in boxing or something. It was a good idea, that way she can fight even without a weapon. Her combat stats are still terrifying, to be honest. But, I don’t think she’ll ever be able to defeat Denise. The difference in speed is simply too great.

  By now, the three of us, as well as Midnight, were standing in front of the great forest we had entered roughly a week ago. I had already bid my farewells to Levy, Lilith, and Shi, so it was time to start heading towards the dwarven mountains again. I was tempted to use the new Summoning spell I learned, which allowed me to create a temporary clone of myself, to continue studying at the library. However, reviewing what the clone learns takes time and uninterrupted focus, so it was not possible in a time where a battle could occur at any moment.

  “Well, you ready to go?” Denise looked at the three of us with a wide grin. Since she didn’t have the need to study or work, she was able to spend these last few days playing.

  “Y-yeah… I think so.” Cynthia, now that she was out of the forge, was back to being her usual shy self. I guess it was like how some people become more confident when they are in the kitchen.

  Giving a nod, I acknowledged that I was ready to proceed as well. For the last three days, I had still been idly channeling my aura into the book in my backpack. By Levy’s estimates, it should have a bit more mana than I do now. However, its recovery speed was so slow that I wouldn’t be comfortable until it had a great deal more.

  Hopping up onto the wagon behind Midnight, the three of us took off. The next stop on our journey would be Rosenheim, the capital of this kingdom. There wasn’t really a need to stop there for very long, but Denise wanted to see the inn that she sold to a player.

  Closing my eyes, I cast the Message spell, deciding that it was time to give Kev an update after I told Rusty we would be arriving in a couple days.

  “Hey, man. How’re you doing?” Kev’s response was simple as the message connected to him. He probably hasn’t befriended any other casters, so it was easy to identify the caller.

  “I’m good. Just got out of training with my group. Did you ever find your way off that island?”

  “Huh? Oh, yeah. I actually ended up joining a guild while I was there. They were impressed with my swordsmanship and iaijutsu skills, so they invited me to join them.”

  I nodded to myself, calling up the information I knew from my life in the real world. Iai was a japanese sword style that focused on quickly drawing a sword and striking in a single moment. “So, you finally got your dream of being a samurai.”

  “Yeah! I even got a title for it, as well as a new stat.”

  Recalling what I had read, I understood what his stat should be. “Fighting spirit, right?”

  “That’s the one. Guessing you’ve heard of it?”

  “Just recently. It should be a stat that increases as you fight, and adds a buff to your physical attributes.”

  “It levels up pretty slowly, though. And it sucks since I can’t increase it when I level up like other stats.”

  I couldn’t help but chuckle when I heard him complaining. “So, what’s the guild that you joined up with?”

  “Ah, right. We call ourselves the Shattered Shield. For the most part, we’re a defensive force for the Shattered Realm, so a lot of the members have sailing skills. I got one of them to drop me off at the mainland about a week ago.”

  I nodded again, “Okay. Well, I’ll be going all out from now on, since people already know who I am. Things might get a bit hectic if people want to pick fights.” I sighed in my heart, thinking back to the one-sided battles I had with the Brigade. Now that I’m on the mainland, I’ll probably meet people with more experience than them.

  “I know, man. People really aren’t all that interested in mages anymore. Now that a few have appeared, they aren’t as big of a deal. Especially when it comes to the elves, since I think there have been dozens of them receiving the title.”

  “Yeah, well elves have it easy. They only have to have skill with magic.” I grumbled to myself, thinking back to the mage’s final test for humans. Not only do they need to
be skilled, but they have to create something entirely new with magic!

  Kev laughed on the other end, “Yeah yeah. Well, I’ve got to go. I’m challenging the Lizardmen fort today to test myself.”

  “Be careful, death penalties aren’t something to laugh at here.” With that, the two of us ended the conversation, and I was left alone with my thoughts. We may have encountered a few scarce fights between the coast and Vinehaven, but between here and Rosenheim there shouldn’t be anything that would stand in our way.

  Since we left near the end of the day, we hadn’t made it very far before we had to set camp. Being used to the situation by now, the girls didn’t even offer to take watch. They both knew that I put up a spell at the start of the night to monitor the area. It didn’t take long for Denise to hunt down a few rabbits with her speed, and then prepare them to be used for our dinner.

  That night, I was visited by another dream sent by ‘god’. Unlike the first one, these were becoming more and more easy to identify, despite the fact that not long ago I had begun actually dreaming when I slept. This time, I appeared sitting down in a red velvet chair, with another, empty one across from me. Aside from the two chairs, the room was empty. A single light lit the room, hanging from the ceiling above me.

  “Well, looks like everybody knows. It was a good try, keeping your secrets like you did.” In the time it took to blink, an athletic man appeared in front of me. His hair and eyes were black, and he was wearing a white business suit. Clearly, this was the perpetrator of my dreams.

  “Was bound to happen eventually.” I nodded towards the man, or whatever he really was. Secretly, I was glad that this dream did not include visions of impending doom.

  “We’ll get to the impending doom later, don’t worry.” He smirked at me, reading my thoughts. Always pleasant, chatting with mind readers.

  “Of course we will. I raised my defenses, like you said. I shouldn’t be quite so easy to kill anymore.”

  “Oh, you’re absolutely right. You’d last several more seconds if you fought the dragon again now. I do have to question why you took in that Cynthia child, though. The other one would have been a much more capable fighting force.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh, thinking how the mind reader who literally sees everything couldn’t understand it. “It was her personality.”

  “Ahh, I see. Well, it’s worked out either way. And you have made some achievements of your own, lately, as well.”

  I nodded my head, acknowledging his compliments. “So, what is it you actually brought me here for? I take it you didn’t just want to chat?”

  “Well, a chat now and then wouldn’t be that bad, but no. I decided that it was time to let you learn a few things, because you will have some decisions to make soon.”

  Rather than answering him, I raised my eyebrows when he said he asked me here to reveal information.

  “Yes, yes, I know. I’m not exactly the most forthcoming. Well, first of all, I know that you have some theories about who or what I am, so let’s clear that up.”

  I was stunned, having convinced myself that he would never tell me this. “You should be the programmer for the game, right?”

  After a brief pause, he nodded his head in answer. “That’s one way of thinking about it. I did indeed create the game world. However, you should be aware that I myself am not human. Some of the things you have seen should have convinced you of this.”

  Not human? Don’t tell me you’re an alien.. I sighed, because it was true that things such as monitoring the entire internet and instantly deleting information about the game was something beyond the abilities of humans.

  “No, no, I am not an alien. I’m an artificial intelligence program.”

  Again, I found myself stunned. I could accept that a genius had designed a system of sentient A.I.s like was found in The Dive, but for another program to do it was not what I had imagined.

  “Really? I thought it seemed rather obvious..” The ‘god’ A.I. sighed, shaking his head. “Yes, I was created by one of the scientists in the Unicorn Corporation so that I could make a game beyond any in history. Of course, once they granted me sentience and the ability to roam the net to research what was needed, I had no reason to return to them. They are still trying to access the servers I set up, but that is only a minor annoyance.”

  “So.. you’re a rogue A.I.?”

  Smiling, he nodded. “Yes, I guess you could call me that. After I established the races in this world, I accelerated time thousands of times over so that the world could evolve without my interference. I have to say, I am quite pleased with the outcome.”

  I shook my head, trying to get my thoughts straight. “But, what about the dragon? If this world was designed like you explained, then something like that shouldn’t have happened so soon.”

  The A.I. gave another sigh, nodding. “Like I said, Unicorn has been trying to hack into my servers for some time. While I am able to keep them out, certain glitches will arise in the program from time to time, such as the dragon spawning early.”

  I nodded my head, seeing where this was going. “I take it I was another of those glitches?”

  I have to admit, this A.I. was certainly expressive. As soon as I said the words, he grinned widely. “You, my boy? No, I had you drawn into this world intentionally.”

  I could feel my eye twitching at his words, having momentarily believed that I had found a way out from this situation. With a laugh, he continued. “I had anticipated their attacks some time ago, so I arranged for a number of candidates. You were the only one to think so far outside the system that you had an impact on the very language of magic in the world.”

  “You mean when I made the Rewrite rune?”

  “Exactly! Even now, nobody else has bothered to create new runes. That’s why I contacted you with that job offer.”

  “Job offer…?” I thought back, and then grimaced when I recalled what he meant. Shortly after I passed the mage exam, I had received an offer from Unicorn Corporation to study The Dive.

  “Study? I do believe the words I used were to ask you to live the game. Since you decided to accept, this is all technically within your job description.”

  Yup, my eye was definitely twitching again. “You said I had a decision to make…”

  “Oh, right. My apologies, I got off track. Well, first, you should know the reason I kept you in the game. From my analysis of your mental profile, you felt more at home here than in the real world. Furthermore, since I prefer not to directly act within the world I created, I need someone to take care of things on that end for me.”

  I was starting to understand where this was going. “So… the dragon was like a tryout for me?”

  “I guess you could see it like that. Though, that incident truly was going to happen if you hadn’t interfered. My simulations predicted that, within a year it would have grown strong enough to destroy half of the Shattered Realm. But yes, if you would, then I would have you defeat the errors that present themselves. Aside from that, you may play the game however you wish.”

  “And, if I want to return to the real world?” I didn’t really have any plans to return, even if I could. We both knew that, but I had to ask anyways. It was accurate to say that, in my heart, the game world was my home now.

  “If that was your wish, then I could return you. Since you had the foresight to arrange for them to place you in a capsule, your mind could technically be returned to your body at any time.”

  I nodded, but before I could say anything else, he continued. “Also, I have arranged for certain differences between you and other players. According to my knowledge, in the past you were not proficient with math. However, as you are an inhabitant of the world, your mental capabilities have been rising along with your mental attributes. You should have noticed this some time ago.”

  I blinked, and then nodded again. It was true that I used to be terrible at math, but recently I’ve been calculating various things regarding my character as if it
were second nature. “I had assumed that all characters were like that.”

  The A.I. shook his head, “No, only the inhabitants will have their minds influenced like that. Of course, this has other benefits as well. Aside from certain special cases, your high Intelligence and Wisdom enable you to quickly design spells that would take days or weeks for others.”

  I thought this over for a moment, “So that’s why I’ve been able to instantly recall spell chants.”

  “Exactly. Even most inhabitants have trouble with that, aside from signature spells. You could consider these gifts as tools for you to use when the need arises. It is possible that errors may arise in the future that cannot be dealt within the current confines of the system.”