And even if I could fully understand this one diagram, I will then have to figure out what methods will achieve better results for an advanced one. To put it simply, I was studying addition to learn calculus. Not only that, but I was consulting my skills as little as possible, trying to earnestly solve this puzzle by my own effort.
Just then, I heard the familiar tone of someone contacting me with a Message spell. What… who could.. I paused in my work, trying to figure out who could possibly be calling me. But nonetheless I answered. “Hello..?”
“Holy shit it worked.” An all-too familiar voice came in from the other side, slightly muffled.
“Wait… Kev? But… when did you log back in?” Well, that explained it if he was using one of my coins to call me. A bit of a waste though since he’s on the ship.
“I didn’t…”
“Come again?” I misheard that, right?
“I said, I didn’t log back in. I’m in my kitchen right now, man. I was getting ready to call someone, and saw that a new contact named The Dive had been added into my phone. When I called it, a voice asked me who I was calling for..”
“But… I’m in a coma in the hospital. How is it physically possible for you to be calling my--” A thought struck me as I was getting ready to ask that. “Kev, it’s the coins. I gave you two. Log back in and check them.”
“You know, that sounds entirely crazy. About as crazy as you getting stuck inside a video game. Which is precisely why I’m going to take your word for it and not ask until after I’ve had my what the fuck moment.”
“I’ll join you for that moment. This shouldn’t be possible.”
With that, he hung up, appearing in the game a few minutes later. And sure enough, when he checked the coins I had given him -- he had them in a separate pouch so that he wouldn’t spend them-- one of the coins had stopped glowing. “So… as long as I have one of these… I can call you even from out there… This is such a cheat, you know?”
“Is it really? I hadn’t noticed.” I sighed a bit. “Well, this solves one complication of being stuck here. Most foreigners can use their capsules as phones from this side too, so I guess these coins are my way to even the playing field.”
“Yeah, maybe.. There wasn’t really a number with that contact. It was really suspicious, and I almost deleted it. Heh, maybe deleting the contact would be like throwing the coins away.”
This could get bad. There’s only one way that my contact information would suddenly appear in his phone like this. If he figures out that the game has this degree of control, it might trap him here too.
Thankfully, my worries seemed entirely unfounded, but I still erred on the side of caution. “Mind keeping this between us? It’s not really something that others need to know since they don’t need things like this.”
“Right, right, no problem. Well, unless another case comes up where someone gets stuck in here like you did. If that happens, it’d be best to let their family have the call, right?”
“Yeah… right..” I had the sinking feeling that if anyone but Kevin had held the phone, the contact wouldn’t have appeared. That can’t be possible, right? Even if the game controls the phones, there shouldn’t be any way of telling who is using the phone. At least, not without access to.. you know what, I would not be surprised at all if this thing used cameras for stuff like that.
“Anyways, I’m going to head back now. Did I miss anything so far?”
I thought about it for a second. “Nothing of interest.” The pirate fight really hadn’t been all that interesting after all. “I’ll get you another coin to replace that one. I had been looking for stuff to make anyways.”
Kev nodded, and then logged off again. Seeing that he was gone, I went back to work. First, I made another Call Token to replace the one he used like I said. Then, I began experimenting by changing certain aspects of the diagram, such as rotating the interior shapes to line up with different runes.
I didn’t really feel like calling a bunch of random people if I fail an enchantment, so I was working on using the Light spell instead. And, almost every experiment simply ended with me making a ball of light above a coin. But, I had to use this method of elimination to get what I wanted. Simply staring at the diagram wouldn’t give me the answers.
My next experiment was to remove certain aspects. I started with the outer circle. Well, perhaps it’s best if I more accurately describe the components to the diagram. First, there is the outer circle, which as far as I can tell serves as a boundary to prevent magical energies from escaping during the process. When I removed it, the enchantment almost completed, but a wave of light erupted at the end.
Next is the rune circle, a layer of runes just inside the outer circle. Most of them are focused on containing and channeling mana, as well as a few that seem to relate to imagination. I didn’t feel comfortable changing any of those yet. Within the rune circle is the inner circle, which separates the runes from the interior shapes of the diagram. From my understanding, once the runes capture the mana, the inner circle passes it along to the interior shapes where it is evenly dispersed.
Whenever I tried rotating the first interior shape, a hexagon, the enchantment completely failed. One time it even set the paper I was using on fire. Learning from the results, I examined the relation between the runes and the hexagon. Each of the six points corresponded to an identical rune. The rune itself was the one for directing the flow of mana, so that was understandable.
Going deeper, the hexagon was cleanly divided into six segments, I line going from each point to the center. Again, when I removed these lines the enchantment failed entirely. Finally, around the very center of the diagram, there is yet another circle, encompassing the point where the lines connect. Inside the circle is a single rune, meaning ‘to bestow’.
So, to summarize, the beginner’s diagram I had worked as follows. After the user--me-- focuses the mana of a spell into the diagram, the energy is captured by the rune circle, kept from leaking in either direction by the inner and outer circles. Then, when the activation method is installed, the conditions are met to advance the process. The modified mana is directed through the interior shapes towards the furthest circle, where it gathers and triggers the final rune. That rune then installs the magic directly into an item placed above it.
I had an idea for another experiment, so made a few modifications to the circle. First, I changed the rune at the center from meaning ‘to bestow’, to a new rune meaning ‘to remove’. Next, I removed the outer circle. Finally, I placed one of the completed Light coins on the center of the diagram and activated it.
Enchanting has increased to 3
Once my mana had triggered the process, the innermost rune absorbed the glow from the coin, sending dim lights along the lines of the diagram. As they reached the inner circle, the lights spread into the runes. For a moment I was afraid that the light would just go back to the coin, but then it spread out from the diagram and faded away.
“Okay, it’s a success… but I can make it better…” I removed most of the runes, leaving only the six runes at the points of the hexagon. Then, I changed those six runes from ‘channel’ to ‘disperse’. After that, the process went much smoother, the light leaving the runes in a fine spray after reaching it. Good… the other way might have caused a problem if the energy was allowed to loop and build up before it exploded outwards.
“Well, I’ve managed to create a dispelling diagram, but that is not at all what I want to do. Feel like I’m going backwards here. Okay… theories… what do I need to make a more advanced method.. If I layered the one large diagram outside a smaller one… no, that wouldn’t do anything more than making it look more complicated. Maybe making a break between the runes, so that each section channels a different spell?” I shook my head at that idea, because that would just weaken the individual effects.
Chapter 21
While I was trying to figure out how to create an advanced enchanting formula, the next
day and night passed by without incident. For the most part, I hadn’t made any progress on my goal. I ended up combining an enchantment and disenchantment formula into one diagram to make a formula for transferring enchantments, but nothing to allow for more complex enchantments or even multiple enchantments.
I did end up leveling my enchanting talent another four times, for a total of level seven. Magical Knowledge also leveled up once, and I gained a few points to intelligence from my studies. All in all, even without getting the advanced formula ready I was getting good returns for my studying.
The ship’s detection crystal began warning me that there were other ships within the one kilometer radius now, one after another, like a silent pulse in my head. Thinking that the pirates came back with friends, I immediately moved to the crystal to take a look at the situation. What I found was not what I had expected.
We had arrived at Thurgil while I was focused on my studies, and the alert was for other ships that were coming into port ahead of us. Letting out a sigh of relief, I sent a message to Kev’s phone that we were here so he could log in. Seems like he wasn’t really interested in just sticking around while we were sailing. One of the reasons we can’t take him with us for our travels, since he isn’t around enough.
While I was heading out to the main deck, I retracted the sails and lowered speed to bring the ship in. Apparently, several people were surprised when they saw the ship seemingly piloting itself with nobody at the helm. Denise was up on the crow’s nest, but came down to join me as soon as I came out of the cabin.
“My, my, this must be the first bit of daylight you’ve seen since the pirate attack.” She grinned, teasing me.
“Sorry, sorry. Been busy. Make it up to you?”
“Yeah, you will. Next time, you’ll be the one that has to relax while I’m hard at work.”
“...Sure, that sounds fair.” I chuckled a bit, and then Kev appeared behind us. “We’re here. Don’t forget the stuff you’ve learned lately, and really put yourself into your training. If you don’t take it seriously it won’t mean anything.”
“This coming from the guy who spends days at a time studying magic.” Denise giggled next to me, shaking her head.
“Yeah, yeah, I get it mom.” Kev sighed and casually jumped off the deck of the ship, landing on one of the wooden planks of the port. “Don’t be a stranger.”
“Can’t help it. The world is too normal.” I smiled, and began taking the ship back out. No sense staying here any longer than I needed to. “Alright, Denise. Finally, nobody else around. Now, can I finally see those special weapons you got?”
Denise laughed, tugging on her bracelet as if she had forgotten it was even there. “I hadn’t even thought about that in days. But sure.” She extended her right hand, and a red flame shot out from her bracelet, forming a line extending above and below her palm. When the flame cleared, she was holding a sinister black scimitar, the hilt curved at the bottom and embedded with two rubies.
“This is Omen, the demon sword. According to Krath, it has the ability to anticipate attacks and help parry them. It can also cover the blade in fire when I strike, adding a small explosive effect.” The sword was wrapped in flame again, and then vanished into the bracelet. Next, Denise held out her left hand. A ball of dark energy shot out of the bracelet and formed the shape of a bow, looking to be made from solid shadows.
“And this is Nightshade, the demon bow. It doesn’t need arrows, and fires condensed shadow magic. Again, according to Krath it drains an enemy of their life force directly, without the need to inflict wounds. Also, its attacks are stronger in the darkness.” After her explanation, the bow faded away into the bracelet as well.
“Very nice. You called them demon sword and demon bow. Does that mean they are actually possessed by a demon, or just crafted by them?”
“As far as I know, just crafted. Demons have some interesting forging methods with their magic that create unique effects. Whenever a weapon with power is created, they almost always give it a name.”
“It makes sense. If you have a special weapon, it needs a special name.” I smirked a bit. “Speaking of which, I suppose I can finally get out of this armor.” Closing my eyes, I dispelled the leather armor and bow I had been manifesting for the last week and a half. Instead, I covered myself with blue robes. Then, I pulled my staff and grimoire from my own storage bracelet.
“Gotta admit, you made a damn fine archer, though.” Denise winked playfully to me.
“Only because I’m a cheat character.”
“Too true! He finally admits it.”
“I’ve known it ever since we hit Hell.” I smiled to her and moved inside. “Come on, let’s see where we’re going next.”
Denise followed me into the cabin, and we stopped at the map. There were several islands in the Shattered Realm that were little more than outlines, with the islands themselves unexplored. We had decided before that we’d pick one of these to check out.
“Okay, which one we going to, captain?” She said, looking over the different choices. There was one small island just a half day’s journey from where we are, but that wasn’t the one I was most interested in.
“This one is what I had in mind.” I pointed to a larger island about two full days away, nearly as big as one of the inhabited islands. “I’d rather not make us too easy to find, and this one is big enough to have something interesting on it.”
“Another dungeon, you think?”
“Most of these islands could have dungeons. But this one definitely has the biggest chance to be exciting.”
“Aye, aye, cap. Plot us a course!” She grinned to me, and I began tracing out a careful course, making sure to avoid any of the smaller islands along the way. “You going to be a recluse again until we get there?”
“Nah, I was thinking about summoning Dariel a bit early if that’s alright. And then I’ll call Lilith once it gets dark.”
“She still demanding a flashy entrance?”
“Yup.”
Denise sighed and shook her head. “Of course she is. Well, at least that is your embarrassment to put up with.”
“Hey!” I laughed, and we moved out to the main deck. “Well, let’s do this. Summon Dariel.” Extending my hand towards the center of the ship, the white portal appeared as it had in the forest before. Then, wearing a flowing green dress, Dariel stepped through with a smile.
“Had a feeling you’d be calling soon.” She laughed when I was about to ask why she was all dressed up.
“You’ve been scrying on me, haven’t you?”
“Maybe just a bit?”
I chuckled, shaking my head. “I got the demon queen listening in on me, and you scrying on me. Really, what about my life is that interesting?”
“You know, ever since you visited and helped us, we’ve had a few other foreigners show up. None of them were as polite or helpful as you. I daresay that itself is pretty interesting.”
“Yeah, yeah. Well, Lilith will be joining us tonight. I take it you are free for a while?”
“Indeed. As long as I am not gone from my people for too long, I can return at my leisure.”
“Cool. Well, welcome aboard the Unity. I take it you have seen a bit about it already.”
“If you are referring to your encounter with the pirates, yes. That was quite a fearsome display of power.” She smiled to me, and then took a glance at the various cannons. “You really operate this ship by yourself, huh?”
“Yeah, it has an enchantment that lets it run on my mana. You’d probably be able to do the same thing.”
“Maybe, but I don’t know the first thing about sailing. Aside from my scrying, this is the first time I have seen such a large amount of water.”
The Dive: Birth of a Wordsmith Page 36