The Dive: Birth of a Wordsmith by Justin Miller Read Free Book Online

me, I even
tried to pass through the ground once. Each time I got a failure
message. And each time, I could hear a low chuckle coming from
somewhere behind me. It was obvious my teacher hadn’t left me
alone, and was enjoying the show.

    “ Oh, were all those
stories about foreigners a lie? I thought you were a quick study!”

    Shaking my head, I tried
to gather my focus again. Think like a rock… think like a
rock… forget everything I’ve learned and just try to
think like a rock. What would a rock think like? Stubborn?
The ground was definitely being that. Unyielding. As I thought of this, I noticed that the ground seemed to loosen a
bit, and there was a sharp breath from behind me. Alright,
I’m onto something… no runes…

    Gathering my remaining
mana, I filled it with what I had perceived as ‘earth’.
The stubbornness of a mountain. I tried moving my mana upwards to
have it carry me, but quickly regretted that as I was lowered further
instead, being momentarily buried up to just above my chin. Wrong
way, wrong way!

    Okay, basics learned, I
shifted my mana down, to push myself up rather than pull. As I did, I
gradually began rising up. Unfortunately, I ran out of mana just
after it pushed past my elbows. “Alright… I’m
getting there…” I was breathing a bit heavily from the
effort, but it was worth it.

New Talent Unlocked!

    Earth Magic- The ability to influence the very ground
with your magic.

Magical Knowledge has increased to 7

    Magical Talent has increased to 4

Earth Freedom has been added to your Spell list.

Status has changed to Rooted.

    I sighed, smiling at the
series of popup windows, and opened my character window to spend the
points.

Name: Jin
Race: Human
Title: None
Fame: 0
Gild: 10
Level: 13
Health: 125
Mana: 30/250
Strength: 15
Agility: 13
Endurance: 15
Wisdom: 25
Intelligence: 50
Luck: 5
Attack: 10 + 7.5
Defense: 10 + 6.5 +
3.25
Talents: Magical
Talent 4, Magical Knowledge 7, Navigation 1, Earth Magic 1

    I grinned a bit, breathing
deep before focusing again. Now that I had the spell, it came easily. Earth Freedom!

    The ground split around me
and I shot up to my feet, nearly losing my balance in the process.
But dammit, I passed the test!

    “ About time, kid. I
was about to go take a nap.” The instructor spoke, and I
finally remembered he was in the cavern, so I turned to see him.
Somehow, he looked pleased and bored all at the same time. “Now
it gets interesting. Your next lesson is to create your own earth
spell. It can use any runes you are capable of casting, as long as
you can cast it. You can not ask anyone for help for this assignment.
You can use the library, but you can not copy any of the spells from
those books. I’ll be keeping an eye on what you read, so I’ll
know if you steal the spell from somewhere.” His expression
displayed unimaginable levels of smug.

Quest Updated!

    Lessons of the Earth 1 -> Lessons of the Earth 2

    Your instructor was impressed by your progress, and
has now asked you to devise your own spell.

    Difficulty: F

    Reward: Varies based on result.

    “ Understood, sir.”
I sat down and went over what I’ve learned. He said runes were
usable.. so most elemental spells should need it. Earth Freedom is a
spell that simply moves the earth around the user, so it’s
understandable if it didn’t.

    Talents ,
I opened a window, checking if this was a valid screen as well.

Talents

    Navigation 1 - The ability to avoid becoming lost.
Allows instant knowledge of directions when sky is visible.

    Magical Talent 4 - The ability to cast spells.

    Magical Knowledge 7 - The knowledge of the arcane
arts.

    Earth Magic 1 - The ability to cast earth-based
magic.

    Frowning, I pressed
Magical Knowledge, hoping for more of an explanation. To say I got an
answer was an understatement. In a moment, I had reviewed every
lesson we’ve had so far, and a few facts I had gleaned from my
time in the library. Likewise, my mind was filled with an array