The Dive: Birth of a Wordsmith by Justin Miller Page A

“So…
summoning.. I think that would be pretty interesting. Thanks, this
was a big help.”

    “ Oh, you’re
welcome! Glad I could help you with this. You going to be home
tonight?” She asked that last part in almost a whisper, and I
could barely hear her.

    “ Yeah. I’ll
have to go back in the morning, but until then I’m free.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “I’ve got mage classes
in this world, and scholar classes in my own. How am I not sick of
reading yet?”

    She laughed at my remark,
“No clue, I don’t think I could do it. If I had come from
a world where I lived in books, I’d want to get as far away
from them as I could.”

    “ Well, once I find a
basic summoning book, I’ll head back to the inn. See you
there.”

    “ Yeah.. see you.”
She spoke quietly again, and I couldn’t quite make out what she
said next as I ended the spell. Cool. Now I
have this spell in my arsenal.

    Moving back among the
bookshelves, I now knew what I was looking for. Sadly, I didn’t
know WHERE it was. Should I make another spell
for searching? No.. I want to do this myself.

    Diligently, I scoured the
library, looking at every book I could see and even climbing a few
shelves when I thought I saw something that might be what I wanted.
In the end, something caught my eye, and I reached up to grab it.
‘The Calling of the Lost’. I hadn’t seen any books
labeled ‘Summoning for Dummies’, so this was as close as
I could get.

    When I went over to the
table to read, I opened the book and found that the entire thing was
written in runes! My Magical Knowledge was getting a workout just
working through the first couple pages, and even then there were
words that I couldn’t make out.

    ‘ To call a being
to’... that looks like a mix between aid
and work, so maybe serve? ‘serve you,
you must’ that looks kind of like
engrave, but twisted at the top. Judging by the context, mark? ‘mark
an enemy in battle. After you’ is that
an inverted finish? Maybe.. ‘ defeat
them, there is a’ okay… I don’t
know what that one is… let’s just see what the rest is
and maybe I’ll get it. ‘that they
will be’ something something ‘in your’ service? Looks like the
serve rune from earlier. ‘ service.
After that, you must simply perform the spell of calling, and they
will appear before you.’

    It took me a bit, but I
was able to piece together the paragraph into ‘To call a being
to serve you, you must mark an enemy in battle. After you defeat
them, there is a chance that they will be magically bound in your
service. After that, you must simply perform the spell of calling,
and they will appear before you.’

Magical Knowledge has increased to 8

    After that message
appeared, all the runes I had guessed were suddenly clear to me. The
next few pages were likewise easy to read. It detailed two spells.
The first of which is the Binding, and the second is the Calling.
After the caster places the Binding on a target, and then vanquishes
them in battle, they can attempt to use the Calling to summon them.
Creatures summoned by the Calling have only as much free will as
their summoner allows, and success depends upon proficiency with the
two spells.

    Alternatively, the Binding
may be placed on a willing target, bypassing the need to defeat them
in battle. In such a case, the spell used to summon them isn’t
the Calling, but the Summons. The Summons can be applied to objects
as well.

Through your research, you have acquired new spells!

    Binding has been added to your Spell list.

    Calling has been added to your Spell list.

    Summons has been added to your Spell list.

    Magical Knowledge has increased to 9

New Talent Unlocked!

    Summoning Magic- A magic which allows you to call
upon man and monster alike to aid you in battle.

    I grinned as the windows
appeared. Okay, a third method of learning
spells. Research works too. So, I can create new spells with the
Spell Creation or personal methods, and can research