Free The Dive: Birth of a Wordsmith by Justin Miller

you’ll be
able to save on that week’s tuition.” I winked playfully
to her, and she laughed.

    “ You mooch. Getting
me to pay for all your things. Oh well, in another week, I’d
love to have you here. Though don’t think that means I won’t
be training still! I’ll let you work in the inn while I get
ready for our big adventure! You can pay back some of that debt you
owe me.”

    “ Yeah, yeah. I look
forward to it.” I gave her an approving thumbs up to her plan,
because really I did owe her a lot.

    Like always, she gave me a
packed lunch when I left for class. To the surprise of the teachers,
I had advanced several years ahead of my former classmates. I was
curious why they were surprised when there had been other foreigners
that joined the college, but was informed that after they burned
themselves and died a few times with fire magic, the foreigners had
stopped coming to the college.

    “ So, I guess that
will make me the first foreigner to graduate, huh?” I asked,
mostly as a joke. My earth instructor, who I had come to know as Luc,
nodded though.

    “ Indeed. And the
fastest graduation in a hundred years at that! Why, you’re
almost ready to take your final tests already.”

    “ Final tests? I
haven’t heard anything about that.” I looked over towards
Luc.

    “ That’s
because nobody ever expected you to be able to reach that point in
the four weeks you would stay in the city. For your final exam..
well.. it’s different for each mage. The point is to show the
results of your labor and research. You should think carefully how
you want to present yourself for this, because it’ll be the
difference between passing and failing. And if your work is deemed
not good enough and you fail, you are not allowed to retake the test.
That’s why there are so few true mages.”

    “ I see… so I
need to create a spectacular magic in order to pass?”

    “ Right. And it has
to be original. You can look through the library, but those are all
examples of what NOT to do. The spell you create for your final exam
will be one that only you possess. That is the mark of a true mage.”

    “ Wow… how
long do I have?”

    “ You can postpone
the test until you are ready, but remember that you can only take it
once.”

New Quest!

    Mark of the Mage

    Luc has informed you of the impending Final Test, in
which you are required to create an original spell. This quest has
no time limit, but cannot be repeated.

    Difficulty: D

    Reward: Fame as spell’s creator, prestige with
Mages’ College.

    “ I understand, sir.
I’ll do my best to succeed.” I spoke politely, but
inwardly, I was panicking. That vast library, full of magic and
spells, and I had to create something unique. How
am I going to manage this…

Quest Accepted!

    What have I gotten
myself into now..

    “ If it’s you,
I’m sure you’ll think of something. After all, you’re
my prodigal student! Of course, if you fail, we’ve never met.
You understand, right?” He grinned to me, and I had to wonder
if he was joking or not.

    “ Right, right.”
I turned and went for the library. That was where I usually went when
I wanted to talk to Denise.

    “ Message..” I
had leveled up the spell to Advanced, meaning that it could now reach
anywhere in the kingdom without the chant, and according to the
description it had unlimited range with it.

    “ Jin, is that you?”

    “ Yeah, it’s
me…”

    “ What’s wrong?
You don’t usually call this early. I haven’t even had a
chance to head out yet.”

    I started to fill her in
on the final test that Luc warned me about, and she waited patiently
until the end. “I’m just worried that I won’t be
able to come up with something.”

    “ Oh, is that all?
Don’t worry so much! I know you can do it. Not just because
you’re a foreigner, but because you really are amazing. Just
put your mind to it, and you’ll figure it out.”

    I smiled despite myself.
“Thanks, Denise. Don’t know where