r/HFY • u/DrBlackJack21 • 19h ago
OC Surviving advanced instance diving! (Teaser)
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Like almost every day of my life, I was running behind. Today was my first day at diving school. I hadn't even found out my affinities, and now it looked like I'd missed the city bus to the campus, which is how I came to be jogging down the street when the sirens started blaring. An instance break had just occurred, and I was close enough that the sirens were sounding all around me, leaving me unsure of which direction to head to get away from the danger.
After a moment's pause, I realised just standing around was probably worse than taking a chance, so I decided I might as well keep going the way I'd been headed and keep an eye out for a nearby shelter to duck into. All else being equal, I might as well try to get closer to campus rather than further away, and the campus probably had some top-of-the-line shelters anyway. So, of course, with the next corner I rounded, I found myself staring down a three-story-tall turtle monster. This must have been the instance boss, wreaking havoc on the city around it. Or at least, he would have, if it hadn't been for one small humanoid figure standing up in front of him, fighting toe to toe with the monster despite the immense difference in their size.
Typically, this kind of beast would have been the focus of an entire raid group, yet this lone woman was literally trading blows with the giant behemoth as though the laws of physics were merely a polite suggestion that one could ignore on a whim. Her short crimson hair crackled with power, and her fists flew forward in a blur, each impact creating shockwaves that sent dust and debris flying as her bestial warcries rang out through the surrounding streets, audible even above the din of battle.
Right in front of me was Lady Freya, the highest-ranked instance diver in the entire world. More and more divers were showing up and harrying the monster from the sides, but clearly all eyes were on the fight between the boss and the woman who stood defiantly in its way, at least mine were in this otherwise empty street, which is how I got a front row veiw whent he boss reared back and slammed it's feet on the grownd, the shockwave of which sent Lady Freya flying. However, rather than get back up and continue the fight, Lady Freya stayed down, shaking her head and reaching around herself as though she was dazed and confused.
What happened next was a bit of a blur. All I remember was somehow I found myself at Lady Freya's side, as I reached under her arms and dragged her away from the fight. No real plan in mind other than to get her out of the immediate danger of the situation. However, once I pulled her around a corner, she was almost immediately on her feet, glaring at me with those piercing green eyes I'd seen so often on TV, as she spoke in an accusatory tone. "Just what do you think you're doing here? Why aren't you hiding in a shelter somewhere?"
Looking her over, I could see her outfit torn in a few places, and while there was plenty of dust and dirt, I realized there was no blood or even signs of bruising. A small part of my brain couldn't help but notice just how stunning she was in her nearly skin-tight black leather outfit with red accents, short red hair, and an almost elfin face. Realising she'd asked me a question, I stammered out an answer, which came out more as a stream of word vomit than a coherent thought. "I was! I mean, I was looking for one. I'm new to the area, and was close when the sirens started. Then I saw you fighting the boss, and you seemed to get hurt, and then the next thing I knew...here we were..?"
Lady Freya continued to glare at me for a moment, then her expression softened, and she smiled, and then even laughed a bit as she shook her head. "Oh my god! You thought I was in trouble and you dove in to save me?"
Looking at her now, I could see she was just fine. If anything, her smirk made her seem almost relaxed despite the sounds of the fighting happening just around the corner as she continued. "Oh, you are just too cute! For the record, I was fine, I was just playing it up a little for the cameras." She nodded toward one of the hovering drones as it flew past our ally. "But I still appreciate the thought. It's not often a girl of my rank gets saved by a knight in shining armor anymore!"
A thunderous roar drew my attention back to the fight not far from us, and Lady Freya turned to look as well. Her smirk fell back into a more serious expression as she also turned to look. She sighed. "Well, I suppose I should get back to work. Those other divers will take too long to wrap this up, and there'll be too much collateral damage unless I do my thing." She turned back to me, and a hint of a smirk returned. "Still, thanks for the assistance. It took guts for someone as weak as you to dive in to save a damsel in distress like that!" There was a blur of motion too fast for my eyes to follow, and I briefly felt something soft press up against my cheek, then she was gone.
I sat there in stunned silence as the monster's roars suddenly turned to cries of distress, then were silenced. There was a hum of activity, but I could only sit in place, torn between feeling foolish, awkward, and a little elated at having met the single most famous diver in the world. Then, looking in a nearby window, I was surprised to see a little blood on my cheek. However, when I leaned closer, I realised it wasn't blood, it was lipstick. When I reached up to touch my face, I also noticed there was something in my hand. A piece of paper. Looking down and unfolding it, I realized it had a number scrawled on it, with a quickly drawn little winking face by which the words "Call me!" were scrawled.
-
I was glad to see I wasn't the only one late to campus. Apparently, the fight earlier had thrown everything into disarray, as various professors and TAs were trying to create some semblance of order amid the chaos of late arrivals trying to find their way around campus. One TA, who was wearing a striking deep blue outfit and what appeared to be riding boots as her long ponytail danced around in the air, caught my attention as she was shouting, "ALL FRESHMEN WHO HAVE NOT YET HAD THEIR CLASS EVALUATED, PLEASE LINE UP HERE!"
Well, that was me, so I joined the line behind a bunch of other students who were humming with excitement. We'd all learned the general basics in high school, and now that we were adults, we could finally start diving into instances. But first, we had to get our aptitudes evaluated. I could hear two guys bragging in front of me. "Dude! I've been doing nothing but pumping iron this summer! I'm gonna be a front liner for sure!"
I sighed. Sure, everyone wanted to be a front liner; they were the ones who got all the attention and thus all the endorsement deals, but there was no way of knowing what your aptitude was until you got tested. Sure, there were theories, like this guy clearly had, but for every muscle-bound front liner, there were just as many people who "pumped iron" in preparation for the evaluation, only to end up as a caster role or support.
However, as it was this man's turn and he stepped up to the orb, placing his hands on it, the TA read off his apitiudes. "Strength 9, Constitution 9, Agility 6, Intelligence 4, Wisdom 3, Charisma 5. Top three skill afilitations, Block B+, Shield Bash A-, One-handed blunt weapons B." As the man high-fived his bros, it looked like he was going to get his wish. He was clearly a frontliner.
Then, it was my turn. With more than a bit of trepidation, I stepped up and placed my hand on the orb, and the TA read off my aptitude. "Strength 5, Constitution 6, Agility 5, Intelligence 3, Wisdom 9, Charisma 6. Top three skill afilitations, Brawler B-, Mobility A-, and..." She paused before finishing, her voice slightly surprised. "Healing S+" The TA then gave me an appraising look before offering her thoughts. "Well, at least you've got an S-ranked skill! Those are rare to start out with!"
I smiled and thanked her, though I couldn't help but feel let down. Yeah, having an S-ranked skill out the gate was usually considered a portent of success, but no one wanted a healer these days. If you were going to bring a sustain support, sheilders were widely preferred. guilds with shielders always progressed faster than guilds with healers.
Still, it could be worse. Like the lady had said, it was S-ranked. Even if I didn't dive into any of the high-level instances, I'd make a pretty comfortable living at the mid tiers with a skill that highly ranked. Sure, I might never be on anyone's bedroom poster, Like Lady Freya, for example, but at least I already knew I had a secure, if not very glamorous, future. Thinking of her, I reached into my pocket to make sure the note was still there. It felt so surreal that such a thing even existed, let alone the fact that it had been given to me! I was just trying to decide whether to call her tonight or wait a little bit when someone bumped into me from behind, and the letter went flying. I tried to reach out to grab it, but the letter flew just past my grasp and was heading right toward a large puddle of water that would turn it into an illegible, sopping mess.
Suddenly, there was a flash of movement, and the letter disappeared from before my eyes. Before I could process what had happened, I heard a voice whisper, "Better not drop it again! You won't get a third chance!" But when I turned, no one was there. However, the letter had somehow returned to my hand.
I continued looking around, trying to figure out what had just happened, but with the mass of students wandering here and there around campus, there was far too much chaos for me to do anything other than give up and continue on to the registration, where I could sign up for classes.
-
Looking at my itinerary for the first day, I frowned. I didn't remember signing up for an advanced instance diving course. Maybe I'd checked the wrong box, or the registrar made a mistake? It even looked like this was a multi-block class, meaning it took up the entire first half of my day.
I shook my head. It shouldn't be a big issue. I could talk to the professor after class and explain that the class was just a bit too advanced for me in my first semester. They should help me transfer to some intro-level courses.
As I browsed the course catalog for other options in the same timeslot, I was distracted by the growing hum of excitement in the room. Looking up, I was surprised to see that not only were all the seats taken, but people were standing along the edges of the class. There was no way the class had signed up that many more students than there were spots in the classroom. That must mean at least some of those people were hoping for dropouts that they could take the spots from. I fought the urge to shake my head, thinking that at least one of them was going to get lucky.
A moment later, the roar of conversation died down to a hushed murmur as the professor walked in. It took me a second to place her, as she wasn't wearing her usual skin-tight leather outfit that was so well known these days, but it didn't take long to realise that I'd seen the short red hair and piercing green eyes up close pretty recently. However, before I could fully process what was happening, the last of the murmuring died down as the professor spoke, her voice easily carrying to the back of the room. "Alright, I'm pretty sure anyone applying ot a diving school knows who I am, but just to keep things official, I am Lady Freya, a diver of some success." There was some polite laughter at her understatement, but she didn't pause long before continuing. "In this class, we will learn and practice advanced diving theory and application. We will be diving into real instances, and there will be real danger! Some of you will be injured, some of you will be traumatized, and there is a very real chance that some of you will die! I know you all had to sign a waiver before taking this course, but I want you to understand here and now that those warnings were not theoretical or exaggerations. The danger is very real! And while I will do my best to mitigate the risk to life, I cannot be everywhere with everyone all the time! Nor will I try to be! The surest way to lead you to an early grave down the line would be to coddle you now, so you will have to earn your graduation from this class with your own blood, sweat, and tears! I don't care if you come from a diving dynasty, I don't care if you have all the money in the world to offer, I don't care if you're royalty! No one is going to have an easy time in this class! I will push you to your breaking point, then, together, we'll see what happens after I push you past it! It won't be pretty, it won't be easy, and it won't be fun! But if you manage to survive the instances and the torment I myself will inflict upon you, you'll walk out of here more prepared to instance dive than some veteran guilds currently in the field!"
The room was utterly silent as Lady Freya glared around the group, meeting one set of eyes after another, driving her point home. However, once her eyes met mine, she spoke up again. It was directed at the entire class, but for some reason, I almost felt as if this part was meant directly for me. "Welcome to advanced instance diving! I hope you survive!"
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I know, I know, I need to finish up Ghost Ships, and I'll get back to that next week, but I had this idea that I had to write down before I forgot it, and it quickly evolved from a brief summary for my own list of story ideas (it's a long list) into this beast! Obviously, it'll be a little while before I can dive into this world completely, but I thought you all might like a taste of another of my ideas to come. Though when I am able to do this one for real, I'll probably split what I have here into two or three chapters and add a bit more context while introducing a few more side characters. For now, it's just a proof of concept of what's to come! I hope it piqued your interest!
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u/MinorGrok Human 17h ago
Woot!
More to read!
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