Chapter 12
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Chapter 12:
The library was massive, there were shelves that ascended to the ceiling, all filled with books. Beautiful, beautiful books, each one holding information on a subject I didn't know.
I found a table in a back corner; I didn't want to be disturbed. There were probably a hundred books all stacked up around me. N0v3lTr0ve served as the original host for this chapter's release on N0v3l--B1n.
'History of Skyrim'
'The Aedra and Daedra, A Look Into the Divine.'
'Schools of magic, a Beginner's guide.'
The titles continued, everything I could possibly want to know about the place I found myself in. I don't know how long I sat here reading through the books, sometimes not even finishing one before seeking out answers from another.
It wasn't just mundane books either, I found many—many spellbooks all mixed in. There were sections dedicated entirely to a single spell, both its applications, theory, origins, and counters. It was marvelous just how much knowledge was stored in these ancient halls.
I wish I knew some magecraft for memory retention other than memory partition. I wasn't crazy enough to attempt that on myself without hundreds of variables accounted for.
No, I just had to settle on the old-fashioned way of reading through each book one-by-one and taking notes as I go. If there was one thing aggravating it was having to use a quill and ink. I made a promise to myself to bring ball-point pens back to this world in the future, or at least keep several hundred on me at all times.
"I was wondering where our newest, wayward student had disappeared to." I heard the voice and looked up; a bit surprised to see the Archmage standing a few feet away from me. I hadn't even sensed him nor heard his approach.....what a monster.
I rubbed my eyes, looking up. "Err, I think I may have lost track of time?"
"I would say, do you even know what time of day it is?"
".....night?"
"That is correct." He said a laugh. "It is night, of the following day you arrived."
"Oh." I guess I really did lose track of time.
"I am merely giving you a hard time; it is no problem." He said lightly. "Tolfdir was just worried you had become lost somewhere."
"I see, I suppose I should go make sure he knows I'm alright." I paused. "But I'm curious, do all new students get the attention of the Archmage?" I raised an eyebrow.
"I would like to say yes, but my schedule can be rather hectic at times. It is hard to greet and teach every student in the College. I can barely manage with one lecture a month."
"So, what makes me so special?"
He sat down in a chair at my table, picking up one of the books and giving it a once over. "You are an enigma."
"You've been watching me." I guess it was obvious, considering how quickly he responded to Ancanos defeat.
"I cast my gaze at every new face that comes to our little corner of Skyrim."
He was being awfully open about everything, I guess it isn't really something he should be ashamed of. But there was one question I wanted an answer to. "Why didn't you help them with the Ice Wraiths?"
"I didn't, I just put that together now."
Ah, one I keep forgetting, this whole College is probably his 'workshop'. I doubt there is anything that goes on that he doesn't know about, nor anything he can't meddle in. "You are one scary old man."
"Why, thank you." He took my compliment with grace.
"You're not even here right now, are you?" I looked at him, truly looked at him and something felt off.
His smile grew wide. "Interesting, explain to me how I'm not here and I'll give you something good."
I thought for a moment, looking him over. "A thought projection, overlayed with a physical illusion using the college as an anchor...no that isn't right. The Magical energy....the Magicka that permeates the entire College, if I had to guess, I would say the source flows through somewhere close to your body, the wellspring so to speak. You can use it to project your consciousness or maybe astral project yourself anywhere by piggybacking off the dense flow of Magicka."
"You are a scary young man." He laughed, setting a slab of what looked like glass on the table.
"Why, thank you." I smiled back. "What is this?" I picked up the 'glass'.
"It's called blue glass; I don't know if it is official or not. Its counterpart, 'green glass' or just 'glass' is a material used in making glass armaments.
"I take it this is rare?" I peered at it closely, channeling a bit of my mana inside.
"Unbelievably so. That is all I've found in the past decade when I first heard of it."
Interesting, the material practically ate my mana as if it was starving. This would make a wonderful material for crafting. And the term 'glass' seemed like a bit of misnomer, just holding it in my hand, I could tell this wouldn't lose out to steel in toughness.
"Is the College against students leaving for extended periods of time?" I felt like I now had a goal to strive towards. The image of my sword was starting to come into focus.
"We like all our initiates to be able to defend themselves otherwise, we don't really restrict their freedoms. Most students don't leave for journeys until their later years, but I guess your circumstances is a bit out of the norm." He said with a good-natured chuckle. "But perhaps there is a better avenue for you, I'm guessing you haven't had a chance to see our job board yet?"
"Yeah..." I just scratched my cheek, looking around. I pretty much came straight for the library and haven't left.
"As the name implies, it's a board in the common room that lists all the jobs available. We provide the necessities here, food, board and even some novice-level ingredients and materials. Otherwise, you are required to provide for everything else you need. We often get job requests throughout Skyrim, a lot of which is just enchanting weapons or making potions and we let our younger members handle it, paying a small commission fee to the college, otherwise taking the pay for themselves."
"Interesting, I wouldn't mind completing a few jobs while I look around for some materials."
"Wonderful, we're quite backed up on requests as is, any experienced mage would be a boon." He hummed to himself before pulling a few more books off the shelves. "I believe you will need these."
I looked at the titles; 'Enchanting for Novices', 'Herbalist's Guide to Skyrim', 'Mixing Ingredients, a Potion Master's Memoire'. Well then, I guess there's no point in hiding my ignorance. "Thank you."
"I said it before, young man. I look forward to seeing the things you accomplish." He withdrew an apple from...somewhere and brought forth a knife from the same place. He cut a piece off, putting it in his mouth while setting the rest on the table. "Make sure you eat." He gave me a wink, chewing on the fruit.
"You were here the entire time, weren't you?" Or did he replace this 'projection' with his real body when I wasn't paying attention.
"Who knows?" He chuckled, walking away.
Once again, well played.
"I'll write down some notes and send them to you." I said, to the empty area, but I'm almost entirely sure he heard me.
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Chapter 12:
The library was massive, there were shelves that ascended to the ceiling, all filled with books. Beautiful, beautiful books, each one holding information on a subject I didn't know.
I found a table in a back corner; I didn't want to be disturbed. There were probably a hundred books all stacked up around me. N0v3lTr0ve served as the original host for this chapter's release on N0v3l--B1n.
'History of Skyrim'
'The Aedra and Daedra, A Look Into the Divine.'
'Schools of magic, a Beginner's guide.'
The titles continued, everything I could possibly want to know about the place I found myself in. I don't know how long I sat here reading through the books, sometimes not even finishing one before seeking out answers from another.
It wasn't just mundane books either, I found many—many spellbooks all mixed in. There were sections dedicated entirely to a single spell, both its applications, theory, origins, and counters. It was marvelous just how much knowledge was stored in these ancient halls.
I wish I knew some magecraft for memory retention other than memory partition. I wasn't crazy enough to attempt that on myself without hundreds of variables accounted for.
No, I just had to settle on the old-fashioned way of reading through each book one-by-one and taking notes as I go. If there was one thing aggravating it was having to use a quill and ink. I made a promise to myself to bring ball-point pens back to this world in the future, or at least keep several hundred on me at all times.
"I was wondering where our newest, wayward student had disappeared to." I heard the voice and looked up; a bit surprised to see the Archmage standing a few feet away from me. I hadn't even sensed him nor heard his approach.....what a monster.
I rubbed my eyes, looking up. "Err, I think I may have lost track of time?"
"I would say, do you even know what time of day it is?"
".....night?"
"That is correct." He said a laugh. "It is night, of the following day you arrived."
"Oh." I guess I really did lose track of time.
"I am merely giving you a hard time; it is no problem." He said lightly. "Tolfdir was just worried you had become lost somewhere."
"I see, I suppose I should go make sure he knows I'm alright." I paused. "But I'm curious, do all new students get the attention of the Archmage?" I raised an eyebrow.
"I would like to say yes, but my schedule can be rather hectic at times. It is hard to greet and teach every student in the College. I can barely manage with one lecture a month."
"So, what makes me so special?"
He sat down in a chair at my table, picking up one of the books and giving it a once over. "You are an enigma."
"You've been watching me." I guess it was obvious, considering how quickly he responded to Ancanos defeat.
"I cast my gaze at every new face that comes to our little corner of Skyrim."
He was being awfully open about everything, I guess it isn't really something he should be ashamed of. But there was one question I wanted an answer to. "Why didn't you help them with the Ice Wraiths?"
"I didn't, I just put that together now."
Ah, one I keep forgetting, this whole College is probably his 'workshop'. I doubt there is anything that goes on that he doesn't know about, nor anything he can't meddle in. "You are one scary old man."
"Why, thank you." He took my compliment with grace.
"You're not even here right now, are you?" I looked at him, truly looked at him and something felt off.
His smile grew wide. "Interesting, explain to me how I'm not here and I'll give you something good."
I thought for a moment, looking him over. "A thought projection, overlayed with a physical illusion using the college as an anchor...no that isn't right. The Magical energy....the Magicka that permeates the entire College, if I had to guess, I would say the source flows through somewhere close to your body, the wellspring so to speak. You can use it to project your consciousness or maybe astral project yourself anywhere by piggybacking off the dense flow of Magicka."
"You are a scary young man." He laughed, setting a slab of what looked like glass on the table.
"Why, thank you." I smiled back. "What is this?" I picked up the 'glass'.
"It's called blue glass; I don't know if it is official or not. Its counterpart, 'green glass' or just 'glass' is a material used in making glass armaments.
"I take it this is rare?" I peered at it closely, channeling a bit of my mana inside.
"Unbelievably so. That is all I've found in the past decade when I first heard of it."
Interesting, the material practically ate my mana as if it was starving. This would make a wonderful material for crafting. And the term 'glass' seemed like a bit of misnomer, just holding it in my hand, I could tell this wouldn't lose out to steel in toughness.
"Is the College against students leaving for extended periods of time?" I felt like I now had a goal to strive towards. The image of my sword was starting to come into focus.
"We like all our initiates to be able to defend themselves otherwise, we don't really restrict their freedoms. Most students don't leave for journeys until their later years, but I guess your circumstances is a bit out of the norm." He said with a good-natured chuckle. "But perhaps there is a better avenue for you, I'm guessing you haven't had a chance to see our job board yet?"
"Yeah..." I just scratched my cheek, looking around. I pretty much came straight for the library and haven't left.
"As the name implies, it's a board in the common room that lists all the jobs available. We provide the necessities here, food, board and even some novice-level ingredients and materials. Otherwise, you are required to provide for everything else you need. We often get job requests throughout Skyrim, a lot of which is just enchanting weapons or making potions and we let our younger members handle it, paying a small commission fee to the college, otherwise taking the pay for themselves."
"Interesting, I wouldn't mind completing a few jobs while I look around for some materials."
"Wonderful, we're quite backed up on requests as is, any experienced mage would be a boon." He hummed to himself before pulling a few more books off the shelves. "I believe you will need these."
I looked at the titles; 'Enchanting for Novices', 'Herbalist's Guide to Skyrim', 'Mixing Ingredients, a Potion Master's Memoire'. Well then, I guess there's no point in hiding my ignorance. "Thank you."
"I said it before, young man. I look forward to seeing the things you accomplish." He withdrew an apple from...somewhere and brought forth a knife from the same place. He cut a piece off, putting it in his mouth while setting the rest on the table. "Make sure you eat." He gave me a wink, chewing on the fruit.
"You were here the entire time, weren't you?" Or did he replace this 'projection' with his real body when I wasn't paying attention.
"Who knows?" He chuckled, walking away.
Once again, well played.
"I'll write down some notes and send them to you." I said, to the empty area, but I'm almost entirely sure he heard me.
Chapter 12:The library was massive, there were shelves that ascended to the ceiling, all filled with books. Beautiful, beautiful books, each one holding information on a subject I didn't know. I found a table in a back corner; I didn't want to be disturbed. There were probably a hundred books all stacked up around me. N0v3lTr0ve served as the original host for this chapter's release on N0v3l--B1n.'History of Skyrim' 'The Aedra and Daedra, A Look Into the Divine.' 'Schools of magic, a Beginner's guide.' The titles continued, everything I could possibly want to know about the place I found myself in. I don't know how long I sat here reading through the books, sometimes not even finishing one before seeking out answers from another. It wasn't just mundane books either, I found manymany spellbooks all mixed in. There were sections dedicated entirely to a single spell, both its applications, theory, origins, and counters. It was marvelous just how much knowledge was stored in these ancient halls. I wish I knew some magecraft for memory retention other than memory partition. I wasn't crazy enough to attempt that on myself without hundreds of variables accounted for. No, I just had to settle on the old-fashioned way of reading through each book one-by-one and taking notes as I go. If there was one thing aggravating it was having to use a quill and ink. I made a promise to myself to bring ball-point pens back to this world in the future, or at least keep several hundred on me at all times. "I was wondering where our newest, wayward student had disappeared to." I heard the voice and looked up; a bit surprised to see the Archmage standing a few feet away from me. I hadn't even sensed him nor heard his approach.....what a monster. I rubbed my eyes, looking up. "Err, I think I may have lost track of time?" "I would say, do you even know what time of day it is?" ".....night?" "That is correct." He said a laugh. "It is night, of the following day you arrived." "Oh." I guess I really did lose track of time. "I am merely giving you a hard time; it is no problem." He said lightly. "Tolfdir was just worried you had become lost somewhere." "I see, I suppose I should go make sure he knows I'm alright." I paused. "But I'm curious, do all new students get the attention of the Archmage?" I raised an eyebrow. "I would like to say yes, but my schedule can be rather hectic at times. It is hard to greet and teach every student in the College. I can barely manage with one lecture a month." "So, what makes me so special?" He sat down in a chair at my table, picking up one of the books and giving it a once over. "You are an enigma." "You've been watching me." I guess it was obvious, considering how quickly he responded to Ancanos defeat. "I cast my gaze at every new face that comes to our little corner of Skyrim." He was being awfully open about everything, I guess it isn't really something he should be ashamed of. But there was one question I wanted an answer to. "Why didn't you help them with the Ice Wraiths?" "I didn't, I just put that together now." Ah, one I keep forgetting, this whole College is probably his 'workshop'. I doubt there is anything that goes on that he doesn't know about, nor anything he can't meddle in. "You are one scary old man." "Why, thank you." He took my compliment with grace. "You're not even here right now, are you?" I looked at him, truly looked at him and something felt off. His smile grew wide. "Interesting, explain to me how I'm not here and I'll give you something good." I thought for a moment, looking him over. "A thought projection, overlayed with a physical illusion using the college as an anchor...no that isn't right. The Magical energy....the Magicka that permeates the entire College, if I had to guess, I would say the source flows through somewhere close to your body, the wellspring so to speak. You can use it to project your consciousness or maybe astral project yourself anywhere by piggybacking off the dense flow of Magicka." "You are a scary young man." He laughed, setting a slab of what looked like glass on the table. "Why, thank you." I smiled back. "What is this?" I picked up the 'glass'. "It's called blue glass; I don't know if it is official or not. Its counterpart, 'green glass' or just 'glass' is a material used in making glass armaments. "I take it this is rare?" I peered at it closely, channeling a bit of my mana inside. "Unbelievably so. That is all I've found in the past decade when I first heard of it." Interesting, the material practically ate my mana as if it was starving. This would make a wonderful material for crafting. And the term 'glass' seemed like a bit of misnomer, just holding it in my hand, I could tell this wouldn't lose out to steel in toughness. "Is the College against students leaving for extended periods of time?" I felt like I now had a goal to strive towards. The image of my sword was starting to come into focus. "We like all our initiates to be able to defend themselves otherwise, we don't really restrict their freedoms. Most students don't leave for journeys until their later years, but I guess your circumstances is a bit out of the norm." He said with a good-natured chuckle. "But perhaps there is a better avenue for you, I'm guessing you haven't had a chance to see our job board yet?" "Yeah..." I just scratched my cheek, looking around. I pretty much came straight for the library and haven't left. "As the name implies, it's a board in the common room that lists all the jobs available. We provide the necessities here, food, board and even some novice-level ingredients and materials. Otherwise, you are required to provide for everything else you need. We often get job requests throughout Skyrim, a lot of which is just enchanting weapons or making potions and we let our younger members handle it, paying a small commission fee to the college, otherwise taking the pay for themselves." "Interesting, I wouldn't mind completing a few jobs while I look around for some materials." "Wonderful, we're quite backed up on requests as is, any experienced mage would be a boon." He hummed to himself before pulling a few more books off the shelves. "I believe you will need these." I looked at the titles; 'Enchanting for Novices', 'Herbalist's Guide to Skyrim', 'Mixing Ingredients, a Potion Master's Memoire'. Well then, I guess there's no point in hiding my ignorance. "Thank you." "I said it before, young man. I look forward to seeing the things you accomplish." He withdrew an apple from...somewhere and brought forth a knife from the same place. He cut a piece off, putting it in his mouth while setting the rest on the table. "Make sure you eat." He gave me a wink, chewing on the fruit. "You were here the entire time, weren't you?" Or did he replace this 'projection' with his real body when I wasn't paying attention. "Who knows?" He chuckled, walking away. Once again, well played. "I'll write down some notes and send them to you." I said, to the empty area, but I'm almost entirely sure he heard me.
