Sundas, 22nd of Last seed 3E 420
Cornelius raised a brow, "Did you say, you're a necromancer?"
"A former necromancer. Are you going to turn me in?"
"You saved my life and that has earned some trust between you and I. So, what's your story? How did you become a necromancer?"
"Well I suppose we should start from the beginning. "
Lantrius told his new friend about what happened with his time, being under Mannimarco's wing. He also included the Falkreath incident.
"The Falkreath Massacre was you?" Cornelius asked whispering
"Indeed it was. After waking up in the forest, I've vowed to never let my problem get out of hand again. There have been times when something stressful triggers a small part of it, but nonetheless it has been controlled for a while now. No rampages."
"I guess that's something we can work around" Cornelius said with a friendly smile. "It's getting late I think we should head back to our homes. I'll see you around."
"Same to you my friend."
They both got up and left for their abodes.
The next morning, Latrius was wandering around until he heard some gossip about the city's Great House. The Great Houses. Mabey the can take me in. I'm getting tired of temporary work. He walked up to the gossipers.
"Excuse me. What can you tell me about the Great Houses?"
"Are you looking to join one of them?" one asked
Lantrius nodded his head.
"If you are, your best bet is with House Hlaalu. The others are very xenophobic and picky of who joins their house. Go into the House Hlaalu Council Manor down the road and speak to, Nileno Dorvayn."
"Thank you."
He walked off and towards the Council Manor. Upon entering there was a small tree in the center of the dimly-lit room and small sectioned spaces with foldable walls. Nileno Dorvayn was standing next to the tree. Lantrius approached the Dunmer woman.
"What business bring you here today, young Imperial?"
"Are you Nileno Dorvayn and is this the place to join House Hlaalu?"
"I am Nileno Dorvayn and The Hlaalu councilors have conferred upon me the great honor of interviewing those who wish to become members of our illustrious house, even the outlanders. Do you want to join House Hlaalu?"
"Yes ma'am, I very much do."
"Very well. You are now a hireling of House Hlaalu. Do various tasks over the years and you might one day be a noble!"
"You let me join just like that?"
"We interview anyone because we are always looking for new members. Besides, I don't feel like doing an interview anyway. I have too many other things to worry about."
"Okay." Lantrius shrugged and he began doing work for his new house.
About a week later he earned the rank of Retainer and got a house tattoo on his right bicep. He walked into Eight Plates to celebrate and coincidentally found Cornelius sitting at a table and reading an orange book.
"Evening! What are you reading?" Lantrius asked taking a seat next to him.
"Good Evening. I'm reading the 'Lusty Argonian Maid'. It's about the affair between a maid and her lord…I think."
"Is it any good?"
"Not really."
Alright then. Well, guess what I got." he quizzed
Cornelius layed the book on the table and thought for a moment. "The rank of 'House Father' in Hlaalu?"
"I wish, but no. I did get to 'Retainer' though, and had the House's tattoo put on my arm." he said revealing it.
"Looks good! I'm telling ya," he pointed at him, "a week and already a 'Retainer'. You could own a personal manor in a few years."
"Hey, I got an idea. Why don't you join as well? They always have spots open."
"I don't know. I heard Telvanni is a House full of wizards. I'm positive they might let you in."
"I'm fine with Hlaalu for now. Besides, I'm making more money than I did with being a tavern's assistant manager."
"Well, Telvanni is what I'm aiming for. Do you mind of teaching me some of that magika of yours?"
"Sure. Everything I know?"
"Yeah, man. You're pretty badass at destruction. Aside from that, how is your sleep?"
"Oh, it's better for now. Nightmares popup once in a while, but it's all good."
"Great to hear. So, when do we start?" Cornelius asked.
"Tomorrow would be fine. Just meet me outside of the city gates and we can get started."
They met the next morning.
"So, what are your capabilities?"
"I took a crash course on how to heal myself and see in the darkness."
Lantrius just looked at him and shook his head.
"I'm going to teach you the basics of Destruction magika. First read this spell tome." I am so glad I bought this. He handed the book to him.
After reading, he grabbed Lantrius' attention.
" what's next?" he asked.
"A short lecture." Lantrius paced back and forth clearing his throat, "There are two styles of magika I am aware of. Northern magika, as I call it, has a 'ready' stance which means the spell is always visible and used in one or two open hands. This has the advantage of casting destruction more accurately, handling more than one opponent, and continuous/charged casting. The disadvantage is that you must have at least one open hand at all times and using this style is usually more exhausting."
"And the second one?"
"The other is what I call Cyrodiilic magika. Instead of the 'ready' stance, everything is a single- cast spell. What is great about this style is that you can cast it even when your hands are full and is less exhausting. Holding a sword and shield then you instantly need to heal yourself in the middle of combat? Use Cyrodiilic style."
"Are there any disadvantages?"
"Of course there is. The disadvantage of the Cyrodiilic Style, is that target and touch magika needs to be precise and timed correctly if you want to hit your opponent or ally properly because of it's single cast system. Also there are some spells and spell concepts that don't even exists in Skyrim; like the absorb an opponent's strength and fatigue or spell mixing to where you can have a spell that freezes and electrocutes at once, and including the touch spells I had mentioned."
"So which one are you going to teach me?"
"I'll teach you both of them, but certain techniques and spells are, and can be, used differently in style and type."
A few days of training and Cornelius finally got down the basics of spell casting for both styles. They met one last time to learn a special technique Lantrius learned.
"Now for the final lesson. It's something I found called "channeling". Basically you put your willpower and energy into your arms and/or hands. You can swing electrical punches to growing stronger muscles by injuring your opponents."
"Like what you did to that assassin archer?"
"Yeah, basically it's for combat. This is where the willpower and focus comes in. Focus all of your willpower to the hands."
Cornelius stood there looking at his hand and breathed in and out heavily but steadily. He thought about fire and focused real hard. He felt a burning envelope his hand and it glowed a slight red.
"Do you feel a burning inside your hand?"
"Yeah. It's not painful though."
"Excellent. That means you have control of it. Once you lose that control, you will begin to feel an excruciating and burning pain as long as the magika is still channeled." He handed him a leaf. "Hold this."
Cornelius took the leaf and it instantly turned into flames then ash and blew away.
"Job well done. I hope the Telvanni can teach you things I either forgot or couldn't."
"I've decided to leave tomorrow in the morning after training was done. You want to get a drink?"
"Sure."