AN: *Phew* Mass uploads are a lot of fun right? Well here is my first real comment so far.
Big shout out to my Beta's for this fic, mainly Plum with a side of Phoenix.
If your still here with me on this wild ride, thanks for sticking around, there is hopefully more to come.
Enjoy
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disc**d.(gg) / c9ZWnxqsKd (I had to take the link apart to make fanfiction not ban it.)
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"Somebody speaking."
'Somebody thinking.'
Disclaimer: I do not own anything aside from my own words! From any other anime / novel / manga / fanfic that I may use.
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Chapter 12: Skyrim Part 1
"On your knees prisoner!"
As I watched Yami get pushed down, and the dialogue that followed, I decided to mess with the captain and try to cast a charm at a nearby guard, only to blink in surprise as nothing happened.
'Wait, what?'
I looked down at my hand in surprise and tried to summon my Nen.
Again, nothing.
My brow started twitching.
'Zelretch, I swear to god man…'
Sighing in annoyance, I tried to use astral projection, and thankfully, it worked.
My spirit exited my body and the world slowed to a crawl, almost like someone hit the pause button.
Unfortunately, that also meant the world became blurry and hard to see, but Iroh told me it was something I could clear up with time and experience.
Anyway, I left my body for a reason and pulled out my iPhone since it was part of my soul.
As I opened it up, I noticed I had four flashing icons. World Info, World Power, Quests, and Status.
I looked at world info first.
[World Info:
World: Skyrim
Timeline: Canon
Time in world: 2.9 years]
'Ok, first two points are easy to see, but 2.9 years? Damn, that's the longest one yet.'
Pushing past that, I went on.
[World Power Info:
Skills:
Two handed weapons – LV 15
No Perks.
Pickpocket – LV 15
No Perks.
Restoration magic – LV 15
13 Perks.
Talents:
Blacksmith – LV 15
10 Perks.
Random Racial Perk:
Argonian – Able to breath underwater, +50% resistance to disease, +15% base unarmed damage.]
'….well then.'
To break that down, it seemed I got three out of the fifteen available skill tree's, along with one out of the three available crafting skill tree's.
One mage, warrior, and thief skill, aside from blacksmithing.
'Two handed weapons? *Sigh* Is knife skills forever out of my reach?'
I learned early on that my talent for using weapons outside of guns was shit.
It took a lot of basic work with Menchi to be able to use a knife well in the kitchen, but that's more finesse rather than combat ability.
'Well whatever, I don't mind what it is as long as I finally have a weapon talent.'
Two handed weapons didn't mean I needed to use two hands on a weapon, it just meant larger weapons like battleaxes, hammers, bastard swords, long swords, and the like.
I found that info in the user manual.
It seems the manual updates with whatever world I end up in.
I got a X2 talent multiplier for my skills, while getting a -X4 talent multiplier for other skills.
Blacksmithing got a X5 multiplier while Alchemy and Enchanting got a -X10 multiplier.
Not as bad as the Harry Potter world magic, but still enough to make me give up trying the other skill tree's in this world.
Pickpocket wouldn't be my first choice, but it does match well with my enhanced reflex skills.
'Plus the opportunity for chaos is beautiful.'
Restoration magic also wouldn't be my first choice, but then again, in a world full of very violent zombies and things that want to hurt you, healing and holy type magic is very welcome.
'Of course, it would have been SO fucking helpful in the last world, but fuck me right?'
Blacksmithing I was happy to see.
Among the three crafting skills, none was bad.
Alchemy would have been cool thanks to my HP world ingredients, but that would take a lot of effort and it isn't my style.
Enchanting is awesome, but I need quality gear to enchant.
Blacksmithing is the best for me. It matches me and I'm happy to be able to make my own gear, no one else could handle dragon bone in the map, so if I want it, I gotta do it myself.
As for the racial perk, that was a surprise.
'A bubblehead charm is simple, but it never hurts to just not need to breath. The disease resistance is kind of pointless considering my Nundu form, but the unarmed damage boost is nice; it should help in my Animagus forms.'
Shrugging and getting over it, I moved on to the next section, Quests.
[Quest: THE FULL SKYRIM EXPERIENCE:
Harry Potter magic – 8 locks, first lock - 1st year spells unlocked.
Reach Restoration LV 25 for 2nd lock, LV 35 for 3rd, etc.
Nen – 2 locks. First lock – basic four principles. Second lock – advanced principles.
Reach Two Handed Weapons LV 40 for first lock, LV 80 for second.
Warehouse Entrance – locked.
Defeat Alduin
Inventory – limited to 400 pounds of Skyrim world items. Anything pre-existing in inventory does not count toward weight limit. Nothing except Skyrim items can be removed from the inventory.
Reach Pickpocket LV 40 to double inventory limit to 800 pounds and have limited access to other world items. LV 80 to unlock full inventory, including all other world items.
Animagus forms – 2 locks.
Reach Player LV 10 for tiger form and LV 25 for Nundu form.
House elves – locked and forced into hibernation.
Defeat Miraak.]
…..
…
…
…
….
"…"
'*sigh* you know what…. I don't…. I really…. I just…*sigh*
Fuck you Zelretch…. Just fuck you.'
I looked over each quest.
For every ten levels of Restoration magic, I unlock another year of HP charms.
'Ok, not bad. I can do a lot with just first year spells.'
My Nen being locked is a real bitch, that's what made me superhuman.
'Thankfully my Hatsu can't be locked because it's my iPhone. But I'm going to have to put in the time to get it back.'
My warehouse being blocked is a bitch, but I'm sort of getting used to it by this point.
Zelretch is REALLY annoyed by the concept of me turtling up in my warehouse and I can't deny it.
In the avatar world, I spent more time in there than the actual world.
Not because I was hiding, but because I was just being lazy and it's more comfortable in my real home.
I really should be 'living' in the world I'm in some more anyway.
Inventory being limited is a real bitch.
'I've never had to bother with that before, but now I feel like I can already hear the future screams of annoyance I had felt when playing the game.'
Still, I could make it work, not having my wizarding tent will be a real bitch, but it's fine for now.
All of the above I can deal with, it's fine, it's not that big of a deal.
But…..
But….
HOW DARE HE RESTRICT THE FLUFF!
'I will trap him in a pit of hormonal male baboons pumped full of aphrodisiacs for this travesty!'
I raged for a few minutes before calming down.
'*sigh*, whatever… I just have to reach Level 10 to unlock my tiger form, and that's the one I really care about anyway.'
The Nundu form was 100% more badass and stronger, but I like being a tiger, it's very freeing and fluffy.
Then came my house elves.
'He really put them to sleep? Well, I guess that's better than them being locked inside, but still, it's gonna be annoying without them around for a while.'
I sighed over that.
Bron would have a riot in this world, so many giant corpses to butcher.
'So this is what he meant by quests huh? Well, on the bright side, I will be massively stronger and have real weapon skills by the end of this world. Plus the healing magic is a larger boon.
And man would I love to cut loose on those FUCKING zombies from the last world.'
I may not show it, but I have a very deep grudge for dying so many times to those zombies.
Dying is not fun, it's very, very, painful.
Moving on, I took a look at my Status.
[Status:
(AN: Only showing Skyrim info. For full status, I will post at the end of the chapter.)
Name: Jin Fluff-Born
Health: 60 – Stamina: 110 – Mana: 125
Level: 1
Bloodline: N/A
Skills:
Two Handed Weapons: LV 15
Perks – N/A
Pickpocket: LV 15
Perks – N/A
Restoration: LV 15
Perks – 0/13
Blacksmith: LV 15
Perks – 0/10]
'…Ok, wtf…'
I took a moment to read it a few times before feeling a twitch coming on.
'Fluff-Born. I can work with that. Born from the fluff and all that.'
It was the other stuff that bothered me.
'LV 1? 60 health? Wtf is that? And only so much mana and stamina?! What were my years of blood and sweat for?! And since when do I have quantified bars?'
I pulled up the manual with a vengeance and read through it.
'Hm.. ok… I see..'
It took me an hour to make sure I understood everything properly.
So this was the full Skyrim experience.
It's different from the game, and people are not NPC's but real flesh and blood, but I still get access to some game qualities.
First off my level.
I'm level 1, and the only way to gain XP is just like the game; I have to level up my skills.
I have four skills at LV 15, and they can reach LV 100 at the max.
If I max out all four skills, I can reach level 37 from all the XP.
Each level up gives me 10 points to distribute to Health OR Stamina OR Mana.
So 37 levels means 370 points.
'I think I'm just realizing how fucking broken this world is.'
The max level of this world for its inhabitants is level 40, and the only way to surpass the stats at that level is with a bloodline or special equipment.
But most people in this world don't spend all their time training, studying, or fighting, so very few ever reach level 40.
For example, a bandit chief would be anywhere between level 7 – 14, and a soldier would be anywhere from level 4 – 20.
Now, here is the reason why this world is broken.
The BASIC adult stats of this worlds inhabitants is 100 for all three stats.
What does that mean?
Well, I spent over two years now training like a madman with insane teachers and gained a full mastery in Charm magic + an experts grade Nen, and yet my mana and stamina are just barely over the limit.
And my health is lower than a normal adult.
In fact, I could probably thank my health for my Animagus forms enhancing me.
This just shows that a basic human in this world could be a low class superman back on earth.
Health = Lifeforce + Healing factor.
Stamina = Physical Energy + Constitution.
Mana = Pool of magical energy.
That's how the stats work.
The more health, the healthier and longer you can live while you heal faster from injuries.
The more stamina, the more energy you have to physically move and the more durable your body. The stronger the body, the stronger your other basic abilities like strength, speed, and so on. Each person is different in how they focus on enhancing their body.
The more mana, the more magic you can cast.
Unlike Harry Potter world magic, you cannot overpower a spell in Skyrim.
The spells they have are set in stone, but they are VASTLY more powerful and effective then Harry Potter world magic.
In most cases, you really don't need the 'power' aspect of magic, and Harry Potter charms work well.
But when you need the 'power', Harry Potter magic can't come close to Skyrim's magic.
In fact, using my 'bullets' would cost anywhere around 2 – 5 of my mana pool.
But without a perk or equipment, a novice restoration spell, healing, cost 12 mana per second to heal 10 points of health.
Or in real life, that means it takes a fucking second to close up an open wound.
The more serious the wound, the longer it would take, and the more mana it would take.
Which is why in emergencies, its best to use the more powerful healing spells you can use.
But with each grade I reach in Restoration magic, novice, apprentice, adept, expert, and master, I can get the perk to reduce the cost of any spell in the specific grade by 50%.
'Oh, what a coincidence.'
Remember that ward talent I got back in Harry Potter?
Well, that cross's over here.
In all honest, it didn't have much of a use to me, and I was kinda bummed by the lack of warding spells, but I'm benefiting now.
According to what I read; my ward talent will reduce any ward spell by 50% of the cost.
Do you know what that means?
That means the most useless awesome spell in Skyrim is now a real solution to me!
Wards were never used because they drained mana like crazy, but with my talent, I can actually use them well.
Unlike the Protego charm from Harry Potter, even a lesser ward, a novice spell, is more powerful and blocks magic and physical objects.
So I got super lucky there and I plan to abuse that.
Anyway, back to the main point, these guys are scary healthy!
It's no wonder they can survive on this fucking terrifying land.
Having 60 health does NOT mean that if I take a sword blow, I will lost 14 points.
I don't have a gamers body; it just shows how much lifeforce I have left and how fast I will heal.
If I get cut, I can still die from bleeding out.
If my head is cut off, I can die.
If an organ gets damaged, I can die.
I don't have hit points.
As for recovery in this world.
It's 1% every second for health, stamina, and mana at 100 stat points.
So I actually heal half as fast as a normal adult right now.
'You know, if I could use my Nen, I'm sure these stats would look different.'
Nen was the power of lifeforce, so I figure it would act as a multiplier or booster.
Without Nen, I was basically an extremely fit and skilled human with higher than average stamina and mana.
The final point of that status was the perks.
According to what I read, Two Handed Weapons and Pickpocket skills have no perks in real life, as most of them are things I can learn through training.
For Restoration magic, the perks are part of the magic itself.
Any self-respecting mage learns to reduce the cost of their spells after gaining proficiency. A few of them are more of a blessing of the world.
Crafting paths are under one of the Aedra, and following their path grants a person knowledge from the world if they gain enough skill in it.
Thanks to my multiplier, I was sure I could progress at a scary fast speed.
So that was my new status in this world.
While hovering in spirit state, I nodded to myself.
'I should stick with the dragonborn.'
I have a few reasons for this.
One, I don't believe the dragonborn is a pussy MC. He kills a lot of things.
Two, he will attract all the attention. I can operate under the radar from the seriously scary and petty gods in this world if he is around.
Three, I want dragon materials and only he can kill them.
Well, I could probably kill them, but they won't stay dead as long as they have their soul.
Four, he gets access to everything on this land eventually, and I can play with things if I'm with him.
'Now all I got to do is make sure I'm not the canon fodder that dies to encourage the MC to try harder.'
Before I could ponder on things more however, I shivered as I felt the spirit world around me darken and grow cold.
I looked around with actual fear for once as I noticed a shape in the distance gradually approaching.
'Oh no.'
With the fastest speed possible, I dove right back into my body and thanked Akatosh for not moving farther than a few feet from my body.
Ha, thank Akatosh, I'm already in Skyrim mode.
'Stupid move Jin, it's the beginning of canon, Alduin is coming.'
Alduin the world eater gains power from EATING souls in Sovngarde.
I had zero interest in finding out what that means he will do if he finds me in spirit state.
"ROOOAARR!"
"What in oblivion is that!" (General Tullius)
I came back right as Alduin popped over the mountain and the general shouted.
I had to whistle at the sight.
Alduin was BIG.
He was three or four times as big as my Nundu form, and my Nundu form is the size of a truck.
Sharp black looking scales, crazy cool wings, and a face that only his mother could love.
Alduin was intense.
And as soon as he dropped down on the tower, a pressure, much like how it feels to face a Nen user without any Nen to protect yourself, but leagues stronger, descended on me and forced me to a knee.
'*Urg* fucking hell.'
*BOOM!*
Like it was the apocalypse, Alduin only shouted toward the sky and massive storm clouds like a category 5 hurricane formed in the sky before a rain of small meteors fell with a vengeance on this town.
"Don't just stand there! Run!"
"Guards! Get the towns people to safety!"
"Men! Charge the beast!"
Different shouts were being thrown around all at once, and it was instant chaos.
Not the fun chaos I love, but the chaos that brings death to anyone unlucky or not paying attention.
I looked up to see Ulfric and his men running into a building and noticed that no one had tried to help up Yami from where he was still tied up.
Rolling my eyes, I ran over while grabbing the executioners two handed axe.
'Did this guy seriously faint? What a sorry excuse for a scary executioner.'
"Oi! Stay still man." (Jin)
"No shit, I'm tied up like a fucking pig for the slaughter." (Yami)
"Ha, at least you didn't faint like this pansy."
"He fainted? Fucking pussy, hurry up!"
"Give me a second."
Using a large blade to cut a small rope without cutting skin is not as easy as it sounds.
But the second I picked up the axe, I felt it was comfortable in my hands.
'Hm, is this the weapon skill?'
Ignoring that, I cut the bonds and heaved the larger man to his feet.
"Come on!"
He didn't argue and we dodged the rain of meteors as we dove into the stormcloak tower.
Someone saw us coming and hurried us in before slamming the door shut.
'That's already a point in favor to the stormcloaks, nord's take care of their own.'
We entered just as the lines were being said.
"Jarl Ulfric! What is that thing? Could the legends be true?"
"Legends don't burn down buildings." (Ulfric)
Yami snorted at that from where he was looking around.
The tower shook as we heard another dragon roar.
"We have to move! Up the tower, now!" (Ulfric)
Everyone ran up the stairs before I grabbed Yami's shoulder and held him back.
"Oi! What?" (Yami)
*Boom!*
The wall of the stairs in front of us burst open and Alduin stuck his head in, letting loose a stream of fire that burned two men to death before he left.
Yami blinked at that and nodded at me.
"Right, thanks."
I laughed at that and we jumped out of the hole in the wall into the adjacent burning.
The game was one thing, but real life was another.
And entire town, and one much larger than the game made it seem, was on fire.
Smoke, ash, fire, the smell of burning flesh, and the shouts and chaos of those still living fighting back were resounding around, making a mess of my enhanced senses.
The journey through the town to the Keep wasn't as simple as a short walk.
Yami proved his usefulness by actually pulling me out of harm's way a few times as I did the same to him.
Falling debris, falling meteors, falling weapons.
A lot of things were falling.
You know how archers shoot arrows at things? Well unless they get stuck in the target, those arrows tend to fall randomly.
Me and Yami both simultaneously kicked any archer we saw aiming a bow to far up.
""ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL US! GRAB A SWORD YOU FUCKER!""
I have to admit, it was nice to know the guy had more common sense then these guards.
It took around a half hour to reach the Keep, where Ralof and Hadvar were arguing.
They saw us running over and tried to get us to come with each one in a different entrance.
"You! Come on! Into the keep!" (Ralof)
"With me prisoners! Let's go!" (Hadvar)
At their insistence, me and Yami found a sync once more.
Two feet, both wrapped in foot wraps as neither had shoes, landed squarely in Ralof's face, and launched him through the open door that we both swiftly entered.
"Stop fighting like morons! It's raining fucking fire outside if you haven't realized." (Jin)
"*Sigh* coming to Skyrim was a mistake." (Yami)
Ralof got off the floor and shook his head. Our kicks didn't even give the guy a bloody nose, this world is broken.
"Right, fair points. Grab some gear and let's find a way out of this town. All Keeps have underground paths out of towns."
Yami and I nodded and looked around.
We found some imperial light armor but neither of us were interested in wearing imperial gear, so we just grabbed a pair of imperial light boots and bracers for each of us.
I found a helmet and held it up.
"Yo, want a helmet?"
Yami scoffed at that.
"I'll pass."
I shrugged and tossed it into my inventory.
'If I have a 400 pound inventory limit, let's treat this like a game run through. Everything can be sold for money!'
The manual made one thing very clear to me.
The empire had made it illegal to deal in gold that wasn't in currency form. I can't just trade in ingots, everything has to be in the empires currency, Septim's, as it had been for centuries through the entire land of Tamriel.
There is no other type of coin.
It's only gold Septim used everywhere. No silver or bronze or any smaller denominations.
That meant I need to get gold. And I could get it by selling stuff of value to traders and finding gold and gems around the land.
I went around the room grabbing random gold septims and the few minor health potions I found.
Yami looked over as I made a sword disappear into my inventory.
"What was that?"
I shrugged.
"I'm a mage."
He nodded at that.
"Sounds useful, anything else you can do."
I saw no reason to lie as I wanted him on my side, and Ralof was over by the gate and out of earshot.
"I can do a few things, but I'm mainly a Restoration mage with some storage magic, and I've got some skill with larger weapons."
I held up my hand for demonstration, and with only a small focus, my hand lit up with a soft golden light and light jingling of chimes sounded like a whisper.
The feeling came to me naturally, the basic novice spell for healing was basically ingrained in me without me realizing. Unfortunately, the spell for flames was not in me.
Yami's eyes lit up at my words.
"A healer huh, well you're the first I've seen to carry a battle axe, glad to have you around man."
I rolled my eyes at that.
"And what can you do?"
He held up a one handed sword and his other lit up in flames.
"I'm a swordsman and I have a talent for Destruction magic."
I nodded at that.
"Let's stick together for now, watch each other's backs. I don't trust imperials or stormcloaks, their too busy with their damn war to care for others."
Yami agreed.
"Tell me about it, we both almost lost our heads to their shit."
"Oi you two! Come on, we have to get out of here." (Ralof)
We nodded at each other and grasped forearms before heading over.
"Oh, and if we find that captain bitch, her head is mine." (Jin)
Yami's eyes grew dark at that.
"I think my blade has an appointment with her gut."
"We have an accord then."
"Yeah."
We entered the tunnel and walked on.
This place was bigger in real life than in a game.
We followed the hallway and came up to another gate, with led into a circular room, and we could hear voices on the other end.
A certain particular voice that had mine and Yami's eyes brighten.
We matched gazes and nodded without words needed.
Ralof didn't see the gesture but he stuck low with us and pulled the chain to open the gate.
The second the gate opened, we charged through to be met with the surprised faces of three imperial soldiers.
And the one in the middle was the bitch captain.
Yami got to her first and shoved his sword hilt deep into her gut.
"No one makes me kneel bitch."
Her eyes were wide with pain before my axe came down and took off her head in a shower of blood.
"You were right, a head was going to roll today, only it wasn't mine."
Yami waved his hand at that.
"Too wordy, I give you six points."
I hummed at that.
"Fair point, yours would be a solid 8."
He nodded while on the side, Ralof shouted at us while being attacked by the other two.
"Oi! If you two are done! Arg! How! About! Some! Help! Over! Here!"
We both turned away from the headless corpse to see Ralof getting attacked by the two soldiers.
"Right."
"Kinda forgot about him."
"We kinda zeroed in on the bitch."
"True but it's not good to talk badly about the dead."
"But we killed her?"
"*Shrug* it's the principle of the thing."
"Oi!" (Ralof)
""Ah.""
Yami showed his skill with the sword by cleanly stabbing one man through a gap in his armor, and I brought my axe down on the others head.
Ralof was sweating and giving us a strong stink eye.
"I almost died."
Yami shrugged while I inspected my nails, I might have chipped one after all.
Ralof just shook his head and let it go when the building shook.
"Come on, we have to get out of Helgen."
We nodded and followed him down some stairs until the ceiling fell down and blocked off the pathway.
We took a detour into a new room, and it had a few imperial soldiers just fucking standing there eating.
A dragon attacked, hundreds died, and these dudes are just sitting here eating like they give no fucks.
Yami and I had a simple understanding.
We were with Ralof, and neither wanted an imperial soldier to live and be able to say we were with the stormcloaks.
Plus we were technically prisoners about to be executed, so as long as no imperial see's us, we are free to go in the world.
Yami's swift sword moves, and my brutal strikes ended any opposition before Ralof could join in.
I rose an eyebrow at his movements.
"You look like your used to katana's."
His eyes lit up at that.
"You know about katana's man? They are rare in Skyrim, but I trained with them for years in Hammerfell. Had one myself before I got captured, fucking bastards."
I winced at that.
"Yeah, I think I know of a few I could help you get your hands on with some decent enchantments."
"Jin, I think you and I are going to be great friends."
"As long as you can hold your liquor, like chaos, and are partly insane, then we should be good."
"*Pft*, yeah, we're good."
"If you two are done bonding, grab what you need and let's go."
Ralof rushed us and moved toward the gate.
I grabbed some food, a few health potions, a mana potion, some random septims, some bedrolls, a tent set, a few pots and pans, and a few alchemy ingredients.
Since I can't use my wizarding tent, I got to grab what I can for now.
And even if I can't use alchemy, I can still collect the ingredients to sell or to keep for Sil to see if he can use them for alcohol production.
Plus I might find interesting ways to cook with them.
Finally, I swapped out my weapons.
I stored the battleaxe I took from the executioner and grabbed an iron greatsword and an iron warhammer from the fallen soldiers.
Ralof had his sword and shield, and Yami preferred a sword and destruction magic.
Me and Yami both took off the chainmail from the fallen soldiers and wore it without the uniform over it.
Until now, we were both going shirtless because we didn't want to wear the armor.
And if you were wondering, I am not taking any imperial or stormcloak armor with me.
I figure if this is the real world, it will probably be a problem to sell armor from either army.
With the looting done, and Yami asking me to store a bag of cabbages for him for some reason, we moved on.
"Quiet, the next area is the torture room." (Ralof)
We crouched low and snuck toward the room.
'Huh, this is cool.'
I noticed that when we walked like this, it felt like I was in a half Zetsu state.
Like somehow the world allowed us to blend in slightly.
'I guess this is how people use sneak in real life.'
Of course, it's not really Zetsu, but it's similar in concept.
We snuck up to the room, and even I had to withhold a grimace at the sight.
There were stormcloak soldiers hanging from walls in chains, some in hanging cages too small for their size, and others cut open on various implements.
And they were all dead.
"YOU BASTARD!" (Ralof)
Ah, Ralof couldn't take the sight.
There were only two people in the room.
The torturer, and the dumb muscle who works under the torturer.
Yami and I tag teamed the big guy and brought him down swiftly, but we both stepped back to let Ralof vent his justified anger on the old thin torturer man who seemingly decided to brag about his exploits while getting killed.
Yami shook his head and went over to the booth to look for stuff while I moved to the cages.
Inside one was a guy I was looking for, the dead mage.
I tapped a finger to the lock with a simple unlocking charm, a first year spell, and it came undone.
'Nice, this can make me the greatest lockpick in the world haha. Well, aside from the skeleton key.'
Inside I found the dead by starvation man who the torturer just left in here to rot because he 'lost the key' to the cage.
While offering a silent prayer to the man, I took his clothes.
He wore a novice robes with an effect of [Regenerate mana 50% faster] putting me at 1.5% mana regenerated per second.
And a novice hood with an effect of [+30 points of mana].
Even with me being stuck with 1st year spells, I learnt something interesting from my charms mastery.
Wizards had around half a dozen versions of certain spells right?
So how hard could it be for a master at charms to make a rip off cleaning spell with lower effects and higher mana cost.
It wasn't very hard.
I tapped a finger to the clothes and watched as they were cleaned of blood, sweat, and grime with a smile before throwing them on.
'Ha, even with a higher cost, it only cost me 3 points of mana.'
In the Harry Potter world, that was a massive drain, in Skyrim, it's a mosquito bite.
Unfortunately, the robes weren't big enough for my size, so I had to tear the sleeves and open it up a bit to show my chest with thin chainmail on.
As for the magic tome for sparks, I tossed it to Yami, and he immediately started reading it as he handed me an iron shield and mace.
I chuckled at the sight.
The guy knew my plan to sell off the weapons and just grabbed anything he didn't need and threw it at me.
While walking, we had already agreed to split the profits 50/50.
I got the robes and hood; he got the book and the minor mana potions.
And before anyone asks, there are only two ways to level up restoration magic.
Healing and fighting undead.
I am not a masochist who enjoys injuring myself, so I tend to avoid getting injured.
In fact every time I consider taking a hit on purpose, I get PTSD flashbacks to the goblin trainer screaming DODGE! DODGE LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT! BECAUSE IT DOES!
And until I learn healing hands, the apprentice level spell, I can't heal others.
So yeah, not much to do with it right now.
After quite artistically leaving the torturing chained to the walls spread eagle with various bits of flesh missing for a slow death, the three of us kept moving down.
We passed through a row of jail cells, and I grabbed the coin pouch in one of them, every coin counts.
Through the paths and down some more stairs, we stopped as we heard voices ahead.
"Orders are to wait until general Tullius arrives."
"I'm not waiting to be killed by a dragon! We need to fall back."
I scouted over the bend in the path and found an open room with a stream passing through it.
Around eight imperials were looking around and arguing over what to do.
I took a few steps back and told the guys.
"There's eight of them, how should we do this?"
Yami rubbed his chin and spoke up.
"I'll lead the charge, draw first blood. Jin you follow on my left and cover my flank. Ralof you have the shield, cover us from arrows."
We both nodded and we all charged in.
Yami went high and sliced a man's head off from behind while I followed up and sweeped another's legs from him before bringing down my warhammer.
As the hammer hit my target, I frowned.
'The axe didn't feel right, and neither does a hammer.'
My body instinctively moved like I had been practicing with heavy weapons for years, but the type of weapon felt off.
"The prisoners are escaping!"
As soon as the first two died, an archer at the back saw us and shouted.
Ralof proved his worth and blocked the two archers while me and Yami focused on the other three soldiers.
A woman had an arm crushed before a stab through the skull took her down.
I blocked the next guys sword strike with my hammer while Yami grabbed the fallen sword of the woman he killed in replace of his own and stabbed it under the guys chin, and as that one fell, I brought my hammer in a downward swing to smash into the helmet of the last soldier with a sword, indenting the metal helm and crushing the skull underneath.
We flowed together like guys who fought dozens of battles before.
"Ah!"
A shout from the side showed Ralof took an arrow to the….arm.
Ha, the irony would have been funny if it were his knee, I could even recommend he joins as a city guard in one of the holds, but I don't think Yami or I are interested in carrying a grown man the rest of the way.
I noticed a trail of oil on the floor by the archers and elbowed Yami.
"The oil."
He took a look and understood before releasing a string of flames from his hand.
""AH!""
I twitched a little bit didn't look away.
Watching two grown adults burn to death wasn't pretty but it was something I would have to get used to in this world, where death is everywhere, and even coming back to life in many cases.
I helped Ralof tie up the wound with a cloth, and he assured me he would be fine with just that and a night of rest.
'These guys are really giving me a new appreciation for the health stat.'
While I did that, Yami grabbed the weapons from the fallen soldiers, and I stored them when Ralof wasn't looking.
So far I've gotten four iron daggers, six one handed swords, four war axes, one battle axe, two warhammers, two greatswords, three shields, two longbows, a bunch of arrows, and four maces.
All that already had me at 300 pounds and adding all the small miscellaneous stuff I grabbed along the way, I was looking at 325.
I tapped Yami on the shoulder and whispered.
"Almost at my limit, only necessary things from now on."
He nodded and we moved on.
Down the path, we dropped a drawbridge and came out into an underground cave, and as soon as we crossed the bridge, the ceiling fell and blocked the passage.
"Damn it, no going back that way." (Ralof)
"It's fine, let's move on." (Jin)
With no complaints, we followed the cave path, one that a stream flowed through, and yes I took the detour to grab the coin pouch and minor health potion.
Every coin counts.
We continued down the path and to my surprise, the underground cave route had a good deal of light so we could see around us.
There were a few lanterns or glowing moss every now and then and they collectively seemed to light up the space.
Still, I used a Lumos charm on my finger, ET go home moment, to act like something between a torch and flashlight and avoided slipping on hard to see rocks.
'It's so simple in the game, the character just walks anywhere without a care for what he steps on.'
In real life, you have to watch where your walking.
Anyway, we followed the path and came out to a cave filled with spider webs and I took my first step back.
I'm not saying I have acrophobia, but I will say I do NOT like spiders in any form.
And these fuckers were massive.
4 frostbite spiders met us, and I was happy to throw knifes from a distance to stab some eyes while the other two dealt with them.
Yami gave me a disdainful look.
"What? Afraid of a little spiders?"
I gave him the finger.
"Everyone has things they dislike; how would you feel if it was a dragon sized snake?"
This time he shivered.
"Fair enough, I hate snakes."
With an equal nod, we moved on as Ralof commented as well.
"I hate those damn things, to many eyes you know?"
I wordlessly nodded and threw the two a water pouch.
As for the spider venom, fuck no I'm not collecting that.
When I level up some more, I'll be able to use one of my charms to collect it from a distance.
We pushed on and came to a larger cave before Ralof stopped us.
"Wait. There's a bear ahead, I would rather not mess with her."
I rolled my eyes at that.
'You just faced a dragon, took down a dozen soldiers, and killed four massive spider, but you're afraid of a bear?'
Yami and I just ran at the bear while Ralof fell on his face at the back.
The bear stirred at the sound of our steps, but before it could even fully wake up, I brought a greatsword down on its neck while Yami shoved a blade through its mouth.
The bear fell over without even being able to fight.
*Ding*
[Two handed Level 15 16]
'Oh, that's nice.'
Ralof didn't say much after that, and I only removed the bear claws for now since none of us were interested in waiting behind to skin the beast.
Plus bear meat is annoying to deal with without the right seasonings.
Only a short few minutes of traveling down the path and we finally saw sunlight.
"I think that's the way out!" (Ralof)
We trekked out of the cave entrance and I had to take a second for my eyes to adjust to the light before I got my first real sight of Skyrim.
"*Phew* What a view." (Jin)
"Tell me about it, this is why I came here in the first place." (Yami)
I rose an eyebrow at that but before I could question him, Ralof signaled for us to get down.
"ROAR!"
And not a second later, Alduin flew over our heads and toward the distant mountains.
Behind us, all we saw was a massive cloud of ash and smoke from Helgen.
"Damn is this normal in Skyrim?"
"Don't ask me."
We turned to Ralof and he quickly shook his head.
"Not at all! That's the first dragon that anyone's seen, hell, most probably wouldn't even believe me if I talked about it."
Then he took a look around before addressing us.
"What do you guys want to do? I think we should head to Riverwood, the next town over. I have old friends there that can resupply us and give us a bed to rest for at least the night."
I shrugged.
"I'm cool with it; I don't mind camping out, but a bed is always nice."
Yami nodded in agreement to that.
"Count me in."
Ralof smiled and started walking.
"Follow me then, we should reach it before sundown."
From there, we followed Ralof through the woods on the road and me and Yami chatted and got to know one another better.
Ralof seemed to be too focused on his inner thoughts to pay attention.
No offense to the guy, but while I think he's the good sort, he's very simple minded and still quite spooked from the dragon.
And that's a more normal attitude, but I wasn't normal, and Yami apparently had his own fair share of insanity.
I learned he was from Hammerfell, born to a Nord and Redguard, and had traveled much of the desert lands along with pieces of other lands.
He was just a simple traveler and had no real purpose in life while he came to Skyrim to explore and learn about his heritage from his father's side some more.
As for myself, my story was that I was an orphan born to a Nord and Imperial and that I had begun traveling on my own as soon as I could.
The two of us bonded a bit, and it wasn't just because I wanted to get close to him to finish my quests, but he was a funny guy.
Hisoka was a battle maniac with a more extreme insanity quality, but he had more of a feminine personality in how he talked and moved.
Yami was a solid dude, and his insanity was more of in anger, as on the walk, I saw a wolf try and bite the guy, and he just fucking towered over the poor dog in rage before it ran away like it's life depended on it. Because it did.
He's also a bit of a combat junkie, but until now he never faced a real challenge that made him want to grow stronger.
Meeting Alduin seemed to have stirred something in him, so I pitched an offer while we walked.
"Hey man."
"Hm?"
"Since we both want to improve ourselves, and we both want to explore, why don't we partner up long term?
We can take jobs, raid tombs, and all around watch each other's backs."
Yami hummed at that.
During our little escape, I think the two of us got a feel for the other.
It helps to bond with a fellow comrade in times of danger.
After a minute, he shrugged.
"Why not? I don't think you will slow me down, and your damn useful with that storage and healing magic. In fact, I think I would need you more than you would need me, what's in it for you?"
I returned his shrug.
"You can't be on guard 24/7 and it's more fun to have a traveling companion who can wipe his own ass you know?"
He chuckled at that and held out an arm.
"Well then to a happy partnership sidekick."
My eyebrow twitched at that and I met his forearm with my own.
"Ok tough guy, obviously you're the sidekick here."
"Ha, you think your tough short stack?"
"Oi." (Ralof)
"I'm not short you shit, I'm still growing."
"Well until you grow, your still shorter than me."
"Oi!" (Ralof)
"Dude, you like 6'3, I'm 5'11."
"Your also a bit on the smaller size, we need to get some muscle on you."
"I'll pass on your standard of 'big' buddy, can you even tough your toes with all that muscle on you?"
"I can kick your ass."
"Bring it bitch boy."
"OI!" (Ralof)
""What!""
We both turned a menacing glare on Ralof who took a step back with his hands up in surrender.
"Relax, I was trying to get your attention because of these."
He pointed to the side and we turned to see a trio of pillars.
"Ah, standing stones."
Ralof looked at me in surprise.
"You know of them?"
I nodded and scratched my chin.
"I read of them, apparently they offer blessings to those who pray to them as long as they stand on Tamriel."
Ralof nodded and Yami looked intrigued.
"What do they do?"
I pointed at them from left to right.
"Let's see, there are around forty of these things in Skyrim give or take. That one has the symbol for the arcane, it should boost learning speed of arcane arts.
The next one is the symbol of a thief; it should boost learning of thieving skills.
And the third has a warriors symbol, it should help with learning warrior skillsets."
Yami's eyes lit up at that while Ralof nodded that I was correct.
Yami went over to the mage one and at my look, he just said he wanted to learn more destruction magic.
As for me, I used…. the thief stone.
Why?
Because I have confidence in learning Restoration magic and Two handed weapons, but pickpocket would take me forever to accomplish if I don't have a boost to it.
My inventory is on the line with that one!
I got some weird looks from Yami at that one since he saw my warrior and mage skills so far, but I just whispered a simple line to him, and he patted me on the back while considering changing jobs himself.
After all, getting better at pickpocketing means having more dexterous hands, and there are *cough* many useful tricks to use to both pick up and please a woman.
In the end, his better head prevailed, and he stuck with the mage stone with a small grimace much to my amusement.
The stone really proved it's stuff, or maybe that's just Yami's talent for destruction magic, because he finished the sparks tome just as the town became visible in the distance.
It was funny watching a grown man play around with shooting low leveled electricity everywhere.
It did make me feel some regret about not having destruction magic myself.
'My bullets would be a 100X stronger with that level of elemental magic.'
I mean, my lightning bolt charm, a seventh year charm, is only slightly more powerful than a novice level destruction spell.
That was depressing, but it's a good thing I used charms in bullet form to increase their power and penetration.
Anyway, we came up to Riverwood, a large town that looked almost exactly like the game if not slightly bigger to match the number of residents.
While Ralof walked ahead, I quickly stopped Yami before he could kick one of the wandering chickens.
I whispered to him as I restrained him.
"Do not, touch, the chickens, in this town."
"What?! You look like I almost stepped on a dragon."
I eased up a little and nodded.
"Same result, different species."
He looked at me like I was insane.
"Trust me man, look around you."
Yami did so and he froze up as over a dozen pair of eyes turned bloodshot as they stared at where Yami's foot almost hit the chicken.
As soon as they realized nothing happened, their eyes went to normal, and they continued with their lives like nothing happened.
"Jin?"
"Yeah?"
"What the fuck?"
"I have no fucking idea. I heard a rumor about this town, and the only thing I can say is, never touch a chicken unless you want to be hunted like your Ulfric who just killed the high king."
"Right, moving on."
"Find some booze?"
"Fuck yes."
Chapter end.