This is...fascinating. Unlike what I did with the sparks spell, I decided to actually read the magical tome of Clairvoyance.

The book was written in an old version of the common tongue, but that does fuck all to hinder me with Abeloth translating any parts I could have trouble understanding.

Oh, Abeloth? Yeah, that's what I decided to call the game since calling her the system would be quite awkward in the long run. And yes, she is female. How do I know that? I decided so; therefore, it shall be such. Don't you dare question my smooth brain.

But back to the tome. The first few pages described the history of the spell's creation. But that's not something I care about much for now. What I care about is hoarding all the power I can possibly get my little vilannous hands on. And new spells most certainly apply to that category.

Channelling the power of illusion through my arms and then my fingers, I started chuckling. As before, the object I sought appeared in my vision, and my chuckling turned into a full-out mad cackling. With the assistance of my newly gained spell, I was given full knowledge on the whereabouts of a certain spell.

What spell did it contain? Oh, you know, just transmutation. And, just as I remembered, it was in that bandit-infested cave nearby Whiterun. Just think about it: the power to change the structural integrity of anything I desired. The possibilities were truly endless.

I made a mental note to pick it up when I was in that area. With the help of that spell, I could gain a large amount of money. After all, wealth is also a kind of power, so it is also something I crave above all else.

Now, about that mage's corpse I picked up back in Helgen. What? You didn't think I would forget about it, did you? I may be morally challenged, but I am quite sure it does not carry over to my mental capabilities.

Calling for it from inventory, I merely watched as the motionless sack of human meat was dropped right in front of my feet. That's another thing I love about Abeloth's help. Unlimited storage. How does it work? I have no idea, and I try not to focus on it.

Calling upon my necromantic powers, I tried infusing the corpse before me with my essence of death. In the middle of being raised in the air, the blue tongs of magicka suddenly let go of the body and retreated back into my outstretched hands.

'Abeloth?'

It's not your fault. The problem is on my end; I am afraid I am not powerful enough yet to raise magic users. I'm sorry.

'Don't bother apologising; it would be foolish of me to fault you for something you have no control over. Couldn't I just animate him with a soul gem?'

In theory, you could, but I am quite sure he wouldn't retain his magical abilities. He would be just another shumbling corpse under your command, most likely weaker than the rest since you would infuse it with little to none of your magicka.

'I see. Be sure to alert me if your ability to raise magic users changes. Now, there was another thing I wanted to do.

Focusing on my mental link with Aria, I call for her. After a few seconds, she approaches me. "You called for me, my lord." Her tone was...blank, to say the least.

You see, I was curious if she perhaps owned something that would be useful to me. You know, like a place of residence or some secret stash of money and valuable items.

As her empty eyes stared at me unblinkingly, I realised that I had spaced out again. "Yes, I did. Tell me about yourself. What brought you to Helgen...and everything else."

I made sure to get myself a seat since I expected it to be a long tale; she is telling her life story after all.

Aria

I never expected to end up in a position like this. To be forced to tell everything about myself to a damed necromancer and a Stormcloak sympathiser to boot.

Nevertheless, I didn't even bother to struggle. I tried that already, multiple times. But, no matter how hard I pushed or tried to break this accursed spell he put upon me, in the end I always failed.

Even as words spilled from my mouth, I internally grawled at the humiliation. "I was born to a Nordic father and an imperial mother in the city of Windhelm." At that, he raised an eyebrow.

"Then, why do you hate Stormcloaks so much? It seems quite contradictory." I seethed silently. But, ultimately, there was nothing I could do to stay quiet.

"During the war, my father was an imperial soldier under Ulfric; from what I understood, they were great friends. After the war, their friendship fell apart. When the worship of Talos was outlawed, we didn't think much of it; my family was never very religious. After the Markarth incident, when my father heard that Ulfric planned to declare independence, he went to try to talk him out of it. He never returned. He looked thoughtful, scratching his chin.

"Shortly after, my mother and I were exiled for not supporting the rebellion. We wondered about for a while. Eventually, my mother died after we were attacked by a pack of wolves. Now alone, I went to Riften. There, I ran with the thieves guild for a while, although I never really fit in. After a while of that, I was thrown out after some arguments with the guild leader. I wanted to escape Skyrim at that point, and I wandered into that ambush. The rest, you know." I watched as he seemed to take it all in with an interested expression.

"That's an interesting story. But why didn't Ulfric recognise you back in Helgen?" He looked back at me with a raised eyebrow.

"It's been a long time since we have seen each other. Add to that the stress of battle and the possibility of losing the war, and I am sure that if I were in his shoes, I wouldn't recognise myself either."

And if I had my way, he wouldn't recognise anything anytime soon, because I would gouge his eyes out the first chance I got.

Hmm, that's an actual reason to resent the rebels. Not that I care; I was merely curious. Oh, and it would seem like she had nothing I could be interested in. "Go back to sleep; we will be leaving in a few hours for Riverwood and then for Bleak Falls Burrow."

As she left, I scratched my chin again. It's...disorientating. The NPCs actually have valid back stories, at least as far as I can tell. Well, Aria, I don't know about the others. I guess I will find out when we get to Riverwood.

Now, what is that notification that keeps bothering me?

You have cleared a dungeon.

You have gained new jobs.

Illusion 1

Speech 1

Status

Name: Erato

Title: The False Dragonborn

Level: 5

Health: 110

Magicka: 110

Stamina: 100

Class: Necromancer 2

Necromancer slot filled: 7/10

Jobs:

Conjuration: 7

Two-handed: 6

Destruction: 2

Illusion: 1

Speech: 1

Perk points: 2

Do I even feel like asking why I gained speech only now? No, I really don't. All I care about is that it enables me to gain further power.

"Tell me, do you ever think of the life you had before all this?"

'Oh, and what brought that up?'

"Just...answer me."

'No, not really. After all, I wasn't doing anything much different from what I am doing now.'

'What were you doing?'

I raised a confused eyebrow. 'I was operating under the assumption you had full access to my memories.'

"Not really; I know all you know about this world, and I do have access to your memories... starting from when I reincarnated you."

'Well, if you are that interested, I guess there won't be any problem telling you. You see, I was the CO of a major megacorporation. My daily life consisted of slurping as much power as I could.'

I see, so it really didn't change all that much for you."

I chuckled. ' Well, if you ask me, it's better now. Unlike before, I can take a way more hands-on approach.'

"I am glad I didn't cause you any discomfort."

' Forget discomfort; I am having so much fun. After all, I love what I do for life now. Persuing absolute power.'

When I, Aria, and the armoured portion of my undead forces entered Riverwood, we were waved at by a few guards. That was not what I expected, but I put it on hold for now as there was another thing needing my attention.

Riverwood was...big, like extremely big. Honestly, I think it might have been twice or three times the size of its game counterpart.

And there were much more people, too. Now, why was I here? Simple. I decided not to waste any time by first going to Whiterun and backtracking.

No, I am going to go straight for that stone tablet and then go to Whiterun. Did the fact that I didn't want to even glance at that bitch delphine impact my decision? Yes, yes, it very much did.

Another thing to add to the to-do list, Complete the work the knife-eared cunts started and eliminate what remained of the blades. Witch means the aforementioned bitch and her grey-haired companion don't have that much more to live. That's what you get for wanting me to kill the best boy Paarthurnax.

Now, the last thing to do before I went up to do the burrow was check on the riverwood trader. I am not going to lie; some more tomes would be quite handy right about now, mostly of the necromantic kind.

I wasn't holding out any hope to find any of these here, though. After all, what insane idiot would just sell banned tomes in the open? Well, at least I am guessing they are banned by Aria's earlier reaction.

After a few minutes of walking through the small town, we finally arrived at the store I was looking for. With a mere flick of my fingers, two members of my undead escort stood on either side of the doors.

With that, I entered the building with the rest of my forces. The moment I opened the door, the irritated voice of a woman exclaimed. "Well, someone has to do something about it."

Ah, right, the argument between Camila and Lucan. Unfortunately for them, I wasn't in the mood to hear their petty squabbles.

Lucan's argument died in his throat when he heard me bang the shaft of my scythe on the floor. His eyes widened when he turned in my direction, only to see me and my armed escort. "A-ah, customers." He fumbled for words. "What can the riverwood trader supply you with?" He finished his question by putting his hands on the counter between us.

I looked over the items laid out all around the shop with a critical eye. When I failed to spot any magical tomes, I returned my sight to the shopkeeper. "I seek magical grimuars; do you possess any?" I tried the imperial.

He seemed to be surprised by the question. After a second of consideration, he reached the counter and retrieved three leather-bound books. "Only a few rudementary ones. It's been a while since someone asked for them. Not many people have the aptitude to even use magic. The cloud of dust extracted from the books upon their being placed down was a testament to his words.

"This is all I have; if you require more, I would recommend heading to either the Collage of Winter Hold or the Grand Library in Windhelm. I paused my browsing of the laid-out merchandise at the last part.

"The Grand Library in Windhelm?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. Lucan only nodded as if there was nothing wrong with that sentence. " Yeah, the one run by the elves." What? That will require further investigation. But not now.

I slid two of the books I was presented with back to him. "I already know these spells; how much for this one? I asked, indicating the tome of destruction laying in front of me.

He scratched his chin. "Well, it's been gathering dust here for over a year now, and I doubt I will be able to get rid of it any time soon. So, I will give you a discount if you buy anything else." I sighed. Of course, what was I expecting?

I grabbed a simple silver ring with an amethyst jewel imbedded into it. I might as well get something I could practice my enchanting on.

"How much for those two together?" Lucan looked up, most likely doing some small calculations in his head. " That will be 200 septims." Huh, not much. I was expecting much more. Then again, I did just rob a group of bandits and a few imperial corpses.

I reached a hand within my robe, accessing my inventory there. I left two golden coins on the counter. I went to pick up my purchases, but he raised his hand to stop me.

He took the two coins and clenched his fist. I was surprised when an emerald light escaped his grip. He nodded with a smile and pocketed his payment.

Not wanting to look like an idiot, I also took my items and turned around to leave. "Do come back if you need anything!" I ignored him.

When we left the town, I turned to Aria. "What was that?" She merely looked back at me with that blank look in her eyes. "What was what, my lord?"

"That spell Lucan used...? I went on with my interrogation.

"A coin inspection spell. It checks if the coins contain the appropriate amount of said material." My Dragonborn companion answered in a deadpan voice. I somehow got the feeling that deep inside she was taking me for a fool.

After a second, I face-palmed. Right, in a real fantasy world, magic wouldn't be used just for fighting. I will have to get my hands on a few of those Mundane spells in the future.

I wondered why he had only sparks, clairvoyance, and frostbite. And what was that library in Windhelm he was talking about?

Weirdly, I'll have to look out for any other possible changes to this world in the future. But now I have to go to the burrow and take that damn tablet. While there, I should also get that dragon shout.

Well, let's go. It was somewhere here that I ordered the remaining part of my force to meet up with us.

I wanted to have this out of my way so I could claim the thaneship in Whiterun as fast as possible. Unlimited power waits for no one after all.