A status check with Arrodes!

"Well done Arrodes" I finally said after thinking the pathway around in my head. It would fit him to a tee for now. And would lay the foundations for actually progressing.

"The issue successor, is the supplementary ingredients. We will need to research those that would be best to facilitate the transformation. The purpose of Rituals in my old world were to facilitate a resonance with the potion and allow the consumer to survive the transformation. Without accurate data it is hard pressed to call this completed."

The tone of the hat was of warning. Even I knew of what he was speaking of. While we may not have needed the beyonder ingredients to facilitate this, The process itself was unnatural. Thus could lead to complications. But we had time, at least for now. 

"Now successor with many different scans of individuals I have been able to put together a scaling system for yourself. This is done by referencing the many examples provided by the Dedra and the mortals of Nirn. Comparing and contrasting these scans. Compartmentalizing them with organization strategies to facilitate a decent system of measurement!"

"In other words you scanned many people." My dry tone made the hat raise a strap of it's cloth.

"Rude... correct but... rude." Its what you get you damned hat.

"For now I have been able to accurately represent you using the Saint Graph form of measurement, Would you like to see?" acting smug on a time. 

Without wasting time it projected a screen in this little reality space as I sat up.

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Azarius Noct Emiya 

Strength: F-

Endurance: F+

Agility: D-

Mana: C

Luck: B+

Pathways

Fool: Sequence 8 Clown (Low sequence)

Door: Sequence 7 Astrologer (Mid sequence)

Marauder: N/A

Magicka: Adept

Destruction: Novice

Alteration: Adept

Conjuration: novice

Illusion: novice

Restoration: Adept

Shadow: Novice

Mystic: Adept

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About 5 solid months of work. 5 Months of solid studying magic and training. I was pleasantly surprised by the luck though. I remembered Shirou had an E rating for his luck. 

My strength and endurance were more or less equal to most of the caster class. I did focus more on speed and technical movements so to see it represented in the check was nice.

Then came the Mana capacity. I was floored by the amount. So I questioned Arrodes on it, "Arrodes how do I have that kind of mana capacity? There's no way I have that much."

The ever loyal hat with sadistic degenerate tendencies was quick to explain. "The successor should also recognize they are supporting a Heroic Spirit at all times. Then the Additional Mana Circuits in the successor's body secondly. Thirdly the success of moving to the Astrologer sequence. Finally The successor just recently subsumed a shadow of himself. This all has increased the mana pool available to the successor." 

A happy smile graced my face in the thoughts of my accomplishments. It hadn't been too long since coming here and I was a sequence 7 in one of my pathways.

"What else were the benefits of the move in sequence?" I asked after thinking his words over.

"The successor shall have a boost towards divination related activities. This could include the Seer pathways methods. The synergy would allow for ease of use and smoother readings."

An eyebrow raised, While my original plan to try to predict Amentia, it was hard pressed due to Sheogorath... being Sheogorath. I was at least able to predict 1 MAYBE 2 shots out of 5. This was what allowed me to fight the shadow more smoothly because even when random I could still try to place certain spells at the right moment. With the boost it might have gone to instead of maybe to just 2.

"Nice anything else?" a bit expectant. It was a whole pathway after all.

"No, successor. The original pathway was what allowed the Door pathway into the realm of divination. besides the standard growth of your pool of magical energies there were no other benefits." 

Now I was pouting. Come on! I bested a shadow of myself! With basic cantrips mostly!

In the end I just sighed. "Well that's a downer. Was expecting something more for a Mid sequence."

"There's no need to feel down successor. In a weeks time you will have had enough time acclimatizing to the Clown sequence. Your accession to the Sequence 7 Magician will be just what you are looking for!"

I did crack a smile at the thought, "What are the abilities I will lose out on though?" As a slight grimace dawned upon my face. It sucked to remember they were incomplete. But it was a price well worth it to have all three.

"The magician pathway abilities lost in the transformation were; Water breathing and Drawing paper as weapons. The second is due to the loss in the Clown sequence to harden paper."

A sigh of relief left me. I could deal without those two. Replacing them with Magicka spells and Magecraft was enough. Water breathing was an alteration spell, which was one of my core studies. Reinforcement was literally one of the first forms of magecraft I was training in. Even if I wasn't the greatest at it. Only so many hours in a day to train everything after all.

"So we keep the damage transfer, Flame hopping, and flame control. Not to mention illusions those would be helpful." I murmured to myself. I also needed to train slight of hand. No telling when it could become useful after all. Damn I'm really stretched thin.

"Take your time, successor. With your new mother's protection we have since been shielded from many of the gazes of the other Princes. Your mother takes her role quite seriously after all."

That brought back my smile. I did love to hear her tell stories. As a being that had been around since before the creation of mundus she had quite the tales. Stories of the various Eras gone by. 

Taking a deep breath I enjoyed myself in those memories. It had only been a week but with the bond, it closed the distance quickly between us. Being with her was like, home. 

"Goodnight, Arrodes."

"And a farewell for now to you successor. Oh and you forgot something successor!"

I tensed up immediately, turning my head mechanically towards the floating hat on my left.

"You bastard..." I whispered. The thunder clouds were back. I could swear I saw a grin on the stupid hat. 

The next morning I awakened to the feel of my Magicka flowing in my body. The changes brought about really did help to expand the pool. If it was when I started my journey I was no where near able to provide enough for full scale combat for a servant. 

Now it was at least a skirmish that I could provide for. At least when we weren't in Oblivion. Inside Oblivion at least two! Which is saying something when it comes to servant fights.

But I had no time to waste. Even if I wanted to smite a certain hat. Since I had reached my goal for shadow magic for now it was time to truly focus on Magecraft.

Which meant copious amounts of studying structures with Structural Grasp was on the menu for the evening. The Afternoon i would liked to have focused on the Mystic school. This is what we classified both my Divination and Gate abilities after all.

But the mornings were due for physical education.

So after a hearty breakfast from the Dedra. Following our recipes they really shaped up their game and Sheogorath was more than happy with them. I was off to the practice fields in the rear portion of the castle. There I met with Naze and her new partner in crime, a golden saint named Renza.

They didn't like that I only had a Dark Seducer as a training partner. So the Golden saints sent her to join us. While not happy at first, She was growing to like the training.

The beginning was focused on my movements. This consisted of mostly dodging the two as they attacked my small frame. This was probably what helped me the most in my growth as two middle ranked Dedra attempting to attack me which really hurt was decent motivation to learn. 

Then we moved on to actual sparing. Which was more dodging practice. Only now I had to exploit the weaknesses given. This was to learn to judge my opponents. Naze was quite the tricky one and would give feints and strikes from unassuming directions. Renza on the other hand was very direct. But she was quick, so openings were few and far between.

This led to quite a bit of growth by taking in their instructions. They may be young compared to the Dedra. But they had very long lives compared to mortals. So their experience was very welcomed. 

With the Assassin style I had chosen originally, I was quick and agile. Then to include the gun into the mix allowed for more versatility. I was well on my way to be a harasser style combatant. 

Following the morning training sessions lead into magical studies. With my new enhancement to divinations I was able to further progress my mystic studies. The Mystic school of magic relied on the esoteric connection that Magicka gives. With a boost to clairvoyance I was able to "Peer" into the secrets easier. This allowed for my studies to progress.

Progress that led to me enhancing my gate spell. The range from which I could make small portals was able to increase. 

After that it was onto Magecraft, and the dull studies that entailed. Most of my attempts at reinforcement led to tiny explosions of the objects I did it to. 

Dinner was a fun affair as Sheogorath had decided to invite a couple of mages to his table tonight. We ended up speaking about various topics, when they could keep their focus for a brief time at least. They were mad after all.

And so my little routine was set for another week, waiting on word from my brother and Throgor.

Mom did help as well. Since at night she came by helping myself and Azazel to learn she also became a sort of history teacher as well. Learning about the various happenings throughout the Eras was fun in a way. Especially from someone who had front row seats.

Learned many little secrets of the Dedra as well. Such as that Mollag Bal has a city inside of his realm that was populated by Meridia's followers. He now controls almost all of it except a single church. A fact which he is still taunted to this day about. He is also still weakened from the events of the 2nd era as well. Fun fact he is not very well liked among all of the Dedra at all.

As far as studies go Azazel was finally able to do something other than shadow blink. He learned to control a single tentacle of shadow. This lead to him shaping it and harassing Sheogorath with it looking like a cat toy. 

It was a lively time in the palace. But on the third day of waiting I wanted to get around. So I took a stroll around Crucible. The Dementia side of New Sheoth. Talking with the various characters around was an... interesting affair.

Lets face it, half the people there were on the more murder hobo side of crazy. Did find an interesting fellow though. A Breton by the name of Charles Evermore. He was a Knight commander who served the House of Evermore in High Rock. That was until his wife was found with another man. Which apparently was quite a common thing over there. Charles though didn't really like that, but he left them alone. Cutting contact with them for a time to enact his revenge. 

Now while Charles was a decently stable man before, he wanted revenge now. So he took it upon himself to make a deal with the Mad God. He wanted them to suffer, So the Mad God, had fun... Using Charles' body

Lets just say the couple was found in pieces spread around the room, In the shape of a laughing face. Still shudder at the thought.

Charles now helps around Crucible in hopes to one day discover love again. While he usually end up murdering any who try to show love to him. Damn this place can be weird.

Onward! Did get a little action on the 4th day as an Obelisk spawned near New Sheoth. Was a fine morning when we saw it grow. Got to finally put some practice into using my new spells. Not to mention Amentia had a lovely effect against the forces of Order as a giant middle finger that attracted their attention. 

Alteration was my second strongest form of spell casting now. With my shift into a harassing style I focused my spells to complement this. Mana skin spells for defense such as Stone skin helped to stop damage and manipulation of stone spikes rising from the ground to keep them at a distance. Also skewering a priest of order was, Graphic, to say the least.

Sadly staying in this realm wasn't doing much for me to be what they call stable. Especially because I was hanging out with the murder hobo people here.

More to think on later, perhaps when I'm not in fights? The two escorts I had following me from my morning training were quick to throw in hearts of order to close the Obelisk. Then it was back to business as usual. Along with relaxing with the shadow cat. He really was a delight to hang around.

And as the sun roused itself up on the 7th day, It was the final day before I would advance once more. 

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Khajiit has wares, Do customer have stones?

What? Khajiit has no idea where that came from?

An:// kind of a filler chapter with the saint graph. With the separation of the party for Throgor to really get into the process of mantling the Mad God we see the outskirts of this process. At least till the final battle is upon us. Might do a POV shift to Shirou and his "Task" next. Let you see a bit of what's going on in his head.

Love you guys and i will keep trying to answer your questions in the comments.

If I do not answer it immediately it might be because spoilers... sorry not sorry?

In the Name of the Fool,

have a blessed day!