87 Empyrean, Book Hunter

{Sigil of the Nightingale won just as I began writing this. The ladies will get another token from him later that has the same meaning as Lover's Bond. That probably gave it away...}

A portal opened in the topside of a certain mushroom and a man who Michelangelo would have loved to sculpt walked halfway out of it. With his right hand, he defended his face before a blast of lightning hit his palm and made his hand grow a bit translucent to reveal the supercharged veins underneath. Yuri showed his face with an eyebrow that said "Do it again, bitch".

"Don't look at me like that, you don't live here! Also, are you even human? Why are your veins bright blue?" Neloth was still aiming one of his prized staves while his apprentice crouched behind him.

"Good to see you again too."

"I- I thought he was dead!"

"This is why you'll never be a master, Talvas! Even a fool could see that vanishing act was all smoke and mirrors! Before assuming he turned to dust you should have asked yourself what could have killed him like that under your nose!"

"The Black Book?!"

"Oh it would love to, I'm sure."

"Hey guys, allow me to introduce my two lovers, Tonilia and Alera."

'When did they walk in here?' They thought to themselves, while Talvas scanned them with no small amount of jealousy. Neloth, however, recognized them.

"Aha! I knew those two might have something to do with you!"

"Nice meeting you again, geezer!" Toni waved and smiled brightly.

"Yes yes, I assume your historical dig went well?" Neloth looked back to Yuri before they could answer. "Why have you brought your lady friends to my Tower anyway?"

"I thought you would be a good host while they read the Black Books. Also, don't bother calling this...fungus... a Tower."

Neloth said nothing, for his case could be won against any other mage save for this one who he heard stole every All-Maker Stone somehow.

"Wait, they can read the Black Books like yo-" Neloth turned around to look and found the blonde human girl tangled in tentacles at his dining table while the rude girl waited across from her and flipped through a different book. "I guess not."

"They'll be fine. If you want to be reimbursed for letting them stay here, then I can do that later."

"No need, your Ancient Mer textbook is giving me more than I realized and I haven't even gotten through a tenth."

"Heh, you aren't so stingy after all, Nelly," Yuri merely nodded before vanishing again.

"Nelly?!"

To the East, an endless sea tossed in ashen winds less than a mile away. Yuri flew to and stuck to the shore in search of his first target. Nchardak.

Well, he did for a few seconds before spotting the hole where the Sun Stone was already filled back in. A construction project was underway by Earth mages as the work they performed was slowly etched with Daedric script.

"Quick buggers, almost have another way for Miraak to at least project down here again. Can't have that!"

The Bow of Auriel glistened in Yuri's left hand as an arrow of incredible and obvious power was strung beside his pale cheek. A moment of clarity was brought upon him at the apex of his draw, so deep that he didn't notice as the Cultists below started to panic and try to either flee or launch spells at him from more than a mile out.

'Light magic... can't fuse with any other element, can it? I was trying to fuse such a complex and multifaceted element instead of just giving it another trait myself.' Yuri grew a soft smile on his face, and believed he was onto something.

What happens when Order is pursued with a blind and furious passion? What happens when belief subsumes the will to purify the people's ailments and the contagious desire to save the land? What happens when hope becomes reckless? When duty ascends into an emotional drive? What happens when Light is made to burn with pure abandon or even rage?

The arrow once straight and solid swelled with righteous fury and its surface began to ebb and flow. Tongues of golden passion swirled around the shaft and the bladed tip spread hotly as if it had grown wings. The fletching beside Yuri's fingertips began to burn yet his heart swelled with accomplishment.

[Arcane Li-]

'Shush, let me enjoy this moment'

The rhythm of his heartbeat seemed to dictate the passing of time, and his frantic targets who either fled for naught or charged even more foolishly were about to be the first to experience this incredible power.

The arrow fled from the bow at speeds even Yuri could barely register right now. The impact zone was right at the construction site. With a golden flash, glittery dust was scattered upon impact and a hurricane of pale golden fire erupted at incredible speeds. He could barely hear the fleeing Cultists scream before the fire overtook them and drowned them out. Some observed the impact blankly as the golden tide of flames they refused to believe in swept over them and concealed their fates. In a few seconds, the fire had spread hundreds of yards and coated the ground in a burning sea.

Neloth looked out his window first, and then motioned for everybody in the fungus tower to witness what he and the rest of Tel Mithryn settlement did. Yuri was floating above beautiful destruction within visible distance. For once in his life, Neloth truly accepted that he was utterly outclassed. The girls stayed merely for the view. Their man knew how to make a showing of anything, really.

When the 'Fire' died, Yuri discovered the first flaw of this magic. When emotion clogs the intent of the caster using magic in the Aurbis, the result is clouded by said emotion. Such is the reason why necromancy is particularly difficult without control or a draugr made with thoughts of revenge might turn on its master. Since passion and perhaps a bit of fury and recklessness were involved in his will, nothing in this area survived. Not a single bit. The burns at the edge glowed a bit yellow and orange to make it more scenic than charred black, but the result remained. The ground was now a lava pit.

Yuri called out, "Eye of Arathmoor" before sending them through portals at each of the most likely resurrected sites. At least three of them were underway. Yuri used them to spot his targets before tilting his bow and firing the same way in three separate directions. The eyes witnessed three successes which can be imagined from the last example before being dispelled, and Yuri moved on.

Amidst his flight, he read the notification.

[Arcane Light Spell Created - 3,000 RP]

[Please Name Spell]

'Arcane Light Spell, huh? Wait, a name? Huh... I think I'll name it... Empyrean'

[Recognized]

'...You're not gonna tell me what that was for?'

[No]

'Tch, don't play with me-'

But his next stop was underneath him. Looking straight out of a Jules Verne novel, Nchardak might've absolutely been capable of being submerged at a moment's notice to avoid a siege if the airtight architecture were any sign. A set of bronze inlaid stairs led right from the shore through a plethora of tilted podiums that held long-dead animuculi who followed their masters. Stubby towers of similar bronze work jutted from the ocean at varying slants, reflecting the sun with their saltwater polished domes. The bridge didn't lead perfectly across to the main facility, but it appeared that a wooden ladder rose from the water on the other side. This place was used.

{Picture Here}

Yuri heard a dragon roar and tilted his bow over his head to draw it. He released another Empyrean arrow and the dragon was vaporized off-screen as its soul flew to Tel Mithryn.

Yuri floated past the entire structure to the front door while bandits who thought they were sneaky were hoping this guy could open it. A pedestal with a multi-geared square mouth was beside a curved cage protecting the entrance door. Yuri let his right hand hover over the gear while sanskrit crawled over his arm and the pedestal roared to life with a series of odd clicks as it rotated and settled into its mountings. The curved cage split in half and receded into the wall to reveal the door.

The bandits drew their daggers and tried to sneak up on Yuri before their necks abruptly snapped in the middle of their strides and crumpled to the floor.

Beyond the door in the foyer, a room with aquamarine marble flooring and a door to the side was revealed. But Yuri was more interested in the center of the room. A glass partition with bronze and stylistic reinforcement rivets took center stage of the room before a button. Below the glass, a Black Book sat upon a bronze pew. Yuri could appreciate the teasing design of this place to put the book so close yet so far, now that he wasn't bound to player mechanics. The glass was reinforced magically and warded, but would the floor that held it be just as sturdy?

Armament skin coated Yuri's forearms as Yuri held his hands out and above him like he was trying to intimidate a bear. In one movement, Yuri went into a horse stance to gain momentum while he threw his hands into the marble beside the glass. Yuri lifted with his legs and the partition started to creak and wedge out of the floor while the marble cracked alongside the whole seam. Like a manhole cover, he eventually had the six-inch thick plate at eye level and tossed it away with a final push. It landed on its back with a high-pitched thud and the glass remained without a single crack.

"Hello, gorgeous," Yuri smirked at the Black Book before raising his hand and letting the book hover before him. Yuri took it to a corner of the room before poppin' a squat and reading with leisure.

{Thanks to Classic_Balrog for the idea attached to this book. Epistolary Acumen means the skill or know-how with anything Epistolary, or having to do with letters. Your suggestion matches very well.}

"Epistolary Acumen, by The Transparent One."

This book was... long as shit. Yuri spent over an hour reading the book back and forth as it engrossed him with details about the ties of Fate and how to subvert or twist them for your own benefit before even making them. But Yuri wasn't interested in being a magical conman for more than he needed to be. What truly did interest him was the ties themselves.

{So I noticed when rereading myself that I sometimes flipped Karma Strings and Fate Strings. Now I will only call them Strings of Fate.}

Forming a contract that resided in a Red String of Fate, adding conditions or traits to the strings between the contract holders, or even outright creating them. This is what the magic outlined in this Black Book had been unwittingly performing. As long as the contract holders agreed, Yuri could attach his loves to whatever facet of him he wanted them involved in or hide conditions in the decorations of a contract that will bind an enemy's String of Fate. This was the training regimen that could lead him to actually affecting the Strings without a contract.

"What a boon! I need to practice this to a suitable level so I can use it immediately!"

[Arcane Contract Magic Learned - 2,500 RP]

'What is my RP count?'

[44,300]

'I need to create entire schools for everything everywhere I go, this is the perfect RP farm'

───※ ·❆· ※───

*GASP!*

Alera's eyes snapped open and Toni got out of her chair to approach her and pet her back.

"Are you alright? Did you succeed?"

Ally flashed a reckless and tired smile as she nodded, opening the book once more to read it normally. To Ally, the Ehlnofex in the book unscrambled itself and began to read in normal common. Ally frowned after getting all the way through.

"I can use the Intent of Observation to spot any creeps now at least. If only I had that before the giant eyeball approached me."

"Eyeball?"

"Herma Mora. He tried to get me to agree to some kind of terms to be his champion while dangling knowledge about shouts as a prize. It felt like a trap at the time, but I would've taken it anyway if I didn't have Yuri to teach me," Ally kissed the Sigil on the back of her hand, now morphed into the shape of a black and sparrow-like bird tattoo with its wings raised above its head. "Thank the Nightingale."

"I'm glad you're alright, but we didn't choose that name to worship it, girly." Toni flashed a sweet smile. Ally nodded slowly and happily.

"Because it would one day be our last names."

After a beat, Toni swiped the Black Book while saying "My turn!" and getting voluntarily hentai'd.

Neloth raised an eyebrow from his green tome and shook his head.

"You people are all from the same strain of crazy."

Ally felt her Sigil of the Nightingale glow purple on her wrist to tell that Tonilia was communicating to her, and giggled as she heard Toni's remarks about the disgusting place. Yuri stepped through a portal that distracted everyone while Ally told Toni of his arrival and she lamented that she just missed him.

"Yo! I got a new one. This might not be your style, Ally, but it would be important for you to know in the future to guard against it. Contracts. I can elaborate the details later with my own knowledge once you get a grasp on the material."

"Mmmm. Okaaaayyy."

"Hahaha, this isn't a punishment I promise," Yuri leaned down to her chair and planted a loving kiss on her supple lips, which Ally leaned into as she held onto his neck. Ally started to project the feeling and thoughts into the Nightingale public voice channel and Toni grew annoyed.

"Hey! Give me one too!"

Yuri laughed before complying even if she was too comatose to reciprocate.

'Press on Sleeping Beauty, The Hidden Twilight is your ballpark.'

'You bet!'

When Yuri turned around, Ally was already Hentai'd. He shook his head and flew off once more, this time to White Ridge Barrow.

{Every single book is going to have a unique ability that will play a varying role in the future. Up Next, The Sallow Regent and the Dishonored One}