13 Chapter Thirteen- Training's Over?
"342...343….344…" I said while I was barely standing. A puddle of sweat under me as I realized the difference between mage training and its warrior counterpart.
"That slash wasn't correct, start over. You're not leaving until you complete four hundred slashes perfectly" The demon said with a tone of finality. This is the fifth time he has made me start over, I've long lost count of how many times I've executed a downward slash.
"Damn you….." I said under my breath at the bear-shaped man that hasn't let me out of his sight.
I managed to swing my steel sword forty more times until I collapsed. I groaned in agony as I held my main sword arm, it began seizing and cramping in three different muscle groups. 'What the hell, I've been burned and stabbed. Why the hell does this hurt so much more!'
I let go of the arm and used the other to begin casting restoration magic.
"Good job kid. Lasted twice as long as I expected you two." Bors said in minor praise that I managed to mindlessly swing a sword for four hours straight.
"You're a demon that escaped Oblivion. Sent to torture young warriors to save your people" I said heatedly, sighing in relief as my muscles finally stopped retaliating against me.
"What'd you expect me to do when you were swinging a sword around with less skill than a child I saw playing with a wooden one? It was blasphemous..." Bors replied with a look of horror, noting the first few minutes of this tortur….'training'.
"Go to Oblivion.... I'm going to train with Alenor, least he appreciates my talent!" I said with a bit of childishness as I got up and began leaving the training ground,
"Oh, it's mid-day already? Fine lad. Be here tomorrow at the same time!" Bors yelled after me as I sent a gesture that caused a look of confusion to the knight. 'Ha! get fucked. Damn slave driver'
I thought that but I could begrudgingly admit that this training was effective. I managed to gain two stat points in all my physical stats, sadly my swordsmanship is still stuck on the 'novice' level. 'Not bad for four hours of pure torture…. Thank Akatosh that Alenor agreed to train me. Without it, I'd probably be stuck here all day.'
I checked on Tiberia and Ryker but they both seemed engrossed in a spar with a few guards, luckily they were using unsharpened blades. I prayed for them as I knew old Bors was going to keep them here till nightfall, poor bastards'
Still, I had a problem, I was without a doubt going to be late for my first 'official' training under Alenor. It was at least a half hour past twelve, it was good I knew a trick or two. 'You're never late if you bring donuts or coffee…. Sweet rolls will have to do it seems'
With that thought in mind, I headed into a bakery that was conveniently on the way to the magic shop.
A bag full of sweet rolls later and I had no fear of retribution from old Alenor, though I did run into something that caused me pause. 'Damn cat ladies.... Thankfully they weren't the furry version' I observed in awe as I noticed a Khajiit walking towards the marketplace district. She had a more beastly look than I expected but she had a light of intelligence in her eyes that no beast could, definitely more fantasy-like than the Elves and Nords I've seen.
Cultural shock forgotten, I walked into Alenor's shop. It seemed the late night didn't bother the old mage much as he was sitting at the table and reading his book as usual.
"So how was your first day under Bors? You look rough." Alenor asked while he looked over my ragged sweaty appearance.
"Absolute hell, had me swing a sword until my arm gave out" I said with a sigh as I took a sweet roll out of the bag and handed the rest to Alenor.
"Alas, that is the difference between the two disciplines. Mage training is more mentally strenuous while the path of a warrior is bodily torture. Thank you" Alenor said as he took out a sweet roll that I'm sure paired well with the pot of tea he was drinking before.
"So what are we doing today? Are we going back to the Gladiator room?" I asked curiously as I sat across from him.
"Hardly, you can fling around spells well enough. But you're lacking in theory, you need to understand why your spells work. Skipping this part would just make you another bull-headed adventure. We'll start with anatomy" Alenor said as waved his hand over the table, to my horror three stacks of books appeared.
"Read everything consisting of the 'Human' anatomy before you leave today." Alenor said with a smirk as he reopened his book and continued what he was doing before I came in.
I wanted to sigh but this guy was training me for free, so with a heavy heart I slid the stack that had fifteen books on it. 'At least he's not telling me to do the same thing for four hours. Plus I'm slightly interested in how many differences there are from humans in my old world.'
FOUR DAYS LATER...…
Eventually, I began to get used to this taxing training. I've managed to graduate from a downward slash and now I'm training its horizontal counterpart. It was grueling but fruitful, though it was not what I was expecting. I haven't crossed swords with anyone and I haven't cast a spell besides practicing my skeleton conjuration spell. None of my skills have leveled up but I can tell this training will be useful in building a solid foundation.
The theory classes were honestly harder than the warrior. Wrapping my head around the bizarre anatomy of both Elven and beast races was a struggle. Luckily the more human races were slightly easier to make sense of, it wasn't rocket science or even as close to the detail I remembered from Earth.
This is research training, as Alenor said. 'A mage that can't research will never be able to bring out the full potential of Magicka. It doesn't matter if you sling a spell if you don't learn anything from it.' But I honestly felt I learnt enough from the spell book themselves, though I wasn't a master so I wisely kept my mouth shut' With that in mind, we started on restoration theory.
It wasn't all just reading books though, I managed to find a new way to increase my mana. It turned out that learning or increasing my knowledge was another way to train my 'Intelligence' stat. So along with reading fifteen books and training in conjuration magic, I managed to gain an extra two points in Intelligence.
'Status'
Name: Cilus
Title:
Level:7
Mana :350/270(350*)
Strength:8
Dexterity:11
Endurance:15
Intelligence:27
Stat points:35
Perk points:2
Septims:550
Not bad for five days of nothing but training, though I'd be lying if I said I wished I could grow faster. At this rate, it would take me years to become truly powerful enough to walk this hellscape without worry. Though the amount of stat points I'm accumulating is going to make a staggering difference one day, I decided to save them until it took me weeks to level up my Intelligence naturally.
I felt I had a good grasp on how the Intelligence stat worked, the physical ones on the other hand were slightly more complex. I started at a four in strength when I arrived in this world and now I am at eight, annoyingly I realized that not all points were the same. I didn't feel twice as strong after all, I was beginning to realize it was a percentage increase. One point would make me five percent stronger, that wasn't the case but it was an example. It required real testing if I wanted exact details. I was sure the other two physical stats worked the same way.
I didn't learn any new spells but that wasn't of my own volition. Alenor decided my 'ability' to learn spells instantly may be detrimental to my growth. We 'agreed' that I would master the spells I know now to see if I missed anything during the process. It honestly annoyed me greatly but I was only training under him for two more days before I'd leave this town behind, so I decided to take his advice. Though if the situation calls for it I'll easily break that agreement for an increase in survivability.
I would admit that I could see the problem with knowing too many spells at once, I haven't even used a few of my spells in real combat yet. So I could see the wisdom in using the skills I have now to learn more about magic instead of blindly learning the strongest spells I could in an endless loop until I reached the master rank. I'd have glaring holes in my understanding of magic, this life wasn't the game anymore.
Though I venomly disagreed with Aleron that Conjuration should be included in this. The fact is that it's a wildly simple concept, summoning a willing monster. However, it does get more dangerous when you summon the more intelligent Daedra due to them using loopholes in the 'contract' to trick young or foolish mages.
It actually might be one of the safer schools, thanks mainly to Martin Septim's sacrifice. Which separated this plane from Oblivion, making the chance of an Oblivion gate forming from a mage impossible.
"Enough daydreaming Cilus, you've done decently in the theoretical part of magic thus far." Alenor said as he flicked my forehead from across the room with aerokinesis.
"Yeah sorry, reading so much is causing my brain to fog up" I said with a smirk as I continued to dissect a cadaver Alenor retrieved from the morgue for a more 'hands-on' lesson in anatomy. I let my mind wander in an attempt to trick myself into not realizing how disgusting this is. As a doctor it wasn't surprising that one of the rooms under his shop was reminiscent of an operating room, thankfully the strong smell of disinfectants managed to mask the smell of rotten flesh, if only slightly.
"You've done well under me in this short amount of time..... I've decided to make an offer, take those gloves off and come here" Alenor said, surprising me.
"Ok?" I asked as I waited for him to continue.
"You are a terrifying child….. to put it simply. With your magical talent, I could see you becoming an Archmage in a decade or so." Alenor said ominously as he tapped his gloved hand against the table.
"With that detail in mind, I would like to give you two choices. One you go to the college after Whiterun, train with other apprentices under a plethora of talented masters. Learn in relative safety and even make a living fulfilling requests and dungeon diving." Alenor listed off to which I paid rapt attention.
"And the other?" I asked curiously, obliviously the college has always been my destination. The questline, along with the chance to get my hands on the staff of Magnus has always been a part of the plan.
"Become my real apprentice. I do not have nearly the amount of resources the college does, but what I have will be solely focused on you. Not to brag but it's not an insignificant amount. I've been a master of Restoration for thirty years and a master of Conjuration for fifteen." Alenor rattled off as his eyes never left mine, undoubtedly trying to gauge my reaction. Not that there was much to be seen, confusion, bafflement followed by a mild suspicion.
"Not to be disrespectful or ungrateful. But nothing is free, why me. What do I need to give you in return?" I asked seriously. 'A sole teacher. A master of two different schools, with a seemingly endless amount of secrets. This might be a bad idea or an amazing chance by fate'
"Would you believe that I would like my legacy to be left behind, I have no children after all" Alenor said seriously.
"Bullshit, next" I said as I brought my hand to my mouth in hopes of the sound not coming out. Intrusive thoughts seeping out. I expected him to lash out at my disrespect, instead he started chuckling.
"Least you're not gullible. There's somebody I want you to kill." Alenor said with a note of finality. 'What?'
"Who could I kill that you couldn't? This is going from weird to pure insanity" I said with exasperation, really starting to regret walking into this shop.
"It will make sense in time, mana doesn't stop aging as you will come to find out. Elven blood can only slow the process. Let's just say that the next time I fight seriously, will be my last. Think about what we've talked about, it is after all purely your choice. Leave for college or return here." Alenor said with a shrug as poured himself a cup of tea.
"I…. Will. Could you at least tell me who you want me to kill? Just in case it's some insanity, like emperor slaying and the like." I asked.
"Nothing of the sort, I said it like it was a person but it is more of a rabid beast. No reason to know of it until you're strong enough, wouldn't want to scare you away after all." Alenor said as he returned to his aloof self and began reading one of the seemingly endless books he had.
"But even if you don't return, it has been nice training you. At this point, you could probably reach Adept rank in most classes on your own, especially if you continue researching spells. Take tomorrow off kid, be well rested when you set off in two days." Alenor said with a smile that I couldn't help but reciprocate.
"I'll think it over, thanks for everything thus far. I'll probably stop by for another conjuration spell before I leave so I'll say goodbye then" I said as I did a slight bow before heading out of the store, my head filled with conflicting thoughts on the matter.
'The Dragonborn is supposed to be the one to discover the 'Eye of Magnus' thus beginning the questline. Surely a random student wouldn't be able to find it.... You do need the amulet to know exactly where to cast a spell to bust open a wall. And I can't see the Arch Mage giving it to anybody besides maybe Tulfdor, surely not a student. And a master mage would never get caught in the trap that would lead to the discovery of the eye' I debated knowing that my reasoning was anything but solid, more conjecture than anything. I would have a lot to think about tomorrow.
