Chapter Twelve-The Gladiator Room Part 2

"How does this room work... From what I understand there is a limit built into conjuration magic that limits the number of summons a single mage can cast. Am I wrong?" I asked Aleron as I began sitting up after taking about three minutes to get my breathing back under control.

"Oh, those aren't my summons." Aleron answered as flipped another page of his book. 

"So..... whose are they?" I asked irritably as I knew he knew what I meant.

"Simply speaking, no one. Let me counter with another question, what is needed for a conjuration spell to function? Obviously, a bear for example couldn't summon a being from Oblivion." Alenor asked as he set his book aside and addressed me seriously.

"Intelligence, Mana and the knowledge of the specific spell?" I stated my knowledge as well as asked if I was missing something, after all only had novice knowledge on the subject.

'The skeleton archers' tome taught me that the spell functions as a search and locator. There are two basic processes, for one a subject being summoned has to consent if they have humanoid-level intelligence and enough will to refuse the summon. However, if they are like my skeletons for example they will just be chosen at random because they have no will of their own and or easily accept being ripped from their world. Truly a novice-level spell'

"Correct, but you forgot one thing. The summoner's soul is the marker to which a portal would be created. With that in mind along with what you already know, I want you to develop at least two theories as to how this room can utilize conjuration magic." Alenor said with a smile as he reopened his book and continued reading. A twitch from him interrupted my thoughts as the room once again began to glow.

'So much for an interesting conversation….' Two portals appeared next to me about half a second before one appeared from across the room. 

(Lvl 10) Flame Atronach

I guess most of them fight the same, as soon as the portal opened my ward was ready. A fireball blasted against my magical shield, luckily even with the two level difference than the one before, it still wasn't enough to break it. I used the ward as a substitute shield and charged forward. Intent on executing a shield bash in hopes of stunning the monster.

A few more attacks blasted forward but my ward held strong as I 'ward bashed' the fire demon. Staggering it back enough that four arrows managed to land. Unluckily none of those shots proved fatal as I had to roll away from another fireball, though not cleanly as my arm was caught in the area of effect.

'God dammit that shit burns' Quickly patting down my robes, I ordered my skeleton pair to take its attention away from me for a few seconds. 

An endless stream of arrows began heading towards the Daedra that had to abort its follow up attack and retreat. My hands lit in restoration energy as I could see the burned flesh on my hands begin shifting towards a more pink color. 'This shit is disgusting and why the hell does it itch so much!'

'Maybe I should've taken the easy way' I thought to myself as the exhaustion of constant fighting really began to settle in. Deciding to complain wouldn't help, I focused on trying to use my ward as much as possible, only going for a decisive blow. 'And just like that an unknown number of atronachs fell by either my hands or my skeleton's'

{Aggregated:+2 Endurance,+1 Strength, +2 Intelligence}

'That's nice….. Finally upped my strength stat'

[Restoration skill evolving...… Novice-Apprentice]

[Reward: one perk point]

"Thank you Akatosh" I said in absolute bliss as I took a seat against the room's wall. Looking down at myself I realized my 'Novice-Robes' were in absolute tatters, an entire sleeve burned away and riddled with varying burned holes. Surprisingly the enchantment remained but even a novice like me could tell that a few more tears and it'd be as useful as rags.

Training Quest

The Gladiator Room I

Objective: Become an Apprentice Restoration Mage.

Bonus Objective: Defeat twenty enemies of a higher level than you

(Claim?)Rewards:1 Perk Point, 5 Stat Points, Amulet Of Mara.

(Claim?)Bonus Reward: Ring Of Minor Mana

'With that, I finally hit three hundred mana. Doubled what I started within five days of being in this world, never could tell me I was lazy. Though admittedly without any of my gear, I only have two hundred and fifty' I realized as I pulled up my status screen for the first time since this hellish training started.

Name: Cilus

Title:

Level:7

Mana :320/250(320*)

Strength:6

Dexterity:8

Endurance:12

Intelligence:25

Stat points:35

Perk points:2

Septims:355

"Can't believe I only leveled up once after I brainlessly started warding off everything, basically 'camping mode'. I still got many kills but it seemed leveling up had a higher experience yield between levels than I originally expected. Still, my endurance has passed a regular 'humans' and I acquired two more perk points' I listed off to myself as I began to hear clapping from my right.

"Amazing, two schools of magic raised to apprentice in a single night. You have also mastered novice-level mana usage, being able to fight this long without once completely running your mana dry is a feat that may be greater. As you may have already guessed based on your performance, a mage without mana is simply a corpse. The ability to intelligently manage your mana is a skill that even adepts can fail at" Alenor praised me as for once he didn't have his book and was giving me his full attention. 'Hey, what can I say...… Thousands of hours of RPG gaming turned out to be useful'

"Thank you sir." I said honestly as I rose to my feet and began using restoration magic to try and alleviate my sore muscles.

"Do you have an answer to my earlier question? The theories on how this room could work?" Alenor asked me curiously. Hinting towards our earlier debate, how could a room summon beings from Oblivion?

"Well I have two that I believe could work but one is significantly more....." I said while thinking over what the best word would be.

"Worse, less likely?" Alenor added trying to help me find the word I was looking for.

"I guess a mix between barbaric and possibly arcane compared with how developed magic is. My first idea was you had an abundance of human slaves that were either brainwashed or under some kind of compulsion that forced them to use the specific spell. But kidnapping or teaching enough people to force into the creation of this room would not be worth the trouble'' I said as I explained my first theory.

"Very possible, there are records of ancient cults performing a similar practice, though that was before the Oblivion crisis when there was an infinitely weaker barrier between worlds. Most records usually come to the same result, a hole ripped in the world making a stable doorway between Nirm and a realm of Oblivion. You should be aware that that is the greatest Taboo of Conjuration magic" Alenor said as he both approved my theory's viability as well as warding me away from trying something so idiotic.

"And for the second I would say soul gems, but I could only see Black soul gems working as a marker for a portal given that only Mer, Man and beasts are the only races able to use magic to an adequate level. So maybe a string of Runes could facilitate the 'casting' and the 'intent' of the spell allowing 'no one' to summon a being from Oblivion." I said as completely nerded out trying to explain how 'no one' could use conjuration magic. 

(A/N: Black Soul gems are the only thing that can hold Souls from all 'playable races'. The three terms listed above cover all of these races.

(Human) Man-Nords-Redguards-Imperials-Bretons

(Elven) Mer-Altmer,Bosmer, Dunmer, Orismer

(Animalistic)Beast-Argonian-Khajiit

".... You are so close that I want to give you the right answer. But we'll save it for later, a little magic theory project for you to do in your spare time" Alenor said with a smile as he rose from his seat and began searching through his spatial storage I think.

"There we go, come here Cilus. A reward for your efforts" Alenor said as he pulled out a grayish blue set of robes along with a darker hood. 

"Thank you so much teacher!" I said in excitement as I removed my tattered Novice robes and made a beeline for the significantly better Apprentice robes. 

I grabbed them quickly and began putting them on over the shorts and t-shirt I already had on. 

'Now there's not a big difference between the two robes, a seventy five perfect boost to Mana recovery instead of fifty. While the hood gave an extra forty mana instead of the thirty point boost that the novice hood did' I accounted with excitement as I checked out my new look. 

'I should really head to the blacksmith to see if he can add some light pieces of armor to my robes. I definitely need a pair of gauntlets and some armored shoes. But a a pair of steel shoulder guards sewn on would be practical and badass. Maybe even a light set of chain mail sewn under it as well.' I debated as I adjusted the straps and the few belts till it fit me comfortably. 

"Your not going to throw those away are you? You know most robes are enchanted to be self repairable" Alenor as he pointed towards the pile of fabric I threw away.

"Huh? No, that's the first I've heard of it. How does it work?" I asked curiously, always ready to learn a new way to save money. I was still pretty poor after all.

"You just have to push mana into it, and here your gonna need these kid" Alenor said as threw two green bottles towards me. Which I caught with a confused look as I realized they were stamina potions.

"What are these for?" I asked curiously. 

"Don't you have training with Bors in about two hours or so. The suns already coming up" Alenor said to my slowly dawning horror. 

"Oh….. it's gonna be a long day" I realized….. should've taken that nap. With that in mind I drank one of the stamina potions, surprisingly it felt like I slept a full eight hours. 

"They're a lot by warriors and mages alike. You're young so the rebound won't be so bad, just be careful not to abuse it, these are drugs after all" Alenor warned. 'The good all college adderall special. Pretty cool how stamina potions work in this world though.'

"Now get going, make sure you're back here by noon so we can continue your training" Alenor said as he waved me off as I began running up the stairs to the exit. Hoping to at least have enough time to get breakfast at the inn, I was starving after all.

Few flights of stairs and the I was back on the street. A light jog later and I made it back to the inn. 

I sat down at a table with a sigh as a waitress came and took my order. Double horker steak with gravy and a small loaf of bread, it was most likely going to be a manual labor filled day after all. 

"Where have you been, kid? I tried looking for you when I got back last night. Oh yeah here you go" Ryker said as he took the chair next to me and dropped a decent sized coin purse in front of me. 

"I managed to get the local mage in town to train me, I've been there all night. This for that armor and greatsword I gave you?" I asked as I put the coin purse in my pack. Giving Ryker a once over I can tell that he had the blacksmith give all his gear a good once over. A few blue accents along with a decent shine really did a lot to differentiate it from the usual set of Iron armor.

"Yeah, I managed to make enough from the loot and a double shift at the mill to cover my gear and debt. Honestly for an empire supporter that Alvor is a decent guy, you should head over there at some point to get your gear checked up" Ryker advised as he ordered his own breakfast as the waitress dropped off my order.

"I was planning on it actually, I like the look of my robes but it's not very practical if I stubbornly want to enter melee combat. Was thinking of maybe getting a thin set of chain mail sewn under it and maybe some steel shoulder guards" I said as I had a hand on my chin and contemplated what would be the most practical solution. 

"Hmm, so are you coming to training today? So I spoke with Tiberia when I returned last night. I'm surprised she managed to talk you into doing the quest" Ryker asked as he wiggled his eyebrows in a very gossiping way.

"I should be a rather decent healer once the week ends, figured since I'd have two meat shields I could keep alive with magic that it might not be as dangerous as I first thought." I said with a smirk as Ryker almost choked on the loaf of bread he was chewing.

"That is….. rather morbid. But not inaccurate" Ryker admitted. 

"I'd rather not be considered a meat shield shorty" Tiberia said with a huff as appeared behind me and pulled my hood off my head, much to my annoyance. 

Not that I cared that my hair was messed up, it was the increased amount of sour faces and scowls that appeared when my ears were revealed. Not that I cared what people thought, more that I'd rather keep a low profile. 'Fucking viking Nazis, though I'd have to admit that the Altmer were just as bad, no they were probably worse' I admitted as I readjusted my apprentice hood.

"Jeez, I was joking. I guess training from a swordmaster and a reward from a Jarl is something I just couldn't pass up" I said with an honest shrug as I took a big gulp of milk after I finished my two steaks. 

CURRENT EQUIPMENT

Apprentice Robes Of Restoration-Restoration spells cost 15% less mana to cast. Mana regenerates 75% faster.

Apprentice Hood-Boosts mana by 40 points

Ring Of Minor Mana-Boosts mana by 20 points

Mage's Backpack-Boosts mana by 20 points. Enchanted to hold up to two hundred pounds of anything.

Amulet Of Mara-Reduces the cost of Restoration spells by 10%.