Chapter 6

Today was my third day in Skyrim, I had asked Faendal, the local hunter, for lessons on archery and hunting which led us to stalking through the forest early in the morning.

He had explained a lot about many hunting and tracking techniqued, animal habits and habitats, trapping, archery, skinning, sneaking, survival and more.

"Your a fast learner, we should check some traps I set up a few days back." Faendal said while he led the way through the dense foliage with careful steps.

I managed to improve in many different skills thanks to this trip, allowing for better survival chances in the harsh environment of Skyrim.

When we stepped through the forest, cold wind started to blow and clouds loomed overhead making us wrap ourselves tighter with our clothes.

After a few hours later, snow began to drift down from the sky. Although it was spring, in some parts of Skyrim there would be snow even as far as early summer, in other places, the snow never melted.

"Seems we'll have to cut our trip short, wouldn't want to get caught up in a snowstorm." Faendal said, we had already collected a few traps of his, the rest would have to be neglected.

One trap had a deer trapped by the foot, which was interesting to see a deer so up close.

"Raan Mir Tah. (Animal Allegiance Pack)" I said to it, but there was no effect like I was hoping from the words of the Animal Allegiance Thu'um (shout), the deer continued to be fearful and attempted to escape ineffectively.

Eventually Faendal butchered it and took the meat, fur, and antlers from it and placed it in his sack before we decided to head home.

I took one last look around the place before turning to leave, but something caught my eye. In the distance, standing next to a tree, was a white robed, white haired figure looking my way.

It was difficult to see clearly as it was far and snow was blocking my view.

"Are you coming?" Faendal asked, causing me to look away for a moment.

"Yeah I'm-" I turned back to see the figure had vanished, leaving me feeling strange, as if I knew that person from somewhere.

"Come on, let's go, the snow is picking up!" Faendal shouted from ahead, and after taking one last look and not seeing anyone, I followed him back to Riverwood.

The forest around Riverwood was spanned many miles and was easy to get lost in unlike in the game, so returning without Faendal's guidance would have been difficult, especially in a snow storm.

The moment we got back, we huddled up near a fire to warm ourselves, the seasons in Skyrim were easy to remember: Cold Winter, Rainy Winter, Warm Winter, and Windy Winter.

As we warmed up some, we took care of the fur of the deer where I learned more about tanning and leather work.

I had paid Faendal for the tutoring and returned home by the end of the day exhausted from all that walking through a dense forest.

I had brought with me a dead rabbit that Faendal taught me how to shoot, it was my first successful hunt, although I wasn't going eat it.

Instead, I made my preparations and cast the Raise Zombie spell and watched the rabbit start moving stiffly like a mechanical doll.

The principle behind it was complicated and involved using a soul from the Soul Cairne to control the dead creature's body to fight for you through a soul binding.

The details were gruesome and it isn't without reason that everyone is disgusted by necromancy in Skyrim.

Thanks to this experiment, I understood how to use 50% Mana for my two conjuration spells after adjusting my control of Mana and making a spacial anchor to the Soul Cairn, allowing for much less trouble when conjuring.

'So that's how it is.' I came to a realization: the perk tree in the real world wasn't some level up system where I gain perk points and instantly learn the perks, but rather like a guide or instinct that let's me better understand certain ways in a skill.

Perhaps it's something to do with the dragon soul, like lost memories of ancient techniques being recalled when I gain a better understanding on the subject.

I had little progress in theorizing the root origin of this strange phenomenon from a lack of knowledge on the subject, so I decided to wait until further experimental data was acquired to make conclusions.

Eventually, after practicing the meditation technique until exhaustion and seeing a little improvement in Mana capacity, I went to bed.

...

Somewhere in the snow covered forest of Riverwood, I stood in the falling flakes of snow looking up at the sky, mesmerized by the feeling solitude in ice laden world.

Suddenly, I heard a giggle behind me causing me to turn around and look into the forest depths in search of the voice.

"You can't see me." The voice giggled again, this time from the other side, her voice was melodious like the C major scale on a harp.

The voice sounded in different places all around me, and only when I made a sudden turn did I surprise the person behind the voice as got a full view of her standing next to me.

She had beautiful flowing white hair and a surprised expression in her ocean like blue eyes.

"You found me!" She said as she leaned in closer to my face.

"Who are you?" I asked, but deep inside, I felt I knew the answer.

"I'm- It seems I have to go, bye bye!" She said before turning to leave.

"No, wait!" I said with distress, not knowing why I felt that way myself, but my hand passed right through her as if she was made of snow.

Suddenly, I woke up gasping for air and adrenaline and fear rushing through my body causing my heart to beat wildly.

For some reason, I couldn't remember what my dream was aboutno matter how hard I tried, and assumed it was another dragon or spider attack nightmare.

I got up out of bed drenched in sweat and noticed I had tears on my face and irritated eyes. Whatever that dream was, it must have been a traumatic experience, it seems I'm lucky I don't to remember it.

Today was a new day, and many adventures await me, but mostly practicing my spells in quiet to get stronger.

I decided to try practicing lock picking using the locks I got from Lucan, I also tried learning some smithing from Alvor to broaden my horizons.

Eventually, I plan on going around all the people in Riverwood to learn what I can about Skyrim before I move on to Whiterun.

Alvor found it strange that I asked him how to make lockpicks lock mechanisms at the forge, but I explained that I wanted to take up locksmithing in my free time as a hobby.

Over the course of a few days, I helped Alvor at the forge during the day, and studied magic during the evening while meditating, occasionally I also went on hunting trips with Faendal.

I had managed to improve, what I would compare as, 20 points of Mana capacity and a slight improvement to Mana regeneration.