The Pilgrimage (End) : Acquiring the Blessings

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The girls were cultivating the energy I gave them and it seemed that everything was in place. Meanwhile, I started crossing the (t)s and dotting the (i)s.

My hand moved from a page to page and the voice of the system was ringing in my head.

'How much time passed since I started taking the Wild Padomic Energy?'

<Three hours.>

'How long did it take to transfer the energy to the girls?'

<One hour.>

'And how long did it take to absorb their Vital Anuic Energy and cultivate with it?>

<One hour.>

'Okay, show me my Status!'

----------

◇ Name: Jon Dare / Jonhild Firemane

◇ Race: Human (Nord)

◇ Vitality: 750

◇ Magicka: 1340

----------

"DAMN… This is far better than normal cultivation!"

I realized the benefit of Dual Cultivating with Heart Energy.

It is incredible! The increase rate of just one hour is something is almost 100 Magicka Point and 40 Vitality Point.

I kept viewing all the statistics the system can provide and kept editing my notes.

'Oh right! Remind me again how many energy pulses come out of me when I was cultivating this time?'

<Two times.>

'Only two? Last time it was seven… this is a total of nine… do you have any idea what does those pulses mean?'

<Negative!>

'Okay, this sure has to have a meaning. Nine pulses and then what? Will there be a tenth pulse? Can you show me any record of how the energy reacts during those pulses?'

<Confirmed!>

A diagram appeared of the energy movements appeared on a system screen, it was really irregular as if things were…

What is the right word?

I can feel it the first 8 pulses were rushed up but the ninth was timely, the increase of the inner energy was much larger this time that I could feel a real surge in strength.

'Did the girls experience any of those pulses?'

<No record found.>

You don't know, huh? I will ask them then.

'Send the Data to the Augur, he would be delighted to analyze something this new.'

<Confirmed!>

With all in place, I put myself back in clothes and made the girls ready themselves too then went out of the Haven Cube.

***

"Where were you?" Frea asked me.

"Oh, I had to Teleport to some place away to take care of the harmful energy, what did I miss?"

"The Spriggan woke up, it changed… I don't really know how you did it but… it is back to normal."

Frea pointed at some tree and I noticed the changes. A layer of green has grown on the sick trees of the grove, a lot of Life Energy could be sensed from it too.

"Alina, do you sense the Spriggan?"

"Yes, it is actually around us possessing some of those trees." Alina pointed out.

"Possessing trees? It sounds awesome!" Jull went to a tree and knocked on it.

"Well, Spriggans are Spirit after all. Also, our Nefertiti can possess Shadows." I said.

It was a very mysterious skill. Possessing is really beyond my understanding.

"So, can this count as us finishing the Ritual of Trees?" I asked Frea.

"I am not sure but we you should meditate and find out."

I took her words and gathered around the Tree Stone with my people then meditated to end the Ritual of the Trees. The Runes glowed then dimmed down signing that we finished the trial with flying colors.

"With this, the Ritual of Trees is Complete." Frea said.

It took the longest so far.

"What is next?"

"The Ritual of the Sun, there is still light in the Sky so we can reach the Sun Stone and maybe finish the Ritual too."

"Okay, off we go then."

We all started to pack things quickly but suddenly Alina paused.

"The Spriggan talked to me."

"Oh." Everyone paid attention.

"It said 'Thank you, Groot'."

"You are Groot, you dump log head!" I flipped the bird to the nearest tree.

"Hey, that's racist!"

***

The Sun Stone was a bit to the south, we activated the Runes and followed Frea to the west. We arrived at a strange cave between the Ashland and the Snowlands and the wind coming from it were too bone-chilling.

"What is wrong with this place?" Jullanar asked.

"This is by far the most dangerous of all the Rituals, this cave is called the 'Halls of Penumbra' and in there lives some dangerous beasts. They are troll-like creatures called the Grahls." Frea said.

"Dangerous? Shouldn't the young ones from your tribe go through this challenge and yet it can be that dangerous?" Alina asked.

"Unfortunately it is. We Skaal don't really like the Ritual of the Sun because of these beasts but the Warriors periodically come here and thin the numbers of the Grahls. Only problem is…" Frea paused.

"Grahls are very lively." I continued for her.

She nodded for my words.

The people around me questioned what do I mean by that.

"Grahls are Trolls, they mate a lot and always give birth to new Grahlings. Young and adult, they are very dangerous and much like Goblins, Falmer, Dreugh and normal Trolls, they are evil, twisted and unholy at that. They are giant in size compared to trolls, have long claws and spikes growing from their backs as well as two mammoth tusks from their upper jaws. Grahls are also blue-skinned and have a hard white fur covering their backs and limbs. They resist all elements except fire and their regeneration ability is very strong, they can shatter weapons and armors with their brute strength too."

These creatures are just like the Yetis from the Asian mythologies except with more fangs and too damn overpowered.

Frea confirmed my information and we started making a plan. The best users of Flame Magic are me and Jullanar. As talented as she is, Alina was never good with Flame Magic. Jullanar, however, has some Dunmer blood in her so her Flame Magic was better than most, teamed up with me who is a Firemane and supported with Jorna, we are going all out.

Jull prepared her Fire Explosive Bolts by imprinting Fire Runes on them and checked her crossbow. I took the lead and summoned the strong Ashen Flames that were bestowed upon me by the Dragon Guardian, the pale flames consumed Magicka faster than Lightning Magic but who am I? I am the Magicka Man!

***

*Scorch* *Scroch*

*Boom* *Boom*

"FUUUUUUUUCK! DIE YOU FREAKING YETI!"

"Jon, Magicka!" Alina shouted.

"FUUU… okay."

I had to stop my 'War Cry' to transfer Magicka for Alina then started shouted again to keep the demoralization effect on the Grahl.

"I am out of Ammo!" Jull shouted.

"My shield is broken, the backup!" Wulfur shouted too.

"Someone wants a meal?" I mocked them while taking the stuff out of the Haven Ring.

"Keep burning! It is recovering."

"Recovery is a no no, you basTAAAARD!"

This fight was truly unending. We met a Grahl at the end of Halls of Penumbra and it was something like an immortal beast. Its recovery is insane, if not for the Ashen Flames that used, this beast would be raging around for now.

Luckily, Alina focused only on keeping the Grahl bound to its place by the Binding effect of the Staff of Sheogorath I lent her, Wulfur used a spear and a shield to keep it from breaking free, Jull would occasionally shoot an exploding bolt on it and I was showering it with an overcharged Flames spell. Jorna and Titi were supporting from the sides.

"Exactly what does the Skaal use to kill these bastards?" I asked while gritting my teeth.

"I remember Frea saying that Grahls are very vulnerable to Silver Blades with Fire Enchantments but the Skaal only have a few of them and they can't spare such treasures." Alina replied.

""Oh!"" Wulf and I had this sudden realization.

"What is it?" Alina asked.

"It may happen that Wulfur and I forged a Saber with the exact same descriptions and wanted to gift it for Ongeim on his birthday."

Four cold gazes were directed at me and Wulf. Come on, I didn't think it…

"It's in Jon's ring." Wulfur said.

Traitor!

I took the Sword and threw it to Wulfur who was the closest to the Grahl. In mid-air, the sword was snatched by a speeding figure who grabbed the blade from its handle and moved as fast as a bolt.

It was Jullanar.

She ran not towards the Grahl but to the cave's wall near it, she activated the enchantment of the crown that is called 'Mithril Skin', She ran on the wall of the cave and jumped against it. She flew over the Grahl and held one of the spikes on its back, she found a foothold on it and slashed at its arm with the blade.

*Graaaaah*

A splash of blood was formed like a stroke of ink, the blood fell on the ice and started to boil making vapor rise. I hastily pulled Wulfur away with 'Telekinesis' as he was very close to the blood.

Jull wasn't done yet, as the Grahl attacked her with his other arm, she jumped towards the wounded one and flipped around the Grahl's neck with the swords on its throat drawing a thin red line. She then jumped away from the blood and landed in front of us.

The Grahl held its neck but… its head fell off.

*Gulp*

That was so cool.

Jull looked back at us nonchalantly and snorted.

"Don't send some boys to do a girl's job." She said and walked ahead giving the sword to Wulfur.

Alina walked after Jull and snorted too, so did Jorna, so did Nefertiti.

I looked at Wulfur and he looked at me then we both sighed.

In the front, the girls arrived at the end of the cave where they found an ice wall with what seemed to be an orb of light trapped in it.

"How were we supposed to free the light again?" Jorna asked.

"I don't remember."

The girls seemed to have been stumbled on a dilemma.

"Allow us, ladies." And here were Wulfur and I made a grand entrance.

"What is it?"

"An eye for your wall."

Wulfur presented the Fork of Horripilation and stuck on it was a very ugly red eye.

"Ewww, what is that?"

"You need to stick this eye in the ice wall to free the light." I said.

"Gross!"

These battle frenzied girls were grossed by an eye?

I took the eye and stuck it to the ice wall.

"Then don't send some girls to do a boy's job."

While I said that, the light was freed from the ice wall and the whole cave got illuminated.

"So lame!"

The girls didn't even care.

***

After the completion of the Rituals of the Sun, we headed to the Wind Stone north to the Skaal Village. There, we activated the Runes and headed east to Glenschul's Tomb.

It was night time and we were really tired after fighting, having sex, fighting again and riding our Flame Atronach Horses all day.

We were ambushed by a band of Riekling in front of the tomb we were heading to but Alina took them out single-handedly. Once we arrived at the Tomb, I inspected it with 'Scan' and found a bunch of draugr and a bunch of weak skeletons. Alina swept over them with a few spells and killed everything moving.

The objective of the Ritual of Winds was to find a container filled with Wind in that tomb. Crazy as it sounds, Alina picked a burial urn and broke it to let out a crazy amount of wind that stormed all over the tomb in a comical way.

"That was fun! Can we do it again?"

"I am afraid there is where the Ritual ends."

Frea led us back to the Wind Stone and we meditated one last time to end the Pilgrimage. She stood behind us and started praying out loud.

She said something like Skaal this and Skaal that and how almighty the All-Maker is and how we are his children, blah blah blah… her sermon took a bloody long while.

Still, what happened after that was one of the most memorable things that happened to me in this life. The All-Maker bestowed his blessings on each and everyone one of us in a way that I was really mystified by how beautiful and divine it was.

"Hey, guys! Something is happening…" Jorna's voice marked the appearance of the first blessing.

A hint of golden light shone around her, much brighter than her Aura, this light was stronger than any healing spell I know, the golden light enveloped her then started healing all the ones around her.

"[Waters of Life], a blessing whose bearer is bestowed with health and beauty, a requirement to be the Chief of the Skaal. Congratulations Bjorna." Frea said.

The next blessing came right away and it was Wulfur. A layer of light covered his skin just like the Stoneskin Spell. This one, however, seemed more mysterious and powerful.

"[Bones of the Earth], this blessing is a requirement to become the leader the Skaal warriors. It protects from all harm."

Nefertiti came right after Wulfur. An ancient roar of a beast came from the void and a Golden Spectral Beast appeared, it was a large Saber Cat.

"[Totem of Beasts], I carry this blessing myself. It summons a Nordic beast of any kind to fight for the blessed one. A requirement to become a Shaman."

[A/N: [Totem of Beasts] is something I made up, the original power is [Conjure Werebear] but it was not accurate at all in my opinion.]

<[Agent of the All-Maker: Root of Power] was added to your Status!>

With the announcement of the System, it was my turn. A blue light shone around me like a healing spell but it was…

'Fuck!' I understood the effect and my face turned pale.

"Root of Power, the rarest blessing to witness. I read the books about it but it hasn't appeared for over two hundred years! It can regenerate one's Magicka at an insane speed for a limited amount of time each day, still, it is very powerful. As expected of Sir Jon, you are truly blessed by the All-Maker like none other."

[A/N: I also altered the effect of [Root of Power], its vanilla effect is to reduce the cost of spells to 75% for a short amount of time. I altered it to; Regenerate Magicka 25 times faster for a short amount of time.]

Before I could put my thoughts together, a strong light shone beside me. Jullanar was on Fire for a second before it went out.

"Sun Flare! A blessing that is also rare but I saw it once… it releases a powerful Fire Explosion around the bearer of the blessing. Such beauty!"

And at last, it was Alina's turn, opposite to Jull, a strong gust of frosty wind came around her.

"North Wind! A blessing that as rare as Sun Flare… it creates a storm of Wind and Frost around the bearer. Very powerful!"

"With this, the Pilgrimage is over." Frea said, "I have never thought that a party of six would all receive blessings let alone rare and different ones each. This is worthy of celebration. Please, let's head back to the village right away.

It indeed is worthy… very worthy!

Everyone's new blessings were indeed awesome but mine… it is scary.

How Scary?

First, it is the rarest of all the blessings of the All-Maker according to Frea. Second, it is just like the racial power of the High Elves, the 'Highborn' power.

Nords have the 'War Cry' power that I use and abuse in every fight but High Elves like Faralda have the 'Highborn' power which is actually scary and the reason why High Elves are feared as mages.

With this power at hand, and with my already high amount of Magicka, I am above any High Elf I know of.

~~~~~~~~~~

* Announcement!

Hey guys, this is Don speaking... Some of you suggested to make some Auxillary Chapters for explaining things in the Novel and I am working on it, I also posted one but it is half-assed to make a quick explanation for the Ranks of the College and the Companions.

I am preparing a new one about explaining the creation of the world of the Elder Scroll with my comments and explanations... you can expect it soon.

Point of all this is, I want you guys to be active in discussions either here on the comments or on Discord. It always gives me a good flow of ideas to keep coming with good new plots... blah blah blah... you know what I mean.

Thank you for your support...

Don, out!