Oblivious

With a way to acquire Aetherium and the Aetherium Forge in Michael's possession, his plans were going better than he had ever anticipated. The excavation of Saarthal had begun and was slowly, steadily, but most importantly, stealthily uncovering the ancient nordic tomb, so soon enough the Eye of Magnus would be in his possession.

The construction workers had completed three-quarters of the staircase to the plateau where his new home would sit, so all that was left was to actually design and implement things. This is where his newest and oldest subject of research came in... How to conceal, hide, or prevent Daedra, specifically Daedric Princes, from entering or interfering with the structure.

Now, many people had attempted to find valid solutions before Michael, indeed, they'd been looking for something to shield them from the Daedra before Michael's father's father's father had even been born.

There were even some books listing the attempts and what'd then happened to the unfortunate souls that'd tried them in a practical setting...

One man thought that all one would need was an absolute belief in a deity, in this case, Mara, and an amulet of Mara to shield him... He may have also insulted Mehrunes Dagon in the Prince's shrine... Needless to say, those observing it refused to record any more after the man had been flayed alive, everything after that was justifiably forgotten.

An Altmer woman thought that all she needed was her potent magic to shield her... In her arrogance, she walked up to the Shrine of Molag Bal and destroyed it... Fifty years later her comrades found her tied to a torture rack, defiled, insane, and turned into a Vampire. She was put out of her misery, despite the fact that her vampirism meant that her soul would go to Molag Bal, prolonging her suffering to an eternity.

The last example that truly struck him was a ritual combining both belief in the Aedra as well as the user's potent magic. This didn't actually fail in the traditional meaning of the word, Sheogorath had somehow bypassed the veil separating Mundus from Oblivion created by Akatosh via Martin Septim's sacrifice and begun antagonizing the men performing the ritual.

They were all horrified by this of course but persevered... Up until the moment Sheogorath started throwing wheels of cheese at them, somehow knocking one of the men out with a particularly heavy-looking wheel of Eidar cheese, causing the ritual to destabilize and throw all of the men into Sheogorath's realm, forever doomed to madness.

Many suspected that the ritual was the right way forward, but none dared to risk drawing Sheogorath's ire after he displayed the ability to just waltz in and fuck with you while you attempt it.

This was 'kind' of the method Michael eventually determined. Again, in the past, he'd theorized that utilising symbols of the Aedra would prevent the Daedra from being able to breach them. His idea came from the fact that most Daedra avoided the shrines and temples of the divines like the plague.

After some testing though(With the help of some conjured Daedra), Michael found that such a crude method wouldn't work. While the Daedra had an aversion to such things, it wasn't to the extent of say, Vampires in fiction. Plus, to make such symbols work he'd need to turn his home into an actual place of worship, something Michael absolutely refused to do.

So, after compiling most of the historical knowledge in the Arcaenum and conducting some experiments with Aetherium, Michael developed his own method.

One could call Aetherium the perfect enchanting material, as it took, retained, and was able to expel magic far better than even the best-known metals. There was also the uniqueness factor, Aetherium would have unique effects depending on what it was built into... An Aetherium pickaxe would become able to mine Aetherium crystals when magic was channelled through it.

A shield with large amounts of Aetherium would cause a struck enemy to go ethereal, making them unable to harm or be harmed for the duration.

A crown would be able to store a birth sign and grant it to its wearer, conferring whatever benefits such a sign would traditionally give to a naturally born person.

In all of these things, one thing was clear. The Aetherium would be attuned to suit whatever it'd been built into, a shield being defensive and protective equipment, thus the ability to turn things ethereal. The crown acts as a layer of the wearer's soul, allowing birth signs to interact with it.

So, even without additional enchantments, Aetherium was already stupidly efficient. No wonder the Dwemer sought to protect the Forge so badly. Even destroying all of their stored crests and shattering the last one to prevent anyone from abusing it... They probably never expected someone to use the crest to create more however.

With all of this in mind, Michael had a pretty clear idea of what he needed to do. The things he'd started mass producing from the Aetherium Forge would be small symbols of Akatosh that'd be made completely of Aetherium.

The barrier that separates Oblivion from Mundus was of Akatosh's design, so he intended to link his new property to it. Now, if the Empire or even maybe the Arch-Mage of Winterhold College got wind of this they'd probably kill him, as modifying the thing may just break it and allow Oblivion to fuck with Mundus again, not to mention the religious significance of it.

This was the main reason why he wasn't going to tell anyone about it. Besides, he'd already worked out the kinks in potentially dooming the world. Once he linked his property to the barrier protecting Mundus, it'd become a nexus of sorts. Making all Daedra, including the Prince's unable to even approach it... It would also become a weak point, however, as if the nexus was destroyed the barrier may just fall completely.