The library was massive, there were shelves that ascended to the ceiling, all filled with books. Beautiful, beautiful books, each one holding information on a subject I didn't know.
I found a table in a back corner; I didn't want to be disturbed. There were probably a hundred books all stacked up around me.
'History of Skyrim'
'The Aedra and Daedra, A Look Into the Divine.'
'Schools of magic, a Beginner's guide.'
The titles continued, everything I could possibly want to know about the place I found myself in. I don't know how long I sat here reading through the books, sometimes not even finishing one before seeking out answers from another.
It wasn't just mundane books either, I found many—many spellbooks all mixed in. There were sections dedicated entirely to a single spell, both its applications, theory, origins, and counters. It was marvelous just how much knowledge was stored in these ancient halls.
I wish I knew some magecraft for memory retention other than memory partition. I wasn't crazy enough to attempt that on myself without hundreds of variables accounted for.
No, I just had to settle on the old-fashioned way of reading through each book one-by-one and taking notes as I go. If there was one thing aggravating it was having to use a quill and ink. I made a promise to myself to bring ball-point pens back to this world in the future, or at least keep several hundred on me at all times.
"I was wondering where our newest, wayward student had disappeared to." I heard the voice and looked up; a bit surprised to see the Archmage standing a few feet away from me. I hadn't even sensed him nor heard his approach…..what a monster.
I rubbed my eyes, looking up. "Err, I think I may have lost track of time?"
"I would say, do you even know what time of day it is?"
"…..night?"
"That is correct." He said a laugh. "It is night, of the following day you arrived."
"Oh." I guess I really did lose track of time.
"I am merely giving you a hard time; it is no problem." He said lightly. "Tolfdir was just worried you had become lost somewhere."
"I see, I suppose I should go make sure he knows I'm alright." I paused. "But I'm curious, do all new students get the attention of the Archmage?" I raised an eyebrow.
"I would like to say yes, but my schedule can be rather hectic at times. It is hard to greet and teach every student in the College. I can barely manage with one lecture a month."
"So, what makes me so special?"
He sat down in a chair at my table, picking up one of the books and giving it a once over. "You are an enigma."
"You've been watching me." I guess it was obvious, considering how quickly he responded to Ancanos defeat.
"I cast my gaze at every new face that comes to our little corner of Skyrim."
He was being awfully open about everything, I guess it isn't really something he should be ashamed of. But there was one question I wanted an answer to. "Why didn't you help them with the Ice Wraiths?"
"That is a difficult question to answer, it would take awhile to explain the intricate history between the College and the Town. To put it simply, they didn't ask." He sighed, closing the book in his hands. "The Jarl is a very….prideful man."
Ah, that makes more sense. The leader of the town didn't want to have to as the College for help, it would be an insult to his pride.
"What exactly, do you want from me?"
"I'm curious about those Runes you used in your fight." He said, raising his hand in the air. He invoked characters that looked like runes but were not any I was familiar with. "This is a standard Lightning Rune, I don't think I need to point out the differences to you."
I see, they have their own Runic language here. But it was quite different, it looked like a single rune housed all the power and then created a spell circle to modify its intent and meaning.
I moved my hand into the air and drew a Uruz Rune, letting it start to channel my mana and take on the properties of lightning.
"Fascinating." The Archmage said.
I shared his thoughts. "A spell circle to amplify and actualize your intent behind the rune, that is quite interesting." Both spells dissipated back into magical energy and dispersed.
"Hooh." He raised an eyebrow. "You understand the mechanisms of the spell with merely a glance? You just get more and more interesting."
"You want an exchange of knowledge, is it?" I usually hold my mysteries close to my chest, but I don't mind a fair exchange.
"If you're wanting my knowledge on the Runes I know, then you will be disappointed." I frowned at his sentence. Did he not want to share his knowledge? "I can't in good conscious trade something that is already available." He reached out his hand and a book flew out from a nearby bookcase. He didn't even look as he placed it infront of me.
I just blinked, looking at the title. 'How to Apply Runes.' And the author was one – Savos Aren. "You know, where I come from, other mages would have happily taken this offer, and laughed at me for getting tricked."
"It wasn't too different here, at one time. When I was younger…it had to be over a hundred years ago, the competition was much more….aggressive." He shook his head and sighed. "Those days are long behind us, competition is good, but I make sure there are lines drawn so nothing gets out of hand." He gave a genuine smile. "So, what can I bribe you with?"
I liked how up front he was, made things much easier.
"To be honest….I don't know. Money really doesn't have much of a value, maybe some raw materials to create my own magical foci, but even then, I'm not quite sure what I need." I thought out loud. He was being rather open with me, I wasn't against speaking my mind.
"Oh, crafting a staff?" He looked at me inquisitively.
"Actually, I was thinking of making a sword that could be used as a staff." I pictured my old, Jeweled Sword. It felt more 'right' than just a staff or something similar.
"Interesting." He rubbed his beard. "I have a few ideas." He turned over his hand, and something appeared in his palm, a small black ring without any engravings. "I saw your hat the other day and it inspired me to make this last night."
He offered it to me, and I inspected the ring. "Did you…"
"Indeed." A smirk grew on his face. "The idea of attaching a folded spatial dimension onto an object. What a novel concept, I don't know why I haven't heard of it before. Most mages, when they get adept enough, just create their own little 'pocket' carved out in the void of oblivion. There are concerns doing such a thing, and it's not particularly difficult to seal off another mage's access temporarily. But this, it would be incredibly hard for outside interference with accessing the contents. Granted, the space created is more limited, but it's a safety precaution that can't be denied."
I heard his description and nodded along. I wouldn't trust their method of storage if I had anything precious to store. IT seems like someone would be able to 'break into' another's storage 'dimension' if they were experienced enough.
"What's all this?" I asked in confusion as I peered into the ring, looking at the space inside.
"Did you think my offer was only the ring? I added in all sorts of materials, there should be enough to figure out what you want to do."
There were many ores inside that I didn't recognize, along with many other items I had no idea what to do with. "Wait, how did you already have this prepared?"
"I didn't, I just put that together now."
Ah, one I keep forgetting, this whole College is probably his 'workshop'. I doubt there is anything that goes on that he doesn't know about, nor anything he can't meddle in. "You are one scary old man."
"Why, thank you." He took my compliment with grace.
"You're not even here right now, are you?" I looked at him, truly looked at him and something felt off.
His smile grew wide. "Interesting, explain to me how I'm not here and I'll give you something good."
I thought for a moment, looking him over. "A thought projection, overlayed with a physical illusion using the college as an anchor…no that isn't right. The Magical energy….the Magicka that permeates the entire College, if I had to guess, I would say the source flows through somewhere close to your body, the wellspring so to speak. You can use it to project your consciousness or maybe astral project yourself anywhere by piggybacking off the dense flow of Magicka."
"You are a scary young man." He laughed, setting a slab of what looked like glass on the table.
"Why, thank you." I smiled back. "What is this?" I picked up the 'glass'.
"It's called blue glass; I don't know if it is official or not. Its counterpart, 'green glass' or just 'glass' is a material used in making glass armaments.
"I take it this is rare?" I peered at it closely, channeling a bit of my mana inside.
"Unbelievably so. That is all I've found in the past decade when I first heard of it."
Interesting, the material practically ate my mana as if it was starving. This would make a wonderful material for crafting. And the term 'glass' seemed like a bit of misnomer, just holding it in my hand, I could tell this wouldn't lose out to steel in toughness.
"Is the College against students leaving for extended periods of time?" I felt like I now had a goal to strive towards. The image of my sword was starting to come into focus.
"We like all our initiates to be able to defend themselves otherwise, we don't really restrict their freedoms. Most students don't leave for journeys until their later years, but I guess your circumstances is a bit out of the norm." He said with a good-natured chuckle. "But perhaps there is a better avenue for you, I'm guessing you haven't had a chance to see our job board yet?"
"Yeah…" I just scratched my cheek, looking around. I pretty much came straight for the library and haven't left.
"As the name implies, it's a board in the common room that lists all the jobs available. We provide the necessities here, food, board and even some novice-level ingredients and materials. Otherwise, you are required to provide for everything else you need. We often get job requests throughout Skyrim, a lot of which is just enchanting weapons or making potions and we let our younger members handle it, paying a small commission fee to the college, otherwise taking the pay for themselves."
"Interesting, I wouldn't mind completing a few jobs while I look around for some materials."
"Wonderful, we're quite backed up on requests as is, any experienced mage would be a boon." He hummed to himself before pulling a few more books off the shelves. "I believe you will need these."
I looked at the titles; 'Enchanting for Novices', 'Herbalist's Guide to Skyrim', 'Mixing Ingredients, a Potion Master's Memoire'. Well then, I guess there's no point in hiding my ignorance. "Thank you."
"I said it before, young man. I look forward to seeing the things you accomplish." He withdrew an apple from…somewhere and brought forth a knife from the same place. He cut a piece off, putting it in his mouth while setting the rest on the table. "Make sure you eat." He gave me a wink, chewing on the fruit.
"You were here the entire time, weren't you?" Or did he replace this 'projection' with his real body when I wasn't paying attention.
"Who knows?" He chuckled, walking away.
Once again, well played.
"I'll write down some notes and send them to you." I said, to the empty area, but I'm almost entirely sure he heard me.