Chapter 8 - Jon Dare
Several days have passed, I was recording the new discoveries regarding my magic theory, and it was interesting to research such stuff.
It was said that battle mages to research mages ratio was 3:7 and I can see why.
I could think of many ways to make some spells possible, but don't get me wrong creating a spell is a hard job that needs more than just understanding a theory, it needs the techniques of manipulation to be made with carefulness because magic energy can backfire and injure the user.
My current problem is lack of experience in techniques, they are the way you command your magic to manifest like casting by putting magic directly into shape or shouting like dragons to force magic into some sort of form.
While making the magic form you need to understand which form goes with which effect and how you fix that on a target to create a result.
As making my own theories I improve rabidly day by day.
One thing that is annoying me is that my Magicka regeneration is slow.
This can be helped by a potion or an enchanted artifact, both cost money but an artifact will last longer.
To make an artifact one needs a soul gem. Soul gems are graded from Petty, Lesser, Common, Greater, Grand and Black.
One needs to perform a soul trap on something they kill to trap a soul into the nearest soul gem, the game was a little bugged in that regard so I used a mod like 'Smart Souls' and 'Mysticism The Lost Art'.
I also added a mod called 'Transmute And Fuse Soul Gems' which allows one to Transmute two empty soul gems from a certain grade into an empty one from the next level. Fusion is about filled soul gems but it takes three to make one higher.
These are all very handy spells to serve the art of 'Enchanting' which I consider the most important craft.
The crafts in the game are Enchanting, Alchemy and Blacksmithing.
With a mod called 'Honed Metal' one could ask any blacksmith to make them a piece of armor and upgrade it, that's of course a real option in any world, it also works with enchanting but that's a different story in my opinion.
I don't really like to waste time on Blacksmithing but it's a different story with Enchanting and Alchemy.
Enchanting your own gear is the one way to make a good 'Build' in game and you can bypass the normal enchanters by adding two 'Effects' on one piece of gear, enchanting needs souls gems to put a soul in an item to work as its magic carrier.
Enchanting weapons is different from enchanting an item you wear, the game didn't explain this but for weapons souls act as a fuel once you used all the power endowed within the enchanted weapon it will just run out, so you need another soul gem to recharge the weapon once again.
Enchanted wearables, on the other hand, doesn't need to use the soul power in them to show effect, once they get equipped the soul in the item will fuse itself with the soul of the user to add the effect.
And unlike in games there is more freedom in enchanting depending on the items quality, also in game one needed to learn an enchantment by destroying an already enchanted item, too wasteful yet in reality it's much better compared, all you need to do is to study the 'Effect' and copy it on another item for practice.
Alchemy is the most rewarding craft in game, you can use a mod like "Harvest Overhaul' too increase the harvest rate because the game's original rate was very low unrealisticly, after having the ingredients you need to mix the them with others of a matching effects to make a greater effect.
It may seem like the game but it's totally different, there are more tools to be used.
You need to mix ingredients into a pot and heat them in either water or alcohol, some ingredients need to be mashed using mortar and pistil.
And with a mod called 'Complete Alchemy and Cooking Overhaul' many potions and items like bombs could be created, Magical alchemy at its best ladies and gentlemen.
Today was the day when Nurina give me a lesson in Enchanting.
Enchanting is a bit of a luxury but it's an essential part of mages' lives.
You simply can make a piece of gear that allows your Magicka to regenerate faster or increase a certain attribute like Health.
These are the most direct and common enchantment, they are also the most efficient. With a mod called 'Wintermyst' more enchantment could be added to the game and they are in this world too, these are pretty useful enchantments in my opinion.
To enchant, one needs an enchanting table or one could simply make one, it isn't hard but it needed materials.
A troll skull, few candles, an amethyst and a bone meal (powder).
What happens next is to draw a star-shaped magic circle with the bone meal, put a candle on the five star edges and place the amethyst in the troll skull, trolls has three eyes and their third eye is in the forehead and that's where we place the amethyst, place the skull between two star edges on the circle and you are pretty much done.
After all of that is done, the circle will attach the soul to the item placed on it by sucking in from the soul gem, during the process one must activate his magic to endow a certain effect on the soul. While the process of 'Soul Attaching' is happening, the item turns into an item with a soul that has a certain effect called and 'Enchanted Item' or 'Magical Item'.
Best Enchanters can add another effect making the soul inside the item has two effects, but that's a master level technique.
After the lesson was over Nurina gave me few worthless items to enchant and it turned out that I am talented in handling magic, it was thanks to my theory in Mysticism that made my magic control so as Nurina's into a top-notch control.
.........................
Days passed peacefully and we welcomed a new member to the gang, Akara the super cute Khajiiti girl.
We took her around with us in our runs around the city, she turned out to be very talented in haggling.
Ysolda fell in love with Akara after that and invited her to be a trading partner in the future, I really like where this is going, Ysolda in the future will return back to Whiterun which means Akara might be there, let's charm Akara about Whiterun, saying it is a safe city and also a trading hub will make that girl listen.
Today the five of us planned on making some money by selling sweet treats. Last time Ysolda failed to sell and she was in a gloomy mood. This time I suggested making a big move.
"Why don't we make a performance while selling our stuff? It will be legit and the neither the guards nor the traders will make a fuss about it." I made my ultimate suggestion.
"What kind of performance?" Wulfur was a bit timed so he asked cautiously.
I looked at Svidi and asked, "Remember the songs I thought you, teach it to Wulfur and Akara, then I and Ysolda will handle the rest."
Everyone looked at Svidi, I thought her few songs from my past life that was sung be vocal bands, it was not much different to the way bards sing in Skyrim.
One of my favorite is 'Loituma - Ievan Polkka' the original Finnish song, not the Japanese rip-off. I taught her many other songs I remembered.
Svidi was to sing, Wulfur was to play on the flute and Akara could do the drum so it was pretty much well planned.
On the other hand, Yoslda would sell the sweet treats to the crowd and I would collect the money for the performance.
We picked a good spot in the market square and made the plan into practice. The song was rewrote by me so it was a according to the lore of the world and it told a story about a certain warrior who fought a great monster with his axe and saved his maiden fair trapped on top of the tower that the bear nested in.
In this part of the world this story fitted greatly, and the Nords would greatly love it and so it was.
We gathered money like bees on honey, the hat I used to gather coin in was filled to its prim with copper and some generous paid silver. That was a huge hit.
The treats sold quickly too, Ysolda was at her wits end, Haha witness the power of the 21st century.
After the day was over we had two out of breath siblings and a due cheerful coin diggers, and there was me the mastermind of the day.
After the performance few bards approached Svidi and invited her to the college and gave her recommendations, Wulfur was invited too, but to no surprise, no one wanted anything to do with other races like Akara the Khajiit.
It wasn't unexpected but it was good to make sure that these two siblings have gotten a ticket out of Riften, that means Wulfur will get to live and Svidi won't get chased out like what happened in the game.
This time my success was at changing and affecting the game lore for the first time, one Thing I was sure of I must not interfere with the big events until 4E-201, the time when the main game events will start.
Handing the big coin purse to Ysolda, she looked at it as if she had he very own child, she held it in two hands and was about to make a speech. But an unexpected turn of events happened. A taller figure with a covered face ran behind Ysolda and snatched the purse from her.
Ysolda cried out and directed a glare at the figure and shouted "THIEF!"
I had the blood rush in my head and chased after the thief, Akara was the second to follow, the rest wasn't as fast as a thief in training and a Khajiiti girl so they lagged behind.
The thief gave his all while running, he seemed knowledge about the city and kept avoiding obstacles and kept on pulling stuff to block the road behind him.
Akara had no problem whatsoever in moving past these obstacles, but I as a human would have trouble or that how it should have happened, I have made my own version of 'Parkour' while training with Vex and the others from the Thief Guild a bit of a time ago and it showed its full might in this situation.
Many people started to notice and I could even feel some presences following from the sides, I could see Brynjolf and Delvin with a figure clad in a big cloak and a hood behind them, I think I saw these three in the performance.
I could feel some gazes form the Meadery's window, it was Maven and a girl beside her that looked similar, Even Nurina saw me and Akara running while she was shopping and started following.
I and Akara were so nimble that we started having fun and began competing who would catch the thief first.
The thief felt us getting closer and then made a turn after the general goods store, there was a ladder that reached the roof, I made a jump and was about to catch the thief's foot but he moved faster, I had no choice but to climb after him.
Reaching the roof four masked figures waited for the thief and he handed the money purse to the one with expensive looking clothes, I could see that as I have already reached and met eye to eye with these punch.
"Hand it over." Akara roared at them.
The person with the purse was amused at her anger, he clearly had a plan in mind as his he winked to his cronies, the started to move and surrounded me and Akara.
I and Akara stood back to back, "I smell mead from them." Akara said in a soft voice.
They were not much older than us, they were around 15 and we were outnumbered at that.
"They are the boys from the Meadery." I replied as I noticed their identities, the person with the purse in his hands was clearly Sibbi Black-Briar.
So he started to pick on me finally.
I have foreseen that since a while ago, he always gave me bad glares, people would most certainly cower if a Black-Briar glared at them but I kind of like to take a challenge head-on.
I make a move as I pick a dagger from my boots, it was a common way to hide a dagger, but not for a ten years old of course.
Akara brandished her claws, Khajiiti claws are on pars with a good early weapon in the game.
The Meadery boys halt but Sibbi seemed dissatisfied, He said: "They are just two brats."
Well he is right, we are no match for them, so how about that, I lunched the novice lightening spell 'Sparks' front of Sibbi's feet.
[A/N: Sparks is a channeling spell which you keep firing like a lightening thrower, it's the weakest lightening spell]
"F*ck." Sibbi cursed as he jumped back with terror in his eyes, magic is magic after all.
The Meadery boy retreat immediately, Sibbi shouted trying to hide his terror "F*cker, how dare you?"
Akara stiffened as she heard his words, of course she knew that my magic words have been said.
I can't resist a taunting with the word dare in it, everyone in the orphanage knows that, if you want to get hit say 'How dare you?' and you will trigger me immediately.
My smile turns devilish as I already made my mind, the five idiots became more afraid as I took a step towards them, Sibbi was going to piss himself as magic was still appearing on my left hand.
Suddenly he made a move towards the edge of the roof, then he held the purse in a throwing pose and threatened "I'll throw it in the canal."
There was indeed a big canal in the street, people started to notice and the atmosphere turned stiff.
I look at Akara and she nodded, that girl is smart and already went down from the roof.
I walk towards Sibbi again, he got more nervous and he suddenly make his move "I dare you go after it you f*cker."
He threw the coin purse towards the empty air and it was going to certainly fall into the canal of the lower part of the city, that's a four-story height for you.
My heart was going crazy as the purse rose in the air, my legs moved on their own and I ran towards the edge and jumped as after the purse.
"'DARE' IS MY...
...…
[A/N: 3rd Person POV]
Few hours before the confrontation of Jon and Sibbi, a tall figure clad in a brown cloak with a big hood descended the stairs that lead from the upper city in Riften to the under city.
The figure carried a big battleaxe on its back but its steps were soft and quiet.
Upon arriving to the lower parts the figure stopped front of a gate with iron bars, what lied beyond that gate with a hell hole of stink and moist known as the 'Ratway'.
The figures passed through the gate with ease not minding the smell at all.
The Ratway was the sewers of Riften it was dim and filled with unexpected encounters, as the figure walked in the tunnels, a torch appeared illuminating the darkness.
The figure stretched its hand to take the torch but it suddenly came to halt, looking around the figure noticed something the made a strange pose and then took the torch from the wall.
A click sounded and a strange iron ball with spikes fell from the top towards the figure but it didn't hit.
The figure sighed and shook its head helplessly, then took the torch and kept on advancing.
After few turns the figure arrived at a door, on the door, there was a sign saying 'The Ragged Flagon'.
It was a known as the ghost tavern as it was the location where the Thieves Guild members would gather yet it wasn't known where it was as the Ratway was as its name gave, a damnable maze.
Few could find this place and that figure was one of them.
After pushing open the doors, a circular chamber with an uneven surface appeared, in the middle of it water gathered as if it was a pool, and around its sides, a path to walk around the pool was there.
The figure walked to the right until other figures of people in black leather appeared.
The place on the other end of the chamber was that of what resembles a bar with few stools and some table and chairs.
As the figure wanted to advance to the bar a young giant man appeared to block its pass.
"We are full on customers" The man tried to sound scary.
The figure in brown cloak only cupped its right hand into a fist and buried it deep into the young man stomach, the man fell to his knees and with hand on the ground and a hand on his stomach it made an inappropriate sound.
The figure moved its left leg and landed a stomp on the man's head sending him to the dream realm.
Few steps later the other few figures around the bar was intensified from what happened to their look out, one of them was bald with a rough skin made an eye contact with the figure, the figure immediately headed towards him.
As the figure sat on the chair opposite to the bald man it removed its hood and cloak. What appeared was a woman with red wavy hair and sharp blue eyes, she wore an armor known as the 'Nordic Carved Armor', she wore it without a padding armor so her arms where full-on view until her armored bracers so were her legs.
The bald man was Delvin and the red woman was Hilda, it was a meeting that didn't happen in few years.
"Mama came for a visit." Hilda said while snatching the sweet roll front of Delvin.
Delvin was surprised by the sudden visit but he was not in the position to argue with that scary woman.
He looked at Brynjolf and said, "Your friend Jon is doing okay?"
Brynjolf was in a daze from the strange situation but he nodded to Delvin.
"Brynjolf was it? Come and lead me to him." Hilda demanded like a boss and Delvin nodded to Brynjolf confirming her words.
Brynjolf could only walk in the front past to the passed out lookout, He exited the round chamber followed by Delvin and Hilda, and headed outside the Ratway.
The three headed to the market square and saw a large crowd, they frowned, "That's Jon's place." Brynjolf was Delvin's eye on Jon so he knew most of what was Jon up to.
After a while the three passed the crowd and saw five kids in an unusual scene. A girl was singing, a boy was playing the flute, a Khajiiti girl was playing the drum, a girl was selling sweet treats and a boy was walking around interacting with people holding a hat which has some coins in.
The crowd interacted with the unusual scene very smoothly, the song was so Nordic and the music supporting it was so synced with the song, the kids made vocal music with humming and words which was even more than just what a normal bard would do, it was a clearly new style that all people became curious about, the sweet treats of the kids sold by the lone girl, the boy with a hat collected money from people and was moving nimbly while showing off his half dancing way of walking and the band of three that stood on a platform made of crates kept singing.
No matter how anyone looked at it, that was a selling business of a punch of talented kids.
Hilda looked at the boy with a hat and was taken aback but she smiled and gave him a silver coin, the kid was not shy and made a bow with a smile and a wink to the lady.
He was doing that with the girls and ladies who were paying for the band to sing more.
After some time the crowd dispersed and the kids gathered in a corner carrying away their stuff and gathering the coins in a single purse hurriedly.
After they finished the girl that sold the sweets held the purse and was about to say something to her friends but a figure ran behind her and snatched the purse.
The red-haired kid gave a chase followed by the Khajiit girl. Hilda was about to throw her axe at the thief but she held herself back.
She followed after the kids who gave a chase and she was about to give a hand when she saw a very strange scene.
The Khajiit girl way of running was like a beast in the woods it was so simple yet very nimble and fast.
The red boy, on the other hand, ran in the most interesting way she has ever seen, he jumped over obstacles like a clown, he moved in a way that was so refined and artistic that made him look like he was doing it with ease.
Delvin himself was surprised, he looked at Brynjolf and asked, "What was that just now?"
"That's his style that I once told you about, he called it 'free-running' or something, I don't know how he made it but it is really hard to master." Brynjolf spilled the beans immediately.
The three looked at Jon's moves and followed to where he chased the figure, along the way they pumped into Nurina who joined them without questioning Hilda's identity, After Jon and Akara chased the thief to a rooftop, the four could see the confrontation from distance.
After Jon threatened the big boys with magic, Hilda was surprised, even more, she never expected that a ten years old kid had arcane skills like magic and martial skills like his so-called 'free-running' in his arsenal at such age.
When the mood stiffened on the rooftop the Khajiit girl ran down and Jon ran towards the boss of the thieves on the edge of the roof.
It was a sight to witness as the money purse was thrown towards the canal under the city and Jon flying after it.
"'DARE' IS MY SURNAME F*CKEEEEER!!"
Jon's shout was heard by everyone in that part of the city.
The time seemed like it had slowed down.
The blood of everyone boiled as the heard those scary words.
A thunderous roar accompanied the voice of that child, it was a power that only true Nords could muster. It was a 'War Cry'.
Hilda witnessed it, Nurina witnessed it, Maven witnessed it, Delvin and Brynjolf witnessed it yet they withstood it.
Other people with weak hearts could only shiver from the power of that cry.
Jon made a free fall after the purse and caught it, then he dived into the canal.
Both Hilda and Nurina could hold their excitement no more and spoke in unison "That's my boy."
The atmosphere froze at this point again as the two beauties looked to each other with a surprise.
Anyway, from that day Jon was officially known as 'Jon Dare'.