So. I can feel my magika... that is the largest part of a spell... however, there are also some conditions that must be met. I must 'shape' the magika. Typically through doing a few brief calculations- brief for novice spells, that is, they grow more extensive the higher tiered spell it is- that shape the magical power into the desired effect. Mentality is also a bit of a factor. It sort of functions like DXD devil magic, where if you 'imagine' a fireball, you can shoot a fireball. However. There's a bit more to it. You need to implement 'rules' to the spell. The calculations. Each spell has their very own rules that must be followed, I'm certainly not skilled enough to begin bending said rules in an attempt to develop new spells, so I'll probably stay within the guidelines for now.
I close my eyes and focus, a brief golden light flashing against my eyelids, I can feel a slight drain in my 'power', but nothing much. It's a passive drain. I am merely making my power visible. I have not yet truly cast the spell yet.
What to imagine for the spell?
I channel power, causing the glow to intensify, a warm feeling spreads throughout my body.
'Bones mend, bruises fade, stab wounds zip up, lacerations and scrapes scab over and heal.' I exhale slowly, I feel warm... and a bit tingly.
All in all, it's a nice feeling.
I crack open my eyes, seeing a bright golden ball of light exploding in my right hand, it seems to coil and wrap around arm, streaks of golden healing light circling my form.
Spoiler
After around four more seconds I clench my fist, snuffing out the spell and let out a single pant of exertion.
That is mildly tiring.
I kept it active for around twenty seconds, but I'm mostly out of energy now.
Regardless, I can feel my reserves begin to slowly trickle back into me.
At this current rate I bet I could be back to full energy in... thirty minutes.
My hands shake briefly as a bright smile splits my face.
I've got magic!
REAL magic!
Even if it's just basic healing, I can still use something I could only dream of using previously.
I slink out of the tube, book in hand, turning what appears to be a several hundred foot fall into a simple two foot one as my body grows in size rapidly upon exiting the tube.
What now? I can't really test my fire spell inside a wooden house... and it's still raining, so I'll postpone that learning that for now.
Alchemy?
It's always good to learn more about alchemy.
I sit my book aside on the little makeshift bookshelf Tsukasa brought me.
Said girl is somewhere within the tunnel network she imbedded into my- our house. She wisks herself away to her proverbial man cave... what's the feminine version of man cave? She Cave?
She shed! It was she shed.
Anyways, she seems to have a 'she shed' somewhere within the tunnels, and to be fair, I haven't even really explored all of them. A lot of the pathways just look the same, all things considered.
'Ah! Wait! Winterhold check!' I crouch down, opening the door.
My breath catches in my throat as I gaze up at a large, frankly perilous looking, stone bridge leading up to a large building precariously balanced on a large spire of earth.
Spoiler
THAT'S IT!
"Tsukasa!" I call out into the home. "Can you bring me the pot, the cloak, the hat, and the knapsack?!"
A small pot clangs to the floor as it is pushed out of a nearby pipe, I stand up, I put a hat on my head, the nonmagical newsboy cap, that is, not the cannon one, then begin the process of hiding my tail, wrapping the fluffy appendage tightly around my waist and pulling my pants up slightly over it.
The satchel strikes the floor a moment later, followed by a red cloak and a floppy little wizard hat.
A head pokes out of the pipe. "What about the horn?"
"Oh, I told another guy that he'd be the first I bring any magical instruments to. I don't plan to break my promises."
"Hn. Alright."
"Thank you, though." I call out. "I... I l-love you."
The girl pauses moments before retreating back into the pipe system, her face flushes slightly. "Y-You too."
She quickly runs away, crawling back through the pipe system.
ugh. we're weird. getting flustered at such simple showings of affection despite the fact I've blown out her back several times per day for the past month.
I grab a small bamboo pipe with a cork in it and pick up the first object, the pot, and haphazardly shove it inside.
I do the same with the hat, then I fold the hood and place it within the pipe as well.
It feels a bit heavy, but it is still easily held within a single hand, I smirk and crawl outside after slipping the satchel of soldier summoning on my shoulder.
I probably won't sell that thing in particular, however I'm not about to NOT take it with me. There's no telling what I might run into getting to Winterhold... even if it is probably only a thousand foot walk from my portal to the entrance of the college.
I rise to my feet on the other side of the portal, the sound of snow crunching underneath my socks and geta sandals.
I can feel my socks getting a little bit wet, causing me to idly curse Japanese footwear.
I begin marching my way up the steep hill towards Winterhold, making sure to keep track of my surroundings.
After around five minutes, it appears my caution was unwarranted.
My eyes stray over a few white plants with red berries.
Snowberries.
The most valuable part of the plant being, of course, the snowberries themselves. It is an extremely resilient plant, capable of growing anywhere in Tamriel, be it the icy hellscape of Winterhold, or the swampy... well, swamps of Blackmarsh. It can be ground up into a paste that is an insulator better than most furs. Some tailors place an even layer of this pulp in between sheets of cloth to make better winter clothing. This process does make the creation of the clothes quite a bit more expensive as it takes around fifty berries to insulate even a square foot of cloth.
I blink repeatedly, shaking off my daze.
Snowberries huh... they're a bit different from the snowberries we have in my previous world. those are typically white... also poisonous.
I might grab a few on my way back.
I turn and continue walking, turning as I come around a watch tower, walking along the stone bridge into said tower until I enter the small- and a little sad- town of Winterhold.
As I turn and begin walking up to the watchtower, a yellowish skinned elven woman spots me, calling out to me as I approach. "Cross the bridge at your own peril. The way is dangerous, and the gate will not open. You shall not gain entry."
"Why not?" I question.
"You people only complain. I will not have you disturb our school any further. We have students learning here. Nord superstition will do them no good right now."
I glance around slowly and begin speaking again. "I believe... there is a slight mistake."
She seems to take in my full appearance, looking over my fairly exotic clothing. "Hold on... you aren't from around here... are you? I apologize. I am just used to Nords from the town coming over and creating problems for those within our walls. But you are different. I can see that now. What brings you to the College of Winterhold, stranger? Do you seek to join?"
"I do dabble in some magic here and there, but that isn't necessarily the reason for my visit today." I smile kindly. "I am something of a traveling merchant... and I have gained a few items with... let's call them interesting enchantments. I am looking to part with some of them... I could have dropped by any hold's court wizard, but frankly, I don't think anyone but the college would give these items the true respect they deserve."
"Respect?" The woman echoes.
"Plus, I'm open to bartering... and am mostly self-taught. I've heard that the college has the most extensive library in Skyrim. I'm open to trading for some copies of books." I hum, a bright smile on my face.
"A self taught wizard, hn? That's quite rare. might I see you cast a spell? I typically only allow a certain... quality... of people to enter the school... mostly to prevent blustering and bluffing Nords from walking in and disrupting our students."
"Oh sure, sure... I'm sort of lucky I figured this one out earlier today, then... this is my only spell, but I've only been learning magic for about a month or so."
The light of basic restoration magic appears in my hand as I cast the spell, warm light swirls across my body as I cancel the spell a few seconds later.
"You have only been learning a month?! That was quite an impressive healing spell for only that much learning. Are you facing any issues? I noticed you ended it quite swiftly. I might be most experienced in Destruction magic, but I do at the very least know a bit about healing magic of that level."
"Oh, I was working on it shortly before and spent most of my magical power, I'm sitting at about twenty percent right now and I don't want to use much more."
"Ah. I see. Very well, this is more than enough to enter the college. Please, follow me." She turns and begins slowly walking along the precarious stone bridge leading up to the school. "If you do have unique enchantments as you say, you will want to speak to our enchantment specialist, Sergius Turrianus. But he is quite... Cranky, so if you do interrupt whatever it is he is doing, I had better hope your enchanted items are as impressive as you say."
"I've got a pot that can create infinite food, a hat which can shoot an apple-sized ball of steel faster than most bows can shoot arrows, and a cloak that has an enchantment that changes to the weakness of whatever attacks you... plus my bag here."
I tap my knuckles on the bag, causing a blue spectral knight to appear behind us with a flash as we continue walking. "But I'm not too keen on selling the bag. It's probably my only way of defending myself as I am now."
I can see the woman's eyebrows shoot upwards. "Yes... those do indeed sound quite potent. I can see why you would want to travel directly to the college to sell those. Anywhere else and you would probably get a poor deal... except for the pot, at least, you could have probably gone to either the Storm Cloaks or the Imperials and gotten a lucrative deal there."
"Or they could 'Collect it for the war effort' and given me a pat on the back and two copper septims for 'graciously donating it' at sword point." I frown.
"That is... fair... the chance that they would do that certainly isn't zero." The woman nods slowly. "Without enough reputation, or the backing of a powerful group, it is likely that they would do those acts to streamline their war effort. Why pay a simple merchant when that money could be used to buy more weaponry and supply?"
As we leave the bridge and step into the larger courtyard of the college, there is a slight pop as a figure appears next to us with a flash of light.
The high elf's eyes widen slightly as she looks at the man. "Ah. This is great timing... merchant- whom I now realize I never asked the name of- this is the Archmage of the school, Savos Aren."
"Hello." I nod my head slightly.
"Greetings." The man with ash grey skin nods, his blood red eyes looking over me with intrigue, flicking back between myself, the bag at my hip and the summoned spectral knight behind me.
Spoiler
"Interesting..." He mutters quietly.
"My name is Argo." I begin.
"You have heard my name and Title from Faralda here, it is a pleasure to meet you, I have... never seen your kind before within these walls... Lilmothiit, correct?"
"What the hell is a Lilmothiit?" I mutter under my breath.
"No?" The archmage question. "Hn. I had assumed that with the vulpine features you were a... hm..."
"Pardon?" The elven woman mutters.
"Ah. So you noticed. I guess that's to be expected." I lowly hum as I take off my hat, causing my ears to spring up.
I shift my pants slightly, allowing my tail to uncurl. "Ah. That's better."
The high elf woman can only look at me in confusion as I slip my hat back on my head, tail gently swaying behind me. "You're wrong about a me being... lil-moth-iit' or whatever, I am a Kuda Gitsune. And I am here to sell some pretty potent magic items."
"If they are anything like your bag there, I have a feeling that we could come to an arrangement." The man smiles. "Now, shall we get out of the cold to negotiate?"
With a snap of his fingers we are suddenly elsewhere. Or, at the very least, him and myself.
Ah. The Archmage's quarters.
He gestures to a nearby table. "Please, have a seat. Would you like anything to drink?"
"No, I'm fine. I've got basically all I need." I reply easily as I walk over to one of the chairs that seem to be pulled out by telekinesis and take a seat.
I draw my gaze away from the assorted plant life growing nearby before a headache can strike me. Quite a few rarer ingredients appears to be growing here and my 'Green Thumb' power is drooling at the prospect of giving me knowledge that i probably won't remember... speaking of knowledge, write down what i learned about snowberries with them being incredible insulators.
The Archmage of the college smiles slightly as he takes a seat across from me. "Now... tell me of these magic items of yours and we can decide a price."
Well, I hope you all enjoyed! Argo is selling to the big leagues now. Finally offloading a bunch of his ill-gotten gains. Plus he and Tsukasa bonded a little. That's fun!