Simon rummaged through the Vampire's ashes with a longsword, pulling out a black hooded robe, a red scale armor, a ruby circlet, a pair of leather boots, black trousers, a letter, and a pouch of gold coins.
The letter, written in ornate Nord script, read: "Kadi, my descendant, the great Lord Harkon is gathering forces. It is believed that he has mastered the secret of Eternal Night. The future of the Bloodline is in our hands. I need you to participate in the attack on those bothersome Stendarr's Vigilants. Kill as many of them as possible. Be wary of their weapons. In critical moments, do not hesitate to sacrifice your life." It was signed: "Your Master, Jonas."
After Simon finished reading the letter, the only name he recognized was Harkon.
Almost all Vampires in Skyrim originate from an ancient clan, the Volkihar. The lord of this "bloodline" is Harkon, an ancient Vampire whose activities can be traced back to the First Era. It is said that he was personally transformed by the Daedric Prince Molag Bal, a Lord of his bloodline, and his wife and daughter are the legendary Daughters of Coldharbour, whose blood possesses the power to defile the sun.
Simon had no interest in the Vampires' activities. What concerned him more were the two warring factions—the Vampires and Stendarr's Vigilants—whose chaotic and dispersed movements might disrupt his secluded life.
For safety reasons, Simon decided to construct watchtowers.
He would enchant various spells that enhance vision onto certain artifacts, then have the Human Undead constantly monitor the Wolf Pack Resting Place and even the nearby Tundra region.
However, Human Undead were too scarce, so Simon had to find a way to set up alarms, which would allow him to substitute the simple-minded Sheep Undead.
The alarm system could be simple: once life or Undead activity was observed, the Sheep Undead would notify the Human Undead through a mental link. The Human Undead would then investigate, and if a threat was confirmed, they would notify Simon. This would ensure both efficiency and reduce errors.
Therefore, the Undead must be granted permission to freely enter and exit The Core.
This was not difficult; bestowing the Epiphyllum Seal would suffice, essentially acting as a key.
Simon created the prototype for a monitor: a staff topped with a shuttle-shaped object. The shuttle was formed from layers of petal-shaped metal sheets, each petal enchanted with various spells like Hawkeye Technique, Detect Life, Detect Undead, Underwater Vision, and so on. Almost every detection spell was enchanted two or three times.
Simon had a Sheep Undead possess it. In an instant, the monitor lit up, and the immense amount of environmental information directly shattered the Undead's logical Core. Then, the Troll watched blankly as his subordinate Undead slowly dissipated into a wisp of smoke.
This was too...
It didn't matter. Simon wasn't discouraged. He realized his mistake: having the Sheep Undead activate all arrays at once resulted in an instantaneous information overload.
So, he stuffed six Sheep Undead into this Undead monitor.
Phew!
The surface of the shuttle boiled with magical energy like a flame, like a soaring torch, its eerie green glow casting a deep shadow over the Wolf Pack Resting Place.
Feeling the surging information stream in his mental link, Simon nodded. The job was done. Next was to establish a logical chain so that the Sheep Undead could distinguish situations that required an alarm.
In short, if a moving living creature was detected, an alarm would be raised. This alone took Simon three days to teach.
Number One was entrusted with the important task of checking alarm messages. He rubbed his hands, his face excited, shouting, "Leave it to me!" His ghostly shouts were hollow, hoarse, and deep. Combined with Number One's expression, he looked like a demon about to eat children.
Simon started his day by inserting gold dust, only stopping after breaking his finger bones twice. Then he practiced Iron Head Skill, hitting his head with a wooden mallet. The more he hammered, the more energetic he became, feeling his mind expand and ideas gush forth. Furthermore, his auditory hallucinations intensified due to the pain, making his mind more lively than a party early in the morning.
After this routine, he would start repairing the fish pond, digging pits, and diverting water. This water, melted from ice and snow, was very cold.
What made Simon feel the magic was the creation out of thin air. The ice and snow shaped by magical energy were real, and when melted, they became flowing water, which was very strange, not to mention the Transmute spell, which was extremely interesting, making money faster than a printing press.
Perhaps at a certain level, he could directly create life. No—Simon had already created life, the three elements. Their bodies and souls were shaped by magical energy, and Simon provided the logic, reason, and emotions. He still didn't know the principle of the entire process, as if it were destined, and he had tried to create elements again, always succeeding.
The elemental life created this way was very weak and consumed a lot of The Core's magical energy. Simon ultimately only kept the initial three elements.
The fish pond was built, but a problem arose.
The water was fresh water.
Simon could only catch saltwater fish.
Should he create a lake?
That would be too much trouble.
The fish pond would be put on hold for now. He would raise freshwater fish later after catching them from the large lakes in southern Skyrim.
Simon crossed out "build fish pond" in his quest log and planned to start building salt pans.
This was easier, just digging square pits in the ice field, separating evaporation ponds and crystallization ponds. The difficulty lay in refining the coarse salt.
If he couldn't figure it out, he would just eat coarse salt. It was all the same.
Simon was very optimistic about this.
He also planned to keep bees, plant apple trees, flowers, and sugar beets...
This workload was a bit too much.
Simon also wanted to develop agricultural machinery...
Another week passed, and the External Armor had not been updated yet.
Jonas saw Simon looking troubled. "What's wrong, sir? You seem unhappy."
Simon saw the boy and remembered he was supposed to build a house.
"Nothing, just too many things to do, a bit busy."
The boy was silent for a moment, then carefully asked, "Then, you'll still come to see me, right?"
Simon smiled, placing his hands on Jonas's shoulders. "Of course."
It was always the younger generation abandoning the older, never the older abandoning the younger.
The boy grinned, chuckling foolishly.
Jonas, he was abandoned by his parents... This was easy to guess. Simon understood without needing to say it and intended to keep this secret well.
"Come, hold out your hand."
The boy obeyed, extending his right hand.
The Troll gently placed his broad palm on the boy's.
A slight prickling sensation in his palm made Jonas frown, but he didn't pull away.
"Done."
Simon withdrew his hand, and the boy saw a beautiful golden pattern appear on his palm.
"What is this? Is it your other dimension?"
"This is a key. That other dimension has a name."
"What name?"
"Land of Serenity."
"That's a beautiful name..."
Simon nodded. "Let's go, I have something delicious prepared for you."
The Troll held the boy's hand, walking slowly along the mountain path outside Winterhold.
Until a scrawny Nord Man, dressed in thin linen clothes and emanating steam, blocked his way.
"Sir, a letter for you!"
Simon's three eyeballs almost popped out.
The temperature was below freezing, and the man was covered in frost.
Skyrim's couriers... were incredibly hardcore!
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