27 Chapter XVI: Choosing schools and visiting the staff maker

The rest of the week passed in relative peace.

I would visit the guard house in the mornings and work my ass off, thankfully I could already feel some results, abusing restoration to speed up training was apparently a thing and there were very few drawbacks.

I also managed to get the reason why Thorfinn seemed to be constantly pissed. Apparently, his father, who was also a guard, got ambushed by a group of pirates he was trying to negotiate with and now the kid feels powerless to take revenge. Hopefully we will hunt the bastards down, as if I needed any reason beyond looting the shit out of them.

Within the college, all of us got into a kind of routine. The more combative among us would spend some time dueling or practicing every day, while the more 'creative' were constantly trying to get better at their desired skill. Well everyone had a routine except Tiberius, the man was constantly trying to find any way to increase his Magicka capacity in anticipation of his glorious legion, as he called it.

I also spent a bit of time every evening meditating on the thu'um, my progress was minuscule but it was there, and the whole meditation part of it was getting more and more relaxing which helped me with the stress of constant study and training.

Finally, Fredas (Friday) arrived and we were going to choose the three schools we would study for the first year. Everyone was a bit dissatisfied by the limitation, but the Archmage was apparently very adamant about this so we could only accept it.

While understanding why it was in place, I was also irritated by the limitation. There were many things I wanted to learn, but realistically I knew that it would take maybe a month to burn myself out by studying everything.

After pondering this for some time I chose to focus on doing my damn best to survive, the more complex and esoteric schools can come later, well I at least thought so at first but remembering the ease with which I managed to enchant my necklace I just had to choose enchanting as one of my schools.

As for the others....

Illusion was a no-go, it would be useful and could help me avoid fights, but at my skill level it wouldn't be too helpful, it was always going to be a side thing for me.

Mysticism was very interesting and I could already see the mad shit I could potentially do with it, but I also know that truly understanding mysticism is a very time-consuming process and better left for when I have the luxury to study it patiently.

Conjuration was absolutely busted from what I understood, being able to summon a squad of magical monsters at a whim is definitely a very enticing idea. However unfortunately when I think of being powerful I imagine personal power and conjuring a bunch of minions while being a squishy weakling myself is just a massive turn-off for me, I had my flaming bird of death in any case, or was it life?

Alchemy, while it could be interesting at point was an instant rejection, I would probably be able to ignore the professor's bullshit for a couple of weeks maximum.

While I did want to study restoration at first, with Scorch's help I could be more powerful in using it, I realized that it would also be a very time-consuming thing to study. Currently, I have enough skills with restoration and alchemy to keep myself from dying like an idiot, so restoration is also getting delayed, unfortunately.

Alteration is a definitive yes, the defensive spells and general buffs are the perfect addition to any kind of battle strategy I am used to, and Tolfdir also mentioned that he would be teaching us how to use alteration to mold metal for our enchanting if anyone was interested, after hearing that it wasn't really a choice anymore.

And finally destruction... While placing myself under Faralda's 'gentle' care was not an attractive prospect, the school itself wasn't merely learning new spells and throwing them in a straight line. She would teach us battle tactics and how to fight other mages and that was invaluable considering the turmoil that was going to hit the province... Besides, being a wizard without a fireball is just sad.

I spent the rest of the day discussing the choices everyone made with my colleagues, unsurprisingly Morrigan went for the full money-maker route choosing alchemy, enchanting, and alteration, with everyone else also focusing mostly on their initial ambitions in coming here.

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The next morning after finishing my training, instead of heading back to the college, I started walking toward the Telvanni tower looming at the edge of town.

We have finally decided to visit Edrasa's father's tower, mostly to check out the staves in my case, but visiting a massive mushroom was also a fun prospect.

I met the two in front of the tower, apparently named Tel-Moabain after the master's clan, they were currently animatedly discussing something until they noticed me.

Morrigan looked at me with a raised eyebrow "Are you sure it is wise to go in just after you finished your training with the brutes?"

I roll my eyes "They have baths at the guard house, I am not an idiot"

Edrasa interrupts us, hoping to stop a potential bickering match "While my father has been informed of our visit, he will most likely not bother with us for too much"

Our talk is interrupted by the annoyed and pompous voice of an old mer "Oh and why exactly would I not bother with interesting new visitors to my tower?"

Edrasa's eye twitches but she hides it very quickly, she turns toward the presumed Telvanni and introduces him to us "Allow me to introduce my father Dyrren Moabain, master of the house Telvanni" and then speaks to him "I thought you might be busy with another one of your retainers, I didn't want to disturb you" she says with in a fake-sweet voice.

The old mer glares at her for a second, gives a fake-cough, and completely ignores what was said "Who have you brought to my home, daughter?"

She shakes her head and starts introducing us "This is Morrigan, a reachwoman, apparently she didn't like the living arrangements and decided to leave" Said young woman looks very irritated by her story being spread randomly but says nothing except a subdued "Greetings" to the master of the tower.

The old wizard looks at her with interest "Oh, how very intriguing, if you have some time later I would love to learn more about the reach mages, what do they call them... ah yes, the hags.... or something."

Morrigan seems somewhat unwilling, but not being an idiot, she agrees rather quickly.

Edrasa then turns to me "This is Reyvin, another of my colleagues, he seems to be the most talented among us new students, I even heard some teachers praising him when they thought we weren't listening"

I interrupt with a raised eyebrow "This is the first time I've heard of this"

Edrasa giggles "Well of course, you spend every waking moment doing some kind of training or study"

I scratch my cheek "I do, don't I" and turn toward the Telvanni master giving a slight bow "It is an honor to meet you serjo (noble sir)"

He seems very satisfied by my proper conduct "Quite, it is good to see more young Dunmer seeking true power, far too many spend their days on lesser pursuits these days" The last bit is said while giving his daughter a light glare.

"Well we did lose most of our farm tools in the recent years" I say jokingly, trying to diffuse any potential family drama.

He chuckles for a bit "Indeed" and then waves us toward the tower "Follow me inside, I will have a meal prepared and we can discuss a bit about your studies"

Edrasa seems surprised by how welcoming her father is but still follows along.

We are shown to a dining room at the bottom of the tower, Dyrren quickly orders one of his retainers to get a meal ready and we all take our seats.

We spend most of the afternoon partaking of some imported kwama dishes and talking about our studies, at my mention of my apparent enchanting talent Dyrren interrupts me with a glint in his eye "When you are done with your initial studies, you can visit me for a lesson or two in staff making"

Before I can answer I am interrupted by a telepathic message 'Naturally there is a price for this, you will do your damnedest to keep my daughter from getting herself killed on one of your college's idiotic outings'

I ponder for an entire half of a second before nodding "I would be honored serjo" There might be tension between them, but he is still her father.

He hums for a bit and gets back to listening to Morrigan complain about the alchemy master.

Later on we are shown around the nearby staff shop that Dyrren owns, the staves are pricy but their effects are many and powerful. Having spied one I like, I decide to save up for it in the coming months.

Our little group leaves the tower in the evening, all of us mentally exhausted for different reasons. While listening to Morrigan complain about the three hundred inane questions about hagravens she had to answer I call out Scorch to my shoulder and start scratching his head while pondering the coming trials.

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A/n: This marks the end of the second arc of the story, next chapter will be a timeskip and the start of a more combat-focused adventure.

I have set up a patreon page in case anyone wants to support my growing writing addiction and also read a few chapters ahead of time: patreon .com/Rastislav156

(there are currently five early chapters uploaded, keep in mind though webnovel updates will continue as usual)