If you want to read 20 Chapters ahead and more, be sure to check out my P-Tang12!!!
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(A/N: Don't forget to give those power stones to Skyrim everyone!)
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Aerion drew the Black Prism from its scabbard. The dark ebony metal flared with its sinister, blood red aura, humming with eager, apocalyptic lethality. "Stay sharp, Jenassa," Aerion commanded, stepping off the balcony and walking slowly down the wide stone steps toward the glowing central pedestal. "The light here will begin guiding us deeper. Meaning that the shadows are waiting for them to strike us."
Aerion stood at the bottom of the wide stone steps, his golden eyes locked onto the intricately carved central pedestal. The blinding, concentrated laser of pure white light, fired directly from the heavens by the Daedric Prince, was striking the flat stone surface of the housing, waiting to be directed.
He approached the pedestal, noting the complex, heavy stone mechanisms built into the floor. Aerion murmured, his tactical mind dissecting the ancient architecture. "We must guide her divine presence through the darkness to break Malkoran's seals."
He reached out and firmly pressed both hands against the heavy stone housing of the pedestal, pushing downward with his magically enhanced strength.
With a loud, grinding screech of ancient stone rubbing against stone, the internal gears shifted. The top of the pedestal split open like a blooming flower, and a massive, flawlessly polished crystal sphere slowly rose from the center.
The moment the heavenly laser struck the exposed crystal ball, the light did not merely pass through it. It was captured, magnified, and violently refracted.
A secondary, equally blinding beam of white light shot horizontally across the massive chamber, striking a second crystal mounted high on the far wall. That crystal instantly bounced the beam to a third, which bounced it to a fourth, creating a brilliant, zig zagging web of divine energy across the ceiling.
The final beam struck a heavy, rune inscribed receiver above a sealed stone door on the ground floor.
CLACK. The massive stone door groaned, its heavy locking mechanisms disengaging under the power of the light, and it slowly ground open, revealing a dark, ominous corridor beyond.
"The path is open," Aerion declared, gripping the hilt of the Black Prism. "Stay close, Jenassa."
Aerion stepped through the newly opened doorway, Jenassa covering his flank and Lupin darting nervously between his boots. They navigated a short, descending hallway, the air growing noticeably colder and vastly more foul with the stench of necrotic rot.
They emerged into a wide, sprawling chamber. The architecture strongly resembled an ancient lecture hall or a grand amphitheater. Heavy, tiered stone benches curved around the room, all facing a central, elevated stone platform where another dormant pedestal awaited.
However, the hall was not empty.
Skittering among the stone benches, their forms twisting and shifting in the dim light, were the Corrupted Shades. They were horrifying entities, the trapped, defiled souls of fallen soldiers. They possessed no physical bodies, existing only as swirling, freezing clouds of pitch black smoke shaped vaguely into humanoid silhouettes.
Despite their ethereal nature, their glowing, malevolent white eyes burned with hatred, and their shadowy hands gripped completely solid, ancient iron swords and heavy battleaxes.
The moment Aerion stepped into the room, the shades turned their glowing eyes toward him. A chorus of hissing, chilling whispers echoed off the stone walls.
"Defilers," Jenassa spat, her crimson eyes narrowing. With a synchronized schwing, she drew her heavy Orcish Dagger in her left hand and her Frost Steel Sword in her right, dropping into a lethal, low crouch.
Aerion did not hesitate. He raised his left hand, tapping deep into his Restoration matrix. He bypassed the standard healing spells, pulling forth the pure, uncompromising essence of holy light. A brilliant, burning orb of white, purifying magic ignited in his palm, completely banishing the shadows around him.
In his right hand, the Black Prism hummed with absolute lethality, its blood red aura pulsing eagerly.
"Burn them out!" Aerion commanded.
Jenassa lunged forward with terrifying speed, closing the distance on a shade wielding a heavy battleaxe. The shade swung the iron weapon in a wide, decapitating arc.
Jenassa effortlessly ducked beneath the heavy iron, her Frost Steel Sword slicing cleanly through the entity's smoky torso while her Orcish dagger plunged into where its heart should have been. The shade let out a high pitched, ethereal shriek before dissolving into a puddle of harmless black ash.
Aerion waded directly into the center of the fray. A dual wielding shade rushed him from the left.
Aerion thrust his left hand forward, unleashing a highly concentrated blast of Purify. The holy light struck the corrupted shade directly in the chest. Because the magic was specifically calibrated to utterly eradicate necrotic energy, the effect was catastrophic.
The shade didn't even have time to scream, the blinding white light incinerated the black smoke instantly, erasing the entity from existence and sending its iron swords clattering uselessly to the stone floor.
Another shade lunged from his right, bringing a heavy iron greatsword down toward his skull.
Aerion sidestepped effortlessly, raising the Black Prism. He swung the dark, terrifyingly enchanted ebony blade in a tight, brutal arc, slicing straight through the shade's shadowy neck.
The quadruple enchantment matrix of the Black Prism triggered simultaneously. A burst of localized plasma incinerated the shade's edges, absolute zero frost shattered its core, violent purple lightning fried its magical binding, and the necrotic pull of the Soul Trap utterly consumed the remnants of its essence.
The shade was annihilated in a spectacular explosion of multi colored magical violence.
Lupin, possessing absolutely no combat capabilities against ethereal undead, wisely bolted under the lowest stone bench, curling into a tight ball and waiting for the violence to end.
The battle was remarkably fast and entirely one-sided. While the shades were terrifying to look at, they were brittle. Aerion's martial and magical prowess was simply too overwhelming. He carved through the remaining entities with precise, devastating strikes of his sword and blinding blasts of his holy magic.
Within a minute, the lecture hall was completely silent, the floor littered only with piles of black ash and rusted iron weapons.
As Aerion lowered his blade, the golden text of his systemic interface cascaded rapidly in his peripheral vision, detailing the massive influx of combat experience.
[One Handed Leveled Up 9 Times! Current Level: 85]
He acknowledged the martial growth, but his eyes narrowed as he checked his magical progression. His Restoration (Purify) matrix had not leveled up at all, despite extensive use. It was locked firmly at Level 100. It had reached the absolute maximum threshold of mortal mastery.
To stagnate is to die, Aerion thought coldly. He refused to let any skill hit a ceiling.
He opened his internal menu and focused entirely on the glowing, completely filled Restoration skill tree. He engaged a highly specific, reality altering mechanic that he had heavily relied upon in his past life to break the level caps.
He initiated the Legendary Protocol.
"Reset the skill," Aerion commanded mentally.
A profound, jarring sensation washed over his mind. It felt as though a massive, intricately constructed library of medical and holy knowledge had suddenly been wiped clean from his brain. The absolute, effortless mastery he had possessed over Restoration magic vanished, replaced by a raw, foundational understanding.
[Restoration Matrix Reset to Level 0.]
[Skill Status Updated: Restoration (+1)]
He had willingly surrendered his peak efficiency, but in doing so, he had completely removed the level cap. He could now level the skill indefinitely, farming it for infinite attribute points and overall level scaling.
Aerion flexed his left hand. The Purify spell still ignited in his palm, but it took slightly more focus, slightly more Magicka to maintain. It was perfect.
He walked up the steps to the raised stone platform in the center of the room. He slammed his hands down on the dormant pedestal. The stone ground open, the crystal sphere rose, and the divine laser shot across the room, striking the receiver and throwing open the heavy iron doors at the back of the hall.
"Move," Aerion ordered.
They left the lecture hall, stepping through the doorway and entering a long, narrow, descending hallway lined with burial urns.
They had barely taken ten steps before the air temperature plummeted. Materializing directly from the stone walls, completely blocking the narrow passage, was a massive, tightly packed phalanx of Corrupted Shades.
Aerion immediately adjusted his tactical approach. With his Restoration matrix reset to its baseline, he needed to force its rapid growth.
With a slick, metallic schwing, Aerion sheathed the Black Prism at his hip. He raised both hands, pulling deeply from his massive 570 point Magicka pool.
"Take the rear guard, Jenassa! Cover me!" Aerion shouted, dual-casting the holy magic.
Brilliant, blinding orbs of Purify ignited in both of his palms. He didn't swing a blade, he simply became a walking, continuous flamethrower of holy light. He marched directly into the phalanx of shades, unleashing concentrated, twin beams of blinding white energy.
The narrow hallway became a slaughterhouse of light. The shades shrieked as the dual cast Purify spells washed over them, their smoky forms violently boiling away into nothingness.
Jenassa adapted instantly. She sheathed her melee weapons and unslung her heavy Dwarven Bow from her back. She nocked an arrow, the specialized fire enchantment on the bow limbs flaring to life.
Standing just behind Aerion's right shoulder, she began systematically sniping the shades that managed to slip past his holy barrage, her flaming arrows detonating against their shadowy forms and burning them to ash.
The concentrated, relentless usage of the newly reset magic triggered an explosive wave of systemic growth.
[Restoration (Purify) (+1) Leveled Up 12 Times! Current Level: 12]
The rapid skill progression instantly forced his overall power threshold over the edge, twice in rapid succession.
[LEVEL UP! You are now Level 100!]
[LEVEL UP! You are now Level 101!]
[You have gained 2 Attribute Points!]
Aerion felt the familiar, intoxicating rush of cosmic energy flood his neural pathways. Reaching level 100 was a monumental psychological milestone, but practically, it just meant more raw power to allocate.
Because he was heavily relying on dual casting expensive Restoration spells, he funneled both of the newly acquired attribute points directly into his Magicka pool. A cooling, expanding wave of blue energy rushed through his veins, further widening his arcane capacity.
[Magicka increased by 20! Current Magicka: 590/590]
[Unspent Attribute Points: 0]
With the hallway completely cleared of hostiles, Aerion lowered his hands, letting the holy light fade to conserve energy.
They continued their march down the corridor, passing the piles of ash and rusted iron, until the hallway widened into a small, dead end antechamber.
Resting against the far wall was a heavy, unlocked wooden chest.
Aerion stepped up, throwing the lid open. He bypassed a ruined pair of leather boots and immediately collected the raw wealth hidden beneath.
[Gold Acquired: 450 Septims. Current Septims: 78,901]
[Items Acquired: Garnet (1), Sapphire (1), Ruby (1)]
[Inventory Weight Increased by 0.05 KG. Current Weight: 74.69 / 500 KG]
He seamlessly deposited the heavy coins and the precious gemstones into his spatial void.
"Clear," Aerion muttered.
They backtracked slightly, taking the only branching path available, a sharp turn to the left.
The narrow stone corridor suddenly opened up, spilling them out onto the ground floor of an absolutely massive, cavernous chamber.
The room was highly complex, featuring a sprawling lower floor filled with stone pillars, and a wide, wrap around second floor balcony connected by collapsed stone ramps. The divine light from the previous pedestal shot high over their heads, striking a crystal mounted on the upper balcony.
The moment they stepped into the room, the ambush was triggered.
Dozens of Corrupted Shades materialized from the darkness behind the stone pillars on the ground floor, hissing and drawing their melee weapons. But vastly more problematic was the upper balcony. Materializing along the entire second floor railing were specialized, archer class shades. They drew back, wooden bows, nocking arrows made of solidified shadow.
"Incoming!" Jenassa barked, diving behind a thick stone pillar as a volley of black fletched arrows rained down from above, shattering against the stone where she had just been standing.
Aerion didn't bother taking cover. His physical density and magical wards were more than enough to deflect standard projectiles.
He raised his hands, dual casting Purify once again, and began sweeping the ground floor. He incinerated three shades that rushed him from the left, stepping over their ashes as Jenassa popped out from cover to engage a heavy weapon shade in brutal close quarters combat.
However, as another volley of arrows rained down from the balcony, striking his shoulder and harmlessly dissipating against his Alteration flesh spells, Aerion quickly realized a tactical flaw in his current approach.
The Purify spell, while absolutely devastating to necrotic entities in close range, was a concentrated, directional beam. It lacked the massive, explosive Area of Effect required to efficiently clear out a dozen archers scattered across an elevated, entrenched position.
"We need artillery," Aerion growled, dropping the Restoration magic.
He shifted his arcane focus entirely, tapping into his highly destructive Destruction magic.
He didn't bother using scrolls; he wanted the raw skill experience. He pulled massive amounts of thermal energy from his expanded Magicka pool, compressing the heat into his palms.
"Burn!" Aerion commanded.
He thrust his hands upward, hurling massive, highly volatile orbs of Fireball directly toward the second floor balcony.
The fireballs arced through the air, striking the stone railing and detonating with deafening, explosive concussive force. Massive shockwaves of superheated plasma washed across the upper floor.
The archer shades, caught in the explosive radius, shrieked as the sheer thermal energy violently disrupted their shadowy forms, blasting them into ash and sending their ancient bows clattering down to the ground floor.
Aerion became a mobile artillery platform. He strode through the center of the room, completely ignoring the few remaining melee shades Jenassa was currently dismantling, and systematically bombarded every square inch of the upper balcony with explosive fire magic until the rain of arrows ceased entirely.
As the last flames died down, the system registered the chaotic, dual school magical combat.
[Restoration (Purify)(+1) Leveled Up 9 Times! Current Level: 21]
[Destruction (Fire)(+2) Leveled Up 8 Times! Current Level: 62]
"The room is clear, Patron," Jenassa reported, wiping a smear of black ash from her cheek and sheathing her sword.
"For now," Aerion agreed.
He looked up at the elevated balcony. The stone ramp leading up to the second floor had collapsed centuries ago, leaving a sheer, twelve foot drop.
For a normal scholar, it would be an insurmountable obstacle. For Aerion, possessing 400 points of raw Stamina, it was a minor inconvenience.
Aerion crouched slightly, channeling the kinetic energy into his legs, and launched himself upward. He easily cleared the twelve foot gap, landing smoothly on the stone tiles of the second floor balcony.
Jenassa, possessing the agile, superhuman athleticism of an elven assassin, followed a second later, grabbing the ledge and pulling herself up with practiced ease. Lupin, utilizing his own bizarre magical levitation, simply floated up behind them, landing softly on his paws.
They walked across the cleared balcony, stepping over the scorched ashes of the archer shades, until they reached the third pedestal.
Aerion slammed his hands down on the stone housing. The crystal rose, the light struck, and the beam was forcefully redirected toward a heavy, reinforced iron door at the far end of the balcony.
With a heavy, grinding clack, the iron door unlocked.
They pushed through the doorway, expecting another dark, shade filled corridor.
Instead, they were suddenly, violently hit by a blast of freezing, howling wind and the brilliant, blinding light of the afternoon sun.
They had stepped completely outside the temple ruins.
They were standing on a massive, highly exposed exterior balcony carved directly into the side of Mount Kilkreath. The view was absolutely staggering, overlooking the sprawling, icy mountain ranges of Haafingar and the distant, dark waters of the Sea of Ghosts.
"Keep moving," Aerion shouted over the roaring wind, his dark robes whipping violently around his legs. "We are entirely exposed out here."
Spanning a massive, dizzying chasm between two jagged peaks of the mountain was a narrow, ancient stone bridge, devoid of any safety railings. The drop below was a sheer, lethal plunge into jagged rocks hundreds of feet down.
Aerion led the way, stepping onto the ancient masonry. He didn't look down. He marched across the bridge with absolute, unwavering confidence, Jenassa and Lupin following closely in his slipstream to avoid the brunt of the wind.
They reached the other side of the chasm, stepping off the bridge and onto a solid stone landing. They turned sharply to the left, ascending a steep, snow covered flight of stone stairs leading back toward the cliff face.
Waiting at the top of the stairs was another heavy wooden door, heavily banded with iron, leading directly back into the depths of the mountain.
Aerion grasped the heavy iron ring and hauled the door open, seeking refuge from the freezing gale.
They stepped out of the blinding snow and back into the dark, torch lit, ozone scented environment of the Kilkreath Ruins. The heavy door slammed shut behind them, cutting off the howling wind and plunging them back into the eerie, echoing silence of the dungeon.
They immediately began to ascend. They climbed a wide, steep flight of ancient stone stairs, turned sharply to the left, and walked up yet another set of stairs, moving deeper into the upper levels of the temple.
The architecture narrowed into a small, claustrophobic stone hallway. They followed it for a few yards before it took a sharp right turn.
Aerion stepped around the corner and stopped.
They had arrived in the grandest, most complex chamber of the temple yet.
It was a massive, sprawling room that spanned three distinct vertical floors, interconnected by a chaotic maze of stone ramps, wooden suspension bridges, and elevated platforms.
The sheer volume of the space was daunting.
And more importantly, resting on different elevations throughout the massive room, were three separate, dormant pedestals that needed to be aligned.
The moment they stepped into the grand chamber, the ambient temperature of the room plummeted to absolute zero. The shadows themselves seemed to writhe and detach from the walls.
"Ambush!" Jenassa warned, her blades already drawn.
It wasn't just a handful of shades this time. It was a veritable army. Corrupted shades poured from the dark corners of the ground floor, materialized on the suspension bridges above them, and lined the third floor balconies. There were dozens of them, melee warriors, archers, and heavy weapon brutes, all turning their glowing white eyes toward the intruders.
"Hold the choke point!" Aerion commanded, his tactical mind instantly processing the massive threat.
He didn't draw his sword. This required absolute, indiscriminate crowd control.
Aerion raised his hands, dropping the Fire magic entirely. The architecture here was too complex, fireballs would simply impact the ramps and bridges, leaving the enemies behind them unscathed. He needed magic that could bypass physical cover.
He tapped into his Destruction magic, pulling forth the raw, volatile power of the storm.
"Chain Lightning!" Aerion roared.
He thrust his right hand forward, unleashing a massive, crackling bolt of pure, unadulterated purple electricity. The lightning struck the nearest heavy weapon shade directly in the chest.
But the spell didn't stop there. The volatile electrical matrix instantly sought out the nearest conductive targets. The lightning violently arced from the first shade, chaining directly into a second, then a third, then a fourth, leaping across the open air and striking shades hiding behind pillars and standing on elevated ramps.
The entire ground floor was instantly illuminated in a strobing, blinding purple light as the electricity violently disrupted the necrotic forms, blasting them into ash in a cascading chain reaction.
Simultaneously, Aerion raised his left hand, continuously projecting a massive, sweeping beam of Purify to incinerate any shades that managed to survive the electrical arcs and rush their position.
He was an absolute maestro of destruction, seamlessly weaving the arcing, chaotic lethality of lightning with the precise, burning eradication of holy light.
Jenassa held her ground beside him, acting as a flawless physical bulwark. Any shade that managed to drop down from the bridges above or slip past the dual magical barrage was instantly met by the lethal, swirling steel of her twin blades.
The battle was a deafening, blinding storm of magic and steel. The smell of ozone and burning ash was suffocating.
Aerion continued to pump his massive Magicka reserves into the offensive, chaining lightning up to the second and third floors, systematically eradicating the archers before they could even nock their arrows.
Finally, after several minutes of relentless, unmitigated magical violence, the last arc of lightning faded, and the final blast of holy light sputtered out.
The grand, three story chamber was completely silent, the floors on all three levels thickly coated in the black, shifting ash of the destroyed army.
Aerion lowered his smoking hands, taking a deep, steadying breath.
The golden text of the system interface cascaded wildly, struggling to keep up with the sheer volume of combat experience generated by the dual school slaughter.
[Destruction (Lightning)(+1) Leveled Up 10 Times! Current Level: 29]
[Restoration (Purify)(+1) Leveled Up 7 Times! Current Level: 28]
The massive influx of experience tipped his leveling scale over the edge once more, granting him two rapid advancements.
[LEVEL UP! You are now Level 102!]
[LEVEL UP! You are now Level 103!]
[You have gained 2 Attribute Points!]
Aerion felt the familiar surge of cosmic authority. His Magicka was currently vast enough to sustain prolonged sieges, and his Health was fortified. But the sheer volume of loot he anticipated pulling from the depths of this temple, combined with the physical exertion of navigating the massive ruins, demanded physical endurance and carrying capacity.
He funneled both of the newly acquired attribute points directly into his Stamina.
A rush of boundless, kinetic energy flooded his muscles. His physical fatigue completely vanished, and his lungs expanded, drawing in oxygen with perfect efficiency. The sheer physical density of his body increased slightly, reinforcing his skeletal structure to bear heavier burdens.
[Stamina increased by 20! Current Stamina: 420/420]
[Maximum Carry Weight increased by 10 KG. Current Max Weight: 510 KG]
Aerion flexed his shoulders, feeling incredibly light despite the heavy dark robes and the devastating Black Prism at his hip. "The rest of the enemy are cleared," Aerion announced, looking around the massive, ash covered chamber. He turned his golden eyes toward the three dormant pedestals scattered across the different elevations. "Now, let us align the light and finish this."
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[Main Panel]
Name: Aerion
Race: High Elf (Altmer)
Health: 420/420 Stamina: 420/420 Magicka: 590/590
Level: 99 ➝ 103
Skills: Animal Affinity (MAX LEVEL), Fast Skill Levelling (MAX LEVEL), Fast Magic Mastery (MAX LEVEL), Instant Shout (MAX LEVEL), Destruction (Fire(+2)/Lightning(+1)/Frost) (Level 62/29/89), Restoration (Healing/Purify(+1)) (Level 76/28), Alteration (Level 35), Alteration (Level 20), Illusion (Level 42), Conjuration (Necromancy/Summoning) (Level 37/MAX), Persuasion(+1) (Level 30), Smithing (Level 22), Sneak (Level 33), One Handed (Level 85), Two Handed (Level 65), Lockpicking (Level 35), Archery (Level 72), Enchanting (Level 66), Light Armor (Level 53), Block (Level 70), & Pickpocket (Level 8)
Shouts: Fus (Force), Tiid (Time), Krii (Kill), Feim (Fade), & Su (Air)
[Inventory Panel]
1x Small Sack, Poacher's Axe, Mammoth Tusk, the Golden Claw, Calm Spellbook, Arvel's Journal, Inkwell & Quill, Thief Book, Scroll Of Summoning (Wolf), Scroll Of Healing, Weak Potion of Paralysis, Dragonstone, Golden Staff of Flames, Parchment Rolls Of Mammoths Farm And Loan, Ebony Claw, Orcish Dagger, Jagged Crown, The Mirror, Glass Sword, Ring of Pure Mixtures, Grand Soul Gem (Filled), Reanimate Corpse Tome, Staff of Lightning, Deed to Tundra Homestead, Garnet, Sapphire, & Ruby
2x Potion Of Ultimate Magicka, Common Soul Gem (Empty), Black Soul Gem (Empty), & Elven Sword
3x Glowing Mushrooms, Potions of Minor Stamina, & Black Soul Gems (Filled)
4x Potions of Minor Magicka & Spider Eggs
5x Lesser Soul Gem
8x Iron Arrows & Ancient Nord Arrows
9x Potions Of Minor Healing
Weight: 73.74 KG / 510 KG
Septims: 78,901