[Encanto] 18 – Rituals and Projects

I had a sudden realization. I needed a soul gem that surpassed that of a regular Greater Soul Gem in size and quality but wasn't as expensive as a Grand Soul Gem. Then, my own mind supplied me with something I had forgotten: the Star of Azura. 

The Star of Azura was a Daedric Artifact of the Daedric Prince of Dusk and Dawn, Azura. It's purpose? It functioned as a Soul Gem that could accept the size of any soul, Petty, Grand, or Dark; it did not matter; it could use them all at 100% efficiency. The Star of Azura allowed even a novice enchanter to enchant an object with no loss to the quality of the enchantment or loss of power. You see, even a master enchanter would lose some of the power of a soul when enchanting an item. 

For example, a Novice enchanter's efficiency would be around 15%, losing nearly 75% of the power of the soul, while a master would lose maybe around 5% or less. Still, even the best can't use a Soul for its worth, with only Legendary Enchanters capable of doing such a thing. So, of course, the Star of Azura was a highly coveted item by Enchanters across Tamriel and the Summerset Isles.

However, if I could get my hands on it, perhaps I could set up some kind of array that could allow the Star to act as a conduit for Soul Gems or even as a sort of battery for all of the enchantments in the area, though to do that, I'd also have to set up some funnel that would pour trapped souls into the Star constantly to keep it at full capacity.

Though that wasn't entirely the reason why I wanted to get my hands on the Star, I also wanted to study it. I knew that there existed Soul Gem mines across the continent, but what if by studying the Star and some experimentation, I could make an artificial Soul Gem even better than a Grand Soul Gem, the largest natural Soul Gem mined from said mines?

If I could create such a Soul Gem, then it could act as the core for many of my rituals and even allow me to create new ones, but first, I had a better idea.

I, with the help of Savos, already had a few of the Alchemy Gardens in the Midden that are tended to by the students and teachers alike, so the College was getting a passive income from the Potions and spare alchemy ingredients we sold for its coffers, but, if only the College were thriving, then the town of Winterhold would only get a bigger grudge towards the College.

With my...excursion a while back, the town had gained a bit of wealth and even a ship that was being manned by fishers, supplying the town with food and more things to sell, but I wanted to turn this province of Skyrim into the wealthiest. So...I developed a spell.

It was a Journeyman-level Mysticism spell that I personally created. I modeled it off of a 'Sense Living' spell; the only difference is that I designed it to target ore. To do that, I had actually to purchase various raw ore to calibrate the spell correctly, and from there, due to its level, the spell could only scan everything within a 200-meter radius around the caster. However, I could, with extra cost, widen the area of search so long to upwards of a thousand meters, still not as much as I'd like, but if it could help me provide the town with more sources of revenue, it would have to do.

Climbing out of the Midden and out into the College's courtyard, I felt the bitter cold seep into my robes, but within an instant, I already had [Sun's Embrace] coating my form, giving me a comfortable warmth to fight back against the cold.

Reaching out with my gift, I took hold of my body and took flight, slowly floating up from the ground before taking off at a decent speed.

Strapped to my side was a rather large pouch that jingled with the sound of many coins; luckily, I wasn't going very far as I flew over the chasm and bridge before landing in front of the longhouse.

Noting the few guards patrolling the town, I briefly waved and smiled before heading in. I had gained a bit of...reputation with the townspeople for my work with helping get the town into shape and giving the Jarl an entire damn pirate ship. 

While I knew for a fact that the Jarl still hated Mages with a passion and blamed us for the Great Collapse, I knew I was making amends bit by bit, even if I had to ignore the obvious glare he gave me when I walked in.

"Hey," I greeted the Jarl and his attendants. 

"You okay with me finding some prime locations for setting up more mines along the mountain?" I asked without care.

"What?" The Jarl responded a moment later, confused.

"I asked if you'd be okay with me scanning the mountain range for ore deposits," I repeated, this time slower.

"What do you mean 'Scan?'" The Jarl questioned.

"Essentially, with a spell, I can find raw ore deposits under the mountain, meaning that if I mapped out my findings, you'd be able to set up a series of mines along the mountain and add yet another passive source of revenue to fill Winterhold's coffers," I explained.

He was clearly thinking of something as he went silent and gained that distant look of someone in deep thought, so I walked over to a nearby wall and leaned against it while I waited for the Jarl to formulate a response. I can see the reason for hating the Mages of the College of Winterhold, but it was sheer stupidity to hate Magic in general. Sure, some of it was straight-up diabolical.

Still, Magic came in a wide variety of forms, such as spells that could do anything from heal grievous wounds to cure terrible diseases, not to mention the countless spells designed for war, battle, construction, and more. Magic seemingly had very few limitations yet unparalleled diversity; a single mage could fulfill countless roles, and I was doing my best to prove that to the man before me.

The man soon looked upon me and looked straight into my eyes, seemingly to show his seriousness and authority, as he sat confidently in his chair.

 "So be it. You have my permission," The Jarl spoke dismissively.

"Sure, I'll let you know my findings," I waved before turning around and walking out of the longhouse.

My goals were twofold: to help Winterhold and to see the massive statue towering over the mountain on its peak and the single passage through the mountains to reach Winterhold. That statue was built in honor of one entity, the Daedric Prince of Dusk and Dawn, Azura. It was time to meet a God, that is if she actually responded to my attempt at communication.

Though if I remember correctly, said Daedric Prince had a stick shoved far up her ass, so I'd likely have a bit of trouble getting her cooperation or even getting a hold of her artifact. 

I'd rather meet Sheogorath any day of the week over the massive assholes that comprised most of the Daedric and Aedric Gods. At least with him, he'd offer you some cheese before trying to scoop your eyeballs from the sockets and add them to a stew to feed to a random person within Tamriel.