Chapter 23: Library and New Spells
The college of Winterhold was an impressive castle. Rictus thought it was going to be a quick staircase down to the library, but he was wrong. It seemed all the mages had to be in decent shape based solely on the many stairs they would have to walk to the library. There were also significantly more rooms and areas filling the castle. Most floors had classrooms of various sizes where a mage could practice spells, listen to a lecture, study, or just rest in. There was even a large dinning hall directly under the hall of the elements. Rictus figured it made sense there would be a central place people could gather to eat.
There were a lot of mages throughout the college. Some recognized Rictus from the battle in Winterhold, but most ignored him. It was nice to be surrounded by so many mages for once. It made the place seem more comfortable. The college really did give off a school campus vibe. There were so many different kinds of people. All the races were represented, even if there were more of some than others. The age gap was striking to Rictus. He did not see any children, but people seemed to range in age from late teens to seniors.
Rictus finally made it to the library, and it was the most impressive room by far.
The library was a huge, cavernous space filled to the brim with books. The walls were lined floor to ceiling with bookcases. Ladders were spaced evenly around the room so people could reach the top shelves. Mage lights were burning in large chandeliers giving off a warm light to the entire room. Large columns and more bookshelves cordoned off an area in the center of the room where people could gather and not disturb those browsing the various bookshelves. It had various sized tables where mages would take their books to study. There were smaller tables hidden away in some of the book isles for those not wanting to be disturbed. The sounds of whispered conversations, quills and charcoal sticks sliding across paper, and pages turning filled the space with a serene atmosphere.
'This may be the best and most impressive place I have seen in Skyrim so far…'
Rictus couldn't help but be amazed. If he ignored the writing utensils and occasional magic, this place was not too different from the many historical libraries he used to visit as a child. There was a slight weight taken off his shoulders as he was surrounded by the familiar and serene sight. Rictus could spend months here with no problem.
Rictus appreciated all the books as he slowly made his way through the library. Before he knew it, he was standing in front of a large desk covered in books. There was a gruff looking orc sitting behind the desk.
"The reverent look on your face as you moved through the Arcanaeum speaks well to your character. I am Urag gro-Shub. I am the one in charge of the Arcanaeum. In here, my word is law. Disrupt or damage anything here and I will have you taken apart by angry Atronachs. Now, I was warned a new mage may show up. Is there anything I can help you with?"
Rictus was a little stunned at how Urag kept the same exact strict tone no matter what he was saying. He would make doubly sure not to mess with anything here. Even if his magical presence was not the strongest, someone who worked extensively with the collective knowledge found here was not to be trifled with.
"I will do my best to not be disruptive here. I just had a couple questions. The first one is where is your section on Alteration magics? Next, do you sell your books? Finally, do you sell spell tomes here?"
"Alteration related books are found in section B which is on your left as you enter the Arcanaeum. The more modern and used books are found in the middle portions of the shelves. Basic primers and text for children are found near the floor while older texts are found near the ceiling. I do sell some books which were not worthy for collection or if there are duplicates. Spell tomes are not sold here. If you are looking for those, you should go to the Hall of Acquisitions. The Hall of Acquisitions is found across the foyer from here."
Rictus had noticed another door when he came down the stairs, but thought it went to another set of stairs. It made sense for there to be a dedicated place to get spell tomes though. It would be really inconvenient to have to hunt down one of the master mages just to buy spells. Much easier this way for sure.
"Thank you for your help. If I have any more questions, I will ask. Have a good day."
"…Clean your hands before reading one of the books. Make sure you either put it back where it belongs or drop it off here at the desk and one of my assistants will replace it. I will know if it was you who misplaced one of my books."
Rictus nodded his head in acceptance as he made his way to the Alteration section. He was very curious if he would be able to glean any interesting or new ideas.
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The trip and looking through tons of books paid off. There were 3 books which had the largest impact. One was a short story called 'Breathing Water' by Haliel Myrm. It was about a man who wanted to learn a more powerful version of the water breathing spell from a powerful sorceress. It ended with him drowning, but there was section which really stuck out to Rictus.
'…The spells of Alteration are all about uncommon sense. The infinite possibilities, breaking the sky, swallowing space, dancing with time, setting ice on fire, believing that the unreal may become real. You must learn the rules of the cosmos and then break them.'
Rictus found that to be quite impactful in the way he thought about his magic. He had only begun trying to change his spells and alter things on a more fundamental level instead of strictly using the standard spells. There was one part where the man in the story talks about how difficult that sounds, but the sorceress simply pointed at a fish and told him the fish doesn't think it is difficult and they breath water just fine.
Rictus did not think he was quite ready to use all his time for this type of spell casting, but it would be a high priority. Once he became more proficient with his normal spells, he would dive more fully into this aspect of alteration magic. If he could master it, he would basically be able to manipulate reality. That was far into the future though. The book did a good job of warning a spell caster about some of the put falls with this magic. It taught how desire was not enough and the world will end your spells no matter how powerful you are or how much you want it.
Rictus would still take these lessons to heart. Despite his extreme talent in alteration, it would still take a very long amount of time to become proficient.
Another book was also fairly short. Rictus had picked up the old dusty book simply because of the title 'Morrowind's More Mundane Motion Methods.' That alliteration was simply too strong for him to pass up completely. Reading it proved to be interesting. It basically talked about how two spells had gone out of favor due to the Levitation Act of 3E 421. Leap and levitation were widely used before hand, but then the Empire banned the spells in much of its holdings.
Rictus found some paper and writing utensils in order to record how the book taught the leap and levitation spells. Those seemed like a much simpler way to fly around instead of his telekinesis. He would probably still practice with telekinesis but knowing those two spells would still be very useful.
Trying to learn spells the old fashion way was significantly more difficult than using a spell tome. Much more study and practice were required. It was much easier to simply absorb the knowledge from one of the more modern spell tomes.
The final book held the real prize, or at least the more readily available one.
Tooth-in-the-Sea wrote a book called Altering Mysticism. The book was written after the Oblivion crisis by a master in alteration magic. The book talked about how there seemed to be a trend to break up the school of mysticism and how some of the common spells found in that school could easily fall under the alteration category. There were 3 spells he focused on in his musings. The first was Dispel which negated magical effects. Next was spell absorption which allowed the caster to absorb part of a spell cast at them. The final one was spell reflection which simply reflected the spell back at the caster.
These spells were simply amazing. The defensive applications of them were immense. Rictus made it his top priority to work on learning the spells. The book only had the first couple levels of the spells, but that was enough to give Rictus a place to work from. Being able to dispel, absorb, or reflect magic would be great. If he ever had to face another mage, knowing these could be the difference between life and death.
The fact that these were alteration spells made everything even better for Rictus. He seemed to be able to learn more about these spells than he was expecting.
Rictus spent hours working with these spells. He still hadn't quite figured out how to successfully cast them, but he was getting very close. He couldn't take the books with him, but he could copy important parts of them. Between spare sheets of papers and his grimoire, Rictus was able to get all the aspects he thought he would need for the spells.
Rictus finally decided it was probably time to leave. Mostly because the chairs here were incredibly uncomfortable. He could review these back at his room in the Jarl's longhouse which had much comfier seating. With a final stretch, Rictus began putting the books away.
Visiting the hall of acquisitions was next on his to do list. After he got some of the spells he wanted, he would probably go back to the longhouse for dinner and to relax. He was sure the Jarl would want to be talking to him soon about things regarding the new archmage.
The hall was fairly spartan in comparison the Arcanaeum. There was a large dark wooden desk towards the back wall. There was a large metal door along the wall which Rictus assumed housed the various spell tomes. There were 2 imposing looking storm atronachs. Rictus could also discern many various runes and glyphs on the door and surrounding stone. It would seem they take security very seriously here.
There was a gloomy looking Altmer woman sitting behind the desk reading a book. She let out a large sigh and put down her book as Rictus got closer.
"What is it? Another new member looking for spells? I will tell you know, unless you have proper permission from one of the teachers, you will not be able to get any spells."
Rictus was a little stunned. He thought they would simply sell him the books he wanted. He had gotten permission to be there and visit the Arcanaeum. He grudgingly admitted it made sense to restrict who could get spells here or else some unprepared mage might try spells they had no right of using. Before he could answer the lady, another person entered the room.
"Rictus? I didn't expect to see you in here. What are you doing?"
Faralda approached him with a smile. Nothing brings people together like fighting for their lives.
"Oh. I came here to try and buy some spells, but it seems like I won't be able to do that since I don't have permission."
Faralda waved away his concerns.
"Nirya, please allow Rictus to have access up to expert in every school except destruction, keep that one to adept. Sorry Rictus. We try and limit the more powerful destruction spells as much as possible. I don't see you abusing them, but rules are rules. I can only do this much because I was actually on my way to warn Nirya you may be coming around. The archmage gave you permission to buy spells here."
As Faralda was speaking, Nirya appeared more and more annoyed at her. Rictus could easily tell Nirya did not like Faralda. Rictus was curious about the story there, but decided there were better things to do for now. Nirya continued to stare daggers at Faralda as she handed Rictus a list of the available spells.
Faralda and Rictus made some small talk as Rictus browsed for what he was wanting. There were a few spells Rictus thought would be very useful. He selected quite a few spell tomes from the list.
1. Cure minor sickness
2. Steadfast ward
3. Invisibility
4. Muffle
5. Clairvoyance
6. Sparks
7. Frostbite
8. Lightning cloak
9. Whirlwind cloak
10. Lightning bolt
11. Summon flame atronach
12. Summon storm atronach
13. Bound dagger
Rictus was a little disappointed they only seemed to have a cure minor sickness spell, but it was better than nothing. He made a note to visit that temple in Whiterun since they focused on the healing arts. He got a fair amount of destruction spells since they were always handy and lightning spells were always his favorite. The cloak spells were purchased because watching the fight between Morrigan and Ancano showed how powerful those could get. The atronach spells just to add a little variety to his summons. He loved Billy the goat, but he was not as practical in all situations. Rictus really hoped the Clairvoyance spell worked better than it did in the game. Invisibility and Muffle were always useful for when he wanted to be extra sneaky. He also got a couple tomes of candlelight as a gift.
Rictus put all these books into his storage area once he got them. He was not going to learn them all at once like his Skyrim character. If he did that here, he was likely to forget how to effectively use the spell. It would be like reading 13 different books about 13 different subjects and then having to take tests of all of them. Possible, but very easy to mess up or confuse some parts. Also, shoving that much knowledge into one's mind is not a good thing, especially when it involves some expert level spells. The higher the level, the more intense the transfer. He would get to them when he could. Better to have and not need then need and not have.
Faralda and Rictus continued to chat as they left the Hall of Acquisitions. Nirya was staring hatefully at Faralda the entire way. Faralda turned to Rictus as they were about to go up the stairs.
"You want to go get a drink? I have the rest of the day off, and it has been extremely busy. Besides, I owe you one for your help in everything which happened recent."
Rictus had a quick moment of PTSD when thinking about drinking. He quickly shook it off though. Faralda was no Daedric prince.
"Sure thing. I was just about to head out anyways. We can go to the tavern in town if you want. Most mages wouldn't be welcome, but they seem to like you for all you did during the battle. I could use some intelligent company who actually knows something about magic."
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[A/N]: I liked some of the spells more than others. It will still be awhile before our MC actually learns or uses most of them so don't get your hopes up too much. If there are better spells which seem to fit better, please let me know.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Pepey_LePew
Pepey_LePew I hope you like the story so far. If you like it or have anything to add to it, please let me know. I enjoy hearing tips on how to do better. For those of you still bothering to read these authors notes, I appreciate you even more. Your dedication to the art of reading is really top notch, even if you are wasting your time. I would reward you if I could, but alas it cannot be so. Maybe in another life or on another platform it would be possible, but not here.
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