Dragonborn Chapter 68: A Question, A Request

{Interesting place!}

"Whoops!"

My room from two decades and a half ago!

Messy as ever!

"This is the day when I first played Skyrim!"

I could see my past self sitting like a noob and starting 'TESV: Skyrim' for the first time.

{The amount of knowledge in this memory is more than expected! Please give me time to process it!}

"Boy oh boy! If you lagged on me now I might have to go through childhood all over again, you know! Not nice Augur, not nice!"

{The process is complete! I must admit. I didn't see that coming!}

"Listen! If we are talking about the maze of 'New Folders' in my PC, then please, that was a long time ago! I started to only watch online after a short time from this memory."

{I have no understanding of what you are talking about! I was actually expecting something less!}

"Weren't you the all knowing almighty ent.i.ty a while ago?"

{There are limits for even me when it comes to divination. But I can read it from your memories now.}

"I hope you don't get any Terminator weird ideas from the movies I watched."

{More importantly what is that?}

"Oh! This goes like this....."

I started explaining the game to Augur.

The me from the memory was watching the game's first cut scene that occurs in Helgen.

I felt a bit of sad when I looked at the past me. Back at that time, I wasted a lot of time on gaming and was a bit of a shut-in. It affected my relationships and social interactions for a long time. I also didn't have friends.

Well, thanks to the reincarnation, I have no internet or social media, so I have to entertain myself and socialize the normal way for humans. Thanks to that, I had a great second chance of childhood.

Back to the current events, the light ball, aka Augur, was watching and a.n.a.lyzing everything on his own so I didn't need to explain anything to him. After all, we are in my brain.

{Will the past you keep changing the character's appearance that much?}

"Ah! Yes, the character creation normally takes some time, wait for it."

*two hours later*

"I swear! I don't remember staying that long creating my first character!"

"It's probably the nose. Always the d.a.m.n nose! Do you know people get this weird feeling in their noses when they edit the character's nose?}

"I forgot! You are a ball of light after all. You don't even have a nose."

*One hour later*

Taking three hours to create a character! Yep, sounds like me.

"Now, where were we?"

{Helgen is smaller than the real version of it!}

"Wait until you see Whiterun! That time, my family's farm was larger than it."

{The magic is really simplified, and like the College, it excluded Mysticism!}

"Smart move from the Game! Stupid from the College!"

{This 'Effect Menu' is a good idea!}

"Indeed, but too long!"

We started going into a heated discussion. The Augur said before that by losing his flesh, he lost all sorts of mortal desire.

It was clearly obvious from the way he spoke. He normally uses fluent language to hide his lack of emotions and to not freak people out.

In my opinion, this is a survival instinct. He realizes that he shouldn't freak people out, else it would lead to his demise. Same goes for his desire to exist and staying alive with no physical body and to seal his destroyed 'Astral Body', that also made his desires obvious.

More over, to exist is to have a purpose! There is something he is after, and that's why he needs to exist. Maybe gathering knowledge or trying to recreate a mortal body once again, or maybe achieve the 'CHIM' and become a G.o.dly existence. One can't just think of how many possibilities that The Augur might be after.

{Such a logical thinking!}

"Get out of my head! And stop talking like a machine."

{Calculations proved that you may appreciate it that way!}

This is really tiring.

After the first memory, we pa.s.sed from one to another, and from my old family house to the apartment in Alexandria.

I could feel the same feelings of the s.p.a.ce of the memory.

And d.a.m.n!

There is nothing like Alexandria in summer. The sea breeze is amazing.

{If you like it this much, I recommend visiting the area of Illiac Bay or Summerset Isle.}

"You became one talkative fellow, didn't you? Did my brain affected you that much. Gotta admit, I feel proud."

{I see that you liked to play the game more than one time by changing the things you refer to as 'Mods'. But what exactly is that thing flying in the game?}

That? Oh! Thaaat...

"Thomas the Tank Engine!"

{Isn't that supposed to be a dragon?}

"Well, there is no limit for imagination when you are a modder, right?"

This took some b.l.o.o.d.y long time!

I was worried but the Augur told me that the time flow in my brain is much faster than real time.

The Augur asked for many information to gather. It took him two 'brainy' days to gather all what he wanted.

{I muat complain about the lack of that 'Scientific Knowledge' in your memories. There are indeed many good memories but they will need many years of work on and a.n.a.lyze all of them.}

"Weren't we here for the information about the game?"

{We finished that a long time ago. Excuse my rudeness but I was in awe of the otherworldly knowledge you carry. It proved of immensely high value. Invaluable I would say. If it was the mortal me, I am sure I would be shaking from excitement and wonder!}

"Yep... just what I needed."

This is seriously scary.

I knew why the protagonists from the novels don't show off their past life origins. Still, I stupidly had to do it.

Actually, I was a bit desperate.

I don't know what is going on with my body and this blue ball of light is taking it easy in my head gathering all sorts of data.

{Please don't be alarmed! I am not seeking any harm. I also plan to repay the knowledge I obtained with the thing that you need.}

"Thank you, but do that before you turn from blue to red and start calling yourself 'Sky Net'!"

{Please give me a second! We will be out of the memory tunnel in no time!}

"If you are going to talk like a machine, say it with a countdown!"

My head hurts.

Why my head hurts?

The piece of florescent took me to a memory trip before I get myself ready.

And my body fell before I take a good position.

{Now, I guess it is my time to answer questions!}

"My body?"

{The 'Physical Body' is perfectly healthy. The 'Astral Body' however is where the problem lies.}

"I am listening."

{Imagine a 'Cup' made of gla.s.s and filled with a 'Liquid'. The light falls onto the cup and it gives an 'image' for the lookers. The same theory works for the relationship between the 'Soul', the 'Astral Body', and the 'Physical Body'. But there are few twists.}

Okay!

{The 'Soul' is the liquid that fills the 'Cup', the 'Cup' is the 'Astral Body' that contains the 'Soul', the 'Physical Body' is the 'Image' reflected by both. What do you think may happen if any of the three experienced a change'?}

"The other will have the same change."

{Not quite accurate but generally yes. The 'changes' vary in effect and some can cause no harm because the effect is easy to deal with. For example, if a damage was caused to the 'Physical Body' then a healing spell was cast to undo it. How exactly does the spell know that these 'cells' can be regenerated?}

{The answer is quite simple! The 'Astral Body' is the ghost of the 'Physical Body'. They resemble each other in image. The spell simply copies the information from the 'Astral Body' and apply the healing this way. So what if the wound was left with no generation or healing?}

"It would appear as a scar, I mean cause the same image to appear on the 'Astral Body' and be permanent."

{That's what I meant by few twists! The image may not affect the object but the object affects the image. Yet in our example they both affect each other as this was nothing but an example.}

"Returning to the subject, what about my case?"

{Your case and mine are close, didn't you already make a guess?}

"My 'Astral Body' is being affected by the Magicka I absorbed!"

{Not quite accurate! The Energy you gather by your so-called 'Cultivation' is affecting your 'Soul'. The 'Soul' has many different kinds of energies like the 'Magicka', the 'Vitality', and the 'Essence' you use to shout the Thu'um. Every being has these different kinds of energies and they are easily can br trans.m.u.ted into each other, from there comes the 'Aspects' of magic. One of the rules is that the energies must be in harmony with one another. If one increased in an alarming rate like your Magicka, the other energies especially the Vitality will try to keep up.}

"I remember! I remember! When the Protagonists of the Cultivation Novels increased their energy too fast, they have to go into seclusion to stabilize that much energy they gathered into their Dantian or whatever!"

{Exactly! Your past world has a good understanding to energies.}

"But wait a second! By the time I started cultivating, shouldn't the Vitality keep up at least some bit with the Magicka?"

{Here where things started going out of your hand. You always cultivated the Magicka between Heaven and Earth, but one time you broke the habit.}

One time?

I normally cultivated my own way and didn't chan....

No!

There was one time!

That time!

"The Eldergleam Sanctuary!"

{That is right! You cultivated from a source of High Grade Magicka. You enriched your Magicka to the point that the other energies in your 'Soul' didn't get the chance to follow up. Unlike me who gathered more 'Liquid' than what my 'Cup' could handle. You gathered a 'Liquid' that your 'Cup' may shatter from how heavy it is.}

"....."

f.u.c.k me!

{Don't get alarmed! You can stabilize by time and you can heal your 'Astral Damage'.}

"I get the seriousness but what about the troll's vitality problem?"

This is already that bad! I still have to know everything!

{Problem? Didn't you get it already?}

"Huh! Get what?"

{This is the solution, not the problem.}

"Huh?"

{The troll's vitality is a High Grade Vitality, not as high grade as the Magicka from the Eldergleam of course but it is one of the highest in grade between the living! No creatures have vitality like Trolls.}

• • • • • "Huh!"

"So you're saying that I should go, chain up some trolls, and drag them around for vitality source?"

{You can take care of that as you see fit.}

This is actually... weird!

I mean doing that to Trolls can be considered animal brutality but...

Trolls has evil nature and appearance! Even their meat is not edible and their blood can be used for poisons. Their skulls are useful for magical purposes too.

Their is a wide variety of trolls in the world and some of them can be as strong as Giants.

I don't think it would be considered a torture if I just go on troll hunting and absorb their Vitality in the process.

Okay! Let's do that.

"So to stabilize the Magicka, I need to cultivate the Vitality from a certain source. It will increase my physical power and make me stronger... But what about the Stamina?"

{You look at the Vitality from the game's perspective as the Health or what you prefer to call HP. This is an idea that the game creators from your world came up with to give the game more Attributes. But in reality this is a bit different. Think of Vitality as both Stamina and Health. How Vitality works is simple. You lose Stamina and your endurance lessens until a critical point where your Health start getting affected and upon death the Vitality itself crumbles.}

"So it is like that!"

It's indeed logical.

"But didn't the Troll's Essence Potion increase my.. ehem! stamina that time?"

{It was a temporary buff! The area of effect was your p"Thank you I don't want to hear from you!"

This guy is truly an emotionless machine.

"So, Mr Augur. Returning back to the talk about the three components of a mortal thingy. If someone lost a limb then it would affect both the 'Physical Body' and the 'Astral Body' but the 'Soul' will remain intact. Does this mean that for old injuries, if we healed the 'Astral Body', will the 'Physical Body' be healed according to it?"

{It is correct! It will regrow limbs and heal old injuries. Not just that, you can add or alter other functions from the 'Astral Body' directly to cause an effect to the 'Physical Body', something like upgrading your body or your species!}

"Isn't this the same for Vampires and Werewolves?"

{Correct! In the Vampire case you change the Vitality components but that can be manipulated easily by a vampirism infection. Same goes for Were-creatures, they are a combination of two 'Astral Bodies'.}

d.a.m.n!

{And this conversation will lead us to the request you wanted.}

"Right! The request, I need your help desperately, and you know why!"

{Indeed you need it and in normal circ.u.mstances I wouldn't do such a thing if I have no benefit. But I started to see a benefit in helping you. And also, consider it as a repayment for the immense knowledge from your world that I gained from your memories.}

"Thank you!"

{Your soul is indeed different from normal mortals. It is not even Black to begin with but it has the same general properties. It will be much easier for me to do the next process, it will be just like the thing with the Were-creatures.}

I had a question and a request when I came to this place. The question is about my physical condition. But the request is about something different.

I was worried.

If a small ent.i.ty like The Augur can read my mind and know about my truth, what will the bigger ent.i.ties do.

Just think about it.

If a Daedric Prince like Hermaeus Mora the one known as the Demon of Knowledge which the Hero from the game had encountered many times. What will such an ent.i.ty do to gain all the knowledge about a different world from my head.

What about Molag Bal, Mehrunes Dagon, or even Boethiah.

They would covet such knowledge. Much worse, if they can find a way to travel to Earth, how can the consequences be like.

I can't risk a meeting with anyone of them this soon.

{Your fears are a bit too much! I don't think that your past world is something to worry about! I myself don't understand how you got here. What you have to worry about is something else?}

"What is that?"

{Your knowledge. These simple facts that you learned in that high school and these incredible doc.u.mentaries you watched! Do you realize how many theories they debunk in this world? Do you know that the knowledge you see simple is a way to see the world from a completely different perspective? Even the truth about 'et'Ada' (Original Spirits) and how they became the Aedra, Daedra and Magna Ge as we know. Also the truth about the Sun and the Stars. If any being found about this information, it will lead them to either fear it or covet it. Regarding the reaction, it won't end well for you.}

I guess I understand that!

"So will you be able to block the strong beings from seeing in my head?"

{Blocking them is unwise. If you want to make sure that something can't be stolen then hide it in where they least expect, don't put it in a safe that can be easily unlocked.}

"Delvin said that!"

{I will make your memories appear normal and will hide them under another memories. In return I want you to support me with some information from the outside world. I will also see that your growth and development stay monitored under no danger from experiencing another 'Astral Damage' or any 'Cultivation' side effect.}

Oh!

"Thank you! But how are you going to do that when you can't leave the place here?"

{I have developed an idea but it will need someone 'open minded' to try it with.}

"And it is..."

{With the 'Aspects' of 'Soul', 'Divination', and 'Detection' I created a powerful spell known as 'Astral Projection'.}

Suddenly, a small ball of light came from the big one (Augur) and floated beside it.

"Oh! Look at him, resembles his daddy."

{This is merely an 'Out of Body Experience'.}

"Yeah, I remember reading about it in some novels."

{This is an extension to my 'Astral Body', it will merge into your 'Astral Body'}

"You said something about solving it like the Were-creatures! Are you saying you are making me a Wereaugur?"

{This extension will merge with your 'Astral Body' and will hide your memories by creating a fake front above them. It will also keep the Daedric Princes from knowing that you are allying with their enemies, unlike that unrealistic game you played. If you went Boethiah after being an agent to Molag Bal, you won't gain her favor. For last thing, benefit will be applying some of the game knowledge I gained from you to monitor your growth.}

"I understand the first two but how will you do the last one?"

{Easy! Let me merge my 'Astral Extension' with you and you will see?}

Fine!

The smaller ball of light shot in me and I felt no charge at all.

{Everything is complete. Showing your status.}

-Name: Jon Dare / Jonhild Fire-Mane

-Race: Human (Nord)

-Age: 15

-Level: 17

-Attributes:

◇Health: 140/140

◇Stamina: 100/100

◇Magicka: 520/520

-Magic:

+Mysticism

+Alterations

+Conjunction

+Destruction

+Illusion

+Restoration

+Powers

+Thu'um

-Active Effect:

Astral Damage: 19%

"Huh! Is that..."