Lost Narrative Poetry

Xia Ran didn't know until the next day that Lord Balgruf had sent someone to see him yesterday, but it wasn't anything important. The main thing was to tell him that the court mage had special treatment, and that he could have room and board in Longxiao Palace.

Even if it was a temporary replacement, there would be no discount...but he still declined.

First of all, Tianji’s food has not developed much and is still relatively primitive. We had already seen it during the banquet yesterday, such as apple pie, green onion bread, steamed mud crab legs...

The relatively good charcoal grilled lamb chops, boiled beef, etc. are simply a waste of ingredients. I can only say that maybe Xia Ran is not a glutton and does not have any strange skills of "God's Tongue", so I can only conclude that it is certain. At least they have salt.

Secondly, because of his conversation with the temporary leader yesterday, he also felt that he really needed to be wary of Ms. Whisper. It was okay to clock in and work in Longxiao Palace during the day. If he also lived in Longxiao Palace at night...

It was difficult to avoid being noticed when he was wandering around there 24/7. If it wasn't really unseemly and inconvenient, he even wanted to apply to Lord Balgruuf to work from home. Anyway, there was nothing wrong with him. .

Precisely because the accommodation and food conditions were not very attractive, he didn't take it to heart at all.

Lord Balgruuf did not hesitate, so neither party delved further into this matter.

Xia Ran came to the palace mage's workshop. He had visited this place yesterday. It was originally a side hall of Longxiao Palace, but it had been renovated. There was an office that was not too advanced, and behind it were the alchemy laboratory and the enchantment laboratory. Laboratory and library.

This is also different from some of his impressions, but that doesn't matter.

As a palace mage, his current daily task is to perform alchemy and create some special potion, mainly developed by Farenjia before, for the purpose of quickly ripening crops...

This not only made Xia Ran know that Farenjia was indeed qualified to be a court mage, but also gave him a deeper understanding of the reality of this world. This kind of alchemy formula that has nothing to do with the protagonist's attributes, skills, equipment, etc. will not appear in the game at all...

Moreover, the formula of Farenjia is very rigorous. It has probably been optimized and adjusted many times, and the materials used are relatively common.

The most important thing is that what Xia Ran was worried about didn't happen, that is, the formula clearly stated the order in which each material should be added, the interval, and the clear quantity.

It’s not like some cheating recipes that always tell people to “add an appropriate amount of ××,” “add a little amount of ××”… It’s simply confusing. You don’t know what your “appropriate amount” or “a little amount” is. , can't you give a standard value for reference? !

As long as he masters the basic skills, he can make alchemical potions.

So after hesitating, Xia Ran put in the two D-level causal crystals obtained from slaying the dragon before, and strengthened the two auxiliary skills of "Alchemy" and "Enchanting"... After all, he was going to pretend to be a palace mage, so he had to try his best to show off. It's better to fit in with the personality and just let that beautiful misunderstanding continue.

Magic skills can still be practiced slowly. After all, even in Longxiao Palace, there are basically no people who know magic well. Farenjia has always disappeared, and basically no one can tell what he is doing.

But if the most basic magic crafts are completely unskilled and full of problems, and you need to learn them from scratch, it will be too conspicuous... so these necessary investments cannot be saved.

As for the debts owed, there will always be a way around it. For example, he hasn't sold the dragon's blood yet.

There were still a lot of alchemy potions that Farenjia had refined before, so there was no rush. However, Xia Ran still worked very hard for two days to refine a large amount of these related potions - not just for daily use. Tasks are also to better familiarize yourself with new skills and increase proficiency.

No one knew that his alchemy had just been strengthened, and he was at the proficient level as soon as he started using it. They all thought that his skills in this area were quite superb. That is, when he tried it on the first day, because it was a new formula, Lu It failed about ten times in succession.

This is completely acceptable, and after that, it is basically a matter of trial and error. If you refine one bottle, you will be successful.

Therefore, no one found anything wrong, and Lord Balgruuf was also very satisfied. He felt that at least during the period of time when Farenja had no time to take care of him, the new court mage's professional abilities were still very qualified.

In this way, because of his willingness to invest in the early stage, Xia Ran mastered his job responsibilities in two days and performed very well. No one could find any faults.

But he did not relax here, but continued to study other commonly used alchemical formulas, such as treatment, disease resistance, detoxification, etc., and also tried to master some common enchantment formulas——

This is not difficult. His intelligence is extremely high and he can have a photographic memory; his mental power is also extremely strong and he can better grasp the details when doing such delicate work... plus the commonly used alchemy formulas or enchantments. The formulas are all very basic.

Moreover, the enhanced proficiency level skills are the greatest guarantee. It can be said that as long as there are standard formulas for reference, there will be basically very few failures.

Anyway, that's it. In less than a week, he was able to ensure that he could cope with most situations. After that, he began the process of using Farenjia’s library for self-study and improvement.

The palace mage's background may not be as good as the entire Winterhold College organization, but at any rate, he is backed by the relatively prosperous Snowman Territory of Tianji, so the various manuscripts, scrolls, books, notes, etc. in the library are all about Xia Xia. Ran very useful stuff.

Basic, advanced, advanced... a variety of magical knowledge is divided into different factions.

Moreover, Xia Ran is not greedy, and still strictly specializes in illusion and summoning. Of course, he also read the discussion about the magic of the destruction system, and planned to learn the fireball technique on his own... That's right, he just planned to learn a fireball technique.

After all, the previous temporary team had already set off, leaving Snowrun City for other places in Skyrim Province. They plan to complete their own mission goals, and the Dragon Sacrifice Staff with its own fireball spell has also been returned.

Xia Ran had to make amends in this regard. Without a staff with its own skills, if he wanted to release the fireball technique, he could only master this skill himself.

In this way, in the busy and fulfilling day by day, about half a month passed——

On the surface, it seems that Xia Ran has not made much progress, but he has systematically supplemented his magic knowledge through Farenjia's collection of books and notes, and has done a good job in making up for the basic parts that he is missing.

At the same time, he has mastered hundreds of alchemy formulas and enchantment formulas. Although there are no particularly advanced and secret ones, it is not difficult for those who are willing to spend time, money and energy to collect them. But the point is that he is doing it for free. .

He doesn't even need to pay for the materials. There is a warehouse full of materials for him to brush up his proficiency level. As long as the quantity of finished products is acceptable, he can deliberately create a few failure records and taste a few bottles of potions or related materials. Very simple.

Longxiao Palace was simply a paradise. Xia Ran had never found studying to be such a pleasant thing. She didn't have to worry about anything, and everything was prepared for her.

I feel like a sponge. I don't need to think about other issues at all. I just keep absorbing knowledge and improving my own level.

Moreover, this period of time was also very peaceful. There were no dragons attacking the city, and no Lady Whispering was targeting them. Everything went so smoothly...

This also made him completely relieved——

Things like crow's mouth, poisonous milk, etc. are all nonsense. The previous few times were just coincidences!

…

…

"What you need to purchase in the illusion department are insight, endurance, call to arms, and invisibility..."

"What you need to purchase in the Summoning Department is to summon three spell books: the Flame Spirit, the Frost Spirit, and the Storm Spirit. You might also want to consider the Flame Demon Pet, but it's a pity that there is no Summoning Demon..."

"As for the destruction system, just buy a fireball spell first. The others are not needed for the time being, and I only have so much money. I will go to complete the mission next..."

In the evening of that day, Xia Ran was wearing a mask and sitting in the mage's workshop in the side hall of Longxiao Palace. He was writing and drawing on a piece of parchment with corresponding words and making purchase plans based on his existing money. Spellbook plans.

Farenjia left behind a lot of spell books from various factions, but Xia Ran couldn't use them directly and didn't want to take risks.

Anyway, it was something that could be purchased formally with money. There was no need to do more unnecessary things, and it would be unpleasant to say that it was self-stealing. He still planned to give the money honestly, and then take away the corresponding spell book.

These spell books were all carefully selected by him because he felt they were of great use to him and could be combined to make the ability system more self-consistent and complete to cope with more situations...

As for those advanced spells such as violent spells, soothing spells, and chaos spells, they are originally extended from the most basic anger spells, calm spells, etc., and the principles are similar. Xia Ran has gained some confidence in comprehending these advanced spells on her own through her recent efforts, so she does not intend to obtain them by purchasing spell books.

The reason why he purchased the spell book now is that in Farenjia's collection of books, he has already read the books and notes on summoning and illusion in this period of time. He is also planning to go out and complete side tasks to earn some money. Take points and crystallize.

He does not plan to stay here as a court mage, but intends to continue his original goal——

Go to the College of Winterhold to study hard.

Xia Ran registered all the spell books he wanted to buy, and then took out the corresponding number of gold coins. Xia Ran was originally going to leave like this, but after thinking about it, she still went to the palace manager Proventus with those spell books. Check again.

He would rather be cautious than leave any flaws.

The Longxiao Palace was a little quiet this evening, and I didn't know where the lord and the others had gone. Xia Ran walked around a few times but didn't see anyone. She asked a few guards but didn't get a definite answer.

His current identity allows him to walk in Longxiao Palace, but he has been trying to avoid it in the past, so he doesn't know much about this ancient and huge castle.

Standing in front of the entrance to the stairs leading to the living area, Xia Ran hesitated, not sure if she wanted to go up.

At this moment, footsteps came from above, and the figure of a handsomely dressed boy appeared above. He was about to walk down. When he saw Xia Ran, he frowned in disgust:

"Another homeless bum with nothing to do? Come licking the soles of my father's shoes?"

"Your father...are you the child of Lord Balgruuf?" Xia Ran couldn't help but raise his eyebrows. He seemed to be a naughty child who had not been beaten by society.

"Of course it's that stupid pig, otherwise who else could it be!" The boy's pale face showed a hint of contempt and hatred, "One day, I will tear his face apart, and it's best to keep him away from me forever. .”

Xia Ran stopped her smile and narrowed her eyes slightly: "I think it's best for a child not to say such things."

It seems that it is no longer just a naughty child. Is there something wrong with Lord Balgruf's family education? How can he teach such a thing?

"Don't treat me like a child, I know a lot more than you!" The boy suddenly became angry, "My father knows nothing about me, but I know more than he imagined!"

"Oh, that's really awesome, but how do you know so many things..." Xia Ran said casually and perfunctorily.

He hated this kind of person very much. He couldn't beat him, but he still deserved to be beaten.

"Huh, this castle is very old. Many places are unknown. I don't know how long it has not been taken care of. It hides many secrets..." The boy raised his head as if to show off, "I stole through those places. Watching and eavesdropping, and I met the Whispering Lady.”

"...Ms. Whispering?" Xia Ran's expression changed slightly, wait, why is this name directly involved?

"She didn't tell me her name, but when I peeked through the keyhole of the basement door, she talked to me behind the door and told me more secrets..."

The boy said very angrily, staring at Xia Ran with a hateful look. It seemed that Xia Ran's existence reminded him of something very angry, so he could not control himself and said such words——

"But I couldn't open that door. Then it was opened by a tramp like you, but the lady was also missing... Damn it! I knew you tramps couldn't believe it!"