After that Gallus tried to convince me to join the guild but I flat out refused. Being associated with the guild was fine(I grew up in Riften, it was expected) but actually being part of it was a big no no. I had a few reasons for this really. The first was that at some point in the next three or four years Gallus will get murdered by Mercer Frey who stole the skeleton key. Once that happened Nocturnal will immediately start siphoning luck from every thief in Skyrim rather than bolstering it. -
I wanted no part of that mess and was going to be keeping a nice professional distance between me and the guild. As for why I couldn't just warn Gallus about Mercer and stop the key's theft? I had plans for that key. I NEEDED it to be stolen before I could enact those plans and couldn't steal it myself because that was an excellent way to piss off a literal demonic goddess. Another reason I didn't want to be part of the guild was that I'd need to give a guild discount on my work, no thank you. -
Anyways I ended up treating the other three injured people I'd spotted before with them footing the bill this time. None of them were as serious as the first case though. One of them contracted Rockjoint from a Skeever that was in the attic of someone they were robbing which was an easy fix and the other two just had some nasty bruises from getting hit while wearing armor. Compared to being dead though I'd say the armor did it's job. Armor wasn't supposed to stop injury after all, just lessen it.-
I had to say this idea of mine was absolutely profitable though as in a single day I earned two hundred and ten gold and a lightly used iron dagger. Of course I have to point out that I wouldn't be getting work like this everyday. Thieves in other holds(sort of mini kingdoms within the whole of Skyrim) with serious injuries simply wouldn't come all the way to Riften to get treated by me. My work would be only the thieves in and near Riften hold as a result. You'd think that would mean it was pointless since the hold was famous for the guild but it was actually the opposite.-
Anyone moving through here would more often than not be well prepared to fight off thieves and those fights meant injuries for me to treat. I altered my schedule a bit everyday to stop by the guild to check for new cases and then spend the rest of it practicing magic. I used most of my money for the first few months after making this arrangement on spell books from other schools as well on food stuffs. Spices imported from Highrock, Elsweyr and Valenwood. Having to relearn cooking using otherworld ingredients or even the same stuff but with VERY different names was a real pain.-
Burning meat wasn't the problem, it was over or under seasoning that bit at me often. Some seasonings got richer with heat so the amount used and when was very specific while others were the exact opposite. Some herbs were best fresh and others better when dried. I had to figure all of this through various cookbooks, trial and error and word of mouth. Even worse I discovered that different races had different tolerances to spices. Nords were straight up allergic to Dawnflower pollen for example but it was a highly prized flavoring ingredient for the Altmer.-
With so many restrictions and differences between palates it was no wonder most food was prepared plainly, you could accidentally poison someone otherwise! For those wondering how I reacted to Dawnflower it gave me a minor break out of hives. Still after about a year of daily experimentation and feasting I had raised my cooking skill to a respectable seventy three, classifying myself as an expert chef. As for my magical studies I had brought up all but two to the same apprentice level as my destruction magic.-
{Name: Alexan
Age: 8 years, 0 months, 12 days
Race: Nord/Altmer
Strength:7(average adult is 10)
Dexterity:6(average adult is 10)
Constitution:8(average adult is 10)
Inteligence:18(average adult is 10)
Spirit:29(average adult is 10)
Magicka: 310/310
Skills: English(mastered), Tamrielic(mastered), Dovahzul(27/100), Alchemy(27/100), Sneak(19/100), Speechcraft(62/100), Smithing(7/100), Enchantment(25/100) Mysticism(25/100), Destruction(36/100), Restoration(22/100), Medicine(22/100) Alteration(23/100), Illusion(14/100), Conjuration(15/100), Cooking(73/100) }
Impressive for an eight year old isn't it? Not all that unbelievable though since like Faralda said the basics of almost all magics were nearly identical. Once you figured out the minute differences getting any of those skills to an apprentice level wasn't hard if you had at least one magical skill at that level already. -
Conjuration was the only real differently ruled magical school and I had been especially cautious when trying anything there. In fact the only spell I had learned from the school so far was [Summon spectral hare]. Yes my only spell of that school was summoning a ghost rabbit. A party trick at best but I wasn't taking chances. Besides that was the illusion school that was surprisingly difficult to find spell books for.-
The reason for that was apparently because of the war that was at it's fever pitched peak. Mages who could cast any illusion spells were in extreme demand as they could buff or lower morale while also making strategy more complex with misdirection and false fronts. Illusionists might not be making decisive efforts but they had their part to play just like all the other schools. I got lucky in this regard as Faralda taught me destruction magic which was even MORE rare to find books for at the moment. Still once I hit apprentice for all these schools I knew I'd need to fan out to other skills and let my magical pursuits float where they are for a while.-
I planned to start working on my sneaking, alchemy and smithing skills while also picking up swordsmanship and archery. It didn't take me long to get a firm handle on those two last schools of magic though and I immediately started working on sneaking. The skill was actually incredibly nuanced, much more than you'd think if you only played the game. It was about slipping under the perception of others, standing in the shadows out of eyesight and stepping softly so your footsteps didn't sound out.-
Not all of the thieves were masters of it like Gallus who could be there one second and gone the instant your perception on him slipped even a little. If I had to give the majority a level I'd say they sat comfortably in the fifty to sixty range if they weren't new to thievery and Vex, Mercer, Brynjolf, Karliah and Delvin hit the comfortable seventy to eighty range. Gallus though was a stealth monster as he could do it without even trying, something I'd figured out the hard way. It was like breathing how natural it was for him at this point.