Quietly, Father opened the main door to the fort. After several seconds of listening, there were no unusual sounds. Marcus was a little surprised when he saw an enemy 30 feet away. However, the surprise was minimal as the lack of sound did not deny potential enemies. Luckily, this enemy was not facing the door. Instead, they appeared to be enchanting mage robes on an enchanting table.

Quietly, the family of three made their way towards the mage. Mother broke off and moved to the right, preparing to fire up the nearby stairs should an enemy appear. They did not immediately fire upon the mage because they could not see half of the room. If there was another enemy, they could sound the alarm if they saw their comrades drop. However, the rest of the room was devoid of other people. With little effort, the distracted mage died from an arrow to the back of the skull.

Marcus quietly made his way around the room to give it a once-over for loot. He heard a pair of mages conversing from above as he did so, and their words were quite muffled, which meant they were not near the stairs.

With Marcus going first due to his short stature, they made their way up the stairs. Marcus peered around the stone railing to see the two mages discussing, sitting on beds facing one another. He motioned to his parents as they prepared their ambush. At the same time, both Marcus and his father stood up from the opposite side of the railing. Simultaneously, they fired at the two mages, and neither survived.

Marcus glanced around the rest of the room but only relaxed once he confirmed that there were no other enemies. They had cleared Fort Amol, rather anticlimactically at that. However, there were several reasons for this. These enemies were relatively weak, and at level 10, they were only slightly better than peasants.

Given that only one of the mages wasn’t Nord, it was likely that these were refugees who had fled into Skyr*m. Additionally, Marcus abnormally leveled the family of three. Although he was only level 15, his ability to freely distribute his perks made him stronger than someone at the same level. The damage he could do with his archery could instantly kill someone if they did not increase HP. Additionally, he was able to distribute the perks of his parents and teach them how to grind their skills, making the two of them powerful. Additionally, all three of them were highly proficient with stealth which was extremely helpful as their foes could not resist.

Eventually, the family of three did a second lap around the fort to ensure that there were no more mages around. Luckily, enough time had gone by for the necromancy spells to have finished, rendering the bodies inert. In addition, it was not uncommon for mages not to recast spells without a need, save for the most paranoid.

“It’s getting late,” Mother said, breaking the silence.

“Indeed,” Father replied.

“Shall we stay here or use my accommodations?” Marcus asked.

“I’d prefer to stay here.” Mother replied. “Given it takes a full minute for each one of us to come back, I wouldn’t want to in case we run into someone. In a best-case scenario, we will have some explaining to do. In the worst-case scenario, each of us will end up in an ambush. At the very least, if we stay here, we can barricade the doors. Although we will be trapped inside in case of an attack, we will not be caught in our sleep and have ample time to leave for the mansion.”

“I agree,” Father replied.

Having come to an accord, the three whistled for their horses. Though it would be a rare coincidence, given humanoid activity in the area, it would be possible for a sabercat to appear. Bringing them into the fort would act as a level of protection.

After settling in, the family of three began their nightly preparations. Father moved the bodies, retrieved the salvageable arrows, and checked the other equipment. Mother took over the cooking station to make a warm meal for dinner. Meanwhile, Marcus looked at the System to check his loot.

One of the excellent features of the mods was a notification log. This feature was handy to keep track of what the auto-loot took. A smile broke out across Marcus’s face as he saw what he was looking for, but then it turned into surprise. Besides the Bound Bow, Marcus was also looking for the Catalog of Armor Enchantments (Adapt). It was important because it was pivotal in increasing his max level for enchantments, which he was sorely lacking. Luckily, the book was here. What surprised Marcus was that he had

four other spell tomes.

The first spell tome was Lesser Ward. The spell tome was an unexpected and welcome surprise for Marcus, as the ward spell would be relatively helpful. The Lesser Ward spell was cast near instantaneously, which meant that it could increase his defenses at a moment’s notice should he be unable to dodge an attack.

The second spell was Alarm. It would create a 150ft diameter circle at the point of cast or a target. The caster would know if one or more potentially hostile entities were within the circle. However, it could not distinguish between numbers or give direction or distance. The only other information passed to the caster would be knowing which Alarm circle was activated should more than one be active at once.

The third spell was Drop Zone. The caster would create a zone of magic at a surface while deciding who the zone would affect. Any affected by the zone would take zero fall damage within it.

The fourth spell was the two-handed variant of the Bound Bow spell, Bound Battle Axe. While this spell was of little use to Marcus, who only planned to dabble with one-handed weapons, it wouldn’t hurt to learn it. The spell tome would not disappear when learned, which meant he could teach it to others in the future.

Overall, Marcus was thrilled by the harvest. Unlike how Marcus played the game, he was being far more paranoid. His focuses were stealth to remain undetected, archery to keep his foes at a distance, and restoration and any other means to save his life at a critical moment. The reason for his paranoia was because he couldn’t even guarantee he could play through Skyr*m without dying once, much less when the world didn’t scale with him. He felt it was essential to take every advantage he could, which these spells did perfectly. However, the tomes begged the question, why were they here?

After some deliberation, Marcus understood the reasons. First, spell tomes were not consumables. Second, magic was expanded via mods, increasing the variety of magic available. Thirdly, the mods affected the world, making magic even more prevalent, even possibly beyond the mods. Finally, although magic was not popular in Skyr*m, these rogue mages likely brought these books from other territories. Regardless, Marcus was in a good mood as he went through the rest of the loot.

Aside from books, the mage robes were also welcome. Marcus planned to disenchant them later to learn the enchantments and gain a large amount of enchantment XP. The last unexpected windfall was a Potion of Brief Invisibility. Although it only lasted 20 seconds, it could potentially save his life. If he needed to make a quick escape while losing his enemies or at least buy him precious time, it would be invaluable.

In the game, potions take effect immediately. Unfortunately, this was not a game. Even with his inventory, Marcus still took roughly two seconds to draw a potion, remove the cap with his teeth or other free hand, and drink it. For others, this could take upwards of five seconds as they had to locate and reach for the potion themselves. Luckily, the effects of potions were instantaneous upon swallowing.

Content with his more notable loot, he glanced over the lesser bounty. Aside from alchemy materials, there were some soul gems, both empty and full, along with gold. Considering how easily he had managed to clear out the fort, the rewards were astounding. Content, he withdrew the Spell Tome: Bound Bow and earnestly began to read after he cast Candlelight. He would be able to finish reading it before sleeping for the night, though casting, he could not be sure. However, he was confident he would soon add a new weapon to his repertoire.