Other than working on learning the Ward theory and spell, Marcus did not focus on anything else.
He made some potions daily to keep on making septims.
Two weeks later, his total septim has reached one thousand. It was a great deal of money for him.
At this point he was able to cast a ward spell without any problem at all. In a sense, he was great at it.
He could not help but think.
"Neloth, who is a powerful and arrogant mage, said to the dragonborn that Savos Aren is really good at Wards."
"If he thinks like that, I wonder what kind of knowledge Savos Aren has on the word that makes it great."
Marcus smiled and then took a deep breath.
"Now."
"I should work on Stoneflesh."
"Tomorrow morning, I will talk with Falion to buy some spells that would improve my agility and stamina."
It is not that Marcus wanted to be a superhuman in terms of physical characteristics, but he believed something that is important and simple.
The mages are usually not that great in terms of close combat, and most of them would die against powerful warriors when it comes to close combat.
Of course, all these thoughts and theories were only counted within the ordinary limits of magic and fighters.
Above the master-level mages, things like close combat, distance, and small matters did not count.
In the end, such mages and warriors have so many different ways to combat that it is no longer traditional and could be imagined without getting experience at first.
"If I had a spell that increased my agility, I would be light on my feet and keep dodging any enemy that would try to get close to me."
"I am lucky that the only enemies I needed to fight were just some small bandits and animals."
"What if I were to encounter a vampire?"
"Can I fight against a real proper vampire?"
Marcus thought and shook his head.
He knew something that Falion did not tell him.
It was that Falion was capable of curing vampirism with his ritual, and in the game, Morthal did have close encounters with the vampires.
If he were in the Reach and close to Markarth, he would be using powerful Forsworn, for example.
"In the end."
"I should be balanced until I leave the mortal coil."
"I also need two different destruction spells."
"Flames is not going to cut it against stronger enemies and enemies that have fire resistance."
"I should get a frost spell too."
Marcus thought and made his plans.
"Many things to do and learn..." he commented as he went to his room and started reading the Stoneflash.
As he opened the book and started reading it, he felt the power increase.
"I love this feeling," he whispered.
He felt that he leveled up in a real sense.
"Now."
This time, he focused on "Alteration" and then increased understanding of it within his mind.
After that he closed his eyes to understand his state better. Some of the school of magic leveled up by themselves due to practice, and some of them were the ones who added points.
His magicka with the new addition also upped to the 200 magicka. Which was a great thing for him, and he loved it.
"Alteration – 3"
"Conjuration – 2"
"Alchemy – 3"
-
- Alteration Spells -
"Oakflesh"
"Candlelight"
"Burden"
- Restoration Spells -
"Healing"
- Destruction Spells -
"Flames"
- Illusion Spells -
"Calm"
-
After about one more week, he managed to learn more and complete more.
He first wanted to buy the spells quickly, but after understanding that spells will take more time to understand and internalize, he waited until he finished to learn what he got.
He did not like not following his plans, but he believed he was still in a learning phase.
Marcus got up, walked, and then shook his head again and sat down.
"If not for the alteration increase, Stoneflesh would take me more than one or two months just to learn."
Marcus thought as if he understood.
The difference between Oakflesh and Stoneflesh may not seem much from a spellcasting and theory perspective.
It was the same spell with a different kind of application and power.
"Instead of 'Oak,' the name suggests that 'Stone' needs to be used."
"But forming a stone-based skin defense with alteration is much harder than forming an oak defense."
"It seems like the more powerful and complicated a spell is, the harder it is to learn." Marcus commented on and laughed at his findings.
It is not that big of a body of knowledge that he learned.
"Anyway."
Marcus closed his eyes for a moment; he focused on the spell and then cast it.
"Blinkkk!"
With a hard spell, the Stoneflesh spell was cast.
"My defense should be a lot more than Oakflesh."
"The casting did take much more magicka, but the duration is more than one and a half days."
"As long as I cast the spell every thirty to forty hours, I will keep having more defense."
"This is greater than I thought it would be."
Marcus thought.
After he was done with the Stoneflesh, Marcus went to find Falion.
In no time he found him, as he was drinking mead.
"Hi."
Marcus said.
"Oh."
"You seem more powerful." Falion said as he looked at the eyes of Marcus.
Marcus smiled in return.
"I need to buy some destruction spells."
"Also, some spells that would increase my speed and agility."
Falion nodded.
"I do not have great spells on destruction and only some novice spells on the matter of alteration and capability to increase agility."
Marcus nodded.
"Okay."
"So, what do you want?"
"Any spell that you want that you know by name?" Falion asked.
Marcus then spoke.
"I would like Ice Spike in terms of destruction and some conjuration too now that I think of it."