Jonas had not come out for a long time.
People came and went in front of the College, and Simon chatted with Faralda for a while.
This High Elf female mage had a rare amiable temperament.
"I heard that you High Elves all follow the Thalmor way, striving for perfection in everything, but why are you so unique?"
"Haha, not many people truly care about this tradition anymore. Those nobles and people from the Thalmor are more focused on it; they haven't given up on their dream of becoming gods. But for us ordinary High Elves, it's really just talk."
"I see."
"Alas, such prejudices are always normal; everyone should get used to them. Not every Nord is so straightforward and brave, and not every Imperial is greedy and loves money… Most people in the world are ignorant, and truly wise people are too few. This is also why I chose to stay at the College of Winterhold."
Simon nodded, just about to say something, when Jonas arrived, "Sir!"
"What took you so long?" Simon grumbled, then turned to bid Faralda farewell, took Jonas's hand, and headed to the tavern.
This time Jonas didn't bring many books. He explained, "My current level isn't high enough, and I'm not allowed to buy books that are too advanced."
Simon didn't mind; he hadn't finished his magic experiments yet, and his current knowledge reserves were temporarily sufficient.
"What are we eating this time?"
"Roast chicken."
There was always new delicious food to enjoy each time, which made their weekly meeting a kind of festival. Jonas truly looked forward to this day; in his busy life, such leisurely time stood apart from the usual boredom and tension, making it especially rare and cherished.
After eating the fragrant roast chicken, Simon took Jonas to an open field outside Winterhold to check his martial arts progress. A set of Azure Swift Swordsmanship was wielded by Jonas with impressive might, one sword stroke faster than the last. Towards the end, he even managed to display a semblance of a master's demeanor.
Practicing swordsmanship was very physically demanding. After finishing one round, Jonas stopped and cast a Healing Spell on himself. Amidst the golden light, his physical strength rapidly recovered.
Simon nodded, "Not bad."
Not only was his swordsmanship good, but his Healing Spell was also good.
Unfortunately, without internal energy, the path of martial arts could not truly flourish. Simon secretly shook his head and sighed, deciding to teach Jonas all the sword techniques below the ninth rank. If he couldn't master them deeply, he could at least gain breadth, giving him a few tricks up his sleeve when facing enemies in the future.
Wait… Simon thought of his External Armor, of artificial meridians, and of the Undead. What if Undead replaced internal energy, and External Armor served as meridians and a dantian… In an instant, inspiration flowed endlessly.
Although he was eager to go to the Pure Land to start his experiments, it couldn't be today. Festivals required participants, and Simon had to accompany Jonas.
For some psychological reason, Simon did not intend to involve Jonas in his experiments. In his opinion, Jonas was still too naive, had not developed a mature mindset or moral values, and was not yet suitable to be exposed to things that would too greatly challenge his worldview.
On this day, Jonas had no time to chat about his experiences at the College; all his time was spent practicing new sword techniques. By the time they parted, the Breton Boy seemed particularly disappointed.
Simon didn't mind, only reminding him not to slack off at the College, and then gave Jonas a three-pound bag of fish jerky he had made in his spare time as a snack.
When he had something to eat, the Breton Boy was always very happy, carrying the fish jerky and walking towards the College with light steps.
Watching Jonas disappear into the shadow of the city gate, Simon silently turned and left alone.
On his way back, he passed by the coast again. In the distance, on the dark sea, the wandering ships glowed with orange-red firelight, like dream boats carrying stars. Faint shouts, like insects chirping in the wind, echoed like the lingering sound of a horn.
Simon stood on the surging shore, gazing at the distant boats bobbing in the wind and snow. After a long time, a soft sea shanty began to play, and the sailors laughed loudly, silencing the roar of the waves.
After watching, Simon continued on his way.
Nature will bury the traces of humanity, and humanity will erase the language of nature. Only time knows who the victor will be.
Returning to the Wolf Pack Resting Place, the Wolf Pack remained lazy. Two female wolves were pregnant, so new members would be born soon.
Simon continued to study the patterns on the inner wall of the Soul-sucking Tapeworm's esophagus. He found that these were indeed runes, and they didn't even seem to be naturally formed.
Perhaps the Soul-sucking Tapeworm was created, which was another secret buried deep in history.
What Simon had to do was to completely copy these patterns.
In addition, he also found similar patterns in the Soul-sucking Tapeworm's blood vessels and energy conduits, with different effects.
The patterns on the inner wall of the blood vessels had the effect of maintaining vitality, which was very useful.
And the patterns on the inner wall of the energy conduits could keep energy stable and prevent it from dissipating.
Simon analyzed these patterns, re-deconstructed them in the form of enchantments, and then continuously simplified them, removing repetitive and useless parts. Finally, he completed three new enchanting spells, named: Vitality Blessing, Energy Convergence, and Soul Accord.
It was time to build the External Armor.
First, he built the internal skeleton using steel ingots. In terms of design, it wasn't modeled after human bones, because the gaps would be too large and difficult to fill. He chose a combination of scale-like armor plates, similar to chainmail, for the inner skeleton, leaving enough interfaces so that the outer enchanted steel plates could be joined later to complete the entire External Armor.
The armor plates were individually cast and polished, forming a roughly complete steel skeleton. Then, Soul Accord was enchanted onto the surface, allowing the Sheep Undead to possess it.
A faint blue spiritual light illuminated the surface of the steel humanoid.
It was indeed feasible.
The problem was that although these Sheep Undead had good compatibility with the enchanted skeleton, their movements were stiff, and they didn't know how to move.
Simon had to find a way to strengthen the mental connection and directly control the skeleton with his own will.
After much deliberation, the method he came up with was collective connection.
Since the Sheep Undead were weak, they couldn't control too many parts. Simon planned to integrate several Undead, letting them control different parts, which would greatly increase efficiency.
After a busy period, another week passed in a flash, and Simon's first version of the External Armor was finally completed.
The Troll stood in front of the silver-white steel humanoid, gradually joining the outer enchanted steel plates. The final product was a heavy, simple armor covered with glowing runes.
Undead possession!
Several faint blue spirits rushed into the armor. The next moment, the External Armor trembled violently, countless mechanical locks sprang open, and the entire armor separated, floating in mid-air.
Simon walked step by step into the central area of the armor components, his eyes tightly closed, controlling the Sheep Undead to assemble the armor onto him one by one.
Chest, abdomen, lower back, limbs, skirt armor, and finally the helmet.
The locks closed.
Perfectly sealed.
A deep breath emanated from the darkness, like the rhythm of this colossal creation in the faint light.
After a long while, three bright lights shone beneath the mountain-shaped eyeholes of the helmet—those were the Troll's eyes.
Calm, joyful.
-------------------------------
I've already uploaded 40 chapters of this story on Patreon!
If you enjoy it, come check out the latest chapters in advance.
Here's the link:
[patreon.com/Greyhounds]
Thank you so much for your support!!
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"