——4e, 201, the last seed month, 25th, 14:00——
Ancano is a typical high elf, with long bright silver hair and blue eyes. Although his face is slender, his slightly aquiline nose and thin lips make him look a bit mean, no one can deny his handsomeness. His current identity is as an advisor to the Winterhold Mage College and one of the many "envoys" sent by Thalmor to the Interprovince.
The duty of these "envoys" is to ensure that the Nords do not continue to believe in the so-called "Ninth Holy Spirit Talos". There were originally nine envoys, which could ensure that all cities in the Interprovince had an envoy. However, due to the open act of the Stormcloaks, Banner rebelled, and the cities within its sphere of influence were naturally unable to accept a Thalmor envoy. This plan could be considered a failure as a whole.
There are only a few special envoys left, and the best one is Alanwen who established the Thalmor embassy in Dugu City. She basically doesn't care about Talos's religious issues, but only makes efforts to make friends with the nobles through banquets and social interactions, and provides them with sufficient benefits. After the exchange, the request to help restrict Talos's faith turned out to be much more effective than the threat of force from the Imperial Legion.
Next is Andolema of Markarth City. He advocates using tough measures to capture believers, while the city owner is having a headache due to the problem of the Forsworn left over from history, so the two sides hit it off. The city owner supports him in purging the Talos believers, while Ondo Lema took the opportunity to deal with the Forsworn, so there were many more prisoners in Markarth's mine prison who could not tell whether they were Forsworn or Talos believers. From Ancano's point of view, sooner or later something would happen there. chaos.
Then there is Estomo in the neutral city of Xueman. The Lord Balgruuf neither opposes nor supports Thalmor, so he can only rely on his own guards to capture the Talos believers, but in the first The target they wanted to capture - the famous missionary Hemsko in Snowman - hit a snag. During the arrest, Astomo and his guards were bagged and beaten violently and then thrown out of the city. Because the lord I don’t plan to pursue it, but now I can only move around in some villages, and I will be driven away by vicious villagers from time to time.
The other envoys either returned home after learning that the Stormcloaks had launched a rebellion, or they left on their own after staying in the remote city for a while. The only one who went deep into the Stormcloaks' sphere of influence was Ancano.
As for the Stormcloak rebellion, Thalmor is actually happy to see it come to fruition, or perhaps part of the purpose of the Platinum Agreement prohibiting belief in Talos is to achieve such a result. Naturally, a divided empire cannot inevitably come next time. Win the battle.
Winterfort has been almost completely destroyed by the "Great Collapse", and Ancano naturally despises the lord of the dilapidated village. With his superb magical knowledge and Thalmo's appointment letter, he obtained the position of "Special Advisor" at the Mage Academy , although they have no real power, they can investigate anything they think is necessary.
The first thing Ancano wants to investigate is naturally the reason why the Mage Academy survived the "Great Collapse". Although everyone thinks that the academy survived because of magic, Ancano, who is also a magician, believes that all encounters It is the greatest irresponsibility to leave the cause of strange things to mysterious factors such as magic, demons, and the Holy Spirit. What's more, the Summerset Island Temple has some records about Winterhold. Although it is unclear, it seems that a high elf saved Winterhold. , if confirmed, this could be enough to force Winterhold or Mage College to break away from the Stormcloaks.
"You must be the saint from eighty years ago, 'Duran the Soothsayer'." Under the Winter Castle, in the underground city called "Bei Qiu", Ancano was speaking to a magic well that exuded a faint blue light.
The blue light trembled slightly and turned at an angle, giving Ancano the feeling that he was being watched by "something".
"Those mages, it was you who caused the great collapse, and you sealed yourself in order to atone for your sins," Ancano smoothly told the lie he had made up: "We all know that is not the truth."
The blue light gradually became brighter, which was a sign that he had attracted the attention of the saint. Ancano slightly adjusted his facial expression to appear credible.
"The fact is that you fused the magic flow that ran through the magic well throughout the Mage Academy and thus ensured that it was not destroyed in the Great Collapse. Therefore, there is no reason for those stupid Nords to accuse you of not protecting their city. , unless they dig a magic well in every household." Ancano presented his own findings. If you want to convince others, simple lies will not work. You must mix 10% or 20% of private information with the undoubted facts, so as to achieve your goal.
"[Are they like this to me?]" A clear, slender and slightly soft voice sounded: "[Well... I don't care.]"
If you don't care, you won't come out deliberately. Ancano smiled, although he still didn't know the name of the saint who died that year.
But judging from the clues obtained, there is indeed a part that pronounces "Dulan".
"Dulan, let me call you that," Ancano waited for a moment and was not rejected, so he continued: "Those mages you are desperately protecting have obtained another item that is enough to destroy themselves and the entire Winterfort. Something, you should know what it is.”
"[Eye of Magnus?]" Duran's voice is still like that of a girl who has not grown up, but it is obvious that because she can freely read the entire Mage Academy books, her knowledge has also grown rapidly in these years. If she can If he regains his body, he will definitely become a powerful mage.
"Yes, the Eye of Magnus," Ancano nodded: "Why do they think they can control the power of the sun (Magnus)? When that thing is activated, it will be the day of destruction for the entire Nirn. , I must stop this group of short-sighted mages, and the only one who can help me now is you."
These words were enough to sublimate his purpose from "mastering powerful power" to "saving the world." In this way, for the saint who is willing to sacrifice herself to save Winterfort, which has nothing to do with it, and is full of sacrificial spirit, You will definitely feel very welcome.
"[But Atayum is not...]" Duran said hesitantly.
ha! Are those fools who hide on their own island, established the Issyk Order, and think they are qualified to manage all the mages in the world? The incongruity I felt several times before was indeed when they intervened. It seemed that they had chosen the apprentice named Zelapesh to handle related matters.
"Yes, they can take away the eyes, but they only seal them, which means it will be activated one day." After characterizing his actions as saving the world, Ancano felt good and talked eloquently: "We We cannot allow it to become a threat, we must destroy it before it is taken away.”
"[That thing cannot be destroyed, it can only be controlled,]" Duran's tone seemed slightly anxious: "[To control it, you need the 'Staff of Magnus', but that staff is in 'Brasilin'" ', you can't get it for the time being.]"
Success! Ancano was excited in his heart. His biggest goal had been achieved. All he had to do was send guards to explore the ruins. He had been performing since entering the academy. As expected, the saint regarded him as one of his own and revealed important information. , next, if nothing goes as expected, there should be some gains.
"[I teach you a self-created magic called 'energy absorption',]" the blue light trembled slightly, and then one of the beams of light enveloped Ancano: "[It can absorb the 'Eye of Magnus' The power, but you can’t contain it yourself. When the time comes, you can release them and let me receive them.]”
Boom! Boom! Boom! Ancano's heart beat wildly as he saw the powerful spell that appeared in his mind as clear and distinct as if it were carved into his mind.
Obtaining the Staff of Magnus and being able to borrow the power of the Eye of Magnus to a limited extent was already a surprise to Ancanola, but he did not expect that "Dulan" would give him such a big gift. There was information about Labusilian in the book, but I didn't expect that I could put aside the "staff" and directly use the "eye" method. What kind of staff would I find in this way?
"Of course I can't use such a powerful power." However, he still wanted to save face. Ancano stared at the blue light ball: "But if you absorb it, although you can strengthen Winterfort, you The consciousness will completely disappear during this transformation process."
"[I believe you will protect the academy and Winterfort for me, right?]" Duran replied.
"Of course... then I'll go." Ancano lowered his head slightly, almost unable to control the ecstasy on his face.
Of course we will protect it! Although the power of the eyes cannot be used by individuals, there is no problem in supporting a giant teleportation magic. If you teleport Winterhold, the Mage Academy, and this silly saint back to Summerset Island, what kind of reward will you get? It is foreseeable how Thalmor will sweep Tamriel again!
——14:44——
"Hahaha! That's it!" Ancano used energy absorption in the Hall of Elements to absorb the powerful power of the Eye of Magnus, and then poured it continuously into the huge teleportation circle, trying to interfere with his The college mages have been driven out by the "mana abnormality", and Dulan is completely isolated by him, unable to absorb any power at all.
It only takes a while, and this eye will—
Squeak, squeak, squeak! With a strange falling tone, the huge green sphere that had been rotating slowly stopped and closed its armor. The Eye of Magnus, which did not unfold its armor, was completely unable to be affected by the energy-absorbing spell.
"You - how is that possible?" Ancano glared at the college mages who were filing in. A dozen hooded members of the Issyk Order walked up to him and skillfully buckled the magic-forbidden device on him. .
"You will be imprisoned on Artayum Island for life." A member of the cult named Qualanil, who Ancano had met once, said to him.
"That's the 'Staff of Magnus'!" Ancano didn't care about this at all. He looked at the blond Zerapesh who was waving a gorgeous staff at the Eye of Magnus: " Why is it in your hands!?"
"This..." Zelapesh smiled at him, and Ancano saw a black-haired and black-eyed girl in a trance. She was exactly the same as the saint in the records, but she had grown up a lot, and her ears were like a high elf girl. At the same time, a very familiar soft voice came from the side: "[What do you guess]?"
The next moment, he disappeared together with more than a dozen members of the cult, the Eye of Magnus, and the teleportation circle that had its destination changed.
