EnThu'usiastic Flying

The next morning, after letting Jarl Korir and the guards know in advance, he and Illococo went flying. Her large sleek blue dragon form excitedly glides over Winterhold and the north sea with him on her back.

The citizens of Winterhold were a bit freaked out, especially due to the rumours of the enemies of humanity, the old dragons returning. But things were quickly calmed down when the Jarl and guards addressed everyone... No one knew that Illococoo was the dragon, but no one thought that Michael meant them any harm either... Indeed, it only expended his growing legend in their eyes, having tamed a dragon as soon as they returned to the world.

Their morning flight wasn't just for fun however, he and Illu went far north and found an isolated place to begin testing. Michael wanted to see just how powerful the girl's Thu'um was in this form. Was a Rhyme Dragon as or more powerful than the native species?

A couple hours of testing and the answer was... Maybe?

Michael hadn't actually seen how powerful a native dragon was, but since Illococoo could basically shout all day in this form, he guessed she was on par, if slightly weaker in the Thu'um due to her innate talent in elemental wind magic.

Regardless, both were happy with the result. Unfortunately, Michae had to head back and 'iron out' the intricacies with Jarl Korir and the Arch-Mage. They might've been temporarily satisfied with his explanation yesterday, but now that they had time to process shit, he'd need to actually talk to them.

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After he was done reassuring the Jarl and Arch-Mage that Winterhold wouldn't explode, he got home, back to the Spire, and decided to begin working on something that's been a long time coming... The Daedric Artifacts.

Before that however, there was one last thing to do... In one of the empty rooms of the Spire, he summons the Book of Demigods and flips through the Spirit statuses, eventually deciding to summon his most trusted Spirit other than the late Auroth.

A good amount of magic is pulled from his body as an incredibly intricate magical circle appears on the floor, flashing with light and revealing Shadow Shaman in all his... Gross, troll glory...

Rhasta looks around in a daze, squinting his eyes as the gears in his mind churn at a slow rate. "Ah..."

"Master Rhasta." Michael greets, bowing slightly to his first-ever summon.

"Apprentice!... What just happened?" he questions, still confused.

Michael grins, "I've found a way to temporarily summon the Spirits within the book. How do you feel being among the living again?"

"Sleepy." the grumpy shaman states.

"Other than that, you're always sleepy, old man." retorts.

"Then, I suppose I feel alive...? Like my existence up until now way a realistic memory." he vaguely murmurs.

Michael folds his arms, "I've actually summoned you to ask for help. Would you be willing to take a look at some artifacts in my possession?"

The troll shrugs his shoulders, "So long as I get a hot meal out of it afterwards, fine... I'd also like to observe this world's spirits if we have time."

Michael nods, "Sure, it's not like we're in a rush or anything." he says before leading Rhasta towards a secret room at the very top of the tower which he'd made so the girls wouldn't accidentally wander into the place where he researched the Daedric Artifacts...

He shuddered at the thought of a possessed Megumin or Illococoo... Actually, a possessed Tiffania could probably end the world if she was so inclined.

The first and main artifact he wanted to research was the Skeleton Key... From everything he'd read about it, it seemed to be the thing with the highest potential out of the artifacts that he knew of. It was one of the few artifacts embued with a full concept, as opposed to a part or echo.

He'd first have Rhasta look over it to make sure all remnants of Nocturnal's consciousness were gone from it. He wanted to summon Rubick and have the Magus assist as well but, giving someone as mad as him the ability to 'Unlock' anything was a disaster waiting to happen... He might even be able to "Unlock" a path for his freedom or something equally stupid.

It isn't long before Michael has to take a break, while not physically or mentally exhausting, studying the artifact was incredibly boring... Staring at it for hours on end while trying to glean something from it while occasionally using it to unlock small things like boxes or padlocks. Due to its power being conceptual, Michael had no real way in figuring out just what the fuck he was doing.

How on earth Mercer Frey figured out how to teleport with the damned thing was a mystery, perhaps his time as a Nightingale allowed him to make some use of it? Or made him more attuned to Nocturnal's power, even after he betrayed her.

Regadless, he met the others in the entertainment room and introduced Rhasta to everyone, who were all somewhat surprised to hear that the old troll was one of Michael's 'Familiars'... Once they'd all eaten, he allowed Rhasta to leave the Spire and spend the rest of his remaining time summoned observing this world's spirits.

He did also ask him how to fix Darth, now that the shadow hand was a shadow foot. But Rhasta just laughed in his face and told him he had no idea... Apparently, forcibly changing the form of a spirit against their will was impossible, with that thought in mind however, returning Darth to normal should be 'possible'... Maybe he could blackmail Sheogorath or something?... Yeah, definitely not.