"An' I thought ye'd be tickled pink t'see me here, 'tis a cryin' shame," Ben said, with a heavy accent, putting on a sombre expression.

Ben was in a bright mood these days.

Despite the looming presence of a dangerous dark lord, Ben felt a sense of comfort and joy upon returning to Hogwarts after an exhilarating but draining holiday.

The familiarity of the castle brought him back to his element, and the added excitement of having recently become an apprentice mage further lifted his spirits.

--

[[STATUS]]    [SHOP]  [STORAGE]

[Name: Benedict Nigel Brown.

Species: Human[Wizard].

Job: Apprentice Mage.

Title: Dragonborn[Level 19].

Vitality: 290.

Magicka: 290.

[Deathly Hallows[1/3]: Invisibility Cloak△]

[[SKILLS]]

[Alteration[Level 27(Apprentice)]: Oakflesh, Candlelight, Magelight, Stoneflesh.]

[Conjuration[Level 25(Apprentice)]: Bound Dagger, Bound Sword, Conjure Familiar, Raise Zombie, *Bound Battleaxe, Conjure Boneman, Conjure Flame Atronach, Flaming Familiar, Reanimate Corpse, Soul Trap, Summon Arvak.]

[Destruction[Level 25(Apprentice)]: Flames, Frostbite, Sparks, *Firebolt, Ice Spike, Lightning Bolt, Fire Rune, Frost Rune, Lightning Rune, Ignite, Freeze.]

[Illusion[Level 28(Apprentice)]: Clairvoyance, Courage, Fury, Calm, Fear, Muffle.]

[Restoration[Level 25(Apprentice)]: Healing, Lesser Ward,*Quick Healing, Healing Hands, Necromantic Healing, Steadfast Ward, Sun Fire, Turn Lesser Undead.]

]

--

After becoming an Apprentice Mage, Ben could finally exert the full powers of his spells; even the Novice spells had become much stronger.

After working hard selling scrap for gold, Ben had managed to buy all the available spell tomes.

First up was Conjuration that seemed to be eager to turn Ben into a Dark Wizard. Despite the temptations of summoning all kinds of beings from Oblivion, Ben displayed great control by not giving in.

Flame Atronachs were Ben's favourite summons when he played the game, he always had one drifting around, leaving a trail of fire and doing summersaults around him. He had even written a song about them which he sang like a bard:

---

Verse 1: A flame of fire, born of magic's spell,

It dances and twirls, a sight to tell.

With every step, it leaves a trail,

Of scorching heat, making foes pale.

Chorus: Flame Atronach, a fiery beast,

With movement so swift, it can't be beat.

It scorches the earth, it burns the air,

Its beauty and power, beyond compare.

Verse 2: Its eyes like embers, burn with a gleam,

Its roar is a thunder, that makes you dream.

Its limbs, like flames, wave and bend,

Its power unmatched, from end to end.

Chorus: Flame Atronach, a fiery beast,

With movement so swift, it can't be beat.

It scorches the earth, it burns the air,

Its beauty and power, beyond compare.

Bridge: Its presence is felt, in every flame,

A symbol of power, with a fiery name.

It's a force to be reckoned with, don't you know,

Its beauty and might, will leave you in a glow.

Chorus: Flame Atronach, a fiery beast,

With movement so swift, it can't be beat.

It scorches the earth, it burns the air,

Its beauty and power, beyond compare.

Outro: So heed the call, of this fiery friend,

With its power and grace, it will never bend.

It's a flame that burns, with eternal might,

The Flame Atronach, a magical sight.

---

But despite all this, Ben had yet to summon any new creatures. He felt that he wasn't prepared to face them if they got out of his control.

Till now, he had only summoned bounded weapons, which were only lesser Daedra spirits and Nature spirits like the wolf familiars. He needed much preparation before started summoning atronachs and creatures from Soul Cairn. But he was bound to grab the attention of a Daedric prince sooner or later.

Still, he was quite excited about the possibility of getting new minions, especially the undead horse Arvak was something to look forward to.

[Soul Trap] was another great spell, unfortunately, Ben could not utilize its full potential just yet.

He could only buy petty and lesser soul gems in the store for now, which can only hold the weakest of souls and that too from only non-humanoid creatures. He will need black soul gems if wants to use the spell to its full potential.

The Destruction spells, on the other hand, could be utilized to their full extent.

If [Flames] was a small flamethrower, [Firebolt] is a lite RPG missile, [Ice spike], a spear gun throwing ice spears and [Lightning bolt] is-well, self-explanatory.

He also got [Fire Rune], [Frost Rune] and [Lightning Rune] which were akin to land mines and with [Ignite] and [Freeze], Ben now had to ability to freeze or set things on fire even at a distance of a hundred meters, provided that he can aim that far.

Last but not least was the Restoration magic. It had now become a lot more versatile and useful.

While [Healing] only sped up the body's natural healing, with [Quick Healing] the caster can instantly stop all wounds from bleeding. [Healing Hands] was capable of healing other people and worked similarly to [Healing] but cost a lot more Magicka. [Necromantic Healing] can even heal undead bodies while [Sun Fire] and [Turn Lesser Undead] were the bane of all dark creatures.

[Steadfast Ward] finally upgraded Ben's defences to Apprentice level, which meant that he can now block spells with strengths closer to an exploding grenade; only, the spells don't come filled with shrapnel, so they are not quite as lethal as grenades.

---

While he was happy with the recent increase in strength, he was also quite perplexed as he expected a lot more.

Dragon shouts or Thu'um; despite being a Dragonborn, he didn't know a single word of power, which was quite embarrassing, if you ask anybody.

At first, he figured that the shouts will unlock as he levelled up, but now he was having doubts. But, what could he do except wait, after all, no Greybeards were waiting on a mountain here. Until, he thought of the next best thing, Dragons.

Although not the same, there were Dragons in this world, and if he could get close to one, he would perhaps be able to find a way to learn Dragon Shouts.

So with that noble thought, he contacted his nearest giant to book an appointment with the dragon.

Nah, he nearly scared the shite out of the lovable caretaker when he showed up at his door with his humble request.

"There's no dragon 'ere, ye should go back t' the castle, it's nearly dark," said the nervous Giant, blocking the door with his enormous physique.

"I'm already in the know about it, I am," Ben said in a whisper, making the shape of an egg with his hands.

"Ye've got nothin' to worry about, I swear on me wand. I'll take it to me grave, not a soul will hear a whisper from me," he reassured the man.

It didn't take too much effort to convince the half-giant once Ben started talking about how much he loved dragons, how misunderstood he thought they were and how he has always wanted to see one.

'How gullible,' he thought as he reminisced about his interaction with the giant.

Well, Ben didn't just take advantage of Hagrid's nature as he also helped the Giant with his Gamekeeping duties; unlike Hagrid, Ben was allowed to magic and was able to help out.

Hagrid only had formal education till the third year and Ben had also studied till the third year, albeit informally; so he wasn't too far away from Hagrid in some aspects. He also learned a few things about the creatures in the forest from Hagrid.

All of this happened just yesterday, today was the second day and coincidently the egg was about to hatch when three more guests joined him to witness the miracle of birth.

--Dreamscape--

MC is an Atronach simp, well the flame atronach does have boobs, so it kinda makes sense.

Anyways, this is how his STATUS looks; he can at least fight thugs with this much strength.

Read more chapters on Patre@n/DreamyApe, I am poor and need new gold rims on my Royce-Rolls.