I opened my eyes and saw that I was once again in the place of constellations.
"Here again."
This time, I wasn't in the water, but on the part that was solid ground.
"And to think that sleeping gives me such a beautiful view."
I lay down to gaze at the sky.
I felt a fantastic breeze that relaxed me, but there was something strange floating in the air.
It seemed like a firefly, so I tried to grab it, and it worked.
"An insect. How curious."
I opened my hand, but what I held wasn't a firefly—it was a light.
"Huh? What's this?"
The light seemed strange to me, and when I tried to look closer, I noticed that in the sky, the shapes of abilities appeared as if I were in the game, but I couldn't see each Perk of the abilities.
"Are you a skill point?"
I looked at the abilities in the sky, where they all seemed to shine.
"And how do I make you level up?"
I looked at all the abilities and thought about what I wanted to do.
I hadn't trained in weapons, so One-Handed, Two-Handed, and Archery were ruled out. The same went for Heavy Armor and Light Armor, so it had to be with the magics.
Conjuration, Illusion, and Enchanting were skills I hadn't tested, so they were also out.
"Destruction, Alteration, or Restoration. Of the three, I have the most spells in Destruction. I guess it'll have to be Destruction."
When I said that, the little light flew toward the Destruction Skill and showed me all the Perks of that ability.
There were many more Perks than there should have been, reminding me of the Mod: Ordinator - Perks of Skyrim, which added so many more Perks, making Skyrim more enjoyable and giving a bit more sense to the legendary skills.
"Destruction Mastery. I guess that's the first Perk."
The point entered there, illuminating as if in the game.
"I don't feel any different. I suppose I'll have to wait until I get out of here to test if it really worked."
I thought for a moment about how sleeping brought me to this place.
"Could this be some kind of Mod? I highly doubt everyone goes to sleep and sees this place."
I closed my eyes, and when I opened them again, I was back in the empty room.
"So if I sleep and close my eyes in that place, I wake up. This is truly interesting."
I left the room and saw that the other orphans were still sound asleep without a care.
I went to the Punishment Room and saw that the frozen Skeever was still there. I checked the cupboard, and the babies were there too.
"How did they get in?"
I wondered how they had entered as I tried to look behind the cupboard.
'Could there be a hole?'
I tried to move the cupboard, but it was quite heavy.
"I lack strength. Though in the game... No, this isn't the game. I need to stop thinking as if it were."
I tried to pull it away from the wall, but being a child still limited me.
'The cupboard can be moved, but I can't. I don't have Telekinesis to try moving it, nor can I summon a Dremora to do it for me.'
I pondered how to do it.
It needed to move closer to me, but all I could do was release magic. I thought about Telekinesis, but all it did was drain my magic.
"What are you doing?"
I looked back and saw Hjalmar, who had just woken up.
"I need to move the cupboard to check if there's a hole where the Skeever came in."
"Are you sure? Grelod might get angry."
"Let her get angry if she wants. I can handle a crazy old woman. So, will you help me?"
I saw him hesitate for a moment.
"Alright."
He entered, a bit scared but still firm.
"We'll both push from this side since I don't know if there are more Skeevers, and this way, I can attack them if there are any without them escaping."
Hjalmar agreed, and we began moving it together.
It was hard to move, but after a few minutes, we managed.
"There's definitely a hole. Candlelight."
I conjured the small light to see the hole clearly.
There was a hole going downward, not made of wood but of rock.
'Could this lead to the Ratway?'
I looked forward and saw another hole directly under an empty chest.
"What do you see?" Hjalmar asked me.
"They got in through here. Grelod is so irresponsible."
"Should we tell her?"
"I'll tell her. You should go eat before Grelod says something."
Hjalmar left to inform the other orphans while I stayed in the Punishment Room to remove the frozen Skeever and its babies. But as soon as I touched them, they crumbled into pieces.
"Did I freeze them too much?"
I thought about what to do with that hole.
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--
[Third-Person POV]
The children started eating things they previously couldn't because Grelod never gave them enough. Though they ate sparingly, unsure if Grelod would get angry.
Lun sat down after cleaning up the mess caused by his magic, the Candlelight spell fading after a few seconds.
Everyone picked up their used items to wash them.
Lun went to Grelod's room to knock and inform her about the hole he had found.
"Grelod. I found where the Skeevers got in."
But Grelod didn't respond.
He knocked again, and still no answer.
When she didn't respond, he tried to enter, but the door was locked.
'Well, if she doesn't want to come out and deal with it, I'll have to find a way to block it.'
He returned to the Punishment Room to figure out how to close or block the hole.
The hole was large enough for 2 or 3 Skeevers to pass through, so it needed to be sealed quickly.
He took the broken drawer from the cupboard to dismantle it, planning to use the largest part as a temporary plug.
He realized that for it to work, the other hole also had to be cleared, so he went to the storage room.
He moved the broken chest that the Skeever had damaged, so both sides would be unobstructed, allowing the board to fit snugly against the floor.
Returning to the Punishment Room with the board, he placed it to block the hole.
The board didn't shift left or right, but it could still be lifted, so he used the rest of the drawer pieces as weights.
"I think that'll do, but if another Skeever tries to come up, they might dislodge this. Grelod will have to be notified."
The rest of the day passed unusually, as Grelod didn't leave her room at all, allowing the orphans to enjoy themselves as they hadn't before, though they remained alert in case she emerged.
While the children played, Lun spent the entire time inside, training low-scale Destruction magic, realizing he could now use magic for longer periods. This meant the Perk had worked.
When night came, the orphans had another good dinner before heading to bed.
Lun went to sleep a bit later, having practiced magic until he fell asleep in the Punishment Room, just like the night before.
While everyone slept peacefully, Grelod slowly emerged from her room, holding a dagger.
She scanned each bed, looking for Lun, but when she didn't find him, she searched the orphanage.
Noticing the Punishment Room door was ajar, she gripped the dagger tightly.
"Filthy monster. Don't think this will go unpunished. If I kill you, everything will be better."
She'd had a horrifying nightmare in which a massive dragon devoured her over and over again.
The nightmare had felt so real, her body ached when she awoke.
She knew Lun was to blame and resolved to deal with him to ensure the nightmare wouldn't return, restoring her normalcy.
Grasping the dagger with both hands, she brought it down on Lun, but a light flared, temporarily blinding her. Then she felt a hand cover her mouth, forcing her to the ground.
"You know something..."
Lun, who had been pretending to sleep, now had Grelod trapped.
"...it's been a while since I've dealt with a corpse."
It was a silent night in Riften, unaware of what had transpired at Honorhall Orphanage.
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What did you think about how to evolve the skills? Do you think I should put the System tag?