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After studying the magic runes in the sacrificial hall, he discovered that it was likely a magic formation used in this world to gather energies of darkness and death.
George wasted no more time. He took the Soul Gems from the sacrificial altar and continued to venture deeper.
Soul Gems are a type of natural magical stone used for storing the souls of the dead.
They are used at an Arcane Enchanter to enchant weapons and armor, or to recharge weapons that are already enchanted.
Soul Gems come in different sizes and strengths: Petty, Lesser, Common, Greater, Grand, and Black.
Typically, one uses the 'Soul Trap' spell from the Conjuration school of magic to capture souls within the Soul Gems, or wields a weapon that carries a Soul Trap enchantment.
Soul Gems are primarily sourced from naturally mined underground ore veins. These naturally mined Soul Gems come pre-filled with energy. It is only the empty Soul Gems, after their energy has been expended, that need to be refilled using soul-capturing magic.
Therefore, the value of a Soul Gem is not only determined by its size but is also related to the amount of soul energy stored within it.
The Soul Gems before him were all Common Soul Gems, and the energy remaining inside each was about half-full. Taking these out would still fetch a considerable amount of money.
In the game, the loot one finds when entering an ancient tomb is all related to one's own level.
The higher one's level, the more high-value treasures there are inside the tomb, and likewise, the stronger the Draugr within also become.
But in reality, it certainly wasn't like that. The quantity and value of the treasures within an ancient tomb were primarily related to the tomb's scale and the level of wealth the tomb's owner possessed in life.
Consequently, he had only just entered the core area of the ancient tomb and had not yet delved truly deep, but the items he had gathered were already worth close to ten thousand Septims.
Ten thousand Septims was enough to buy a fairly decent house in Whiterun.
Of course, the level of danger was evident just from looking at all the dead thieves.
For the majority of adventurers, exploring a Nord ancient tomb was basically a one-way trip; they had the life to enter, but not the life to leave.
As for truly strong experts, whether they joined one of the major factions or worked as mercenaries, they would not be short on ways to earn money.
There was simply no necessity for them to risk their lives adventuring in a Nord ancient tomb.
This was because nobody knew just how strong the Draugr inside a given tomb truly were, or what their numbers might be, making it impossible to properly estimate the danger.
"Hold this!"
He tossed the cloth bag—filled with items like Ancient Nord enchanted weapons, gems, gold coins, the Golden Dragon Claw, noble jewelry, and Soul Gems—to Arvel, who was following behind.
George kicked open the iron door in front of them. His hands moved like afterimages, catching all the poison darts that shot out towards him. He then casually strolled into the tomb chamber hall ahead.
Arvel caught the bag and looked at the treasures inside. A flash of greed passed through his eyes, but after glancing at George's back up ahead, his reason returned.
The man in front of him was definitely a top-tier warrior. He could kick open an iron door in a single blow and kick the giant spider's head until it exploded. Arvel knew he couldn't escape from him even empty-handed, let alone while burdened with so much treasure.
Thus, he obediently shouldered the bag and resigned himself to acting as George's follower.
"Roar! Damned creatures! You dare disturb the slumber of the king!"
As soon as they entered the hall, over a hundred Draugr warriors, who had been lying dormant, suddenly opened their eyes. They flipped themselves over and dropped down from the alcoves carved into the hall's walls.
Some held massive battleaxes, others gripped longswords, and some drew their longbows, all of them rapidly charging toward George.
"So many of them!"
Seeing this, Arvel immediately scrambled backward, a look of pure terror appearing on his face.
How strong was a Draugr's combat prowess?
They had tough skin and thick flesh, felt no pain, had no vital points, and knew no fear. They weren't afraid of bleeding; even if their heads were lopped off, they could continue to attack.
Only by completely severing all their limbs could one make them stop moving.
Their only weakness was that their movements were slightly slower than a normal person's.
But this only applied to the most common Draugr Thralls and Draugr Warriors. There were also the even more powerful Draugr Mages and Draugr Overlords—also known as Draugr Generals—who could not only use magic but also unleash terrifying Dragon Shouts.
In a one-on-one fight, he couldn't even defeat the most common Draugr. As for the two at the entrance, he had only managed to get past them by relying on stealth.
He had never expected that this hall in the core area would actually contain so many Draugr.
He suddenly felt fortunate that he hadn't turned tail and run immediately after being rescued. Otherwise, even if he had managed to escape being pursued by George, he would have undoubtedly died at the hands of these Draugr.
Following that, he turned his head to look at George and thought to himself:
"With this many Draugr, even someone like him wouldn't dare to press deeper, would he?"
However, he discovered that this powerful Breton before him, upon seeing all those Draugr, showed not a single trace of fear or hesitation on his face. He simply strode forward with purpose.
What happened next made his jaw drop wide open.
He had already thought George was extremely strong, on par with first-class mercenaries and bounty hunters, but he had never expected George to be even stronger than he had imagined.
He watched as George faced the Draugr swarming him, not even bothering to lift a hand. It was just one kick per Draugr, and he kicked all of the attacking Draugr until they exploded.
Yes, that's correct. Not kicked away, but kicked until they exploded.
The kind where their entire bodies burst apart, turning into nothing but a pile of shattered fragments.
He estimated that even with the tomb's magic formation working to repair them, it would take at least one or two months for them to slowly reassemble and recover.
In less than a single minute, George had already resolved the situation with all the Draugr and had arrived at the other end of the hall.
"Keep up."
Noticing that Arvel was still standing there in a daze, George gave him a simple reminder and then entered the tunnel ahead.
Arvel swallowed hard and immediately scrambled to follow.
If before he had been entertaining thoughts of grabbing the bag of treasures and escaping the ancient tomb once George was surrounded by Draugr, now he wouldn't dare to even let the thought cross his mind.
For the rest of the way, George encountered all sorts of Draugr. Regardless of whether they were the kind that could use magic or the kind that could use Dragon Shouts, it was always one kick per Draugr, with no exceptions.
Unless it was something on the level of a Dragon Priest, otherwise even the strongest Draugr Deathlord could not withstand a single one of his full-powered kicks.
"I don't know if this is because of a MOD enhancement, or if this is just how strong it is in reality."
As he cleared the path and finally arrived at the great hall with the Dragon Claw puzzle door, George muttered this inwardly to himself.
He did a rough calculation. From the moment he finished off the "spider-lady" to reaching this puzzle room, the number of Draugr he had eliminated was, if not a full thousand, at least eight hundred.
Furthermore, many among them were the formidable Draugr Overlords and Draugr Mages, capable of using one word of the Unrelenting Force shout as well as various elemental magics.
If the Dragonborn were to follow the normal quest progression and come here for the Dragonstone immediately after visiting Whiterun, they would probably die without even knowing what hit them.
But then again, the Dragonborn probably wouldn't be that foolish. After discovering how dangerous the ancient tomb was, they would surely leave to go improve themselves elsewhere, only returning for the Dragonstone once they had sufficient strength.
Normally speaking, after Alduin's return, he still needs to recover his strength, formulate a plan, and resurrect the other dragons. This entire process isn't something that can be completed in a short period.
Therefore, the Dragonborn has plenty of time to improve themselves.
"Sir, I know how to..."
Seeing that they had finally arrived at the Dragon Claw puzzle room he had been so focused on, Arvel—worried he might be "silenced" after his usefulness ended—wanted to demonstrate his value. He immediately pulled the Golden Dragon Claw from the bag and was about to step forward to solve the puzzle.
He hadn't even managed to get half his sentence out, however, before he saw George send a powerful kick flying straight at the Dragon Claw puzzle door.
(End of this chapter)