Sorry if this was posted, or I should have known better but this is my first RPG since NWN, and I'm, loving it.

First off, I chose Nord as my race. I'm pretty good with a broad sword.
I wanted to improve my magic.
I am now level 20 and have increased my magic to 170 something.
I've learned to enchant but not so much about Alchemy. I've increased my blacksmithing too, as well as my Archery.

Under my destruction menu I have this cool fire thing that I've gotten to come out from both hands. I use this whenever I can and it seems to be getting stronger. It's fun to use it on deer. (Yes I'm sick)

How can I improve this? Sorry I'm at work and can't look up the exact name of it..
Also I have Sven as my sidekick.

Any pointers would be great. Oh, and I have the Prima guide too.

Which fire thing? Flames (constant stream), Incinerate (ball o fire), Fire Storm?

You can buy new spells from the wizards in the palace in each city - such as Farengar, who gives you the Bleak Falls Barrow quest - or the high elf Faralda at the College of Winterhold. The higher your destruction level, the more powerful spells you'll be able to buy.

This applies to each of the 'schools' of magic. Happy spellcasting!

You can mprove spell damage through Augmented Flames/Shock/Frost perks. Aspect of Terror in the illusion tree will increase fire damage too.

Through Alchemy, Fortify Destruction potions and Weakness to Magic/Fire/Frost/Shock will improve the damage as well.

Being a vampire and having the Necromage restoration perk will improve certain effects on yourself by 25% (such as your Fort. Dest. pots and certain perks).

Anybody else wish that there were upgrades to the spray type spells, such as flames?

Sorry, yes, Flames. (I looked it up)

How can I get better at Alchemy? I've prettymuch read every book I took. A lot of them are jibberish.

You can find ingredients in the wild, such as plants. Then you can eat them to find out their properties, after that go to an alchemy table and you can make potions which will increase your skill. You can try mixing ingredients even if you don't know their properties but I recommend tasting them first. Also the more expensive the potion you make, the more the skill increases.

Oh, most definitely. I'd love higher tiers of that spell.

Me too, it is my favourite type of destruction spell and I was disappointed when I found out there was only one version of it.

I've been picking all the plants I can. I feel like a horder. LOL Cotton, all the flowers. I figured I'd have a use for them soon or later. I must have 3 tons of plants.
Taste them?
Ok, cool. that gives me something to try tonight when I get home. I'm so hooked on this game.

Any alchemist will have a healthy stock of ingredients, I checked mine yesterday:-
Carried weight before and after pickung up my stash :-

94 / 370 now lets pick up my ingredients.........1295 / 370 you are carrying too much to run.

Just as well Breezhome has a chest with a co-located alchemy lab.

LOL, I'm using Sven's house as my stash place. I swapped stuff with him and "borrowed" his key until I can get my own house.

Yes, just go in to your inventory and click the button you would use to equip armour or weapons.

Wait, there's more - you can buy recipes from alchemists.
Once you have a bunch of recipes and lots of ingredients, go to an alchemy table and simply start making potions. It doesn't matter if you need them or not - you can sell the excess ones or the ones that are useless to you. The important thing is PRODUCTION. Keep making them until you are out of ingredients. You will raise alchemy to 100 very quickly. You will also notice that as you raise this skill, your potions get MUCH more powerful. You will soon be able to make fortify smithing or enchanting potions vastly better than anything in the game. Same with invisibility, healing or whatever.
Every opportunity to gather ingredients - no matter how mundane - should be taken. Then make LOTS of potions, like a factory.

I'm getting good in Smithing too. I figured out I can make money if I hold onto a weapon then upgrade it with all the hides/leather from the deer and small animals I'm killing while trying out my Soul Gems. This morning I got hold of a Soul trap and went hunting. Got 2 sabor toothed tigers from across the river. I enchanted the ebony bow then kept shooting them. I used sneak for 2x the damage.
1 tiger = (1 pelt = 1 leather) + 1 soul. What fun!

Found some interesting things from trying potions but I can't post them in this forum as they may be spoilers. I would'nt want to spoil it for anyone still coming into the game (like me). LOL

thanks for all the help y'all.