Chapter 14: Metamagic
After thinking for a moment, Anse chooses Spell Sniper, as range is the way to go.
【Spell Sniper】: General Feat. You gain the following benefits:
「Attribute Score Increase」: Charisma increases by 1, up to a maximum of 20.
「Ignore Cover」: Your spells are more precise, ignoring half cover and three-quarters cover.
「Close Casting」: When you are within 5 feet of an enemy, spell attacks do not have disadvantage due to this.
「Spell Range」: When you cast a spell with a casting distance greater than 10 feet, the casting distance increases by at least 60 feet, with the actual increase affected by your primary attribute.
The dice suddenly shoot out a faint light, Anse’s body shakes, mana surges around him, a rich metallic sheen appears on his dragon scales, and a flash of insight emerges in his mind.
After a long while, the mana in his body gradually calms, he comes back to his senses, feeling somewhat eager to try it out.
Having this feat is like unlocking an extreme range aimbot, you can hit when peeking out, and even in close melee you can hit accurately; it’s a huge boost for any spellcaster.
He suppresses his excitement and pulls up his Character Card; he just leveled up today and hasn’t had a chance to check it yet.
After reaching level 2 Sorcerer, his Life reaches 20 points, higher than level 2 Warrior Brat, five times that of an ordinary person.
Mana maximum reaches 11 points, far exceeding same-level spellcasters.
Experience 772/900, only 128 points away from leveling up; level 3 Sorcerer can master 2nd-level spells, and he’s somewhat looking forward to it.
The biggest enhancement comes from two newly mastered Class Features: 「Source of Mana」「Metamagic」.
「Source of Mana」: Sorcerers draw from their internal source of mana, from which transcendent mana emerges to create various magical effects.
You have 2 Psionic Energy, with the total increasing as your class level rises.
Psionic Energy and mana can be converted into each other, but converting to regular mana incurs extra loss.
「Metamagic」: You master Metamagic. When casting, you can spend Psionic Energy to upgrade spell effects.
Now you can choose 2 out of 10 Metamagic options, and as you delve deeper into Innate Magic, you will master more Metamagic.
These two features complement each other, together forming the Sorcerer’s unique ability: Metamagic!
There are 10 Metamagic options in total: Cautious Spell, Distant Spell, Empowered Spell, Extended Spell, Heightened Spell, Quicken Spell, Seeking Spell, Subtle Spell, Transmutative Spell, Twinned Spell.
After a quick look, Anse selects Quicken Spell and Twinned Spell.
Quicken Spell, as the name implies, casts spells instantly, consuming 2 Psionic Energy each time.
Twinned Spell does not cast two spells at once; instead, when casting, it additionally selects one creature as a target, consuming 1 Psionic Energy each time.
However, Twinned Spell does not apply to all spells; for example, Magic Missile that attacks multiple targets at once and area-damage Fireball do not qualify.
Spells like Jump, Prismatic Spray, Command, Charm Humanoid, and most single-target cantrips can use Twinned Spell.
But with so little Psionic Energy now, it can only be used in emergencies, not as a regular method.
Anse is fully satisfied, hugs his staff, and enters Meditation.
——
After an unknown amount of time, a dull roar suddenly echoes in the air, and the rumbling vibrations spread through the ground to every city district.
Even the surface of the Chongsa River ripples in circles.
Anse jolts awake, sits up, and meets Brat’s horrified gaze.
“Collapsed again?” His heart races.
Brat swallows hard, shakes his head vigorously, grabs his longsword, slings on his bundle, and runs outside: “Go go go…”
Anse grabs his Backpack, scans around and doesn’t see the Ranger; the food on the table is still there.
“Take the food.” He opens his Backpack, stuffs in dried meat and bread, but the Backpack is small and fills up quickly.
Seeing this, Brat opens his Bundle, sweeps his arm across the table, and pulls all the remaining food into it.
As soon as they step outside, they find chaos everywhere, with sounds of running, crying, and cursing nonstop.
Anse hurries downstairs, pulls out his pocket watch; it’s noon twelve o’clock, they’ve probably rested two or three hours.
Entering the Hall, it’s a mess everywhere; aside from some immobile wounded and children, everyone else is running outside.
“Hurry hurry, leave here, go to Livington…” Several young priests keep shouting.
Anse is about to go ask, when he bumps into Finn running against the crowd.
“Hurry!” Finn has clearly come back specifically for him, grabs his sleeve, and heads outside.
“What happened?” Anse hears a few keywords amid the noisy voices, but isn’t sure yet.
“Crowded Side District, Spacious Street District, and parts of Temple District all fell into the Underdark at the same time.” Finn explains quickly.
Anse is shocked; Spacious Street District and Temple District are both in Upper City, core of Baldur’s Gate’s power— no wonder the people are desperate.
But he keenly notices Finn’s wording is too precise, and presses: “Fell into the Underdark? Not a collapse? How do you know so clearly?”
“It told me.” Finn steps out of the Church and points upward.
The sky has become abnormally dark at some point, with a Greyhawk circling above the city.
Anse realizes this must be Finn’s beast companion.
“The city district was like it was yanked down by a giant hand, straight down, not a collapse.” Finn adds.
“Man-made disaster?” Anse frowns, having a bad premonition.
“No need to panic that much though?” Brat looks puzzled.
“Underground Creatures are coming up; if we don’t run now, it’ll be too late.” Finn sees Anse stop and reaches to pull him again.
Anse is amused but helpless; this Finn is so weird, but he can sense no malice.
“A lot?”
“Extremely, extremely many!”
Anse ponders for a moment: “Don’t panic, for them to climb up and circle around will take at least a few hours; we’ll help the Church transport the wounded and supplies.”
He doesn’t know how much fighting strength Flame Fist has left, but to rely on the Fortress to hold back Underground Creatures, the Church of the Final Hope’s power absolutely cannot be ignored.
“Okay.” Brat doesn’t hesitate.
Finn hesitates a bit, then nods too.
The group hurries back to the Hall, where Old Priest Berg is directing the clergy to evacuate. He’s not stubborn; there’s no need to Hold to the Death in this situation.
No time for pleasantries, they help the priests bring carriages and carts, load as many wounded and supplies as possible, and head together to Dragon Bridge.
Taking the opportunity, Anse helps Brat put on Half Plate Armor, providing an extra layer of protection if fighting breaks out.
The Church is only three or four hundred meters from Dragon Bridgehead, but with crowds and chaos along the way, the convoy takes over ten minutes to reach the bridgehead.
Dragon Bridge is six or seven hundred meters long; the bridge surface looks wide, but both sides are packed with dense buildings, leaving only a few meters for passage.
The bridge’s main support is Wyvern Rock in the middle of the riverbed, like a small island with a Fortress on it, quite spectacular.
Just as the convoy gets on the bridge, Finn suddenly points backward: “Look!”
Anse turns to see, under the dim sky, dense black shadows crossing the Pass and surging into Twin Song District.
“At least a hundred, how so fast?”
He thinks, these aren’t newly emerged Underground Creatures, but the earlier batch, now just gathered to a certain scale.
Right now, at the front of that group of Underground Creatures, Land and Zahir are leading twenty or thirty people to intercept as best they can, fighting and retreating to buy escape time for the civilians.
Additions:
1. Spell Points: Source of Mana brings Spell Points, which can convert with Spell Slots; Sorcerer’s unique ability.
Considering the original name too gamey, renamed to Psionic Energy, specifically for casting Metamagic.
If unsatisfied, can call it Primal Psionic Energy, Origin Mana, Source Power, etc.
All 10 Metamagic options placed in work-related, welcome to check.
2.【Name: Anse Hollewen】
「Race」: Human-Silver-Horned Subspecies（Medium Size）
「Background」: Noble
「Class」: Sorcerer（Dragon Sorcery）
「Level」: 2
「Experience」: 772/900
「Life」: 20/20
「Mana」: 11（6+5）
「Psionic Energy」: 2
「Armor Class」: 14
「Alignment」: True Neutral
「Faith」: None
——Core Attributes——
【Strength: 12】
【Dexterity: 12】
【Constitution: 12】
【Intelligence: 13】
【Wisdom: 13】
【Charisma: 17】
「Skills」: Arcana+2, History+1, Acrobatics+1, Athletics+1, Medicine+1, Intimidation+1, Survival+1
「Languages」: Common Tongue, Dragon Speech, Netherese, Iluskan
「Feats」: Proficiency, Tough, Spell Sniper
「Features」: Spellcasting, Innate Magic, Draconic Resilience, Draconic Spell, Source of Mana, Metamagic
「Metamagic」: Twinned Spell, Quicken Spell
「Equipment」: Crystal Artifact, Goodberry Staff
