Chapter 70: This Ain’t Over
Anse lightly clicked on the nebula, and it burst open, sending ten flying stars of different shapes and colors shooting toward him, trailing small tails as they danced lightly around him.
Two of them were relatively bright, while the other eight were relatively dim.
‘This is the projection of my Super Magic in my mind.’ A flash of realization rose in his heart.
Counting one Metamagic per level, at level 4 he could select 4 Metamagics, but he had already mastered two Metamagics—did that count?
The Rules were a bit vague, so he decided to select the important ones first.
There were ten Super Magics in total: Cautious Spell, Distant Spell, Empowered Spell, Extended Spell, Heightened Spell, Quicken Spell, Seeking Spell, Subtle Spell, Transmutative Spell, Twinned Spell.
Without hesitation, he selected Heightened Spell; only it and Quicken Spell cost 2 Psionic Energy, while the others cost 1, showing their power.
Heightened Spell was different from Upcasting; it didn’t enhance spell power, but it used the suppression of a higher-level spell to force the target to have disadvantage on the Spell Save when making a Saving Throw, equivalent to increasing the Spell Save DC by 3-5, raising the success rate by about 25%.
It greatly enhanced control spells, like Hold Person, Petrification, and so on.
Just like that Shadow Thief today; his Wisdom was high, and he probably had similar Feats, making Hold Person hard to take effect. If he had Heightened Spell, holding the opponent would be highly probable.
After thinking for a moment, he selected Distant Spell, which doubled the Spell Range—the farther, the safer.
Another flying star lit up, but the other flying stars didn’t disappear.
‘4, not bad.’
He decisively selected Seeking Spell and Empowered Spell.
Seeking Spell gave spells a small degree of turning and tracking ability; overall, it could increase hit rate by over 50%, and it could be used with Distant Spell.
Most Professionals had never encountered spells that could turn, so it might actually be even more useful in practice.
Empowered Spell enhanced spell damage, bringing out the spell’s attack upper limit.
For example, Scorching Ray’s total damage was 6-36; some Spellcasters cast slowly, missed often, and even when they hit, the damage was only a few points, but Empowered Spell could maximize the spell’s effect—as long as it hit, the damage would always be higher.
Once confirmed, Anse’s body tensed, and surging Mana surged from the depths of his Bloodline, roiling and boiling, carrying insights and Memories engraved into his Soul as they floated in his spirit.
After a long time, he opened his eyes, the faint light in them lingering for a long while.
‘8 Psionic Energy, so much more I can do.’
One Quicken plus Heightened Hold Person「」, paired with two or three Empowered Fireball「」—who could withstand that.
If they resist, just do another round! And this was just Beginner play; a Sorcerer’s Metamagics combined with spells from various schools would always spark unexpected results.
Brat saw him sitting on the bed in a daze, his expression changing, and couldn’t help but worry: “Anse, are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” Anse took a deep breath, his expression returning to calm. “Thinking about the Shadow Thieves Guild.”
Although the Shadow Thief who came to assassinate him was dead, he knew this matter wouldn’t end just like that.
The Shadow Thieves Guild wouldn’t easily give up an Assassination contract, and he couldn’t let it go either.
Brat hesitated to speak, paused for a moment, then said: “While you were resting, Ragna found those Adventurers; they’re hiding on the Nahshival Family’s 【Sea Shark】…”
Ragna brought the Guards to search, but they were blocked. While both sides were at a standoff, the Silver Scale Bay Governor intervened and forcibly dismissed the Guard.
The reason was sound: the Nahshival trading group was an officially recognized legitimate Merchant Ship; without proof they were involved in the assassination or other criminal activities, the Guard had no right to forcibly search.
They could with a superior’s order, but with the Governor not siding with the Guard and Baldur’s Gate in chaos, where to contact superiors?
Anse wasn’t angry after hearing this; based on his understanding of Ragna, not making a fuss was just Disguise—she had her own wisdom in struggle.
“What did Ragna… say?”
“Nothing.” Brat shook his head slightly.
Seeing Anse silent for a long time, he asked: “Kalenno quietly told me that an Elf Ship will dock tomorrow—shall we go?”
“He mentioned it to me; pack up first, leave when there’s a chance.” Anse thought; he needed to move, make it so opponents couldn’t track him.
“Mm.”
“What’s in the bag?”
A row of items was laid out on the floor, several Miscellaneous items, but all wiped very clean.
“Weapon, Leather Armor and such; see for yourself, I don’t know Appraisal.” Brat gestured. “Ragna probably didn’t touch them; they were covered in blood and flesh bits, probably just yanked off and stuffed in the bag.”
Anse chuckled lightly; Ragna was really interesting, probably afraid she’d be tempted by good stuff, so she didn’t look.
He glanced over: a black Short Blade over a foot long, a thumb-sized ring Pendant, a purple Protective Cloak with a Grappling Hook, the rest looked like Miscellaneous items, but the smelly Leather Boots and rotten Leather Armor both had magic fluctuations.
‘Jackpot!’
This was a level 9 Rogue who lived by assassination; no way he was a poor bastard.
He focused his mind, using Dice to Appraise them one by one.
The black Short Blade was named Blade of Empathy, Rare Quality, +1 to Attack Roll and Damage Roll; after Psionic Attunement, it greatly enhanced Wisdom-related abilities.
The ring Pendant was called True Sight Ring, Rare Quality, also requiring Attunement; when activated, it granted 10 minutes of 120-foot （36-meter） True Sight, with 3 Charges.
That pair of brown Leather Boots was no ordinary item; called Boots of Elvenkind, Rare Quality, requiring Attunement, with two powerful features.
First, silent movement—no matter the surface, it produced no footstep sounds.
Second, speed boost—activated or deactivated by clicking heels together; when active, it doubled the wearer’s movement speed, up to 10 minutes total per day.
Clearly, these three Magical Items were the Shadow Thief’s core Equipment, perfectly suited for infiltration and assassination when combined.
Blade of Empathy countered Hold Person and could detect danger early; True Sight Ring ignored Fog Cloud, Darkness and such spells; Boots of Elvenkind moved silently and could quickly close on enemies.
‘Pretty counter to Spellcasters.’ He sighed.
Unfortunately, all three Magical Items required Attunement; he had them but couldn’t use them, which was frustrating.
Attunement was essentially a mental connection and Soul Resonance, burdensome on body and Soul; three was the limit for ordinary Professionals.
After thinking, he put the True Sight Ring around his neck, deciding to unattune from the Protective Cloak later.
True Sight was too important to him; without vision, he wouldn’t dare cast Misty Step recklessly.
The last piece of Equipment was the Grappling Hook Protective Cloak, Fine Quality; it could shoot a hook rope up to 18 meters long, with claws that automatically grabbed or wrapped targets—useful for grabbing items through gaps, climbing walls, or preventing falls.
But this thing was pretty useless to Anse; he could fly and had various spells, so not much use.
“You two use these first.” He tossed the Boots of Elvenkind and Grappling Hook Protective Cloak to Brat and Finn.
After asking their functions, Finn chose the Grappling Hook, convenient for climbing up and down to find high ground.
Brat carried the boots to Anse; they were a bit smelly—washing alone wouldn’t do much.
Anse raised his hand for Prestidigitation; spell light swept over, changing the boots’ color slightly, making them look like distressed new boots.
“Finn, have Greyhawk watch the Nahshival Family’s Merchant Ship.”
“On it.”
Brat’s eyelid twitched: “You’re not going again, are you?”
“Of course not.” Anse wagged his finger; his Status wasn’t good, no way he’d Adventure.
Besides, the Nahshival Family weren’t fools; they’d surely be prepared, maybe even waiting for him.
“Good. How about Waterdeep? With your Talent, becoming an Advanced Professional shouldn’t be hard; we can get revenge later.” Brat suggested.
“Haha, we’ll see; rest up, tired today.” Anse laughed and skipped the topic.
He had Talent, sure, but just practicing Spellcasting might take five or eight years to reach level 10—too slow.
In peacetime he could turtle, but with disasters frequent now, what if something happened in between?
Leveling up faster than disasters and gaining the ability to counter accidents—that was the ultimate plan.
