For his Metamagic enhancement, Anser chose Distant Spell.
...
Distant Spell: When you cast a spell with a range of at least 5 feet (1.5 meters), you can use this Metamagic option to triple its range.
When you cast a spell with a range of Touch, you can instead make its range 60 feet (18 meters).
...
Take Fireball as an example. Its base range was 150 feet, or 45 meters.
With his extraordinary 25 Charisma, that range increased to 90 meters. Combined with the Spell Sniper feat, its effective base range became 108 meters.
If he then applied the Metamagic option Distant Spell, the spell's range would reach an astonishing 324 meters.
That was an absurd distance—well beyond the reach of almost every spellcaster below the legendary tier.
As for those above it, he had no idea and nothing to compare against, but he doubted they would necessarily outrange him.
Of course, every advantage came with a downside.
The farther a spell had to travel, the more time the enemy had to react, making it much easier to dodge. Only when paired with Seeking Spell could it unleash its full potential.
'Still, it'll be incredibly useful in certain situations.'
Next came his feat selection.
Considering that the Adventuring Party could learn general feats and Fighting Styles from one another, he decided to prioritize raising his base attributes.
As long as his attributes met the requirements, he could quickly master most feats, spells, and skills.
Today, for example, Elvish had been added to his list of languages. Although he was far from fluent, he could at least hold simple conversations and read written documents.
'I'll raise my Strength to 19 first. The next time I multiclass, I can push it to the mortal limit.'
The final choice was his Arcane Bloodline.
Unfortunately, none of the 7th-level spells were suitable for supernatural manifestation.
Including this one, he now had two unused opportunities.
Letting them sit unused felt wasteful. After a few seconds of consideration, he decided to enhance Ethereal Jaunt instead.
Ethereal Jaunt was simply too useful. Without Truesight, almost no one could detect him. And even with Truesight, there was no guarantee they could pursue him into the Ethereal Plane.
With the Weave in turmoil, only full-class Chosen could truly threaten him.
...
[Spells: Prismatic Spray, Teleport
Intelligence: +2
Feat: Ability Score Improvement (+2 Strength)
Arcane Bloodline: Ethereal Jaunt II
Metamagic Enhancement: Distant Spell
Confirm?]
...
"Confirm!"
Anser assumed his Dragonkind Transformation, stretching all four limbs and his dragon wings into their most natural posture as he floated quietly within the Celestial Ritual Array. His enormous draconic body made the once-spacious array feel almost cramped.
He paid it no mind, immersing himself completely in the vast inheritance memories.
Time slipped by unnoticed.
Eventually, his mind stirred, and his consciousness returned to reality.
He immediately turned to inspect himself.
He still had three pairs of dragon wings, and they hadn't grown much larger, but they now carried an extra touch of elegance alongside their imposing presence.
A closer look revealed a nearly transparent outline tracing the edges of each wing. It resembled flames, yet could still be touched.
'This must be the result of Dragon Wings merging with Dragonkind Transformation!'
He teleported out of the Black Tower and circled above the island several times, quickly figuring out what the change did.
It provided additional thrust, stabilized his body, and greatly reduced air resistance.
He was now even faster than before. Without using Fly, he could comfortably exceed 90 kilometers per hour.
That translated to roughly 25 meters per second. His short-distance burst speed still couldn't match that of a powerful Fighter, however.
'Still not enough.'
At that speed, he couldn't even keep up with the slowest drivers from his previous life, let alone reach the performance he had envisioned.
He briefly opened his Character Sheet and carefully read the description of Ethereal Jaunt II. Then he entered the Ethereal Plane to experience its changes firsthand.
His field of vision became much broader. He could easily see the Material Plane from forty or fifty meters away, though everything appeared hazy and washed in gray.
Even so, this vision far exceeded the range of ordinary Truesight. As long as he stayed farther from his target, it would become even harder for others to notice his presence.
He had also gained a new ability derived from it:
...
Phase Shift Evasion: When you are hit by an attack, you can use your reaction to partially shift your body into the Border Ethereal, reducing the damage dealt by that attack. The amount reduced is approximately equal to your spellcasting ability score.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier, and regain all expended uses after a Long Rest.
...
'Isn't this the Way of the Astral Self monk's ability?' Anser thought in surprise.
The ability was incredibly practical. With it, ordinary attacks would have a hard time seriously hurting him.
Although he could enter the Ethereal Plane very quickly, it was only almost instantaneous. During the split-second exchanges of close-quarters combat, he couldn't freely phase out whenever he wanted.
Phase Shift Evasion perfectly solved the problem of being unable to enter the Ethereal Plane quickly enough in the middle of a fight.
After leveling up, Anser's Hit Points reached 208, comparable to those of a Challenge Rating 14 vampire.
His total Magic Power climbed to 283. If he pushed himself to the point of exhaustion, he could cast twenty-one 7th-level Teleport spells, finally giving him the freedom to roam just about anywhere.
However, leveling up was becoming increasingly difficult.
His current Sorcerer experience stood at 140,000/165,000, and his experience pool had only 2,000 points left. He would have to start accumulating it again.
Ordinary adventurers and monsters awarded far too little experience. Only creatures like vampires provided substantial combat experience.
But fighting enemies of that caliber was far more dangerous and demanded much more time and effort.
More importantly, it made enemies.
Opponents at that level were invariably the leaders of major factions. Killing one meant making an enemy of the entire organization.
Before long, Anser would probably find himself on the kill-on-sight lists of Thay, the Church of Myrkul, and the Cowled Wizards.
After assessing his newfound strength, Anser returned to the ruins of Viheral's underground city.
Nothing had changed.
Sosk was leaning against a pillar with his head lowered, absentmindedly scribbling on the ground with his wand for reasons unknown.
It was still well before nightfall, so the Ring of Viheral could not yet be activated.
'If Sehanine Moonbow happens to be home, those people probably aren't coming back,' he thought with no small amount of malicious amusement as he rubbed his chin.
Every one of those three organizations belonged to the evil alignments and had committed countless atrocities.
If Sehanine Moonbow happened to notice them and took a dislike to what she saw, wiping them out would take only minutes.
'Is Sosk hiding something from me?'
The thought suddenly crossed his mind. He couldn't shake the feeling that he was missing a crucial piece of information.
After pondering it for a long while without reaching any conclusions, he simply returned to the Black Tower, wrote up the situation as a battle report, and posted it on the notice board in the Party Storage.
He wasn't trying to boast about his achievements. His real purpose was to warn the other party members to distinguish friend from foe and not accidentally end up working with the enemy.
He also wanted to let Iris know that Brunhilde's whereabouts had been discovered, but that she wasn't in the underground city, and there was no guarantee she would be able to return. At least Iris could prepare herself mentally.
Once he had finished, he laid out all the loot from the Party Storage and began identifying the items one by one.
He hadn't killed many people today—only a dozen or so—but every one of them had been an elite. There hadn't been a single weakling among them.
Naturally, their equipment was of equally high quality.
The vampire, in particular, despite being reduced to ashes, had left behind several truly exceptional magic items.
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