Metamagic

After a moment of deliberation, Anse chose Spell Sniper; range was king.

[Spell Sniper]: General Feat. You gain the following benefits:

"Attribute Score Increase": Charisma increases by 1, up to a maximum of 20.

"Piercing Cover": Your spells are more precise, ignoring half cover and three-quarters cover.

"Close-Quarters Casting": When you are within 5 feet of an enemy, your spell attack rolls do not suffer disadvantage.

"Spell Distance Extension": When you cast a spell with a range greater than 10 feet, the range increases by at least 60 feet; the actual extension is affected by your primary attribute.

The dice suddenly emitted a faint glimmer. Anse felt a jolt, his internal mana surging. A rich metallic luster shimmered across his dragon scales, and a sudden clarity dawned upon him.

For a long while, the mana within him gradually calmed. As he regained his senses, he felt a surge of eagerness.

Possessing this feat was like activating an ultra-long-range aimbot; he could strike the moment a target appeared, and maintain accuracy even in close-quarters combat. For any spellcaster, this was a massive enhancement.

He suppressed his excitement and pulled up his Character Sheet; he had leveled up today and hadn't had the chance to check it yet.

After reaching level 2 Sorcerer, his health reached 20 points, higher than the level 2 Warrior Brat, and five times that of an ordinary person.

His mana cap reached 11 points, far exceeding other spellcasters of the same level.

With 772/900 experience, he was only 128 points away from leveling up. A level 3 Sorcerer could master 2nd-level spells, which was a prospect he looked forward to.

The greatest enhancements came from the two newly mastered class features: "Font of Mana" and "Metamagic."

"Font of Mana": The Sorcerer draws from the source of mana within, and the transcendent mana that emerges can create various magical effects.

You possess 2 Sorcery Points, the total of which increases with your class level.

Sorcery Points and mana can be converted into each other, though converting into regular mana incurs an additional loss.

"Metamagic": You master Metamagic. When casting spells, you can expend Sorcery Points to upgrade spell effects.

You can now choose 2 from 10 Metamagic traits, and as you delve deeper into your innate magic, you will master more.

These two features complemented each other, together forming the unique ability of the Sorcerer: Metamagic!

There are 10 Metamagic traits in total: Careful Spell, Distant Spell, Empowered Spell, Extended Spell, Heightened Spell, Quicken Spell, Seeking Spell, Subtle Spell, Transmuted Spell, and Twinned Spell.

After a brief review, Anse selected Quicken Spell and Twinned Spell.

Quicken Spell, as the name suggests, allows for the instantaneous casting of a spell, costing 2 Sorcery Points each time.

Twinned Spell does not cast two spells simultaneously, but rather allows you to select an additional creature as a target when casting, costing 1 Sorcery Point each time.

However, Twinned Spell does not apply to all spells; for instance, Magic Missile, which can attack multiple people at once, and Fireball, which deals area damage, are not applicable.

Spells like Leap Spell, Prismatic Sphere, Command Spell, Charm Person, and most single-target cantrips can utilize Twinned Spell.

It was just that his Sorcery Points were too scarce right now; he could only use them for emergencies, not as a standard tactic.

Satisfied, Anse hugged his staff and entered meditation.

It was unclear how much time had passed when a dull, thunderous boom suddenly erupted in the air, the rumbling vibrations traveling through the earth's veins to every district.

Even the surface of the Chongsa River rippled in concentric circles.

Anse jolted awake and sat up, meeting Brat's eyes, which were filled with horror.

"Did it collapse again?" His heart hammered against his ribs.

Brat swallowed hard, shook his head vigorously, grabbed his Longsword, shouldered his bundle, and ran toward the exit. "Go, go, go..."

Anse grabbed his backpack, scanned the room, and saw no sign of the Ranger; the Food remained on the table.

"Take the food." He opened his backpack, grabbed the jerky and bread, and stuffed them inside, but the bag was small and filled up after a few movements.

Seeing this, Brat spread his bundle open, swept his arm across the table, and scooped all the remaining Food into it.

As soon as the two stepped outside, they found the area in total chaos; the sounds of running, wailing, and Curses were constant.

Anse hurried downstairs and pulled out his pocket watch; it was twelve noon. They had likely rested for two or three hours.

Stepping into the hall, the place was a mess. Aside from a few incapacitated wounded and young children, everyone else was fleeing.

"Hurry, hurry! Leave this place, go to Rivington..." several young priests shouted repeatedly.

Anse was about to go over and ask when he ran into Finn, who was running against the flow of the crowd.

"Hurry!" Finn had clearly returned specifically to find him, tugging at his sleeve as he headed out.

"What happened?" Anse caught a few words amidst the noisy crowd, though he dared not confirm them yet.

"The Crowded Side District, the Spacious District, and parts of the Temple District have all fallen into the Underdark," Finn explained rapidly.

Anse was shocked. The Spacious District and the Temple District were both in the Upper City, the core of Baldur's Gate's power. It was no wonder the citizens were in despair if those had collapsed.

However, he keenly noticed that Finn's phrasing was overly precise, and he pressed, "Fallen into the Underdark? Not a collapse? How do you know so clearly?"

"It told me." Finn stepped out of the church and pointed toward the sky.

The sky had turned abnormally dark at some point, and a Gray Hawk was circling above the city.

Anse suddenly realized that this must be Finn's beast companion.

"The city district looks like it was dragged down by a giant hand, straight down, not a collapse," Finn added.

"A man-made disaster?" Anse furrowed his brows, a bad premonition rising in his heart.

"Is there really a need to be this panicked?" Brat asked, his expression full of confusion.

"The Underdark Creatures have come up; if we don't run now, it'll be too late." Seeing Anse stop, Finn reached out to pull him again.

Anse didn't know whether to laugh or cry. This Finn was quite strange, but he could sense that the other party held no malice.

"Are there many?"

"So, so many!"

Anse pondered for a moment. "Don't panic. Even if they climb up and circle around, it will take at least a few hours. Let's help the church transport the wounded and supplies."

He didn't know how much combat strength the Flaming Fist had left, but if they wanted to rely on the fortress to hold back the Underdark Creatures, the strength of the Church of the Final Hope could absolutely not be ignored.

"Alright." Brat did not hesitate.

After a moment of hesitation, Finn also nodded.

The group hurried back to the main hall, where they were met by the Old Cleric Berg, who was directing the clergy to evacuate. He wasn't stubborn; in this situation, there was no need to hold the position to the death.

There was no time for pleasantries. The group helped the clerics pull carts and wagons, loading as many wounded and as much supplies as possible before heading together toward the Flying Dragon Bridge.

Taking this opportunity, Anse helped Brat put on his breastplate; it would provide an extra layer of protection if a fight really broke out.

The church was only three or four hundred meters from the head of the Flying Dragon Bridge, but the road was crowded and chaotic, and it took the caravan over ten minutes to reach the bridgehead.

The Flying Dragon Bridge was six or seven hundred meters long. The bridge deck appeared quite wide, but it was flanked by dense rows of buildings, leaving only a few meters of width for passage.

The main support of the bridge was the Dragon Rock in the center of the riverbed, which stood like a small island and featured a spectacular fortress built upon it.

Just as the caravan stepped onto the bridge, Finn suddenly pointed behind them. "Look!"

Anse turned his head to look. Under the dim sky, dense swarms of black shadows were pouring into the Twin Song District through the intersection.

"At least a hundred. How are they so fast?"

He thought about it for a moment; these weren't newly emerged Underdark Creatures, but the batch that had come up earlier, now gathered in significant numbers.

At this very moment, in front of that horde of Underdark Creatures, Land and Zahir were leading twenty or thirty people, doing their best to intercept them while fighting and retreating, buying time for the civilians to escape.