Chapter 374

[Charisma: +2. Spells: Meteor Swarm, Gate. Signature Spell: Wish. Metamagic Enhancement: Enhanced Extended Spell. Confirm?]

"Confirm!"

The next instant, a vast torrent of memories surged endlessly through Anser's mind.

For the first time, an unfamiliar term entered his understanding: Primordial Magic.

Primordial Magic wasn't magic itself, but rather the underlying source from which magic flowed throughout the multiverse, one of the fundamental laws governing how the world functioned.

Nowadays, however, no one used that term anymore. Power on that level was universally regarded as the domain of the gods, because divine portfolios themselves were founded upon those very rules.

And the core principle behind Wish was Primordial Magic, not something like fate.

In this multiverse, reality wasn't absolutely rigid. It was malleable.

The Overgod could alter the world. Gods could do it, and so could Wish. At their core, all of them invoked the underlying rules of reality—the only difference was the degree to which they could do so.

Because of this, Wish had to be used with extreme caution. If a wish touched upon the domain of a particular god, it could very well attract that god's attention.

They might ignore it, or they might forcibly intervene. The outcome was impossible to predict.

After a long while, Anser finally finished digesting all the memories, his gaze unfocused.

'That's a little abstract.'

His current understanding of the arcane was definitely superior to that of most low- and mid-level wizards, but when confronted with the concept of Primordial Magic, he was like a high school student trying to comprehend the physical laws governing the universe.

'As long as I know how to use it. For all I know, some gods might be illiterate too.'

He didn't dwell on it any further. Instead, he brought up his Character Sheet and examined his Signature Spell, Wish.

Whenever a spell became a Signature Spell, it automatically adapted to every Metamagic effect and received a certain degree of enhancement.

Temporal Shunt could affect more targets and had a higher saving throw DC.

Prismatic Spray dealt more damage and even allowed him to change its rays.

Antimagic Field no longer required concentration and could be activated whenever he wanted.

And Wish? Its most severe drawback—the one-third chance of permanently losing the ability to cast Wish—had simply disappeared.

As a Signature Spell equivalent to a spell-like ability, he would never forget Wish or become unable to cast it for any reason.

'Not bad!' Anser's mood immediately brightened.

He couldn't understand the reason behind that drawback. Perhaps Wish placed too great a burden on the caster, or perhaps the laws of the universe simply didn't permit anyone to interfere too much.

The side effect felt more like a failsafe and safeguard put in place by certain beings, preventing spellcasters from losing all sense of restraint and recklessly tampering with reality.

'That's a Signature Spell for you.'

He could now cast Wish once per day as a spell-like ability without expending any resources, but his body would still have to endure an enormous burden, leaving him weakened for two to eight days.

The severity of the weakness was directly proportional to the scale of the wish.

There was no helping it. The underlying principle of Wish was simply too outrageous. Even his physical resilience wasn't enough to withstand it unscathed.

'I wonder if upgrading it would improve that?'

However, upgrading Wish required 22,500 experience points, an absurdly high amount. He didn't have that much experience to throw around right now.

He wanted to test Wish immediately, but considering the severe physical burden, he decided to hold off for now and finish dealing with the matters at hand first.

He had already decided on his first wish: raise his Dexterity to 20 and unlock a new multiclass option.

This was a standard use of Wish. The objective was clear, and the wish itself was so minor that it almost felt wasteful, but it was safe and reliable.

His first attempt would simply be a test run, letting him understand how the spell worked and estimate its limits.

Besides Wish, his other new spells, Meteor Swarm and Gate, were equally powerful.

His attributes had also improved significantly after leveling up.

His Hit Points had reached 278, higher than even those of a newly matured adult gold dragon.

His Magic Power had skyrocketed to 419. The bonus Magic Power from his Extraordinary Charisma alone had already exceeded one hundred.

An ordinary Sorcerer of the same level might have only half his total Magic Power.

At the same time, his exceptionally high Charisma, combined with Genie's Splendor and his draconic physique, raised his Armor Class to 36.

He was seriously tough!

Dragonkind Transformation had changed as well. He could now transform into an adult dragon, increasing his size to Gargantuan and gaining a dragon's extraordinary Strength and Constitution.

All four of his breath weapons had undergone a qualitative improvement as well, with larger areas of effect and higher damage.

His fire breath, in particular, now dealt 12d10 damage (12–120), even more than a ninth-level Fireball.

'I've gotten stronger across the board. This is the pinnacle of mortal power!'

Anser finally felt a little safer.

He stretched, got up and dressed, then vanished in a flash and reappeared within the gloomy depths of Viheral's underground city.

Stoll and Iris were no longer where he'd left them.

Hearing no sounds of fighting, he immediately spread his dragon wings and climbed higher. Looking ahead, he spotted the two of them at the castle entrance.

Stoll stood outside the gate, leaning on his greatsword and blocking the way.

Iris sat atop a flying carpet, hovering in midair as elemental orbs circled around her, trailing streaks of rainbow-colored light.

In front of them stood a crowd of people dressed like adventurers—roughly eighty or ninety in total, divided into several groups.

'Trouble?'

He dove down, stirring up a violent gust of turbulent air before coming to a hover in front of the gate.

The crowd opposite him immediately stirred. Nearly everyone looked up, studying the six-winged figure half-concealed in the gloom above them.

"What's going on?" Anser asked, looking at Stoll.

Stoll's expression wasn't pleasant. He replied coldly, "These people want to go inside. When the Thayan liches were here, every last one of them was as timid as a mouse. Now they're showing up at our doorstep. Do they think we're easy to push around?"

A red-bearded man stepped forward from the crowd and bowed slightly.

"Lord Anser, Mr. Stoll, please allow me to explain once again."

"We're from the Dessarin Adventurers' Guild. We suffered heavy losses after being attacked by undead while exploring the dungeon before."

"We've come back this time for revenge. Today was the scheduled date for our operation. This isn't deliberately aimed at the Holrewen Federation."

The Dessarin Adventurers' Guild was headquartered in Waterdeep and styled itself as the strongest adventurers' guild on the Sword Coast.

"So?" Stoll sneered.

He was well traveled and experienced. He had already seen straight through their intentions.

"Viheral doesn't belong to anyone. Under the agreements between adventurers' guilds, any adventurer who discovers it has the right to explore it." The man extended a hand, gesturing toward the adventurers around him.

Some of them nodded, while others remained silent.

Rumors were now spreading throughout the entire adventuring community that multiple Artifacts and Legendary items had appeared in the Viheral dungeon, along with countless treasures.

Several adventurers' guilds had corroborated the story, and many adventurers firmly believed it.

Faced with temptation on that scale, who wouldn't want to go inside and take a look? They didn't want to back down, and they weren't willing to.

Besides, their justification was perfectly sound!

Everyone knew the man in charge of Holrewen was a Paladin.

And Paladins had to be reasonable, didn't they? If the people standing opposite them had been Thayan Red Wizards, they wouldn't have bothered reasoning with them at all.

Adventurers weren't afraid of offending people. What they feared was having nothing to live on. With an opportunity sitting right in front of them, no one was willing to give it up.

---

I will post some extra Chapters in Patreon, you can check it out. >> /TitoVillar

---