Shock jolted through Anser, and his temples throbbed.

He drew a deep breath, steadied himself, and pressed, "What's the Sorcerer's name?"

"I don't know. I'm only an outer member. My mentor is in a hurry. Apparently, several nobles and powerful factions are already contacting him, and the potion is scarce..."

"Where does your mentor live? Who are the other members of the Order? Do you know their movements?"

"My mentor lives on a ship at some place called Fishgut Wharf. I don't know the other members. Today was my first time attending a gathering like this..."

"..."

Anser asked several more questions. Once certain nothing had been missed, he drew the shortsword from Finn's waist.

After a brief phrase in Draconic, platinum-white radiance covered the blade, dazzlingly bright.

"A Paladin!" Gass exclaimed, his face full of disbelief.

Finn clamped a hand over his mouth and nose and drove a knee into his chest to prevent him from struggling.

Anser stepped forward and thrust the blade into the back of Gass's skull from the side.

Gass convulsed several times, then stopped moving. Relief softened his empty eyes.

[Target killed. Gained 50 Combat Experience. Level increased.]

Anser sighed, left the room, and beckoned to Bratt.

"Clean this up. Bury the bodies here."

Destroying the evidence with magic would create too much commotion. Burial was simpler.

He gazed at the bright crescent moon, his thoughts in turmoil.

During the Spellplague, blue fire had essentially been uncontrolled raw magic, while true Spellfire Sorcery centered on the potential to radiate raw magic.

Spellscarred Sorcerers were malformed creations and thus could not withstand raw magic's erosion.

'Whoever created Spellscarred Sorcerers is a genius.'

Unfortunately, as a Sorcerer, Anser could not feel happy about it. Wizards had fallen into decline, and Sorcerers had only begun to rise—so why had they already become prey?

'Did some genius Wizard refuse to accept defeat and unearth this method from ancient secret texts?!'

There was no way to verify any of it. He could only remain cautious.

The good news was that he had leveled up. His strength had increased, and he no longer feared an ordinary elite classed individual in a direct confrontation.

After a while, Finn and Bratt emerged from the ruined house, Bratt carrying a cloth sack.

"Buried," Bratt said softly. He had also collapsed half an earthen wall over the grave to prevent animals from digging up the bodies.

"Let's go."

They chose deserted alleys whenever possible. Before long, the Moonshadow Quelin's scattered lights appeared at the road's end.

As they approached the garden entrance, the two guards immediately blocked the way. "Please stop, gentlemen. Show us your room plaques."

Anser and Bratt produced them. After a brief inspection, the guards opened the gate.

Few people remained in the garden. The mushroom building and treehouse shone with light, and it was still too early for sleep.

An undisguised gaze settled on Anser. He paused and turned. A tall figure watched him from the treehouse's top-floor balcony, the light behind her outlining graceful curves.

'Gwyneth.'

Anser inclined his head to her, then turned away.

'Could she be the famous Sorcerer they intend to hunt?' Gass's words led him to the possibility. 'No. Those few people aren't nearly strong enough.'

Gwyneth was hardly alone. At least five moon elf classed individuals worked at the Moonshadow Quelin.

'Should we move elsewhere?'

While he considered it, they entered the mushroom building and found Dara brewing tea behind the counter. A faint floral fragrance filled the air.

"Oh? You went out this late? It's dangerous outside these days," Dara said in surprise.

"Uh, we were seeing off a friend," Anser answered casually.

"I see." Dara sniffed, suspicion entering her eyes.

"Good night." Anser left the words behind and calmly went upstairs.

After returning to the room, the three washed, changed clothes, and gathered in Anser's room.

Bratt and Finn sorted the loot while Anser sat on the sofa, feigning meditation as he entered his inner world.

He had been unable to restrain himself any longer.

When he opened the character sheet, an advancement option appeared:

Increase your Sorcerer Level or select a new class.

He increased his Sorcerer Level without hesitation. Specialization was stronger at this stage, and his Sorcerer Level determined the spell Levels he could cast.

[Level increased: Level 4 Sorcerer!]

[You gained one new feat. You can learn one new spell and one School of Evocation spell.]

Anser selected the feat option, and a dense list immediately appeared. Most entries were lit and available, offering far more choices than at Level 2.

Many feats had Level and ability-score prerequisites. Apart from exceptional geniuses, most classed individuals could not learn powerful feats until Level 4.

With Extraordinary Talent, however, many feats that should have remained unavailable were open to him.

Fey Touched, which granted Misty Step; Elemental Adept, which ignored elemental Resistance; Mounted Combatant; War Caster...

The list made his mouth water. He wanted to learn everything.

'Surely no one can actually learn all of them?'

He suddenly remembered the geniuses who had once dominated Toril's history.

The character sheet was miraculous, but it seemed more like a tool that consumed resources such as Combat Experience to increase Levels and strength. The "budget" available at each Level was limited.

The character sheet might have elevated him into the ranks of geniuses, but he probably could not compare with the most outrageous talents in history.

As his thoughts wandered, he had already browsed most of the feats. A newly appeared category caught his eye.

Dragonmark feats from the world of Eberron!

Eberron was an independent D&D setting said to have been created by three Progenitor Dragons: Siberys, Eberron, and Khyber.

Its most influential powers were the twelve dragonmarked houses, bearing different Dragonmarks and controlling Khorvaire and lands beyond.

No one knew the origin of the Dragonmarks. Legends connected them to the three Progenitor Dragons, yet Eberron's dragons did not possess their power. The dragons' attempts to obtain it led to the creation of half-dragons.

There were thirteen Dragonmarks in all: the true marks of the twelve houses and the Aberrant Dragonmark born from intermarriage among different dragonmarked families. Each possessed distinct strengths.

Excitement hammered in his chest. 'I can choose expansion feats too?'

Dragonmarks were extremely powerful. Each possessed a central Spells of the Mark feature containing multiple spells from Levels 1 through 5.

House Orien's Mark of Passage, for example, increased Dexterity by 2 and another ability score by 1. It granted numerous movement spells, including Misty Step, Blink, Teleport, and Teleportation Circle, with Misty Step functioning as a spell-like ability.

Unfortunately, the Mark of Passage centered on Dexterity. Even its spell-like Misty Step used Dexterity as its spellcasting ability.

He could always learn spells later. Compatibility with his ability scores mattered more.

The Charisma-based options were the Mark of Hospitality, Mark of Shadow, and Mark of Storm. Signature spells for the Mark of Hospitality included Leomund's Tiny Hut and Hallow. The Mark of Shadow focused on Illusion spells such as Invisibility and Seeming.

The Mark of Storm centered on Conjuration and Transmutation and could summon Elementals to fight for its bearer. It appeared more practical.

He selected the feat and viewed its details:

[Mark of Storm]: Expansion General Feat. You gain the following benefits:

<Ability Score Increase>: Charisma increases by 2, and Dexterity increases by 1.

<Windwright's Intuition>: Your instincts sharpen. Whenever you make a Dexterity (Acrobatics) check or an ability check involving Navigator's Tools, add 1d4 (1–4).

<Storm's Boon>: You have Resistance to Lightning damage.

<Headwinds>: You learn the Gust cantrip. Your Dragonmark grants the spell-like ability to cast Gust of Wind once per day.

<Spells of the Mark>: You learn the 1st-level spells Longstrider and Fog Cloud and the 2nd-level spells Gust of Wind and Levitate. More spells unlock as your Level increases.

'Powerful!'

Because he already knew Feather Fall, the die had replaced it with Longstrider. Both were Transmutation spells, efficiently adapting the available resources.

Longstrider was a buff spell that increased a target's movement speed by 10–30% for one hour, making it extremely practical.

Supplement:

1. Combat Experience:

For Challenge Rating and Experience, refer to the illustration accompanying this chapter. A classed individual grants one-quarter the Experience of a monster at the same Level: 50 Experience at Level 1 and 275 at Level 4, for example.

Experience is calculated according to actual contribution in battle. A control spell deals no damage but still grants a proportion of the Experience. Experience is halved when the recipient did not personally land the killing blow. Special circumstances will be explained separately.

2. Dragonmark Powers

Mark of Detection: Half-Elf, Wisdom

Mark of Finding: Half-Orc or Human, Wisdom + Constitution

Mark of Handling: Human, Wisdom

Mark of Healing: Halfling, Wisdom

Mark of Hospitality: Halfling, Charisma

Mark of Making: Human, Intelligence

Mark of Passage: Human, Dexterity

Mark of Scribing: Gnome, Intelligence

Mark of Sentinel: Human, Constitution + Wisdom

Mark of Shadow: Elf, Charisma

Mark of Storm: Half-Elf, Charisma + Dexterity

Mark of Warding: Dwarf, Intelligence

Aberrant Dragonmark: Unrestricted, Constitution

3. D&D contains many settings and expansions that can be viewed as parallel worlds. If you wish, you can create an entirely new world and rules of your own.

Every table uses different house rules. Introducing expansion feats from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, Eberron, Strixhaven, or other setting-specific feats is quite common.

"All expansions" generally means there are no restrictions on species, classes, feats, or spell lists.

4. Longstrider: In D&D rules, it provides a fixed increase of 10 feet, while a Human's base Speed is 30 feet (9 meters).

Reality is not a turn-based game, so the novel changes this to 10–30% for plausibility. The weaker an ordinary person is, the greater the proportional increase.

(End of Chapter)