Chapter 35  : Uncanny Forethought

“That’s…that’s way too powerful, isn’t it?” Zhao Xu found it a little hard to believe such a thing was possible.

“It’s nothing that magical, really. It’s just that it will cost you two feats instead,” explained Antonya.

Zhao Xu nodded. There were some very powerful feats in Arthur that required you to have some other feat as a prerequisite or depended on how high your character class level was.

That had caused endless frustration to players as time went on. Since the game didn’t explain any of these prereqs at the beginning, players didn’t know to plan their feats for the future, and when they reached higher levels, they found that they couldn’t get the feats they wanted because of a mistake they had made at Level 1.

In general, all those who managed to fulfill the requirements for each feat happened to have the prerequisite feat by chance and fulfilled the requirements that way.

But being able to freely choose spells was even more meaningful.

After wizards started to learn a lot of spells, then they had to make sure they had enough information about their mission to ensure that all the spells that they had arranged for the day were going to be able to deal with the probable scenarios they might run into.

But there were exceptions to every case. Being unable to cast a spell that could have solved the problem in front of them had always been a problem for the majority of wizards.

You could prepare scrolls, but then you had to pay for them.

But at least it wasn’t like spell slots. If you didn’t use up all your spell slots for the day that was too bad, and if you had any unused spells left, you couldn’t exchange them for something else.

If Zhao Xu could cast spells any time he wanted, then he would be like a bird flying in the sky as he pleased.

Sorcerers were able to cast spells at any time and use any spell that they knew. The problem was that they could only learn a few spells of each spell level, and it was hard to learn a lot.

Every spell level had between ten and nearly a hundred spells, so learning just six or seven was barely scraping the surface. And that was why more people in Arthur complimented advanced wizards and seldom idolized the more charismatic advanced sorcerers.

“Mentor, I’ll take it.” Zhao Xu didn’t even ask about the details, just displayed his great anticipation.

“Don’t be in such a hurry. Let me explain it to you first.

“The feat that can help you cast spells freely is called Uncanny Forethought, but the prerequisite is that you must know the feat Spell Mastery.”

Antonya started to explain the details of these two feats.

The information on those feats also appeared in Zhao Xu’s character stats board so that he could read them at his convenience.

That was also one of the good things that came with becoming Level 1 of your character class.

Feat: Spell Mastery

Prerequisite: Level 1 Wizard

Effect: Each time you take this feat, choose a number of spells equal to your Intelligence modifier that you already know. From that point on, you can prepare these spells without referring to a spellbook.

When Zhao Xu looked at the details of this feat, he felt that it was completely unnecessary. He already had the class feature Enlightened Spellcaster, so he didn’t need a spellbook to prepare spells anyway.

When he thought about it this way, Zhao Xu just shook his head. It was completely redundant.

Feat: Uncanny Forethought

Prerequisite: Intelligence 17, Spell Mastery

Effect: When preparing your daily allotment of spells, you can reserve a number of spell slots equal to your Intelligence modifier.

) As a standard action, you can use one of these slots to cast a spell that you selected for the Spell Mastery feat. The level of the slot used must be equal to or greater than the level of the spell you intend to cast.

) Alternatively, as a full-round action, you can use a reserved slot to cast any spell that you know. The spell is resolved as normal, but for the purpose of the spell, your caster level is reduced by two. The level of the slot used must be equal to or greater than the level of the spell you intend to cast.

When he looked at this feat, Zhao Xu was really shocked. There were limits, but they were all within an acceptable range.

His three Intelligence modifier points meant that he could reserve 3 spell slots, which meant that he had three chances to cast any spell.

That was enough to handle any emergency situation as a low-level wizard.

The only limit on this feat was the time taken to cast the spells.

If it was a spell selected for the Spell Mastery feat, then he could cast it faster (a standard action).

If it wasn’t a spell selected for the Spell Mastery feat, then he would need 6 seconds to cast it (a full-round action).

After going through half a month of training, Zhao Xu was already very familiar with all sorts of basic wizard knowledge.

The time taken to cast a spell was fixed in a few ways: Swift Action (Instantaneous), Standard Action, Full Round Action (6 seconds), or even longer.

Arthur’s time was always displayed in rounds, with 6 seconds per round.

There were a number of effects of this round system. One of them was that, during every round, a spellcaster class could only cast a ‘standard’ + one ‘swift’ spell, otherwise they had to cast a ‘full-round’ spell.

The Mirage Arcane spell that Antonya had used earlier was probably done using this Uncanny Forethought ability.

It took one round, so she was casting the spell for an entire 6 seconds.

Otherwise, there was no reason for Antonya to specially prepare an illusion spell like that just because she was bored.

Even if you were a super genius, you had to follow some of these fixed rules of the universe.

In general, a wizard could only cast one or two spells in 6 seconds. Everyone knew this fact very well.

There was no way you could suddenly cast a few dozen swift action spells like some spellcasting machine gun.

Otherwise, you could forget about getting through a battle. Just kneel down and beg for mercy first.

If the casting time was ‘Standard Action’, then that varied a little depending on each person. The difference was great, just a few seconds apart. If you were familiar with the spell, then you could reduce the time a little depending on your level.

If the casting time was ‘Swift Action’, then it could be cast instantaneously. But, for most people, there was quite a hefty price to pay if you wanted to cast a swift action spell.

So low-level wizards normally just cast a standard action spell within each round and that was it.

But these are all topics for another day.

The real problem now was that Zhao Xu didn’t have 17 points of Intelligence.

He saved 3 points and spent it on another Ability Score, so his Intelligence now stood at only 16 points.

Zhao Xu could only awkwardly look at Antonya awkwardly and put on his best pleading expression.

Antonya also knew that he didn’t have 17 points of Intelligence. At the same time, the student insignia that Zhao Xu dreamt about the last time had already proved to mean nothing at all.

“Now you know how useful 17 points of Intelligence is, right? Even though it won’t grant you any more spell slots or increase your difficulty class by even half a point more than your current score of 16 Intelligence points, this is the number that will become a roadblock to you.”

After listening to Antonya chide him, Zhao Xu still shamelessly decided to beg her for help even though actually he was an uncle who had lived till 30 years of age in his previous life.

Even though that elderly wizard had called Antonya his mentor, Antonya had received the Level 9 spell of Kissed by the Ages, so both her looks and her thinking were the same as the moment she received the spell.

She hadn’t gone back in time, but she had stopped her aging process at that time.

So, after all these years, her knowledge had increased, but her mind was still quite young and didn’t show any signs of aging.

Otherwise, if she was really an old grandma, then there was no way he could behave so shamelessly like that.

“You now have two choices you can make.”

Zhao Xu wanted to complain the minute he heard these words. He was always offered two options, but the truth was that he really only had one. But then, one was better than none.

“One option is to wait until you hit Level 4 so that you can increase your Intelligence score, then wait till Level 6, which is when you get a new feat, to learn this ability.”

Zhao Xu shook his head when he heard that option. That was just too much time.

He wasn’t the main character of some novel, where everything was arranged nicely by the author when he was in danger and where all the spells he prepared were all useful all the time.

After seeing Zhao Xu’s reaction, Antonya decided to explain the other option.

“Your other choice, well, I’ll be the one at the losing end. The last time I promised to cast an everlasting spell of Kissed by the Ages on you was as a reward for joining our organization.

“Now you can exchange that spell for a Wish spell, and I’ll help you to increase your Intelligence score by 1 point.”