Chapter 2 Own Situation
Manto Driss is located in a huge natural cave in the Underdark. This cave is the result of hundreds of millions of years of tireless water carving.
The water here is alive.
In this underground trading market shrouded in strange silence, the only sound is the sound of running water.
Even if you close your eyes, you can still feel the waterfall flowing deep in the cave, flying down from the high dome and splashing on the rock wall of the cave. The gurgling stream passes through the cave, flowing in every direction. A small bubbling pond formed at every turn.
For Manto Dris is not a bustling bazaar, but a shadowy place for secret deals and shrewd negotiations.
It is not crowded here. Judging from the soft whispers and the occasional low footsteps on the icy road, there are no more than 200 people in the entire cave.
While the drow wizard was bargaining with the human merchant, Brian, the war mage prisoner who had gained temporary freedom, walked out of the tent and stood at the door with a complicated expression, looking at the surrounding environment.
Although it is quiet here, it is full of light. Because the walls are inlaid with colorful crystals and gems, a few dim candlesticks are enough to make the entire cave sparkle.
Splendid stone buildings are everywhere in this quiet underground trading bazaar.
The walls surrounding the fountain are studded with gems to form strange patterns, the crystal bridge across the stream is natural, and even the sidewalks are paved with polished jewels.
At this moment, he happened to be stepping on a path paved with sapphires shining with starlight.
Even though he is used to the gorgeous lights of bustling cities in the real world, now that he is walking on such wealth again, it is inevitable that he will feel dazzled.
He looked at the familiar scenery that seemed like a world away, smelled the long-lost air that was moist, thick, and filled with the smell of mushrooms. He sighed with emotion, and unconsciously recalled the memories of being a foreigner in his mind. The life experienced by visitors from the world.
As a gamer, he was inexplicably reborn into the game world. Even though there was a slight sense of loss hidden deep in his heart, he thought this was something worth being happy about.
Who would have thought that when he adjusted his mentality and prepared to use the knowledge he had mastered in his previous life and his ability to foresee and predict his lofty ambitions, he discovered that he would be reborn in a small town that was targeted by ancient evil beings and faced destruction at all times. world.
There is no doubt that this is not the world of Toril and Faerûn that he is familiar with at all.
This is nothing, what makes him even more speechless is that this small world that is extremely far away from the main world is still a genuine low-magic world. Magical civilization is like a few wisps of smoke remaining in the air. rare.
The constraints of the rules and the limitations of his strength will undoubtedly completely dispel his idea of trying to quickly improve his strength and then run away.
In order to save his life, he had to try his best to delay the evil creature's destruction of the world.
In this case, you can have more time to think about how to leave.
Thankfully, the goddess of luck favored him this time, and everything went as smoothly as he had imagined.
With his unremitting efforts, he not only obtained the help of the will of the small world plane, but also successfully delayed the destruction of the world.
They also met a psion from the elves. Together, the two got the coordinates to the main material world through a wizard tower left by the remnants of the Arcane Empire, and immediately went there to find and save the world. method.
After all, as a senior game player, Brian also has lofty ideals and ambitions.
After he completed his goal of conquering the world, he regarded this small world with abundant material and sufficient resources as the origin of his arcane glory. Naturally, he could not watch it being destroyed by ancient evil things.
So, under the leadership of the psychic who mastered the powers of the Astral Brigade, he set foot on the astral passage to the continent of Faerûn, the world of Toril, without hesitation.
The Star Boundary belongs to a nearly stagnant subspace and spiritual world in the multiverse. Even the legendary strong ones dare not set foot there easily.
Naturally, this trip was thrilling enough for Brian.
They have encountered an astral beast that looks like a dreadnought, escaped from an astral hunter who fed on the flesh of astral travelers, and even an astral dragon streaked through the silver void. The shadow has also been witnessed.
During this dangerous journey, accidents still happened.
Bryan and the accompanying psion encountered a group of Githyanki known as the 'Astral Pirates', and the two became separated.
Without the guidance of a psion, he relied on the blessing properties of the Celestial Mountain to successfully attract the attention of an Aasimar paladin who called himself the 'Apostle of the Stars', and took him to the Iselin Nebula. Crosswind Fortress.
After tossing and turning all the way, he was teleported to the Dark Territory by an Aasimo wizard whose teleportation spells were extremely unreliable.
The results can be imagined.
The unreliable teleportation spell caused him to fall into a caravan going to the Dark Territory to sell slaves, and he was captured alive by a strong man who was at least two levels higher than him.
In the end, it evolved. This has become the case now.
For his unknown fate, Brian had no choice but to make bold assumptions and try carefully. After all, the gap in strength was there.
Just like now, the drow wizard who bought him is not worried about him running away at all.
Because this is the most mysterious Manto Dris in the Underdark, a huge cave hidden three kilometers below the surface. It is protected by heavy magic and is stronger than a wizard's tower.
Some powerful beings cannot find the location of this market through magic. The solid rocks surrounding the cave emit strange rays unique to the Underdark, which no magic can penetrate.
These spells are either weakened by scattering, or are reflected intact to the caster, and may even be life-threatening.
Thus, any attempt to use magic to investigate the mysterious Manto Dris is destined to end in failure or tragedy, let alone an escaped prisoner.
So, Brian is very aware of his situation. Now he can only choose to endure the humiliation and bear the burden, wait until he leaves this mysterious trade bazaar, and then look for opportunities to find a way to escape.
Thinking of this, he made a thought and called up his own system panel:
Name: Brian
Race: Half-elf (Athas Elf blood)
Attributes: Constitution 13, Strength 15, Agility 17, Intelligence 19, Perception 16, Charisma 15
< br>Occupation: Level 6 War Mage/Part-time Level 1 Psion
Racial Traits: Low-light vision, Elf blood, wild mask, keen senses, psychic talent
Battle Mage Professional Features: Armor Piercing Mage, Spell Sharpening, Sharpening Enhancement, Spell Amplification
Psion Professional Features: Mental Resistance, Psychic Meditation
Psychic Domain (Psychic Creation Department): Psions who specialize in spiritual creation are called: Build Divers.
Instinct consists of extracting ectoplasm or other matter from the astral plane to create semi-solid or solid objects. The created objects can be weapons, armor, or ectoplasm that fights at the command of the Build Divers. Construct.
Creation talent abilities: ectoplasmic barrier, ectoplasmic entanglement
Ordinary feats: lightning reflexes, alertness, flexible movement, combat casting
Personal feats: magic talent, photographic memory, iron will
Metamagic feat: spell enhancement
Battle Mage Spells: (7/7/6/4)
Zero Ring Tricks: Acid Explosion, Strike Undead, Freeze Ray
First-level spells: Lesser Acid Ball, Lesser Cold Ball, Lesser Fire Ball, Lesser Electric Ball, Lesser Sonic Ball, Arcane Missile
Second-level spells: Explosive Flame, Ice Blade, Ma Youfu Acid arrow, electric shock ring, whirling flying blade
Three-level spells: fireball, wind creation, lightning beam, ice storm
Psion power (psionic value): 8 points
Level One Powers: Astral Construct, Psionic Lesser Creation, Astral Traveler, Mind Stab, Mind Blank
.........
This is his overall strength in a small world where his strength is severely limited.
Although it is not worth mentioning here, in the low magic world, there is a ceiling of combat power.
The most important thing is that although the overall strength of this small world is low, there are many things that make him worthy of praise, such as his elf blood.
In the vast multiverse, Toril is not the only world.
In the distant world of Atas, the apocalyptic and harsh living conditions have caused most of the creatures and races living there to have the ability to use psychic powers.
And his elven bloodline is the remnant of elves from the world of Atas. Although the psychic talents of these elven remnants from the world of Atas have been completely lost as time goes by due to the different living environments.
But with the help of a psion, Brian finally succeeded in awakening the original psychic talent in his body, and took up the psion profession part-time.
However, Brian is still very aware of his situation.
This seemingly luxurious attribute panel is actually not of much help to him now. In the final analysis, the levels of the two professions are too low to allow him to escape.
His current strength belongs to the second level of extraordinary, and the drow wizard who bought him, Brian guessed, is at least a fourth level paragon.
The gap between the two levels makes it easy for the other party to take advantage of him.
What's more, the other party is still a wizard.
In the world of high magic, the most difficult person to deal with is the spell caster.
Therefore, without complete preparation, he really did not dare to risk his life and try to resist.
Since he couldn't escape with his strength, Brian had to use another advantage of his.
That is the prophetic ability that he, as a time traveler, has mastered.
So, he retracted his chaotic thoughts and began to seriously analyze his situation.
From the conversation between the drow wizard and the businessman, he learned that the other party's purpose of buying him was mainly to act as a deadly hunter.
This reminded him of the drow tradition: blood sacrifice.
The Blood Sacrifice is a unique drow ritual.
In this ritual, the young drow hunt and kill an intelligent or dangerous creature, preferably from a light place on the surface. A surprise attack on the surface, for example, accomplishes this task. One of the methods.
However, if there are suitable captives, such hunting is often carried out in the tunnels of the Underdark.
Recalling that the drow wizard so solemnly selected a deadly hunter, Brian immediately understood that he was the suitable prisoner.
The reason why the drow wizard chose him was probably because he wanted to use the blood sacrifice ritual and his hands to eliminate a drow who participated in this ritual.
There is no doubt that this drow elf is likely to be a talented youngster.
After all, the inner volume is the family tradition of this group of drow elves who believe in the Spider Queen.
Wanting to understand the reason, Brian knew that his life should be safe for the time being.
Then he began to guess which city in the Underdark the drow wizard belonged to.
He first eliminated one of the most famous dark cities of drow in the underground world of the Northern Alliance: Menzoberranzan.
Because during their conversation, he learned another news.
Drow wizards know the Kingdom of Cormyr on the surface very well, which means that their city is likely to be located within the underground world of the Kingdom of Cormyr.
Brian quickly recalled the underground cities distributed in the Kingdom of Cormyr, the Valley, and the Corsoman region.
Soon, he thought of three suspects, which were the city of Schendaraine, the city of Shamas, and the city of ancient Orens.
The city of Schendalen is the closest to the Kingdom of Cormyr. He still remembers that the Forest of Kings in the Kingdom hides a passage to the surface.
Judging from this time period, it should not have been discovered yet.
Scendalion City was built on the ruins of the Kuo-Tao fish people. The dense underground rivers kept their buildings in the style of fish, which is similar to Venice in the real world.
The food sources of drow are mainly algae and fish.
However, Brian had carefully observed the drow wizard and found that whether it was her dressing style or the smell around her, it was unlikely that she was a drow from the city of Skendalion. Elf.
As for Shamas City, it is even more impossible.
Because this is a city ruled by male wizards, male drow wizards have gained numerical advantage through high birth rates for several generations, gradually reducing the number and power of the drow elf matrons, and finally achieved absolute dominance. control.
The Spider Queen's drow priestesses only play a minor role, which is undoubtedly very rare in the underground cities of the drow.
Shamas City has also been jokingly said by players: Male wizards must have defeated women and succeeded in ascending to the throne by studying chromosomes.
A drow city defeated by chromosomes.
Brian once wondered if a wizard had invented a magical potion.
After all, you will reap what you sow, and the right to decide whether to have a boy or a girl actually lies with men, not women.
It is precisely because of this special situation that the male wizards in Shamas City prohibit any female drow from learning magic. Naturally, it is impossible for such a powerful drow wizard to appear.
In this case, the drow wizard is likely to come from the ancient Orens city near the Sunset Mountains, Brian thought.
If this is the case, his chances of successfully escaping have increased by at least half.
Ancient Orens is the oldest city of the drow, dating back 10,000 years when the original drow civilization just emerged.
However, these are not important to Brian.
Because if nothing happens, this city is likely to be completely destroyed one day in the future.
Brian has witnessed the destruction of the ancient city of Orens through various channels and information.
The real trigger was Lolth, the Spider Goddess, a deity believed by the drow. She fell into a brief slumber as she tried to upgrade from medium to strong divine power.
During the time when the Spider Queen was asleep, all drow priestesses in the Underdark lost the ability to release divine spells. Most of the priestesses who were not mentally prepared fell into panic for a time.
The result can be imagined. Countless oppressed male drow resisted. Whether it was physical posture or power, they all wanted to occupy the upper position.
The worst among them is the ancient city of Orens.
This ancient city was destroyed by a crazy drow wizard who used some evil sacrificial ritual to pull the incarnations of many demon monarchs from the bottomless abyss to the material plane to wipe out the ancient city of Orens. Drow copy.
The demon monarchs that Brian is familiar with include at least: the Immortal Lord Orgas, the Gnoll King Yeenoghu, the Dark Lord Graz'zt, the Fungus Queen Zugmoy, and the Ooze The King of Monsters, the Phantom Demon King, the Horned Demon King, etc., and there are even many that he cannot even name.
After all, the Spider Queen's kingdom is located in the bottomless abyss. If she really succeeds in being promoted to powerful divine power, the first to be unlucky will be her demon neighbors.
The improvement in strength will definitely be followed by territorial expansion that matches its own strength.
Judging from the current situation, it should still be a few years before Ancient Orens City is used as a copy by the incarnations of the demon monarchs.
The reason why Brian hopes to be the city of Ancient Orens is mainly because he is most familiar with the drow elves in this city, and the difficulty of escaping should be relatively the lowest.
While he was thinking about his escape plan, he recalled the lost ruins of the floating city in the Underdark, as well as the specific location of the Netherese remnant 'Iolum' who claimed to have a challenge level of 68. .
Because the ruins of the floating city have not yet been discovered at this time, he can take this opportunity to take away a Nese scroll inside in advance - this is a key item in his plan to advance to the arcanist profession.
If you are lucky enough to find Iolum's echo chamber, you can use your precognition ability to confirm an immature guess in your mind.
Of course, the premise of all this is to first get rid of your identity as a prisoner.
At this time, he could only pray in his heart that his destination was the ancient Orens city of the drow elves.
Otherwise, after leaving Manto Dris, he could only bite the bullet and risk his life to escape from a fourth-level wizard.
(End of this chapter)