Chess Mage of Faerûn

Chapter 3 Prologue: The Third Mage? A Part-Timer? A Sword Saint?

What?! This attribute isn't for crafting treasures?

While he's far from being crippled, in Faerûn, where dragons roam freely and liches are as common as dogs, he probably wouldn't even dare to leave the city gates.

Of all the attributes, only intelligence is somewhat acceptable, which is probably due to the systematic education he received. Strength and physique are barely passable due to fitness training and his own physical condition.

The most tragic one is undoubtedly Agile. Having lived a sedentary life for a long time and rarely engaging in outdoor activities, Zhang is truly not associated with the word "agile." With this attribute, if he works hard and gets a bit of luck, he might become a mage apprentice, or even a low-level mage, but his future prospects are predictably narrow and limited.

As for being a warrior? A clumsy and weak warrior would be better suited to be a zookeeper; one sliding tackle and they'd overfeed them! Other professions are out of the question. Looks like I can only pin my hopes on this auto-chess game; please, please don't let me down!

Surprises always come so suddenly. As the dice spun again, a new prompt appeared at the top of the window: Please roll the dice three times and choose one as an extra free attribute reward.

This is like forgetting to bring toilet paper after taking a dump and then being delivered toilet paper by the neighbor next door. Overjoyed, Mr. Zhang grabbed the dice and was about to throw them on the ground, but then stopped.

What if it breaks? Better safe than sorry, Zhang Yuan decided to crouch down and gently toss the dice towards the ground like a rolling ball.

*Thump thump thump...* Three points. Zhang Yuan almost spat out a mouthful of blood. "You little brat, are you trying to kill me?" He didn't dare touch the dice again. Zhang Yuan rubbed his hands together frantically, almost scraping off a layer of skin.

"Fall again, 17 points!!!" "NICE! I'm blessed with good luck. While my luck is still strong, I'll try again and give it a big success!" Zhang Yuan was full of confidence.

As it turns out, good luck is indeed one of life's illusions. The seven on the dice was like a kick in the throat, leaving Zhang Yuan speechless for a long time.

"Oh well, seventeen points it is, it's not a loss," Zhang consoled himself. After unsurprisingly selecting seventeen points as the reward, the window jumped directly to the job application screen without waiting for him to assign attributes.

That's right, how can you allocate attributes if you haven't even decided on a profession yet? As for which profession he plans to choose, Zhang Yuan also has his own considerations. With his strength, constitution, and agility attributes, switching to a combat profession like warrior, knight, or ranger is definitely out of the question, and his low perception also prevents him from becoming a priest or druid, or other divine spellcasters.

As for using free attribute points to compensate, that would be too wasteful; it's better to strengthen the existing foundation. Besides, in the world of Dungeons & Dragons, when has a popular class not been a mage? No matter how strong a melee character is, they're still just a melee character, just like a beggar who becomes emperor is still a beggar.

Faced with the ever-present dangers and unpredictable cunning tactics that might emerge in the future, he simply lacked the confidence that he could withstand them all on his own.

He entered the career selection interface in his mind. The wide variety of careers didn't overwhelm him. Skipping over the careers he had already decided to abandon, Zhang Yuan focused his attention on the three options: mage, warlock, and part-time.

Humans can have multiple jobs? This is either due to some kind of cheat code, or the world of Forgotten Realms isn't a game world that follows a predetermined set of rules.

Thinking about it, it makes sense. In reality, as long as you have the energy and talent, you don't have to be mediocre at everything, and no one will restrict you from having multiple jobs. On the other hand, without a special ability, how many people would dare to decide to take on multiple jobs so easily? Since he had the option of taking on multiple jobs, Zhang Yuan temporarily put aside the idea of ​​having a single job.

I opened the part-time job page, looked at the row of familiar options, hesitated for a moment, but still firmly chose the Warrior/Mage part-time job. Admittedly, the Ranger/Priest or Warrior/Druid part-time jobs are undeniably classic and powerful.

However, those who practice divine magic are inherently limited by their perception attribute, and the allure of the mage profession is indeed irresistible to him.

As for the classic solo class, Warrior, Mage, and Thief, they are truly a jack-of-all-trades, master of none. Even with a leveling system, it would take forever to accumulate experience points. The unexpected surprise of being able to choose a sect after selecting a side class was a delightful surprise.

Previously, the Sword Saint/Mage class could only be obtained by asking the Shadowkeeper god. Could it be that it can be given away with just a click today? There were no unexpected problems. With Zhang Yuan's confirmation, the class option in the character panel was changed to Sword Saint/Mage.

Having just landed a prestigious job, the person clicked on it without hesitation, only to find that the portrait appearance was determined by the host and could not be changed. This greatly disappointed Zhang Yuan, who had been secretly planning to get a cosmetic surgery package.

Whatever, I won't get plastic surgery. I'm not worried about ruining my handsome image! Someone angrily rubbed his face, took a deep breath, and lifted his little belly.

"What kind of system is this? It can't even discover the host's inner beauty!" After complaining for a moment, he suddenly remembered that he was also the creator of this system, so he had to give up in frustration. Putting these farces aside, Zhang Yuan, having regained his senses, turned his attention back to the character panel.

When it came to the crucial attribute allocation, Zhang Yuan was so meticulous that he wanted to split each attribute in half, calculating every penny like a miser. He added 18 points to Constitution and Intelligence without much hesitation; one was the foundation of physical health, and the other was the most critical attribute for a mage, so he couldn't be stingy with these two.

The remaining 7 attribute points really stumped him. Should he increase his strength attribute to enhance his melee damage, or should he make up for his own weaknesses? Without hesitating for too long, considering that he still had the auto chess system and that the Sword Saint himself was a sect that was more flexible and had high damage, Zhang Yuan still distributed the remaining attributes evenly among strength, agility and charm.

Weapon specialization? Thinking about the magical weapons that are relatively easy to obtain in the early stages of Baldur's Gate, the best ones are the Asdina Warhammer and the Vasconar Longsword.

Both are enchanted weapons that grant +2 elemental damage; the former deals electric damage, while the latter deals frost damage.

As for Flash, Ice Death, and Cui Heizi's mithril chainmail? Ha! How much ambition and audacity would one need to dare to covet Master Cui?
Even if the God of Dice blesses you, and every strike is a fiery slash, if Cui Heizi suddenly slips on dog poop and falls face-first into it, and you manage to take Cui Heizi's head and acquire the full set of equipment, the consequences would be something you, alone, couldn't handle.

After much deliberation, Zhang Yuan chose the longsword, not because it looked cool, but because as a part-time combatant, he didn't intend to pursue a pure strength-based approach. In addition, although the Sword Saint Sect could actually use all eighteen weapons, in reality, without sufficient strength, it was impossible to wield heavy weapons with speed, accuracy, and ruthlessness.

Besides, are the priests of Cyrek really that easy to mess with? Wouldn't it be better to just take down a mere mercenary and get Vasconar? After selecting two stars for the longsword and two stars for the dual weapons, the panel then showed the selection of level one spells.

After careful consideration, seven spells were chosen: Magic Missile, Mage Armor, Larok Weakness Drain, Grease, Burning Hand, Find My Familiar, and Appraisal. The character's current attributes are as follows:
Owner: Zhang Yuan
Race: human

Identity: Auto Chess Messenger
Class: Sword Saint/Mage
Age: 24
Alignment: Lawful Neutral

Power: 15
Agility: 11
Constitution: 18
Intelligence: 18
Intelligence (Perception): 10
Charisma: 10
Weapon Specialization: Longsword, Dual Weapons
Spellcasting Feat: Spellcasting without materials (system-provided function)

Learned spells: Magic Missile, Mage Armor, Lalok's Weakness Drain, Grease, Burning Hand, Find My Familiar, Appraisal

At the bottom of the character attribute panel is a button called "Confirm Import Character Template". As Zhang Yuan confirmed it in his mind, all the beams of light converged into the dice, followed by a deep blue beam of light that shone directly on his brow.

Deep blue? Fully charged? Before Zhang Yuan could think any further about this strange thought that popped into his head, he felt as if he had been hit hard in the head and immediately lost consciousness.

(End of this chapter)