From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 526 A New Advancement Path
A translucent red gemstone lay on a workbench engraved with many runes, quietly reflecting the orange glow of the candlelight.

Two days have passed since the adventurers returned to Qazador's palace from Baal's murder inquisition, and much has still happened in those two days.

With Minsk and the reborn evil, Jahira, with the help of Nine Fingers and the Guild, wiped out the Zantalin Guild, which was secretly gathering power in the sewers.

However, a large portion of the large sum of gold paid to them by the Stone Lord—the batch stolen from the Clearing House's vault—has already been exchanged for various strategic materials.

It would be difficult for the chief banker of the clearinghouse to maintain his reputation in this situation, and selling strategic materials at low prices to raise money would not be a smart strategy.

Although the Baal Order under Orin's command has lost its leader, security incidents still occur from time to time in the city.

In these times of widespread anxiety, strategic resources that can provide assistance are essential for the guild and the reorganized Santalin Guild.

Yes, with the help of the undercover agent Rugan, a large number of local Zhentalian members in Baldur's Gate surrendered to Ivy and her group, and together they wiped out the high-ranking officials sent by Darkhold. They joined the guild's unified command as a new gang.

However, Zaris, who was imprisoned by Flame Fist and was about to be executed by Gotash, who was to be crowned Grand Duke, had not yet been rescued.

Nine-Fingered Astil, the high-ranking harpist Jasira, and Floric, the former advisor to the High Duke, are all striving towards this goal.

As a serpent leader familiar with the bottom of Baldur's Gate, the Zantarin Order has always possessed many secret passages. As one of the former high-ranking members, Zaris likely knows which locations in the bottom of Baldur's Gate are suitable as the mastermind's lair.

Many people were working tirelessly to obtain this information.

Now that he has two of the three Netherstones, Ivy feels it's time to start preparing for the final battle against the Mastermind and Gortash.

Once you obtain the Netherstone that Gortash has embedded in the gold-threaded gauntlets, you will be able to control the Karthus Crown worn on the mainframe's head.

Although the Supreme God and her followers are nothing but lies, the faith power generated during the mind control process is not an illusion.

As Ivy's understanding of the nature of deities increased, he gradually began to worry that the mastermind might actually be some kind of strange deity.

Divinity, divine power, divine office.

The Supreme God has satisfied approximately 1.5 of the three key elements of a deity.

As a creation of Karthus, the god of fools, after his ascension to godhood, the Crown of Karthus, though inverted, still contains Karthus's divinity. While the supreme god is merely a slave to the crown, there is still the possibility that the serf might rise up and sing a song of liberation.

Therefore, in terms of divinity, let's tentatively rate it at 0.5.

The Supreme God's true form is an astonishingly large Mind Flayer's main brain. As one of the most powerful psionic beings in all planes, the main brain's power is often perceived as being no different from that of the Supreme God. Psionic energy, magic, and divine power are all forces capable of changing the world, although they have fundamental differences. However, once the Supreme God completes his transformation, converting his vast psionic energy into divine power might be a natural progression.

Therefore, in terms of divine power, it can be roughly considered to be 0.5.

As for the divine office, it goes without saying. The Supreme God, capable of mind control over mortals, can ensure that each of his followers is among the most fanatical of the fanatics. Although there is a significant numerical gap compared to other deities in the Panfaith, in terms of quality, he undoubtedly possesses an overwhelming advantage. The majority of the Sword Coast region, centered on Baldur's Gate, can be considered part of the Supreme God's sphere of influence.

If it weren't for the lack of a clear domain and a divine office certified by Io, the Supreme God would have already crossed this threshold that has constrained many demigods.

Therefore, in terms of clergy, it is absolutely a solid 0.5.

Thus, the sum of three 0.5s created a terrifying demigod hiding beneath Baldur's Gate.

Fortunately, this powerful demigod had suffered severe damage from the Dawn Cannon during the Battle of Resven, with almost half of his brain tissue burned to charcoal by the power of the sun god. The calm within Baldur's Gate is certainly related to Ivy's efforts.

It would definitely take at least ten days to half a month to recover from that kind of injury.

Maybe by the time Ivy finds the mainframe with the three Netherstones, the other half of its brain won't have grown out yet.

During this time, Ivy can thoroughly study her new finds at Baldur's Gate and work with Gale to execute the Horcrux plan that was previously set out.

Netherian creations are also highly valuable for a legendary spellcaster like Ivy to study.

Both the two Netherstones, creations of Karthus after his ascension to godhood, and his monumental work on the art of godhood, the Almanac of Karthus, provided Ivy with a great deal of inspiration.

Through his research into the Netheril magic system in the Almanac of Karthus, Ivy even gained a new legendary class advancement option—[Netheril Arcanist].

As a legendary class, the Netheril Arcanist has only five ranks that provide class abilities, and these ranks are accumulated with any other legendary ranks that Ivy already possesses to determine the legendary feats and attribute points gained.

While five Legendary ranks may not seem like many, the experience points required are incredibly high. Even after leading a team to defeat many formidable enemies within Baldur's Gate, Ivy still didn't have enough experience points to raise her Legendary rank.

Although Ivy isn't yet able to advance to the Netheril Arcanist class, she already has early access to the class's abilities. The first rank of Netheril Arcanist will directly grant the Legendary Spellcasting feat, but since Ivy already chose this feat when she first acquired her Legendary rank, it will be replaced with another optional Legendary feat.

Ivy's current Legendary Rank is 3. Adding one level to [Netheril Arcanist] will directly upgrade her to Rank 4. As an important watershed, Legendary Rank 4 not only provides an attribute point but also a Legendary feat slot. Combined with the bonus feat and class ability of Rank 1 [Netheril Arcanist], this will give Ivy a significant boost.

Even disregarding the two legendary feats and attribute points, the Netheril Arcanist is an advanced class that you'll definitely not regret choosing.

As an ancient magical empire in the world of Toril, the Netherians have unique insights into casting magic, and therefore the [Netherian Arcane Mage] is a class created entirely to enhance [Legendary Spellcasting].

Ivy has only been a legendary spellcaster for a short time, but she has already deeply understood the time and effort required for legendary spellcasting.

Aside from learning legendary spells from existing magical texts, any legendary spellcaster who wishes to perform legendary spells must undertake their own research.

Using a familiar spell model and theory as a "seed," and constantly watering it with one's understanding and needs of magic as nutrients and water, supplemented by painstaking efforts that have stood the test of time, the seed can grow into a towering tree of legendary magic.

Therefore, the creation of each legendary spell requires a great deal of time and money.

The Netheril Arcane Mage class not only reduces the cost of researching legendary spells, but also enhances the power of legendary spells.

Therefore, for Ivy, who is determined to go further on the path of magic, the [Netheril Arcane Mage] is a legendary advanced class that cannot be missed.

The first-level Netheril Arcanist class ability is Domain Specialization. Netheril Arcanists divide their well-known legendary spell "seed" into three different domains: Creation, Mind, and Transmutation.

The realm of creation includes multiple "seeds" related to creation from nothing, such as armor, spells, killing, destruction, torture, and energy. The realm of change includes "seeds" that alter the material nature of the real world, such as activation, necromancy, dispelling, enhancement, transformation, and teleportation. Finally, the realm of mind includes "seeds" closely related to the world of consciousness, such as foresight, connection, confusion, and revelation.

The "seed" of legendary spells cannot be fully encompassed by these three areas, as these are merely the areas of expertise for Netheril arcanists. However, these "seeds" alone are enough to develop a vast array of powerful and versatile legendary spells.

[Domain Specialization] allows Ivy to choose one primary domain, one secondary domain, and one unfamiliar domain from three domains. Legendary spells based on the "seed" in the primary and secondary domains will receive buffs, while spells in the unfamiliar domain will receive debuffs.

Numerically speaking, it's roughly equivalent to a one-for-three trade for a professional ability. For Ivy, his strengths in magic are mainly concentrated in the fields of creation and transformation. Using the mental magic he's less proficient in and has less research in to gain enhancements in the other two fields is definitely a worthwhile trade.

Moreover, it's not like we can't study legendary spells in unfamiliar territories at all. Perhaps as Ivy's understanding of magic continues to improve, it's not impossible for her to turn unfamiliar territories into familiar ones.

In addition to the Netheril Arcane Mage inspired by the Almanac of Karthus, Ivy has other new advancements in her class.

By working with Gale to study the fragments of the Karthusian magic net within his body—the magical nuclear orb of destruction—Ivy gained a crucial insight. Rather than a research breakthrough, it was more accurate to say that he applied the observed patterns to his spellcasting. After all, the orb of destruction was an extremely unstable entity; even the spell of the goddess of magic, Mystra, only temporarily extinguished it.

Ivy and Gale merely made some harmless observations of the Destruction Orb while casting cloning and creating Horcruxes. In the quantum world, simply observing this act would be enough to cause certain quantum states in a superposition to collapse. Fortunately, although the Destruction Orb looks like a nuclear bomb and its explosive power is indeed comparable to a nuclear bomb, it is not a nuclear bomb in essence, and therefore would not collapse due to mere observation.

The inspiration Ivy received came from harmlessly observing the Destruction Orb, but because of its direct connection to the essence of Toril's magic network, it still brought him unimaginable benefits.

By observing the fragments of the Karthusian Web, Ivy was able to expand her [Spellcasting] ability as a [Supreme Warlock], making it effective not only on the Warlock's spell slots but also on all arcane spellcasting classes.

The term "arcane spellcasting class" refers to classes whose magical origins are arcane. For Ivy, this means all his current classes: [Wizard], [Scribe Mage/Ancient Warrior], [Supreme Warlock], [Bard/Transcendent String], and [Sword Saint].

Besides the arcane source, there are three other magical sources: the divine source from gods and divine power, the primal source reflecting the original nature of magic, and the psionic (psychic) ​​source born in the spiritual world. The main difference between the different magical sources is in the training and research methods, but there is no essential difference—they are all forces that can shape reality.

It is also possible for a profession to belong to two or more magical sources at the same time. For example, the [Supreme Warlock] and the [Bard/Transcendent String] are both related to the primal energy source to some extent.

By expanding the [Spell Transmutation] class ability, Ivy also gained a new advanced class option: [Arcane Follower], which can amplify all Arcane Root spellcasting classes.

The Arcane Follower class can enhance the abilities of both spontaneous arcane casters and those preparing to cast arcane spells. Therefore, when leveling up this advanced class, the caster level of the corresponding two arcane casters will also increase.

Specifically, if Ivy chooses to increase the Arcane Follower level for the spontaneous arcane casting class [Bard/Divine String], and raise the caster level for the preparatory arcane casting class [Scribe Mage/Ancient Warrior].

After gaining two new advancement levels in the Bard class, reaching a total level of 12, Ivy's Mage class will gain a ninth spell slot due to her spellcaster level reaching 17. After gaining another level, the Bard will also gain a new ninth spell slot due to the early ring acquisition ability of [Transcendent String].

This is an absolute steal!

For an experience cost roughly equivalent to one Legendary level, one can gain two new ninth-ring spell slots and a whole host of new known spells. And this doesn't even take into account the new class trait of the Arcane Follower.

As an advanced class that can simultaneously enhance all Arcane Root spellcasting classes, the Arcane Follower can increase the spellcaster level of all Arcane classes by one level at four levels: 1/4/7/10. It can also significantly increase Ivy's high-level spellcasting abilities.

With the acquisition of at least a new ninth-ring spell slot, Ivy can use Prayer to further increase his intrinsic attribute bonuses. The new spell slot gained due to the improvement in his spellcasting attribute will also enhance his spellcasting ability, making it possible to chain meteor bursts and time stops a reality.

(End of this chapter)