Anser pulled up the Spirit Net control interface. More than a dozen new maintenance administrators had appeared, distinguished by numbers.
Most of them still retained their complete minds, but those minds were now utterly different from who they had once been.
The thoughts, perceptions, and knowledge Sakkors had instilled in them had completely assimilated their thinking. They looked the same and still had their memories, but in truth, they had already lost their sense of self. Everything they thought and did now served the Spirit Net.
'This is even more absurd than a thought seal.'
Anser was secretly alarmed.
But on second thought, keeping nearly three hundred "elite-enhanced" people cooped up in the Black Tower seemed like a terrible waste. Sending some of them out to serve as Federation officials and help with the Federation's development wouldn't be a bad idea.
If captured by an enemy, they could self-destruct and erase all their memories.
Besides, they only knew superficial information in the first place. They didn't even know the mythallar existed, so there was no need to worry about leaks.
'I'll give it a few days. Once I'm sure there aren't any problems, I'll change their appearances before letting them show themselves.'
Putting those thoughts aside, he decided to draw his twelfth Adventure Trait first.
The Spirit Net had only just begun stirring things up and was still in the accumulation stage, with only thirty thousand members. For now, stability came first.
He sank his consciousness into his mind and touched the symbol on the die with his awareness.
Fragments of memory surfaced one after another: killing a Chosen, the Battle of Waterdeep, the founding of the Federation, the Spirit Net, Eilistraee, the purge of the Mind Flayers...
Soon, the replay of his own memories came to an end, and scenes of the Adventuring Party members fighting flashed by in succession.
Seen from this perspective, Anser realized that everyone was working hard—even harder than he was.
Some wanted to seize this hard-won opportunity, while others simply didn't want to fall behind, afraid that the distance between them and Anser would only grow wider.
A moment later, all the memories faded away, and the symbol transformed into a gleaming golden ten-sided die.
Ding—
[Please select an Adventure Trait category!]
At the same time, the ten-sided die suddenly enlarged before his eyes, floating in midair and slowly rotating. Each face bore a different symbol.
Magic Power, Feats, Spells, Metamagic, Ability Scores, Classes, Soul, Consciousness, Bloodline, and Companions—ten dimensions in total.
Last time, he had chosen "Spells" and obtained [Signature Spells].
'What should I pick this time?'
His Magic Power was immense, he knew a vast number of spells, had mastered every form of Metamagic, had numerous multiclasses, possessed a brilliant soul, and his ability scores weren't bad either...
'Companions probably represents external assets. Consciousness should represent thought and knowledge. Then there's Soul, Feats...'
He didn't actually know what these ten dimensions contained and could only speculate.
After thinking it over, he chose the seemingly ordinary Feats category.
After all, his original [Extraordinary Talent] trait allowed him to acquire one Feat every two levels, which had helped him tremendously.
Those powerful Feats he had gained early on, as well as the many ability score increases he received later, were all thanks to that Adventure Trait.
'It shouldn't be that simple.'
He rotated the die and lightly tapped the face representing "Feats."
The die flashed, and three options appeared: [Epic Boons], [Combat Grandmaster], and [Master of All Fields].
[Please select an Adventure Trait!]
'Now we're talking.'
Anser examined them one by one. The three Adventure Traits each represented a different path.
[Epic Boons] followed a path of specialization, centered around the extraordinarily powerful Epic Boon feats.
[Combat Grandmaster] would allow him to gradually master every Fighting Style feat, such as Great Weapon Fighting, Blind Fighting, Protection, Two-Weapon Fighting, and so on, eventually turning him into a living weapon of war.
[Master of All Fields] focused on breadth. It was essentially an enhanced version of [Extraordinary Talent], allowing him to gradually master most general Feats and build an extraordinarily solid foundation.
Anser didn't hesitate for long before decisively choosing [Epic Boons].
Given enough time, most Fighting Style feats and general Feats could be picked up by observing others or simply trained. Even if what he learned that way was slightly inferior, the difference wouldn't be too great.
But [Epic Boons] were different!
These were extraordinary abilities that only professionals of 19th level or higher had any chance of mastering. They weren't something you could acquire simply through practice.
Very few non-Legendary Professionals could master Epic Boons. Such people were known as "quasi-legendaries" and were considered to possess the potential to step into the Legendary ranks.
"I choose Epic Boons!"
…
[You have acquired the Adventure Trait: Epic Boons]
[Epic Boons]: You possess exceptional talent and have gained extraordinary insights and experience across multiple fields. By integrating extraordinary powers and traits into them, your abilities gradually transcend their previous limits, entering a realm beyond the imagination of ordinary mortals.
After reaching the high-level ranks, for every four class levels you gain, you may select one Epic Boon feat.
In addition, you may continue investing in any Feat, developing it to increasingly higher and more powerful levels. Its upper limit depends on your class level and personal potential.
...
'One Epic Boon feat every four levels, and I can keep improving them?' Anser raised an eyebrow, excitement surging through him.
One each at levels 11, 15, and 19. By that calculation, he could master three Epic Boon feats before level 20.
'No, wait. It should be four.'
This didn't conflict with [Extraordinary Talent]. In theory, at level 20, he could use that to choose another Epic Boon feat.
'Everyone else gets one and I get four. Perfectly fair.'
He opened the Feat list and began making his selections.
There were thirteen Epic Boon feats in total, and every one of them was good.
Combat Prowess, Dimensional Travel, Energy Resistance, Fate Twisting, Fortitude...
After carefully considering them for a while, Anser selected [Boon of Combat Prowess] and [Boon of Energy Resistance].
...
[Boon of Combat Prowess]: Epic Boon feat. You gain the following benefits:
[Ability Score Increase]: Increase your Charisma by 1, to a maximum of 30.
[Peerless Lock-On]: You can forcibly lock onto a target, giving the current Attack Roll an extremely high chance to hit!
[Boon of Energy Resistance]: Epic Boon feat. You gain the following benefits:
[Ability Score Increase]: Increase your Charisma by 1, to a maximum of 30.
[Energy Resistance]: You gain resistance to acid and poison damage.
[Energy Redirection]: When you take damage, if you possess energy resistance against that damage type, you can use your reaction to redirect that damage to another creature you can see within spellcasting range.
That creature must succeed on a Dexterity Saving Throw or take damage equal to the energy attack + your Constitution modifier (+3).
...
One of these Feats was offensive and the other defensive, making them a perfect fit for his current situation.
[Peerless Lock-On] could lock onto powerful professionals and leave them nowhere to escape. Once he used it, that attack was practically guaranteed to hit.
It didn't matter how fast the target was or how absurd their reactions were.
The only reason it wasn't absolutely guaranteed was because nothing in this world was truly absolute!
When the gap between two opponents became too great, an absolute hit was simply impossible.
Moreover, [Peerless Lock-On] didn't consume much energy. After spending a few seconds gathering his focus, he could use it again.
[Boon of Energy Resistance] was primarily meant to fill the gaps in his resistances. As he upgraded it later, he'd need to add resistance to thunder and psychic damage as well. Spell-based enhancements weren't reliable enough, after all.
Ideally, he wanted to achieve immunity to every energy type!
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