Lem Solaris’s request caught Keynes off guard. He had expected to easily come up with a list of spells he would need as a stealth mage. But as he had delved into his memory, he discovered only the very obvious stuff like [Invisibility] or class spells. He was certain that this wasn't what Lem Solaris had had in mind. In fact, the longer he thought about her the more he grew wary of her motives. Free lunches didn’t exist. Even Wagner, Columbus and Esopp hadn’t taken Keynes as their business partner out of their good heart.
It was fruitless as there was no way to comprehend someone like Lem Solaris and Keynes’s thoughts returned to a stealth mage archetype. The initial idea stemmed from a rogue mage but according to Alice, the rogue archetype had a certain focus, which wasn’t in line with Keynes’s plans. A stealth mage on the other hand was everything Keynes wanted to be.
The stealth meant staying out of enemies’ sight, or as Lem Solaris had emphasised, out of enemies’ senses. He quickly discarded [Invisibility] and considered other options he had seen in the marketplace. Skills affecting perception of others were extreme rarity. Either their drop rate was very low or they were priceless and seldom sold.
[Fata Morgana] and [Sound Barrier] had been the only ones that affected perception and would be useful to him. He clearly needed more than them. A spell for each sense? Or something to affect all senses. There was another option as well. Using [Darkness] or [Shadows], Keynes could affect the environment and use his [Night Vision] to keep the advantage.
The issue with such spells was that Keynes wouldn’t be the only person to possess [Night Vision] or other spells enhancing vision.
The ‘mage’ part of the archetype was easier to guess. Keynes already had [Telekinesis] and he knew he needed some passives to enhance it but the more he thought about [Telekinesis] the more he disliked the idea of being one trick pony. He needed another spell. Something very different from [Telekinesis] but still synergistic with stealth. Wind attacks were first candidates but these spells could still be tracked back to him. Could they?
This is so frustrating! It was frustrating to rely on pure guesses as knowledge was nearly non-existent. If you’re around, Lem Solaris, then you can very much tell me what you have in mind because there is very little I can think of.
In reply, he heard a sigh but Lem Solaris didn’t appear. It sounded like she was disappointed with him. Too bad he didn’t care. If she wanted him to come up with a build she should have given him something to work with other than his imagination.
***
Lem Solaris watched Keynes Kid fly toward the Level 4 rift where he would initiate another rift outbreak. She understood his sentiment but she was disappointed with his attitude more than anything. There were people, even on the planet, who had the inquisitive mindset that pushed them forward. Keynes Kid had such a mindset as well but Lem Solaris could see the damage in Keynes Kid’s mind that slowly distorted it.
If she was allowed to act directly, she would erase the damage and return his mind to the intact state but the System didn’t want that. If the damage had been caused by a spell, it would have healed over time but it was a Talent inflicted damage and there was little hope for Keynes Kid in the long run unless he reached Level 11 before his mind completely fractured.
The little test with the archetype showed Lem Solaris that she needed to adjust the timeline. This made removing [Chaos Aura] all the more important. Each time Keynes had used the Level 45 spell with chaos affinity, it resonated with his unknown chaos debuff and further deteriorated his condition.
Unfortunately, getting rid of the chaos debuff was impossible. Traveller had told her that the debuff was linked to Keynes Kid’s Talent in almost a symbiotic way and was the reason why Keynes Kid’s Talent had an error affinity, which was extraordinary and terrifying at the same time. A normal Lockpicking Talent was mediocre at best and had niche use. With an error affinity, Lockpicking had the ability to cheat the System and was priceless. If this universe was like the one Traveller and Lem Solaris came from, Keynes Kid’s fate would be dire. His mere existence would spark endless wars between the rulers of their universe.
It naturally stirred her curiosity although Traveller had warned her to not dwell on the origin of Keynes Kid’s error affinity and the chaos debuff. That meant there were perious forces involved in this and Traveller wanted to err on the side of caution. It would be best to simply leave but Traveller wouldn’t be himself if he didn’t poke a sleeping dragon in the eye, even a little.
Getting back to the problem at hand, the stealth mage archetype. She could sense the System’s hand in influencing Keynes Kid through his spiritual companion. Stealth archetypes, given the right amount of development, were scary.
Keynes Kid’s line of thought wasn’t wrong but it was painfully limited and through no fault of his own. He failed to recognise that there were many layers where a person became stealthy. Lem Solaris’s first encounter with a stealth archetype had been unusual one. She had been running an errand for Traveller and had run into a stealth earth assassin. She had panicked back then when the assassin had almost buried her alive. The man had been hiding underground the whole time and once discovered used compressed layers of soil and stone to shield himself from her. When she tore the ground asunder, the assassin had fled deeper into the ground. She had almost paid the ultimate price and had followed him into a trap. During the whole encounter she had never laid her eyes on him and they were in early Level 20s.
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She was sure that if she had gotten carried away back then and chased him, she’d have been dead.
From there there had been more esoteric stealth enemies but the two worst ones to deal with were time and dimension oriented archetypes. Neither of such spells could be dropped before Level 27 so a long way off but she already had several good spells for Keynes Kid in mind.
[Forgetful Eyes] was the first skill she wanted Keynes Kid to have. It made others forget about a caster for 1 second. If Keynes Kid somehow managed to merge the spell with [Delay], its effects could be enhanced and expanded. It would create delay based on distance and add a conflicting resonance between eyes and other senses. This, coupled with [Decoy] and [Memory Fault], would make Keynes Kid impossible to pinpoint. The moment he would enter a fight his position would be not only stealthy but also irritating and distracting. Later on, [Information Overload] could be added though it would move away from the stealth part of the archetype. These skills were all fine but he needed to be one step ahead of his enemies, especially if he wanted to press forward the Perfect State degrees. A several Levels higher monster with [Clear Mind] and [True Sight] would see through his deception. Also skills that granted resistances like [Steel Mind] or [Perfect Memory] which was a different version of Keynes Kid’s buff. Once activated it recorded everything with near flawless precision for a certain period of time. Then she needed to account for perception or mind oriented Talents. Generally, it was always best to overwhelm opponents who could see through mind tricks and illusions.
This was the big error of stealth archetypes who ran into such encounters and tried to keep themselves as invisible as possible where the abnormal sensitivity of their opponents thrived in scarcity. This also was where Keynes Kid’s Photographic Memory buff could hinder him.
Learning how to suppress or disable one’s buffs was a daunting task and the very least requirement was the superior spiritual stage, which Keynes Kid had achieved. But from there the road was going uphill and she didn’t think adding more to his plate was a good idea. It was so easy to forget that on her time scale he was barely an infant. Many people she’d met needed centuries to gain a deeper understanding of magic. He was only 17 years old and pushing him too hard would only exacerbate his mental damage.
It wasn’t an immediate concern as it was unlikely that anyone would be using [Overwhelm] or [Information Overload] to counter stealth users. In the case of [Overwhelm], it was even harder as the spell would have to be combined with a mental attack first.
This brought her to offensive spells. She knew Keynes Kid wanted to rely on [Telekinesis] as his main skill which was fine and with [Steel Mind] or [Mind Fortress] he would be able to use much easier but to actually affect lifeforce Keynes Kid needed to combine [Telekinesis] with any attack skill and preferably something with death affinity. To complement his offence he could pick up any skill without trajectory that would point to his location unless he could move around fast enough to avoid counter attacks.
The number of potential skills were large so she decided to leave the choice to him.
There existed another option but it would require him to use his Orb of Perfection on [Telekinesis] which would be a mistake. These orbs were best used on Talents. Obviously, this was her opinion and even Traveller would debate her on this as there existed a very tiny possibility of a buff or a spell gaining Talent-grade quality but it was the feature of the System in their universe, she didn’t know if the same thing existed here.
It was a shame that his friend, Kora Kowalska, had never had a chance to use an Orb of Perfection on her Talent. The utility of her Talent was very high and given time, she could evolve into a powerful support. Lem Solaris had seen similar Talents and knew that there was a chance for the major upgrade to offer her a spell suppression ability. It was rather unlikely she would be able to use both enhancement and suppression simultaneously before Level 20 and another major upgrade but being able to switch between would be handy in a fight.
Because of her Talent, the easiest and most efficient route for Kora Kowalska were auras. Normally, she would have to learn how to use them to benefit her allies but her Talent had already bestowed this skill on her. It gave her an enormous advantage. The only thing that was left would be to ensure Kora Kowalska’s survivability. Unfortunately, the stealth archetype would work in her case. Because of the amount of spiritual energy her Talent generated, her location would be easily pinpointed. It meant she needed resistances and some sort of invulnerability or shields.
[Aegis] or [Hardened Skin] would be the first choice. But both had a significant mana cost which meant she would need mana-generating skills as well. [Mana Thief] against human opponents and [Essence to Mana] if she fought against monsters. Her [Mana Sight] was a nice addition and it would allow her to target more potent or easier to convert essence.
On top of that, Lem Solaris wanted Kora Kowalska to actually acquire the Technique of Lesser Hand Combat to be able to deal with melee attackers. With [Brawl] or [Fast Punches], Kora Kowalska would surprise a great deal of attackers who would believe her to be an easy picking.
Lem Solaris smiled, liking the direction this little project was going. She would have to find two more ascenders to compliment Keynes Kid’s team and he’d be sorted for a long time. Who knew maybe he would survive long enough to heal his mental damage?
Lem Solaris halted as Keynes Kid stopped above the rift. There were only a handful of soldiers stationed here. She felt Keynes Kid activate [Spiritual Wrath] and slowly lowered his altitude. It was time for a little chaos.