For gods, even without specifically studying stealth techniques, their knowledge and experience built up over countless years far surpassed that of ordinary people.
Seeing that Nolan wanted to learn concealnt skills, they naturally did not refuse.
First was Havria. Her concealnt ability was considered quite advanced even among gods, and Nolan had always been looking forward to it.
"My ability is realized through my divine authority. You haven't mastered the Salt Authority, so you can only substitute it with elental power, though the effect will likely be much weaker," explained Havria, her salt-white hair glimring faintly.
"That's fine, just tell . I'm only using it as a reference," Nolan nodded lightly, already aware of this.
"Mhm," ca Havria's low reply, her lips not parting.
Her thod of concealing herself and her people was to use salt crystals finer than dust to coat the body, diffusing reflected light to blend perfectly into the surroundings.
With her authority, these salt crystals also beca undetectable to spiritual perception.
This was her key to freely moving during the Archon War — even in front of powerful enemies who were gods themselves, she could hide flawlessly.
Because the salt crystals did not interact with spiritual power, no matter how strong soone's spiritual scan was, they would "see" nothing at her location.
This was an inherent property of her special salt crystals, unrelated to the strength of one's spiritual power.
Of course, it wasn't without flaws. No matter how well hidden, the body was still there — a careless touch could reveal her.
Even so, it didn't diminish the strength of her ability in the slightest.
Since Nolan already possessed an Arcane-level maxed-out stealth ability and max-level elental control, he easily substituted water-elent molecules for the salt crystals and successfully grasped Havria's skill:
> [Skill Acquired: Domain of Lightless Salt]
Opening the skill details, he read:
> [Domain of Lightless Salt · Arcane Level Lv.1 (1/5000): Cloak the surroundings in ultrafine water-elent molecules to achieve invisibility, imperceptible to optical vision and greatly increasing concealnt from spiritual perception. Range adjustable at will.]
Arcane Level — likely because he used water instead of salt crystals. If perford with Havria's divine authority, it would probably be Divine-Level.
In her hands, the skill ignored spiritual vision entirely; in his, it rely greatly increased concealnt. If the opponent's spiritual power far exceeded his own, he could still be discovered.
He had over 9.3 million Adventure EXP now, enough to instantly max out this skill, but he decided to first learn everyone's techniques and then fuse them directly into a Divine Level ability.
After Havria, Raiden Ei spoke about her own skill.
As a top-tier combat god, she rarely t enemies that required her to use stealth.
But that didn't an she lacked stealth techniques — Ei had studied all kinds of abilities to deal with any opponent, stealth included.
Though she hadn't invested much focus into it, she had developed an Arcane Level stealth skill:
> [Skill Acquired: Illusory Dream-Body]
Its principle was more complex than Domain of Lightless Salt, though complexity didn't necessarily an superiority — Havria's salt crystals were simply better suited for stealth.
After a few minutes of practice, Nolan easily grasped it and checked its details:
> [Illusory Dream-Body · Arcane Level Lv.1 (1/5000): Enshroud yourself in the Will of No-Mind, transforming temporarily into a dreamlike illusory form. Cannot attack and is immune to physical damage; can only be perceived by those whose spiritual power exceeds your own. If struck by a spiritual attack, shatters like a bubble and negates that instance of damage.]
Ei's skill not only concealed but also offered strong defensive utility, giving it greater versatility.
After mastering it, Nolan moved on to Guizhong, Raiden Makoto, and the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, learning respectively:
> Hidden in Dust and Wind
> True Concealnt of Dreams
> Breath of Nature
All were Arcane Level skills.
Guizhong's ability, while having stealth effects, seed incidental — Hidden in Dust and Wind was more of a dust-riding travel skill, but when active, it allowed her to rge completely into dust and vanish. Without Dust Authority, his version was much weaker.
Makoto's True Concealnt of Dreams resembled Ei's Illusory Dream-Body, but instead of using the Will of No-Mind to turn incorporeal, it used the power of "dreams." In places brimming with dreams and wishes, its stealth was greatly amplified.
Rukkhadevata's Breath of Nature neither hid from sight nor from spiritual perception — it lowered one's sense of presence, making the user a natural part of the environnt. Like an unremarkable pebble, even if seen, no one would pay it any mind. This was more of a psychological stealth technique.
After learning these five stealth skills, Nolan planned to max each one out and then fuse them with Abysswalker.
Normally, three Arcane Level skills of the sa type were enough to fuse into a Divine Level skill, five almost guaranteed success.
With six, it would be more than enough.
Nolan thanked the gods, then left the library to return to his room and upgrade them.
It was nearly noon, and today was his turn to help Noelle prepare lunch, so he had to finish quickly.
Back in his room, he lay on the bed and opened his character panel. As expected, the five new Arcane skills were there:
---
Na: Nolan Walker
Level: Lv.101 (510,312 / 11,000,000)
Race: Human
Titles: Honorary Knight, Outstanding Citizen of Liyue, Legendary Adventurer, Honorary General of Watatsumi, Suru Sage
Innate Talent: Entangling Affection
Skills:
- Lumine's Authority: Divine Level Lv.10 (Starsea Manifestation, Boundless)
- Musou no Hitotachi: Divine Level Lv.10 (Musou State)
- Abysswalker: Arcane Level Lv.10 (Deep Space Warp)
- Flowing Sky Shot: Awakening Lv.10 (Frostglow Arrow)
- Elental Mastery Lv.10 (Maxed)
- Domain of Lightless Salt · Arcane Level Lv.1 (1/5000)
- Illusory Dream-Body · Arcane Level Lv.1 (1/5000)
- Hidden in Dust and Wind · Arcane Level Lv.1 (1/5000)
- True Concealnt of Dreams · Arcane Level Lv.1 (1/5000)
- Breath of Nature · Arcane Level Lv.1 (1/5000)
- Martial Arts Lv.10 (Subtle Mastery)
Specialties:
- Beloved by Maidens (Exclusive)
- Unmoving Gospel of the World Tree (Exclusive)
- Threads of the Northern Wind (Exclusive)
- Spiritual Core (Exclusive)
Adventure EXP: 9,330,642
---
He had over nine million EXP. Originally, he intended to save it for raising his level once his training progressed enough, but now he'd have to spend part of it here first.
Adventure EXP -224,999
As Nolan willed it, the Adventure EXP on his status panel began draining rapidly, all poured into one particular skill:
> Domain of Lightless Salt · Arcane Level Lv.1 (1/5000) → Domain of Lightless Salt · Arcane Level Lv.10 (Divine Concealnt)
In an instant, Domain of Lightless Salt reached max level. A flood of new knowledge and refined usage techniques surged into his mind.
Most notably, its ultimate trait now allowed him, when using the skill, to ignore spiritual perception entirely—just like Havria's salt crystals.
Even without the Salt Authority, he could now achieve a similar effect!
---
Adventure EXP -224,999
Without hesitation, Nolan continued spending EXP on the second skill:
> Illusory Dream-Body · Arcane Level Lv.1 (1/5000) → Illusory Dream-Body · Arcane Level Lv.10 (Dreamlike Mirage)
Once again, knowledge and insight poured into his mind.
This ultimate trait was equally formidable—it could turn his body into an ethereal, dreamlike mirage that no force could capture or lock onto.
In terms of stealth, it was no less impressive than the "Divine Concealnt" trait.
The only drawback was that, while in this mirage form, he couldn't deal damage. If others couldn't hit him but he could still attack them, it would be outright invincible.
---
Adventure EXP -674,997
The remaining three—Hidden in Dust and Wind, True Concealnt of Dreams, and Breath of Nature—were also pushed to max level one by one:
> Hidden in Dust and Wind · Arcane Level Lv.1 (1/5000) → Hidden in Dust and Wind · Arcane Level Lv.10 (rge with Light and Dust)
This ultimate trait allowed him to rge into the winds and dust of heaven and earth, as though existing everywhere at once. Without using space teleportation, he could instantly appear anywhere within the range of his spiritual perception.
> True Concealnt of Dreams · Arcane Level Lv.1 (1/5000) → True Concealnt of Dreams · Arcane Level Lv.10 (Ti Gap)
Upgrading Raiden Makoto's stealth skill to max revealed an astonishing ultimate trait—Ti Gap.
It allowed Nolan to hide within the crevices of ti itself.
In other words, if he slipped into the gap at a given mont, once that instant passed, no being without mastery of temporal power could detect him.
For example, if he hid at exactly 10:53:28 AM, then once that second passed, he would remain fixed in the "past." In the ever-advancing "present" and "future," he simply wouldn't exist, making detection impossible—unless the observer, like Makoto or Ei, possessed so temporal ability and far greater power than him.
> Breath of Nature · Arcane Level Lv.1 (1/5000) → Breath of Nature · Arcane Level Lv.10 (Objective Existence)
At max level, Rukkhadevata's skill beca even more fearso. When activated, the user beca akin to air, ti, or any other objectively existing phenonon.
Their presence would be infinitely close to zero.
If a stone by the roadside might draw a whimsical kick from a passerby, then Nolan, when using this ability, could stand right in soone's path without provoking the slightest notice—because he had beco an absolute objective existence.
Any intelligent being with "subjectivity" would simply fail to notice him.
Of course, this wasn't flawless—if soone happened to kick another stone that accidentally struck him, he would still take damage.
In such cases, the person wouldn't have "noticed" him; it was just that one objective object happened to collide with another.
This also ant that soone with absurd luck could theoretically strike him by chance.
Or if a full-map ultimate was unleashed and he couldn't escape in ti, he'd be out of options. Machines running on pure programming without "subjectivity" would also likely be able to detect him.
So, while terrifying, the skill still had exploitable weaknesses.
---
Once Nolan had sorted through the ultimate traits in his mind, he began fusing them. If Arcane-tier traits were already this impressive, Divine Level surely wouldn't disappoint.
Combining Domain of Lightless Salt, Illusory Dream-Body, Hidden in Dust and Wind, True Concealnt of Dreams, Breath of Nature, and Abysswalker—six Arcane Level stealth skills fused into one.
On his panel, the skills twisted and warped, colors swirling together like paint on a mixing palette, until they blended into a new hue:
> [New Skill Acquired: Domain of Objective Illusory Shadows]
Nolan felt a rush of information into his mind and opened the skill to read:
> Domain of Objective Illusory Shadows · Divine Level Lv.1 (0/10000): Deploy an invisible barrier of objective existence. Any subjectively initiated action, in the philosophical sense, cannot perceive it, nor can it be affected by any objective rules.
Reading the description, Nolan realized just how powerful it had beco.
First, the Objective Existence trait from maxed Breath of Nature was strengthened—no force based on fundantal, objective laws like ti could influence him while the barrier was active.
The rge with Light and Dust trait from Hidden in Dust and Wind was also fully integrated—everything within the barrier could now "rge with light and dust," allowing instantaneous movent anywhere within his spiritual perception range without using spatial power.
The Dreamlike Mirage trait from Illusory Dream-Body and the Ti Gap trait from True Concealnt of Dreams were likewise incorporated—their effects now applied to everything within the barrier, not just himself.
Most crucially, the Deep Space Warp trait from Abysswalker was also included, letting the barrier shift not only through surface space, shallow space, and deep space, but seemingly to an even deeper realm beyond deep space.
Nolan's eyes lit up, and he sat bolt upright. This—this was exactly what he'd spent so many Adventure EXP for!
If he could break through the "False Sky" blockade, he might finally be able to reach the outside world. And if things went well, he could see for himself why Celestia had sealed the planet of Teyvat in the first place!
(End of Chapter)
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