Chapter 1224 - Muddy the Waters (1/2)
He had only ever used his ability a few times. He had only fought a little bit decades ago during the Kunde Race war and never sparred with anyone after becoming a Beyond Grade A. Only a few people in the dynasty should have known about his exact abilities. This information was tightly controlled and had yet to spread. He did not expect someone to find out his ability on his first day after joining the association…
Where did the information get leaked?
Gaud did not respond, so someone asked curiously, “Lucie, where did you get that information?”
“The black market, of course. I heard it coincidentally,” Lucie casually said.
“Is it reliable?” someone else asked.
“How would I know? I’m trying to find out now, aren’t I? Did none of you hear anything similar at all?” Lucie questioned.
Secret Master frowned and slowly said, “My subordinates acquired similar information too, but there’s no solid proof. There are hundreds of speculations like this on the black market. God knows who they came from. Most of them are random guesses anyway.”
Seeing this, a few more frequents of the black market also expressed their agreement, saying that they had all heard similar things, but none took it seriously.
Han Xiao watched from the side and heaved a sigh of relief in his mind.
He was indeed the one who anonymously placed the information about Gaud’s ability into the black market. With his Virtual Technology skills, he left no traces behind at all. From others’ perspective, this rumor looked like it appeared out of thin air and spread so quickly that no one could find the root of it. This kind of thing happened every day on the network.
The black-market network was a magical place. Countless information trades were carried on here every day. There was a lot of false information, but secrets would also appear occasionally. Sometimes, even the advanced civilizations had no idea how their secrets were leaked.
For example, a Super High Risk Esper Ability that only existed in theory attracted enough attention and spread very rapidly. Currently, all the organizations were using their own intelligence channels to search for information related to Gaud. Therefore, for someone like Secret Master, who frequented the black market, there was a high chance he would discover it.
However, there were way too many speculations and no solid proof. These guys would not ask Gaud directly just because of these rumors. Therefore, Han Xiao selected a few targets to specifically leak this information to, luring these guys to bring up this topic when everyone was present. Lucie was one of them.
He did not select these targets randomly. Others thought Lucie was a neutral Beyond Grade A, but the truth was that his identity was exposed in the later versions in his previous life as a secret member of a Super Star Cluster civilization just like Traveler. Han Xiao knew all about who he was.
Due to the sensitive competitive relationship between the three Universal Civilizations, Han Xiao had some confidence that he could lure the secret members of the Super Star Cluster civilizations in the association to deliberately stir things up. Even if that failed, he had backup plans.
The crowd discussed the rumours for a while before turning to look at Gaud with strong curiosity in their eyes.
“What’s your real ability?”
Looking at everyone’s curious expression, Gaud exhaled and slowly said, “Do any of you have a habit of announcing your secrets? Well, I don’t. You don’t have to be so curious. You’ll find out in the future.”
Lucie curled his lips and continued to question him. “We’re all association members. What’s so secretive about it? You’ve joined the association, but you won’t share any information with us. That’s not sincere at all. It’s unfair to us. Or is your ability really Energy Control?”
Hearing this, many people nodded in agreement.
In the Beyond Grade A circle, rookies were all treated this way. Everyone wanted to know about the rookie’s secrets and abilities so that if they had to fight the rookie, they would not be surprised by unknown abilities. Most Beyond Grade As had already walked down the same path.
Gaud’s eyelids twitched.
He totally understood that Lucie was basically a sh*t stirrer who wanted to force him to share his secrets.
“Don’t bother asking anymore. I won’t answer you.”
Gaud shook his head and did not deny it but avoided the question.
Keeping his ability a secret was only temporary, not permanent. Once he grew to a certain stage, the dynasty would no longer keep it a secret and would instead promote the fact that he was the first person ever in history to possess this Esper Ability to intimidate the Beyond Grade As of other civilizations.
Therefore, dynasty’s current demand of him was only not to directly answer any question about his ability but not lie about it, or the promotion they did in the future would not be as effective.
Furthermore, denying his own ability was not something someone as strong as him should do. It was bad for his reputation. If he damaged his image among the Beyond Grade As, making up for it would be much more troublesome than simply not answering and avoiding the questions.
“So, you’re not going to give us face?” Lucie narrowed his eyes. “Our real bodies aren’t here, otherwise all we’d have to do is spar with you, and your ability would no longer be a secret. Why are you being so secretive about it? Looks like the rumors are not complete nonsense. Your ability is probably really Energy Control. Even if it isn’t, it’s definitely very special. That’s why you’re keeping it a secret.”
“Think whatever you want.” Gaud did not want to argue with him anymore and looked away.
Seeing this, many people’s eyes flickered with some suspicion.
From the way they saw it, by not giving a direct answer, Gaud having the Energy Control Esper Ability seemed more trustworthy. If this was not his ability, he could have just denied it.
If Gaud really did have this overpowered Super High Risk Esper Ability…
Having thought of this, many people had all kinds of ideas.
This time, Han Xiao who had been watching smiled and said, “Alright, alright, if Gaud doesn’t want to say it, don’t force him. Today, we’re welcoming him as a new member after all. Don’t make the atmosphere so uptight.”
The best result would have been for Gaud to admit what his ability was, but there was nothing Han Xiao could do if Gaud was not willing to answer no matter what. However, this was within Han Xiao’s expectations too. As long as he spread the information of Gaud possibly having the ‘Energy Control’ ability to all the Beyond Grade As present, he would have achieved more than half of his goal regardless of whether Gaud admitted it or not.
Hearing that the vice president had spoken, the others moved on from this topic, and the atmosphere became tranquil again.
Gaud glanced at Han Xiao and saw that Han Xiao nodded at him. He responded with a smile and sighed in his mind.
He had never enjoyed the feeling of being helped; he was always the shared enemy of everyone. At this point, he had to admit that having someone speak for him really felt quite good.