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Chapter 413: Tails
Chapter 413: Tails
Chapter 413: Tails
“You told me before that the composition of the Godbearer Cult is quite complicated, including awakeners, half-humans, and elite monsters, and they have exchanged with the Spectres too. That prompted me to go over the intel I have at hand. I realized that I knew something about the Cult, only I didn’t realize it then.”
Gao Yang stared at her impassively. Please stop beating around the bush and tell me, Miss Liu.
“Actually, there is a lesser known but dangerous group of awakeners in the Mist World. They have done their share of evil deeds, including assassinations.”
“Blue Dolphin, the member the Guild lost to assassination, was likely killed by a member of the group.” Liu Qingying smiled shrewdly. “That’s a free bonus for you.”
Gao Yang fell into deep thought.
Even Vermilion Bird, who had been around, had never encountered the kind of curse that killed Blue Dolphin. She thus speculated that it was a Spectre’s doing.
Based on what Gao Yang knew about the Spectres, though, none seemed to fit the MO.
It turned out that Blue Dolphin was assassinated by an awakener.
And it made more sense: Three Air had been killed by Mad Red. There was no reason for the Godbearer Cult to ask a Spectre to assassinate Blue Dolphin instead. It would only complicate the matter unnecessarily to involve two different factions.
“Are you certain?” Gao Yang asked.
“More or less.” Liu Qingying smiled. “There aren’t many members in the group, and each of them is quite unstable. Some of the members call themselves the Tails...”
The Tails!
Isn’t that the group No.10 belongs to?
Ha, what a coincidence. ‘Lucky’ me.
Gao Yang quickly stopped the thoughts to prevent Liu Qingying from reading too much from him. “Go on.”
“That’s all I know at the moment since my other sources of information have never killed or captured a member of the Tails. Those are merely my speculations. Take them at your own discretion.”
Gao Yang didn’t say anything.
The wind swept Liu Qingying’s auburn hair back. “At first, I wasn’t too convinced. Even before the Crimson Tide hit, there were only about 160 known awakeners in the Mist World, and most took sanctuary at the White Tiger branch. If the Tails are composed of awakeners, where did they come from?”
That was Gao Yang’s question, too. Indeed, where did they come from?
“But then I have a guess.” Liu Qingying chuckled. “I believe they are trash people have no use for. Of course, whether they are actually trash is another story.”
A thought flashed through Gao Yang’s mind, and he had an inkling what she was getting at. But he waited for her to continue.
The cigar in Liu Qingying’s hand turned into a Talent list suddenly. “This is the list as compiled by the Guild. I added some information. Take a look.”
Gao Yang took the list. The block of text detailed the Talents from serial number 12 to 199, including descriptions of their uses. Some were detailed, while others were brief.
Moreover, each Talent was appended with the name of its owner.
Gao Yang found ‘Seven Shadow’ written after Replicate, Fire, Teleportation, and Lie Detection.
The last night of the Crimson Tide, many awakeners had died, and thus, their names were grayed out beside their Talents.
Soon, Gao Yang noticed a section where most of the Talents weren’t followed by a name—the bottom 15 Talents.
Liu Qingying leaned in and explained gently, “It’s a consensus that the closer to the top of the list a Talent is, the stronger it is. Thus, almost no awakeners pay any attention to the bottom Talents.”
Gao Yang didn’t say anything but simply nodded.
“I originally thought the awakeners with bottom-of-the-list Talents must have gotten killed by monsters as soon as they awakened, or left unaffiliated since the three organizations didn’t want them, and they would soon be killed. Suffice to say that they are an ignored bunch.”
Liu Qingying pointed at the second last Talent. “Look, even the Hundred Rivers Union, which takes in awakeners almost without discrimination, recruits only one awakener with a bottom Talent.”
Gao Yang looked over at the Talent above Lucky.
Confidence, serial number 198, Psyche-type.
Description: a confident person.
Gao Yang started. The Talent was owned by Zhang Wei.
Liu Qingying smiled. “From what I know, Zhang Wei’s Confidence has reached level 3, but other than his body being a little stronger than that of a regular human, his Talent seems to grant him no other ability. His personality fits his Talent, though. He’s confident—perhaps overly so.”
Gao Yang chewed on the information.
“That got me thinking,” Liu Qingying continued. “If the awakeners with lowest-ranking Talents never register on anyone’s radar, how did their Talents end up on the list?”
“I looked into it further and found that the earlier Talent list dates back to the era of the Elusive Sect.” Liu Qingying lamented, “It’s a shame that I can’t find out more given how long it’s been.”
Gao Yang stared at the Talent list in his hand, a thought forming in his head, but he didn’t allow it to stay for too long.
Liu Qingying said at a deliberate pace, “Thus, I came to a different conclusion about the Tails. Perhaps these awakeners aren’t as weak as people believe them to be. Perhaps they’ve been around for a while and formed their own group, secretly serving the Godbearer Cult and thus staying out of the major organizations’ notice. Given their Talents are near the bottom of the list, they call themselves the Tails.”
Gao Yang nodded. “Very likely so.”
“Yes, or it wouldn’t make sense.” Detecting a disturbance in Gao Yang’s mind, Liu Qingying smiled. “What do you think, Elder Seven Shadow?”
Gao Yang smiled faintly. “Give me a moment.”
He leaned into the seat and closed his eyes.
[Access granted.]
She’s good. As expected of a professional information broker. She may even be an elite spy, only serving someone I don’t know.
Her speculation was very likely the truth, which would explain many things.
Dragon had said that the 199 Talents were one entity. The head was the tail, and the tail the head.
Based on that, perhaps other than Overlord and Lucky, the other top eleven Talents corresponded with the bottom eleven Talents too.
Zhang Wei’s Talent was Confidence, serial number 198, Psyche-type.
It corresponded with Qilin’s Eidos, serial number 2, Psyche-type.
Gao Yang projected Liu Qingying’s list inside his system. Indeed, the 197 to 188 Talents were respectively Time-Space, Element, Knowledge, Buff, Summon, Poison, Guard, Life, Damage, and Support-type, which corresponded with the number 3 to 12 Talents.
It seems that I’ve uncovered a great secret!