Bowing slightly, Jason greeted her politely and couldn't help but feel that fate was playing around with him.
The young female halfling he had encountered a few months earlier was now standing right in front of him once again.
However, now, both the color of her eyes and that of her hair had changed.
Nevertheless, this didn't make a big difference to Jason, who could simply scan her energy fluctuations, even if they had been concealed with some sort of unique device preventing those at a higher cultivation base to figure out what, or who she was.
In the end, his Emperor Eyes were too strong, and as long as he used his Celestia aura, stigma, and enough mana, he could see and notice most of the things others couldn't.
Because he had been too curious if his instincts had been correct, Jason had to reveal his aura and stigma, but that was not much of a problem.
At least, he didn't think it was, and instead of worrying too much, he simply looked at the young female halfling, who was still giving her best to act as unruffled as before.
"I don't know what you are talking about!"
This only made Jason smile brighter thinking that it was funny to see how hard she was trying to appear unperturbed.
There should be a proper reason for the young female halfling to do this, he now knew was called Jen.
As such, Jason didn't stretch the topic further and looked straight into her eyes, only to nod his head.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})But, a second later, he got an idea, which made him smile slyly.
"Who knows, maybe I was wrong. I just thought that you look similar to the powerful young woman I encountered a few months ago. It's not often that I see someone with a pretty face, so I might have mistaken you for her."
Jason's sudden change of attitude caused even Pera to look at the young man weirdly.
Looking back and forth from Jason to Jen, she couldn't help but feel that the atmosphere was turning weird.
As such, she decided to intervene which made her spout utter nonsense that made even herself cringe.
"You seem to have good eyes. Our little Jen is truly beautiful, but you are handsome as well. So let's not talk about the appearance of others, at least, not as long as I'm here and forced to listen to you!
Rather, how about you tell me how you created an artificial stigma at your age? And your aura is extremely distinct too. Was it reinforced by a divine being, or is that something your mutation did?"
Jason looked at Pera, slowly understanding why others labeled her crazy. Her assumptions of how he had constructed his aura were interesting, but at the same time, weird.
However, they were not impossible, which made him wonder if it was not possible for Pera to determine the difference between an artificial stigma and a naturally created one.
Despite his interest in answering Pera, Jason's eyes were still glued on Jen.
She was just about to turn around, trying to avoid her identity being exposed when she heard Jason's answer.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})"I don't really think that I'm a Variant, and both my stigma and aura are natural products of my bloodline.
Can't you tell that I am a Halfling?"
The last sentence struck Pera and Jen even more so, like a bolt of lightning as she turned around with wide eyes, stunned by the revelation.
Yet, before she could ask anything Jason continued,
"With my aura and stigma concealed, others would think that I'm just a Variant of the human race on Manyr which is quite refreshing too.
But I guess people tend to forget that there are quite a few world bridges all around Manyr."
What Jason revealed was not important to him anymore. His biggest secrets would still remain safely hidden with him.
Revealing his true identity of a halfling, and that he was misunderstood as a Variant of the Manyrs could clear the air of mystery around him.
Jen, who was still trying to hide her identity, should have seen his Celestia aura, Artemis' wings, and his fully unleashed stigma already.
As such, she could convey this information to the City Lord, only to be deemed a liar too, if he were to hide it in the City lord's presence.
Adding this to the fact that the City lord seemed to adore women while hating men could only fuel the fire which was definitely not something Jason wanted to achieve!
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})Because of that, Jason decided to be straightforward, revealing certain things, while keeping certain things under wraps.
He was not sure if Jen would be speaking to the City lord, or maybe those responsible for delivering his punishment, but more important right now was that his connections with the City lord wouldn't be completely severed.
There were various reasons for that, and three of them were around him!
The first reason was the entire content of the building he was currently inside as it was extremely interesting and would help him forge, concoct, and inscribe runes he should have never known about let alone be able to inscribe.
In fact, the basement was filled with a library, or at least, that was what Jason assumed to have seen through his Emperor Eyes.
Every single book was intertwined with mana, primordial energy, spiritual force, or all three cultivation energies together.
Thus, he was interested in taking a closer look.
As for the second reason, it was the crazy woman, called Pera, who was at the Ascendion stage, and, in fact, in charge of the entire building.
This was something Jason figured out pretty easily because the building's third floor had chambers, and only one of it was in use.
Thanks to his Emperor Eyes, he could see the lingering traces of Pera's mana there, indicating that she didn't leave the small tower-like building, even to rest or sleep.
In the end, the last reason was even more important to Jason because it was Jen, the female halfling of the Aeus and Devir race, who had awoken all three cultivation veins.
He was not sure what exactly made him pay attention to her, but what had ignited his interest had been her silver-colored eyes with crimson rings around her pupils.
After that, he had been intrigued by her cultivation veins, and combat prowess that broke through an entire stage.
There were several other things he found interesting about the young woman, but even without her, Jason wouldn't want to be on bad terms with a being at the Specta stage, right after he entered the city.
Right now, Jason was not sure whether his accidental intrusion into the City lord's abode was something he should be worried about, or actually happy about having happened!
It could turn into a great, bountiful opportunity, or into a situation that could escalate against him real quick.
There was still a punishment he had yet to receive for trespassing, even worse, the City lord's, but somehow, Jason was relatively unruffled.
Having revealed some details of his own identity, both Pera and Jen were looking at him as if he was the dumbest person they had encountered in a long time.
However, only a moment later, Jen smiled at Jason, thinking that he was a bit foolish because he believed that he was forced to reveal his identity as a halfling in front of them.
Only under life-threatening or dire circumstances should someone reveal their true identity was what she believed and Jason had done just the opposite!
This was the reason she thought that Jason was a little fool.
Covering her mouth while staring at him, she took a moment before she regained her composure, only to be looked at weirdly by Pera.
'What the hell is going on with these youngsters? Am I in a high-teen romance show or what?' She wondered before she saw that Jen turned serious.
"It's good that you think exposing your identity is for your best, but don't do that too lightly. While Mutants and Variants are already frowned upon because they're different, Halflings are feared….and being feared is not something you should be happy about because fear will bring people together…to hunt you down!"
