Talent System: I Instantly Master My Opponents Skills
Chapter 71: Lies

Chapter 71: Lies

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Five people could be seen in an open field devoid of vegetation, of the five only two stood; an old bald man with a short beard and a thirteen year old boy with holes all over his clothes. The other three were either on all fours gasping or completely on the floor with labored breathing.

Zane, Hereon and the other Hachiman boy were not in a talking mood, exhaustion clawed at them. Jason on the other hand was completely okay, he was even in a much better condition than when he first entered the dungeon, for starters, his right arm had regrown.

He was a little too energized for someone who had just beaten the dungeon boss of the rank 4 dungeon, his demeanor stayed the same and he didn’t have any wounds to speak of. Neither was exhaustion evident.

"Tell me what happened in the dungeon." The elder demanded, he had recovered from his earlier shock and now his demeanor was what one would expect from such an old man; calm and patient, as if he knew the answers would come to him.

"Do you want the full story or only the bits with the boss?" Jason questioned.

"Give me every detail."

Jason sighed.

"As we entered the dungeon we immediately engaged in a fight with the goblins as that was where we spawned, after a gruesome battle where we emerged victorious I decided to explore. Unfortunately, I quickly encountered a sub-boss sleeping in the area I went.

I wanted to leave quietly but I stepped on a branch, the monster woke up and almost immediately rushed to me. I had no choice to defend myself, it was hard considering that it was a giant spider.

I had thought I was going to die, but when the monster was about to kill me some people came to my aid, with their help it was easier to defend against the monster. Though, when we decided to kill it, it retaliated and killed everyone else except me."

Jason paused, watching the elder’s expression keenly.

Surprisingly, the old man’s face remained the same.

"I managed to overwhelm it and killed it. After that I wandered to the beach on which we spawned on and stared at it, after thinking for awhile I jumped into it and began swimming, it was only after hours that I found myself on the shore to a cave.

Upon entering the cave I found myself transported to a different location, after walking through a path and killing some monsters I stumbled upon an opening, going through it I discovered it led me to another place as well.

I met the other sub-boss, its eyes bore down on me, freezing me. It lunged at me and stabbed me through the gut.

That’s where my contributions end." Jason completed his tale.

Of course he kept many parts out and even lied about some events.

He didn’t tell the elder about the Hobgoblins so that his tale would be more believable, as he wouldn’t believe that Jason fought goblins and then hobgoblins before facing a sub-boss without fatigue wearing down on him.

If the elder asks another and the old man learns that he killed 50 goblins it would make his story less believable, causing them to keep an eye on him.

Jason also lied about Alaric and his group saving him from the Giant Arachnid Spider, when they arrived the monster was already dead, and they had even gone as far as trying to kill him after assuming that exhaustion would wear him down because he killed over fifty monsters.

He portrayed them as heroes whereas they were villains in that segment of the story.

And then again, he didn’t give the elder any specific dates about when everything happened so that it would take him much more time to piece it together.

’Every time the main characters lied like this I never understood how they felt.’ Jason thought. ’Now I understand.’

’It feels... amazing to do this.’

To be able to tell a lie without any chance of the person who is being lied to having any chance to find out that you’re lying, was a great feeling.

"Zane, can you confirm this?" The elder asked.

The boy nodded.

"What about the boss?"

"Beats me." Jason replied with a shrug.

"You’ll need to ask one of them." He added.

"Were you not present when the boss was defeated?"

Jason almost cursed out loud.

’If I say I wasn’t there I could be found out.’

’There were other people present when I supposedly killed the monster boss, even if I tell the truth that I have no memory of it, it could be summed down to my body being possessed by a monster.

If then I’ll be killed.’

"Th-" Jason was about to start when he was interrupted by Zane.

"After he was healed and we entered the boss room he ran away in a clearing to hide." Zane spoke up.

’He lied for me.’ Jason thought. ’And that was what I was going to say.’

The elder’s gaze turned to Zane. "Is that so? He ran away as soon as all of you entered the dungeon?"

Zane nodded. "Yes. At that moment his breathing was labored as if he was carrying a large amount of heavy weights, it seemed as if the mana emanating from the boss had some adverse effects on his body."

’That’s the perfect lie!’ Jason thought, though it could easily be found out if either Hereon or the Hachiman boy spilled anything.

There was no dark-skinned like him to ever exist, he was the first. That meant that they didn’t know his capabilities or limits, if told one thing they would have to believe. As when Jason’s father had asked him about the Null eyes, his crappy answer had managed to appease the man’s curiosity.

"So, how did the dungeon boss die?" The elder questioned.

Jason paused.

"During the moment it found Jason’s hiding spot I used my magic; Thunder, to kill it."