MIGHT AS WELL BE OP

Chapter 831: Misunderstanding

”From the Blue Planet, the winners of the Starborn Tournament, Null Collins from the Older Generation, and Null Anthony from the Younger Generation,” the announcer’s voice tore through the air with gentle ease.

With calming ease, Anthony and his group moved into the building from the outside. Although it appeared to be a structure with a normal roof and walls, the interior was anything but ordinary. The moment they stepped inside, the space stretched endlessly in all directions. Stars, suns, and moons floated high in the cosmic sky above them, suspended as though the building itself existed within a boundless galaxy. Everything glimmered with soft astral luminance, creating an atmosphere both surreal and majestic.

Anthony remained silent. He could feel countless stares converging on him, each gaze probing, analyzing, and attempting to decipher the mystery around him. His Perfect One skill echoed within him like a looping alarm, alerting him as various individuals, from both the Older and Younger Generations of several races and factions, attempted to gather information about him in real time through various abilities and skills.

A small faint smile curved his lips. If they wanted information, he would give them exactly what they asked for, but not the truth. His Perfect One skill allowed him to falsify any information people received about him, bending perception at its roots. With a single thought, Anthony altered the information the various onlookers were receiving.

Immediately, the information that streamed into their minds made nearly everyone pause in utter shock and disbelief. According to what they received, Anthony had lost his entire cultivation after a devastating battle on the Blue Planet shortly after winning the Starborn Tournament. His mana core had supposedly been heavily damaged, and although he had made minor progress in healing it, he was currently at the lowest possible mortal rank, the F- mana rank.

The information further claimed that the immense presence he exuded was not his own strength but was instead the result of numerous powerful artifacts he had won during the Starborn Tournament, which he now used to deceive others.

Although everyone received this same information, not all of them accepted it immediately. Some frowned, especially those from the Younger Generation who had personally witnessed Anthony’s terrifying feats. They had seen him kill the three members of the Eclipsian race, and not only that, they had also seen him execute the silver haired man who had forced all humans to kneel at the floating seating structure.

As they thought back to those memories, a new possibility crept into their minds, one that twisted their confusion into suspicion.

’What if Anthony had been faking it the entire time?’

They realized something strange: none of them had personally witnessed Anthony kill the three members of the Eclipsian race. They remembered seeing him leave and then seeing the pieces of their corpses rain down from above.

’What if it had been the purple haired girl or the golden haired man sitting beside him who did the killing... and allowed Anthony to take the credit?’

Then another thought followed. When Anthony commanded the silver haired man to crawl toward him, causing the man to obey immediately, what if Anthony had not been the one giving the command at all? What if his words had been a covert signal to the purple haired girl or the golden haired man, prompting them to manipulate the enemy into crawling?

A shocking realization rippled through their minds.

’Was that why Anthony never fought when he first arrived at the arena that day?’

’Was he always relying on his teammates for protection?’

’And when Aaaninja and Lucian, the second and third place holders of the Starborn Tournament, appeared, did Anthony cling to them for safety as well?

Their thoughts swirled with these new possibilities, and slowly, smiles crept across their faces, both the Younger and Older Generations alike. Although the Blue Planet had already exhausted most of the resources won during the Starborn Tournament, they could still make Anthony suffer a little here. After all, a human had never won the Starborn Tournament before, and many were still resentful.

Still, they had to be cautious. Rumor had it that the delegates of the Blue Planet were strong, strong enough to have allegedly wiped out the Eclipsian race’s delegation three years ago.

From his position, Anthony noticed the schadenfreude twisting their expressions. A quiet, amused smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. He wasn’t sure how many among them intended to act based on the information they had received, but one thing was certain, it would be quite the show... wouldn’t it?.

Aaaninja, Lucian, Aura, and Charles, however, were baffled. They noticed the sudden surge of malicious or condescending smiles directed at Anthony from the surrounding seats. Too lazy to guess the reason, Lucian simply reached into the mind of a man sitting beside him.

The moment he skimmed through the man’s memories, Lucian nearly burst into uncontrollable laughter. Unlike the others, he already knew Anthony had deceived them using the Perfect One skill. As a reader before his reincarnation, Lucian was already deeply familiar with it, one of Anthony’s earliest abilities derived from his Authority Of Information.

Lucian couldn’t help but offer a silent, pitying prayer for anyone foolish enough to act on the false information.

Anthony’s sky-blue eyes shifted toward the expansive area designated for the Younger Generation. Without hesitation, he shot forward, Vega and Kingsley flowing beside him like streaks of focused brilliance. Upon arriving, Anthony raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

Above them, the cosmic air churned violently as nine pillars of blazing light and energy thundered down from the astral heights in blinding incandescent radiance, three descending from the sun, three from the moon, and three from a distant star.

The nine pillars intertwined like celestial serpents, merging into three otherworldly cosmic thrones forged entirely from the radiant energies of a star, a sun, and a moon. Without hesitation, Anthony, Vega, and Kingsley each settled onto one.

Those watching couldn’t help but frown in confusion. If Anthony was truly at the F- mana rank, how had he performed such an astonishing feat? Their puzzlement deepened when they realized none of them had sensed even the slightest trace of mana when the pillars of light and energy descended.

Their gazes darted instantly toward Kingsley, who sat with serene composure, his golden eyes calm and unfathomable. To them, he was the only one without mana, without any form of detectable energy whatsoever. Which meant, in their minds, he must have been the one to create the cosmic thrones.

Smiles returned to their faces as they pieced together an explanation, an explanation that felt so logical to them, yet was completely wrong.

And with that, a misunderstanding capable of leading countless individuals to their deaths continued to grow, widening its reach like a silent, expanding storm.