Knowledge Thief

Freedom First

Both May and Mana exchanged surprising glances to one another when Lee enquired if the bracelet would turn invisible.

'Might be possible, but I actually don't know, Mr. Lee' answered May honestly. She has been the caretaker of the spring for some time now and had learnt all there is to learn about the bracelet, but she didn't know the answer because none of the champions had tried to do the same.

Lee stared at the bracelet and wondered about how it is a double-edged sword. On one hand, he had some idea about his powers. But on the other hand, it is like an ID card that makes him an easy target.

'If only there was a way' thought Lee while staring at the bracelet. Suddenly, an idea popped into his head.

'The bracelet will show stats only if I think it. Maybe if I think that it is invisible, it might turn invisible.'

He took a deep breath and began reaffirming in his head that the bracelet is invisible. After a few moments, the bracelet slowly vanished.

Both Mana and May were shocked to see the bracelet vanish. It was only a moment before that they thought that this was nigh impossible but it happened. A moment before they felt superior because of their knowledge about the bracelet, but now they felt like dummies in front of Lee.

What they didn't know was that Lee was even more surprised by this feat. He was astounded that his guess was right and it worked on the first try. As Lee marveled about the feat, the bracelet slowly blinked back into view.

'It seems that I have to constantly trick my mind to keep it hidden' thought Lee. 'Nevertheless, there is a method to do it.'

When Lee looked up, he could see a nervous smiles adorning the face of Mana. He could understand her shock.

When he looked at May, he saw that she was perfectly calm and collected. 'Seems, she had come out of the momentary shock.'

Lee then said 'Thank you. Ma'am. We'll be leaving then.'

'Actually Mr. Lee, may I know why you wanted the bracelet to be invisible?' asked a curious May.

Lee looked at her for a moment while pondering whether to tell her the reason.

'I want to be free. I don't want to be recognized as the champion' 

'Then that alone won't do you any good.'

'I'm sorry but I don't understand'

'Just turning the bracelet invisible will not help you be free. Mana, didn't you inform him before coming here?' asked May.

Lee glanced at Mana, who had a sheepish look on her face. Upon noticing Lee's killer stare, she looked down while muttering, 'It was all sudden. I didn't have time'

Lee let out a soft sigh as he understood that Mana is still a kid in some ways. He then turned to May and asked her, 'Can you please enlighten me, ma'am?'

'Actually, the top families in the world would have definitely known about the Champion's entry as soon as you landed in this world. And they would have sent people to intercept you almost immediately.'

May continued, 'Since you came here, you should have landed nearby and based on my estimate, you should have entered the city without some sort of identification. So, a good tracker might find you easily.'

Up until now, Lee had thought that his entry into the world would be a secret. But this new information changes everything.

'So that's how Gin knew' he thought. He then muttered, 'I am surprised that no one has caught me yet'

'That's because they weren't serious. A champion without identification is not a threat, as they can easily discredit him. But one with a public identity is a potential threat to the world and potential threats will either be controlled or eliminated' said May in a grave tone.

Lee was surprised by May's comments. Lee wasn't surprised by what she told as he could correlate most of the information himself. He was surprised by the fact that she made direct accusations of the ruling families.

'Do you mean to say that all of the current champions are also being controlled?'

'Yes' said May, 'but that is something I will not be able to share right now'

'She drives a hard bargain' thought Lee. When May finished explaining, Lee understood that she would have a way for them to escape. It was a classic bargaining tactic. However, he wanted to avoid dealing with her.

So, he took a few moments to rake his brain for a way to escape from this scenario. He got quite a few ideas to escape but almost all of them involved him ditching Mana. He looked at Mana instinctively and saw that she was still feeling guilty for not informing him about the full scenario.

'Seems I don't have any other choice than to deal with her' he thought.

'Mana, let's go. We'll think of something' said Lee and started to leave the shrine. Mana slowly followed him.

After the duo took around six or seven steps, he heard May say, 'I can help you keep your identity a secret'

Lee stopped but didn't turn around. He smiled and murmured, 'As expected.'