[ The One Behind The Curtain (Legendary):
• When not directly confronted with irrefutable evidence of one's guilt or fault, others will more easily tend towards perceiving one as innocent or as having been framed.
• Tactical acumen: +9,900%
• Scheming efficiency: +9,900% ]

This last Talent–other than Regression, which he had just recently acquired–was quite similar to Xie Mei's Plotter. However, where it differed was not only its grade, but also in the way in which it influenced the perception of others. His first Follower would be more easily overlooked, whereas others would tend to give him the benefit of the doubt or even outright support him in the face of accusations.

But other than that, it was also the sole Talent at or above Legendary-grade which he had personally obtained and raised all the way to this point, without the use of his Existence's Foremost Calamity or Grim Reaper's Levy.

Yes, certain Talents could indeed be developed naturally, but doing so was extremely time-consuming and difficult. If it had not been for the innumerable illusory lives which he had lived through, he would not have been able to do so for many thousands of years!

Originally, he had not been too much of a calculative person–at least not to the extent where he surpassed his peers in this aspect by a wide margin. But being aware of this, he obviously had to put in the work to rectify this shortcoming. Indubitably, others would have done the same as well, yet it was unknown how far they had managed to progress. The Legendary-grade was considered to be relatively outstanding, as it was the (formerly) fifth-highest Talent grade there was, so it was likely that he was amongst the very top in this regard.

'But in other ways, I still cannot compare.'

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but heave a helpless sigh, his gaze a troubled one, yet undeniably containing a firm fighting spirit.

While his Status Panel's contents might seem ridiculously strong to a regular person, or even extraordinary to a normal Named Family descendant, he knew that this was merely a matter of perspective. Due to having been cautioned countless times by his family, he understood that there was always a higher mountain.

There was at least one competitor in the Heavenly Succession who had been born with three Unique-grade Talents and a few more Supreme-grade ones. And that was just the one who happened to get exposed! Heck, even a few of his older siblings did outclass him in the number and grade of their Talents. Yet due to his ability to obtain practically infinite Talents and his significantly higher Mind Attribute, in the end, he had been chosen to be the primary representative of his family in this contest.

This didn't mean that they weren't participating too, though.

'I'd be very surprised if they got as unlucky as me. I wonder in which round I'll first run into one of them? Oh well, that's still at least a hundred years away, so there's no use in worrying about it too much right now.'

Refocusing on the present, Theodore was relieved to know that there was absolutely nothing that, by chance, had managed to slip his mind. His plans could therefore be kicked off in earnest!