August had always seen himself as clever, rather than brilliant. He was decently brilliant as well when he applied himself - as he was endlessly told - but his real strength had always been a talent for seeming to be brilliant, while never truly investing the time needed to achieve such vaunted heights. He supposed that his talent stretched wider than that, to pretending in all its forms, really. He also seemed to have a flair for understanding people, and what they wanted, and how to leverage that. However, getting good grades in school with very little effort had mostly been the limit of his opportunity to use his particular talents.

But, now that he found himself within a world strange new of cultivation, endless adventure, and a severe lack of computer documentation? With civilizations unlike any of those he has ever known, well, pretending would get its chance to shine, for he would need to use all his cunning, wit, cleverness, and willingness to lie and cheat to catch up and go beyond without anything or anyone to his name. But really, how difficult would it be to safely con people in a world where everyone is superhuman and magic, some far more so than others?

Well, at least he has no pesky moral compass standing in his- Damn it all.