Secret Keeper Closier-17 continued to maintain a neutral expression. Together with his completely gray and almost featureless uniform, the man exhibited no tells that could allow Ves to gain a grasp of the other person's thoughts and feelings.
That threw Ves off quite a bit. He did not realize it until recently, but he had become too dependent on using his extraordinarily sharp spiritual perception to cast a glimpse into people's true hearts.
This gave him a decisive advantage in many social occasions. It also improved his speech making capabilities as he was able to track the mood of his audience to a precise degree, allowing him to time his revelations to elicit the strongest emotional responses.
Getting confronted by the Secret Keeper uncomfortably reminded Ves that he should not only stop relying on this admittedly useful crutch, but also be on guard in case he met cultivators that could fake their emotional fluctuations and spiritual expressions.
