Only I Am A Reader

Almost every single sane human abhorred destruction, and that was especially the case in a dangerous place like the Murim. Nothing good came out of the frequent upheavals that forced the normal residents to change their lifestyles to float alongside the raging waves. However…

Within destruction lay creation, that was a fact. No matter how one tried to evade that result, the ripples of aggression often led to the rise of all kinds of things. Emotions and desire. Revenge and retribution. Enemy and resistance. Only those who truly stood up would be remembered, but countless physical and emotional constructions were always brewing at the eye of the storm!

The Four Heavenly Beasts! The Demon Hunters! The Demon Slaying Swordsmen! The Dragon of Extermination… All kinds of names associated with factions, forces, teams, and squads. Through word of mouth, popularity and renown were only given. Still, within all of the grandiose names, one of them quickly rose to the sky, turning the rest into nothing but background noise.

'The Murim League.'

Despite starting up as a group of normal people, one specific 'team' rose to deserve the term that seemed to rival the Monster Hunter Association in value! This was the Murim League, also known as the circle of nobodies!

Few people understood how it came to being, but that didn't matter to most people. All they needed to know was that when every normal person was in despair for being powerless, an unknown source brought out a few sets of martial arts that anyone could practice for free… As long as they devoted themselves to the cause of monster extermination!

Almost nobody believed that claim at first, but it was quickly proven to be true. Those that trusted the mysterious distributors quickly came together to form the seed form of the current number one target of awe…

As generous as the Monster Hunter Association was under Zhuge Gun's lead, even the Alliance Head himself couldn't ask all forces to reveal their martial arts to the public. Different from the resources that could always be replenished once the crisis had been dealt with, martial arts was the true foundation of Sects and Martial Families!

Basic sets of martial arts taught in the Murim Alliance's Martial School were viable for dispersion, but that was similarly something that the forces pressuring the Alliance Head refused to allow. The value of resources was relative to whether a person could or could not make use of it, if they lost the leash they held though limiting martial art education, the authority that all force held was bound to diminish with enough time.

Just when the Alliance Head gave in to the threat of retracting the resources they would hand out, the group of new martial arts that sprouted out of nowhere came to flip the playground!

Martial arts were nothing without resources, and resources were nothing without martial arts. Such a blatant truth made it hard for wandering Martial Artists to appear. The only option for one to embark on the true path of Murim was to join a sect or go under a Martial Family. However, the monster invasion was a true fertile ground for mavericks!

With the sudden appearance of unknown martial arts and the appropriate timing of the Monster Hunter Association's establishment, the nobodies that previously stood no chance in achieving anything on their own had miraculously managed to satisfy the two major prerequisites of martial art practice!

Additionally, some sort of front had even started exchanging martial arts with gold and resources! Although the numbers of those who took that path was much lower, the situation had already gotten out of hand. Knowing that it was the Zhuge Gun wasn't stupid to do something like this by his own volition, the several forces' head could only hold their anger as he rejoiced for the unexpectedly favorable direction the situation was heading in…

"S-someone rightfully claimed it just before you sir! If you can wait for just a bit, we will receive a new patch in a few days…"

The clerk serving the gray-cloaked Martial Artist trembled as he justly explained the situation. Considering how the Association's charity made them often taken for pushovers, such an awkward situation wasn't something rare.

"I guess you are right… But what if I don't want to wait? What if that person wasn't as rightful as you think?"

Turning his head towards Leo's group, the Martial Artist simply stared without doing anything. Leo quickly noticed the hint of scarlet in Yeon's eyes emerge, but…

<It's okay.>

Leo exercised another ability of his that he obtained with his latest advancement, putting his palm on Yeon's shoulder as he responded in the same manner.

<Don't push it too far.>

Staring at the gray figures crowding like pigeons, Leo's killing intent soared before being condensed and sent straight forward to their ringleader. After spending over a year in the battlefield, Leo had accumulated a terrifying amount of killing intent that it was almost tangible!

<Your turn will be coming sooner or later anyway.>

As an organization working for the sake of the people, scum like the one in front of Leo were just a plot point for the protagonist to grow! Geochin was supposed to appear and renounce the ongoing discrimination, realizing that he was creating his force too haphazardly, and even earning brownie points with Yeon! However…

'Another change, huh?'

Geochin's presence was nowhere to be found. The original novel didn't come with dates, but Leo could tell that this clash had occurred a little too early. The scheduled minor event was directly canceled without even triggering anything.

"I would like to take the last Flood Dragon Pill if he isn't going to take it... And give me ten points' worth in silver."

"Oh… okay! I will deduct another 130 points."

Seeing the instigator freeze in place as Leo ignored him, the clerk gave him the pill bottle he held in hand. The people of the Murim League stood in confusion unaware of what had just taken place.