Only I Am A Reader



Just before Leo cleared up his virtual wallet, his heart kept thumping in worry. The suspension effect that he experienced last time was rather unpleasant and he didn't even want to imagine what would happen if he failed to remember things this time around.

'Oh?'

[ Reality Acquisition Complete! 'Reality Reading' has been suspended. ]

[ Character Inheritable transfer complete! ]

However, against Leo's expectations, nothing of this sort happened this time around. He simply rose from his bed to find his memories completely intact.

'As expected. This has to be why it was a 'Trial' back then, right?'

As if it was an attempt to test if he was suitable or a trial run to make sure he gets adjusted to the procedure, Leo's first 'reading' seemed to have some faults to it.

In contrast, things went very smoothly this time around. The one thing that still seemed unchanged was the time ratio.

'Almost 2 hours and a half.'

Thankfully, while the grace period before departure had grown ten times over, the minimized period was still the same.

If he stayed frozen in place for a whole day, who knew if his mother would think that he was in some sort of coma…

[ Book 2 - Completed ]

Name: Cheon Baek-Ho (Leo Lock)

Age: 22 (18)

Role: Reader

Reading Points: 0 (11554)

_____________________

Personal Statistics:

----------------

Internal Energy: 2,168/2,168 (Scarlet Sky)

Physique: 12

Mind: 1.77 (+2.47)

_____________________

Personal Skills:

---------------

'Advanced…'

'...'

_____________________

Personal…

…

_____________________

Quests:

-------

[ Main Quest: Kill The Protagonist - Accomplished ]

[ Side Quest: Prevent The Heavenly Strength Society's alliance with The Just Faction - Accomplished ]

_____________________

Leo kept up his suspense by checking the second life that he shed away before turning the page to the one containing his current reality.

In this world's timeline, he had just checked it a few hours ago, but he had actually spent 14 years without giving it a single glance.

[ Book 0 ]

Name: Leo Lock

Age: 18

Role: Reader

Reading Points: 0

_____________________

Personal Statistics:

---------------------

True Sword Breath: 600/600

Physique: 4.1

Mind: 2.74

Sword Breath: 601

_____________________

Personal Skills:

---------------

'Advanced…'

'...'

_____________________

Personal…

…

____________________

'A physique like this should be considered monstrous by Earth's standards, but…'

Just by receiving the character's stat bonus, Leo's actual Physique jumped up higher than the maximum that he reached as Arthur.

They could only stand on equal footing once Arthur received Sword Breaker's buff! It didn't even make sense that his normal body could achieve such strength!

Most importantly, while he had grown taller once more, Leo's body wasn't as bulky as Arthur's final form. Instead, his muscles were neatly packed together, keeping the lean physique that he had as Baekho.

In reality, however, Leo couldn't help feeling underwhelmed by his current level of capability.

'It feels off.'

Not to mention the multitude of abilities that he could use as an Unrestrained Martial Artist, only possessing a third of his pure physical strength greatly skewed his sense of control.

Compared to the power-ups that he experienced in Murim where he had to gradually restrain himself more and more, he now restrained himself too much.

The amount of strength he exerted into anything was too light!

'Delaying it any further might be problematic.'

Originally, Leo wasn't in as much of a hurry as before to digest his bountiful harvest, but with such a wider gap in ability, he feared that his ability to move as a whole would crumble.

Although intensive adjustment to match his current level could be achieved, integrating what he brought along from his second life was bound to make the process much smoother.

[ Your selected 'Reality' has been transferred to your 'Reading Space'. ]

Leo didn't require as much guidance or investigation this time around, just like Baekho's page has turned old, Leo could already see an additional book on the almost empty shelf.

'The cover looks even more intricate this time around.'

Compared to the simplistic final scene that 'The Sword Master's Second Life' had, the new 'Murim Supremacy' cover was full of details.

The center of the cover was still the point where Baekho and Geochin's swords clashed on the final battlefield, but there were many more characters drawn alongside them.

'Yeon…'

On Baekho's side of the cover, the complete figure of Yeon could be seen in addition to half-face profiles of Yong, Sohee, the Blade Spirit, and the Absolute Spear!

On Geochin's side, Pung Miyoung's worried face was also visible next to the determined complexion of the Namgung Family's First Elder, but the mainly emphasized figure was that of the arm-crossing Murim Lord.

'That's what he looks like?'

Since Leo didn't directly interact with Namgung Geom in his ghost form, he could only guess that it was the Sword Emperor for how majestic he looked as well as his lack of a lower body.

Finally, in the background behind their swords, the clashing figures of the former Heavenly Demon as well as the invading Demon Lord were displayed in fading colors.

'Does the complexity of the cover depend on how long the novel is?'

The first book was definitely lacking in chapters when compared to 'Murim Supremacy', but it was hard to use that as a judging criterion.

In contrast, it could also just be because Leo was more invested in changing this book's course which was easily reflected by the amount of Reading Points that he earned this time.

'Either way…'

The books' covers were completely irrelevant, at least currently, so Leo didn't spare it any more thoughts before flipping the book open. Just like its richly decorated cover, this book didn't look as empty as 'The Sword Master's Second Life' looked in the beginning.

[ Ability - 'Scarlet Sky Breathing' - Peak ]

As it was the foundation for almost everything that followed, Leo didn't spend his time browsing as he directly tore apart the page that pictured Baekho surrounded by scarlet clouds while in deep meditation.

Part of him was worried about it being incompatible with the energy system that was already in his body, but in the worst-case scenario, he believed he could just use the domineering Scarlet Sky Internal Energy to drive away the Sword Breath he had accumulated.

'I would rather not give it up, but it's very lacking as a power system in comparison.'

Although Arthur's Sword Body somewhat remedied the shortcomings of Sword Breath Practice, it was incapable of standing toe to toe against something much more complete such as Murim Martial Arts.

As much as a waste it would be to discard this ability that still had the potential to be developed, holding back on Integrating 'Scarlet Sky Breathing' due to fear was far more wasteful.

The page immediately turned into a red light before vanishing into Leo's body. Just like last time, Internal Energy just came to be inside his body and a Dantian was constructed within seconds, but things didn't go that well.

'As expected.'

Things looked peaceful so far, but he felt like he was about to explode!

Having learned his lesson from last time, Leo quickly found the page containing his 'Cleared Energy Channels' and tore it off before he could even look at its illustration.

While it was okay to have blocked Energy Channels when one was just starting out as a Martial Artist, having clogged pathways at the Peak Stage was no better than suicide!

Without being able to circulate through his body to complete the energy cycle, Leo's Dantian was no different than a Fusion Core being incapable of venting out the enormous amount of heat it produced.

"Phew… Much better."

Thankfully, once the missing talent was implemented, the death omen that Leo felt was no longer. However, whether this was the end of his trouble was uncertain…