Only I Am A Reader

"There is something that I need to say."

A few days later after his second 'ascension', Leo put down his spoon in the middle of breakfast with a cough.

"Today… I will be leaving again."

Having experienced the result of his abrupt departure the last time, Leo decided to come out clean this time. Even if it made leaving harder, it would be better than disappearing and leaving a piece of paper behind…

Even as reclusive as Leo used to be, a whole year of connecting with his new 'family' made him understand the Arthur inside him further. Breaking hearts was easier than fixing them. Since he was leaving anyway, letting them know beforehand might help a little in accepting it.

"Leaving again?"

The one that spoke out first was Annie, her voice slightly broken down in apparent sadness. Leo could only smile bitterly in return.

"...I just have some important things to do. I will make sure to come back in between."

Leo tried his best to not make it emotional, but tears seemed to be willing in Annie's eyes. Thankfully, someone came in for the save.

"I see… Thanks for letting us know."

Speaking up in acceptance, Ria turned to the little girl beside her and used her arm to tug her head closer, a soothing smile taking shape on her face.

"Don't worry little Annie, didn't you believe that your big brother would come back last time and he did? I'm sure Arthur really has to leave, otherwise, he would have stayed."

"Ye- Yeah! I trust Big Brother, he will definitely come back, play with us and make us breakfast again!"

Wiping away the little tears that had just come out, Annie brilliantly smiled. She definitely trusted Big Brother the most!

"Naturally! I will be heading out now to make some preparations. Go on with the breakfast, we can say our goodbyes when I'm back."

In order not to ruin the breakfast more than it had already been, Leo slipped out of the Orphanage, directly heading to town…

`~~~`~~~`~~~`

Checking out the town one more last time atop his horse carriage, Leo felt both emotional and out of reality. He had somehow spent a 9th of his original age in this world, yet it felt like nothing.

Although he had just turned 14 two weeks ago, his height had already reached 1.7 meters, only 10 centimeters lower than his original height back on earth. Moreover, Leo could tell that he was similarly close to his peak Physique. By rough estimation based on his current body, his original body should be sitting around 1.5 points, a number that he wasn't that far from.

Just like his last departure, Leo wasn't keen on leaving this time either. After experiencing a relaxed year of consecutive progress, it was hard to jump into a larger pond, but with only 6 years left till the epilogue, he couldn't stay still much longer.

Not counting the danger that came from being associated with the protagonist, Leo had confirmed that he was personally targeted. The ones after him might have been silent for the last year, but that wasn't guaranteed for long. In fact, Leo suspected that there were more attempts, just that Ray's 'Shadows' probably managed to intercept them.

'It won't do for much longer.'

One assassin slipping in had almost caused a large scar that was barely healed after a year in one of his siblings' life, who knew if the second would take his life? If Leo ended up repeating the same thing he did for the last year, then even reaching grade-5 at the time the epilogue would start would be a stretch.

A year of peace was great, but the stagnant 'Reading Points' made Leo feel wrong. Considering they were a supposed reward of his special ability, they had to have some use. However, wreaking havoc with the novel's plot wasn't exactly something that Leo wanted to do. Luckily, he had just the way to fix both the slow progress and the lack of 'Reading Points'!

'I need to find some 'Hidden Pieces'...'

Compared to 'Unique' or 'Impossible' events that required direct deviation from the plot. The one type of event that seemed to have the lowest effect was the one involving hidden pieces! Not only were they not even recorded on the first page, but as long as they weren't irrecoverable elements, they would also have little to no effect on the plot!

That was precisely the unconventional route that Leo had chosen, he would obtain all of the simpler 'Hidden Pieces' that would help boost his grade!

'At least, that's the plan for the next stage.'

Neighhh!

Having arrived in front of the Blackbird, Leo pulled the horse's reins to stop it. Before he managed down, the smithy's door directly opened, revealing an elated Crane.

"Arthur! It's done!"

'Finally!'

Even though Leo had provided a complete blueprint, he wasn't as adept with tiny details as an engineer would be. In the end, they had to optimize and improvise on the original blueprint throughout the year. This was also the reason why Leo hadn't immediately left after achieving his grade-2 target, Crane had been still in the process of making the final version at that point.

"That's great! Did the tests go well?"

Tying the horse to the handle in front of the Blackbird, Leo followed the excited Crane into the smithy, lying at the table in the front, a wooden box with its back opened like a wardrobe came into his sight.

Within the wooden box, six sheathed swords of almost identical shape to his 'Breathing Steel Sword' were arranged in a vertical position, strapped within a belt that linked them together, and surrounded by various springs and metal pieces.

"It's magnificent right? The hardest part was fitting the exact sword shape that you wanted along with the other parts."

The reason that Leo had delayed discussing this project with Crane at the very beginning was that he wanted to obtain the experience from 'Skill Reading' first, all in order to understand the sword that fitted his current 'Swordsmanship' the most. Unsurprisingly, the shape that worked the best was the slightly modified but simple design of the sword Rain had gifted him, he wasn't just giving him any sword.

Closing the two small doors on the back, Leo put his arms through the leather straps to try it on. The 'backpack' was a little heavy and slightly larger than his upper body, but as long as his growth trend continued, Leo guessed that it would fit perfectly in a year or so.

"Yeah, it's almost perfect."

Pulling the small rope handle that dangled from the box's bottom, a hilt was immediately ejected from the opening at the top of the 'backpack'. Proceeding with the test, Leo grabbed the hilt out.

Tick!

As the pressure applied on the sheath disappeared after being drawn, the sheath automatically shifted to the right, dragging the sword at the right to take its place.

"Phenomenal!"

Not only was the test successful, but the 'change' was even swifter than before! Leo's excitement for today spilled the doom of his future opponents. Having the ability to throw away your destroyed sword and draw another was equal to having more lives, with the optimal weight and design allowing six swords, Leo basically had a half dozen extra lives on his back!

"Indeed, I never expected the end result to be this great. I have a question though, why did you add a flipped number at the back? If you wanted to add a number, shouldn't you have added a 6 to fix the inner design?"

At Leo's back, the two small doors gathered together to form a half blue half green flipped eight. Receiving Crane's questioning gaze, Leo could only look away.

"Ahem, it's meant for diversion."

'It's not like I can tell you the true name of the backpack…'

The symbol was naturally an 'infinity' mark, an abbreviation for the cheesy name that Leo came up with for the sword box. The great Infinity Sword Wheel!

"Ah, I guess that makes sense… right, I also finished making the 'accessories' that you asked for."

Not noticing the faint blush that disappeared as quickly as it appeared from Leo's face, Crane scratched the back of his head before taking out another box.

"I'm thankful as always."

Receiving the heavy box, Leo forgot his embarrassment as his lips curled into a grateful smile. Crane was really the greatest supplier he could get.

"Don't mention it, we have an 'agreement' after all. Are you still leaving today?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, go ahead, just remember to come and share some of the ideas you came up with your 'brother' every now and then."

"Sure…"

After transferring his items into the carriage while ignoring Crane's little joke, Leo returned to his seat and waved goodbye at Crane before driving his carriage ahead. He might have gotten his metalwork items, but he still had other things to get before he left…