Only I Am A Reader

"Haaa…"

Putting down his basket, Dane let out a long breath sitting down beside his friend to get some rest. Work in the field was both tough and boring, so he usually used his rest to recover both his body and mind.

"Gulp gulp gulp… Hey, did you hear anything about the mysterious Swordsman that visited the village recently?"

After drinking some water to combat the heat, he immediately engaged in his favorite hobby, gossip!

"You bet I did, I even saw him for myself! Almost everything they say about him these days is true."

As Dane's 'partner in crime', Windle was used to gathering rumors so they could discuss them together. He had already heard about that 'guy' a while ago, but he waited till he got the roots of it. Coincidentally, Dane finally brought it up today! It was the best time to show off!

"Oh? Is he really a 16-year-old?"

"Yeah, at least he looks like it. In fact, I heard he is even younger!"

"Such a young man actually managed to kill that beast? The same beast that killed over ten people?"

Dane originally thought that it was a useless rumor he would make fun of with Windle, but his expression straightened up at the thought it was real. No one knew where it came from, but the beast had been already terrorizing the village for half a year.

It usually stayed holed up in its place, but when it grew hungry, it would go out and nab anything it encountered, the villagers weren't excluded from its victims.

"Crazy, right? You can't imagine how happy little Loey is these days. He looked so pitiful when his father died, but you can always see him smile when he talks about his 'Big Brother' who took revenge for him."

Even if they weren't gossip experts like Dane and Windle, everyone in the village knew about Loey's father. He wasn't just hard-working but he would often help those in need. Unfortunately, the beast's first victim was none other than the kind man who was trying to divert its attention for others to run.

After the first incident, the village pooled their money and sent a request to the closest Association, but no one accepted it due to the limited reward. As such, the victims only continued to pile up.

"He must be really great."

Dane's eyes cleared up in true admiration. Although the best didn't exactly destroy their life in the village, their hearts were terrorized by fear for almost half a year. Whether that Swordsman was young or not, he felt grateful that their life could finally return to normal.

"Wait! If he had already slain the beast, why is he still staying around at our simple village?"

Dane's mind suddenly jolted in wonder, it was one thing that the young Swordsman saved them out of kindness, but it was a bit out of place for him to stay around that long in a place of little interest like that.

"Aren't you curious? That's why they call him mysterious. After getting rid of the beast, he now spends most of his time at its lair. He only comes back to get food and spend some time with Loey. Some say they heard sword slashing, but no one was brave enough to actually check it."

"I wonder what he is doing…"

Both men stared far into the horizon in the direction of the beast's former lair, their imagination going wild as it came up with all sorts of scenarios, the mysterious Swordsman right at their center. However, the clearness in the sky was suddenly disturbed as birds flew away in all directions, prompting the pair to look at each other in confusion…

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

'Again…!'

Unaware that someone had been discussing his situation, Leo stood still in the middle of the rock chamber, gritting his teeth to endure the body-burning pain!

Over the last two months, he had been diligently eating 'wolf' meat till he was sick of it and performing as much as 18 sets a day, and today was finally the day he had finally tasted the fruit of his effort, sweet at the first bit yet bitter just before it dissolved into his mouth.

Despite that, Leo was satisfied deep in his heat even as he endured the pain. Just one Hidden Piece had been enough for him to achieve his third 'ascension' in less than half the time his 'Accumulation Phase' had lasted! Most importantly, the 'Breathing Fountain' still maintained its worth!

Leo could tell that the effect was slowly dwindling but it was far from useless at this point, this place still had the qualification to push him one more step!

"Hhh… hhh…"

Finally letting out some breath after holding on to everything, Leo ran to the spot he stored his food as he started devouring the reserved beef jerkies like they were some sort of delicacy. Despite eating a pile at today's breakfast as preparation, the consumption still outweighed the gain…

"I need to try it out."

Compared to the last two ' ascensions' that he had experienced, this one was fairly different. After the new and old Sword Breath conjoined, Leo felt truly 'full' for the first time. The True Sword Breath within his body was condensed to the limits of its 'gaseous' form to fit in.

Starting from this point, the process of 'Breathing' would be different. Instead of 'gathering' Sword Breath to 'fill', he now had to 'gather' and 'superimpose'.

Although an 'ascension' was a cause of celebration worthy of taking a break for the rest of the day, Leo had no plans on doing so, at least not until he tried out the new 'Breathing'.

"Huuu…"

Exhaling through his mouth, Leo stood up and picked the sword once again, tightening his grip as he felt his increased muscle mass. His eyes brightened up as he felt that the pain was more than worth it, he had more or less caught up to his original body!

Swish! Swoosh! Swissh…

Despite the changes in the 'Universal Sword Breathing' due to the increase in grade, it still took ten minutes like usual, it was just that Leo felt like it lasted longer due to his curiosity…

Swish!

'Drawing' the very last stroke, Leo's anticipation almost exploded as he first felt the change from the inside, the limited Sword Breath 'production' was taking place, but it was far from normal!

In his that had no 'space' to contain anything further, the already existing Sword Breath was condensing even further! It felt strange but Leo could tell that it was transitioning into liquid!

Although the general rule that 'old' and 'new' wouldn't combine until the moment of 'ascension' still applied, the 'new' was currently forcing the old to liquify in order to gain its own space till the time to conjoin finally came…

As the visible Sword Breath joined the act as well, being absorbed into Leo's body, he managed to sense the change even further, this was the beginning of mid-grade 'Breathing', and the process for the whole next three grades, 'liquefaction'!

During the first three grades, one was merely filling up his vessel, strengthening the True Sword Breath they could muster with a larger base. However, only when there is no place left to fill would the true qualitative change take place, condensing the 'gaseous' breath into 'liquid'.

After getting an experience of what he read about first hand, Leo was finally able to put down his sword in satisfaction. Just like always, progress, especially fast progress, felt great, though it might have felt better if it weren't for the crisis that was coming in the near future, or the people out there trying to kidnap him…

"Is it about time I really celebrate for once?"

Ever since leaving Rain's house, Leo usually only celebrated his achievements by taking a 'day off'. However, reaching the peak of low-grade Swordsmen could only be considered a great milestone. After all, he only spent slightly over 2 years to reach it!

"Let's cook something good."

As the one who reminded him of his siblings the most, Leo decided to go visit Loey and make something proper for once to replace the saltiness in his mouth.

Not planning to waste any more of this good day, Leo immediately exited the rock chamber and went beyond the water curtain, heading straight to the village.

Knock. Knock

After a quick 'shopping' trip, Leo knocked at Loey's door, ingredients in hand. The door quickly opened to reveal an elated smile.

"Big Brother Leo!"

"Good to see you are doing good Loey, may I come in for an early lunch?"

Loey's mouth almost watered down, Leo would usually come around and make some simple food to enrich his diet, and everything he made simply tasted awesome. From the ingredients he held this time, however, it seemed like he planned to make something greater than usual!

"Of course!"

Getting inside, Leo got himself busy with preparing the food. Since he would get himself busy again starting tomorrow, he would make the best of today!