Only I Am A Reader

Meow!

"You caught me again!"

Coming out from the Reading Space early in the morning, Leo caught Dark who jumped at him. Today was another boring school day, but his face was all smiles!

[ Book 0 ]

Name: Leo Lock

Age: 18

Role: Reader

Energy: [-------------------------- ]

Reading Points: 0

________________________

Personal Statistics:

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True Sword Breath: 600/600

Physique: 2.3 (+0.6)

Mind: 2.16

Sword Breath: 601

________________________

Personal Skills:

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

'Advanced Swordsmanship' - Chapter 3 - page 0/10

'Intermediate Smithing' - Chapter 2 - page 0/10

'Basic Horsemanship' - Chapter 1 - page 9/10

'Basic Close Quarter Combat' - Chapter 1 - page 10/10

________________________

Personal Abilities:

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

'Universal Sword Breathing' - Grade 7 - 9/10

________________________

Personal Talents:

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

- 'True Sword Body' - 7/10

________________________

Even as he focused his attention on Dark, Leo couldn't help throwing glances at the Personal Book floating above the little cat. The speed he was going by was unbelievable!

The old him had the help of several minor 'Hidden Pieces', yet he still had to run around for two whole years to make the jump from the fourth to the sixth grade. On Earth, however, this was something that merely took him a month!

If he was allowed to start his adventure on the Sword Continent once more with his current mutation, Leo would have to mock his own cheat instead. After all, he could practically measure up to protagonists minus their endless luck and plot armor.

'It's not absolute, but this is reassuring.'

Nonetheless, the most important aspect of this ascension was the confidence it gave him regarding the approaching meeting. Comparing speeds was great and all, but survival came first.

During the last 20 days, Leo had occasionally checked out posters and ads whenever it felt natural. However, to his disappointment, the change never appeared a second time.

'It's still debatable, but…'

Since he understood nothing about the limits of the one who achieved this effect, that added little to Leo's understanding. Seeing it only once didn't mean it was limited to him or targeted at him. If the maker could set the condition for only people like him to be able to see it, he could also make it so they would only see it once.

In conclusion, Leo leaned towards attending the meeting as the days passed by. Despite the fact that he couldn't judge this council's nature by their flowery name, it wasn't like he had another opportunity.

Taking his current situation as an example, Leo felt that he urgently needed to be filled in with regards to the existence of other 'Roleplayers', otherwise, any little abnormality possessed the ability to startle him like that poster.

Although he didn't make a final decision yet, Leo had long started prioritizing his preparations with the meeting in mind. Besides…

[ Book 0 ]

Name: Leo Lock

Age: 18

Role: Reader

Energy: [--------------------------- ]

Reading Points: 0

________________________

'Another source of confidence is on its way…'

"I will be back later, be obedient!"

Rring!

Clicking his bicycle's bell, Leo's pedaling intensified as he sped towards 1st Light Highschool, his next journey wasn't that far away…

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

'Hello~'

Giving Yulia a glance in return, Leo sat down on his seat. Over the last 3 weeks, she had started to rein in her intense curiosity, assuming her cold queen attitude that she used with the rest of the class. However, even then, she would still glance at Leo every now and then. Although…

'Could she have possibly seen her own 'poster'?'

Today's glance was quick but intense. Although Leo believed that Yulia had yet to be sure about his identity since he was the same, she appeared like she was looking at him for the sake of comparison, leading him to his current conclusion.

Just like it was the case to him, he was her first 'unnatural' encounter. If Yulia had come upon something that showed her a similar invitation, it made sense for someone who appeared especially lost like her to inspect him for an answer.

"Are you perhaps interested in him?"

Unfortunately, it seemed like he wasn't the only one who noticed Yulia's intense glance. Putting her shoulder around the ice-cold beauty, her tomboyish counterpart perceptively asked the first question that came to mind.

'Ah… the nosy friend.'

Pretending to not know that this was about him, Leo couldn't help but roll his eyes deep inside. He wasn't too interested in this quiet protagonist, but the existence of this red-haired Jane was particularly loud, creating the hot-cold combo of the '1-3 class'.

Despite receiving Yulia's deathly cold glare, Jane unbotheredly continued blabbering on. It was only when Yulia shoved her hand in Jane's face that she shut up.

"Alright, Alright, just take it as if I saw nothing… though you were def-"

That was not enough either, or so it seemed. As soon as Jane saw Yulia ignore her extra-coldly, she immediately stopped by herself.

"Okay! I'm sorry, sorry!"

Ignoring the comical dynamic occurring as if it had nothing to do with him, Leo continued scrolling through his phone. With all the material he had downloaded, he simply had to read whenever he had the chance to. Especially when he only had so little time left…

Although he was a little interested in collecting information about Yulia's possible experience for more data, the possible loss didn't offset the possible gains.

Ringring! Ringring!

Other than the little skirmish in the morning, the rest of the school day went by uneventfully. On the other hand, unlike his calm countenance, Leo's heart didn't settle through the whole thing, taking a glance at the empty air every now and then.

Even when riding his bicycle back, Leo maintained the speed he pedaled with in the morning. He tried to hold it in, but the last empty tick remaining in the 'Energy Bar' didn't seem like it would hold in for long. He felt the urge to read as much as possible before it would be too late!

Meow?

Once he was back at his room, Leo's poker face finally collapsed. Although he was still able to maintain the suppression of his anxiousness, he couldn't do the same for anticipation, excitement, hope, overthinking… Knowing that something was happening was vastly different from Going through it by surprise!

[ The Energy Threshold of the 'Reader' has been reached. ]

In the midst of all of it, the voice in his head broke out of its long silence…