Only I Am A Reader



Leo jumped in place before landing on his toes and moving his body around a bit to test out if there was anything different.

'There is definitely some increase in physical strength.'

After doing some light movements and shadowboxing for over a minute, Leo confirmed that he received the usual buff, but…

He still couldn't discern if he received something else.

'Do I need to read its name to be conscious of it?'

Feeling somewhat doubtful, Leo moved towards the target rocks. Considering that 'Force Conduction' only revealed its true potential when it was applied against something, hitting a target was the most promising testing method.

'Let's move this here.'

However, just as Leo was about to grab one of the rocks and move it into an area with more space…

Sslidd.

The situation was pretty similar to what he experienced a few minutes ago, but this time, his finger slipped through!

'More sharpness?'

The mark that Leo left just by attempting to lift the rock was something that he could recreate by turning his fingers into swords and applying Sword Breath to them, and even then, they wouldn't leave something that clean.

It wasn't that his finger had grown so much stronger that they could break things apart as some humans with rare genetics could achieve, this was pure sharpness.

'It's like I suddenly have Tiger Claws!'

From an uninformed point of view, this appeared to be nothing more than another duplicate of an already duplicated ability. In reality, however, this was an even more ground-breaking ability than its other similar cousins!

'A free ability without energy limits!'

No longer holding back from checking the Personal Book, Leo slashed the rock apart with his bare hands before confirming that he had consumed zero resources by his action.

Just like this, Leo continued trying the ability even more. Kicks, punches, elbows… Everything that he willed to use this new ability with worked like a charm.

It was just that it worked better the sharper the surface of the body part used, which made fingers, knife hands, and kicks the most efficient out of everything.

Thankfully, it wasn't the sort of forcible passive that activated whenever he came in touch with any other surface, it was only initiated instinctively the first time out of Leo's will to try out his ability.

_____________________

Personal Talents:

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- 'True Sword Body' - 7/10

- 'Metal Qi' -

- 'Cleared Energy Channels' -

- 'Body of Accelerated Recovery' -

- 'Eternal Flame Enhancement' -

- 'Spatial Affinity' -

- 'Expanded Dantian' - 6/10

_____________________

Unsurprisingly enough, the new talent's name was 'Metal Qi', perfectly corresponding to the element of the White Tiger. Even then, Leo still liked the name he came up with much more, regardless of how inaccurate it was.

After all, for a second there, Leo felt like had actually gained claws. Perhaps now he could truly honor the name 'Baekho'.

Besides, 'Tiger Claws' was simply that much cooler!

'Well, maybe not that free…'

After trying the ability so much, Leo realized that his stamina was consumed a tad bit faster, but that didn't dampen his excitement the least bit.

Not only did he now have a third option, but he could now superimpose his peak lethal ability even further.

Since 'Metal Qi' was clearly limited to his body, he couldn't use it on an external sword. However, if he transformed his hand or finger into a sword, or just used Sword Qi on them…

'It also works!'

A combination of all three abilities could be achieved. As a man of action, Leo directly tested that and found it to be true.

In a sense, it was no different than using both energy abilities on the White Tiger sword, but the degree of flexibility was unparalleled!

In that same vein of excitement, Leo took out the rest of his arsenal only to be overcome with curiosity.

'If the Black Dragon was a sword, then would I have been able to use something like Thunder or Lightning Qi...?'

Just imagining himself producing pitch-black lightning from his hands, Leo couldn't help feeling slightly regretful that he didn't go dragon slaying alongside his Senior Brother. Couldn't he have used some of the materials to get a Black Dragon sword forged for him?

'Impossible.'

Not to mention that wouldn't trade the last few days he spent with Yeon for the entirety of Murim, such an exciting adventure and a forging task of this magnitude couldn't possibly fit within the timeframe he had.

Considering his knowledge of Smithing, Leo could possibly reforge the Black Dragon into a sword, but the likelihood that it would retain its mystical properties was very low.

Besides, giving up such an excellent spear that was one of its kind just for the cool ability to spew lightning of death wherever he wanted was both unrealistic and illogical. Most importantly…

'There is no way I would mess with Senior Brother's gift just for something this childish.'

Needless greed was always detrimental. Rather than considering destroying his prized weapons for a shot at lightning or poison superpowers, it was more appropriate to thank God that the White Tiger's absorption worked so well!

Clearing away his useless delusions, Leo started taking out the rest of the items page by page, starting with the miscellaneous ones.

The sword box, Baekho's robes, Wyvern shoes… He took them all out up to the Crimson Cloud Pills, leaving only the crown jewel of his collection, the Frozen Plum Core.

'I will have a field day with this.'

Taking the last item worthy of his anticipation out, Leo went into deep contemplation as he saw the empty cover instantly fill up with pages.

Should he proceed with analyzing every single aspect of the Frozen Plum Core? Or should he read the revised version of 'Murim Supremacy' that was just 'printed' out instead to relive his memories while they were still vivid?

'Right.'

Making the decision to read first and think later as he always did, Leo stretched his hand to pick 'Murim Supremacy' up once more only to suddenly realize that something was different about the only other book next to it…