Only I Am A Reader

Chapter 71 - A Year Later

Su, su… Su, su…

As the golden sun rays shone upon the forest, a bird beautifully chirped as it landed on the branch of a large tree. The melodious bird turned its little head around to survey the scenery, it had just gone out in search of today's meal, having no luck so far.

Su!

The little bird's eyes quickly lit up! It didn't find the food it was searching for, but it found a small lake full of tasty-looking water that was just right to end its thirst!

Su?

Taking off once again, the azure feathered bird couldn't help but lower its head to the side in confusion as it noticed the human beside the lake. For some reason, the human was standing still like a rock while holding a scary sharp object…

Su, su.

Shrugging the complex thought of confusion that it strangely had, the thirsty bird ignored the still human in favor of the glistening water. However, before it could reach its target…

Su?!

The bird suddenly flinched mid-air as its azure feathers puffed up in fear before it hurried to fly away. Its instincts told it that something scary was converging in the air, something that felt similar to the object the human held. Turning back one last time, the scared bird experienced confusion once more, that rock-like human was the point of convergence?

'There it is…'

Noticing nothing of the colorful bird's little encounter, a strip of golden 'threads' were carried by the wind as they danced at the end of the human's head, his eyes closing as if he had no care in the world, familiarly immersing his senses with the happenings inside his body.

After a whole year of 'Breathing', another steady stream of 'vagrants' had formed within his body, and this new group spread around his body to join the early 'residents'...

Surprisingly enough, Leo felt the original 'residents' resisting the ambitious 'vagrants', but after a couple of gentle clashes, both streams conjoined together to form one large stream.

The large stream that seemed like it would overflow Leo's body remained in position despite the space in his body remaining the same, as the seconds went by, Leo felt like the stream was merging on a higher level, being 'reduced' as a result, growing 'thicker' rather than bountiful.

'Ah… here we go again.'

With the experience of enjoying the smooth process being done, Leo's hair almost stood up as he flinched, he could almost feel his nerve cells tensing up as the agony started!

"Uhmm…"

Gritting on his teeth to endure the muscle tearing pain, Leo's hands grew redder as he firmly gripped into the sword's hilt. Leo didn't know if it was just cuz he was in the midst of the moment, but he felt that the pain was taking longer than last time.

"G-"

Just as he was going to give up and scream the pain out, the soothing 'sensation' of feeling no pain reclaimed its reign as his muscles reconstructed once more.

"Hah…hah… is it just me or is it getting worse?"

Gawww…

Feeling thankful that time ended safely as well, Leo tried not to recall his experience as much, and he was especially successful at that as his stomach growled in hunger, making Leo speechless.

'Just how?'

In preparation for the possibility of the abnormality's reappearance, Leo had especially eaten two full chickens along with two large bowls of rice to substitute for the protein and carbohydrates used in muscle reconstruction, yet he felt like was starving at the moment!

Even if this could be explained by just how much physical advancement he received, Leo didn't understand how the first time worked. He had just eaten a normal breakfast back then, but he didn't even feel hungry after the abnormality.

Was the time's reconstruction that much more aggressive? Or was his body somehow accumulating nutrients for that moment back then, the same thing happening this time, albeit not being enough for this time reconstruction?

Munch!

Hurriedly taking out two meat puns that he brought along for an emergency like this, Leo consecutively took bites of both of them, only stopping his monstrous performance once they were reduced to nothing, following it up with large mouthfuls of water.

"Haaah, that's better."

Lying down on the ground, Leo lost himself in the clear sky. Before he knew it, he had already spent two years in this fantasy world. Despite the close death encounter and other unpleasant incidents he had experienced, Leo felt that his days were more or less enjoyable.

Throughout the last year, Leo could be said to have found true peace. With no more attempts at his life, no reading 'addiction', and finally no desperation for 'ascension', he enjoyed a part of the life of a somewhat normal boy like Arthur, a life that was possible thanks to his intervention…

[ Book 1 ]

Name: Arthur (Leo Lock)

Age: 14 (18)

Role: Reader

Reading Points: 222

________________________

Personal Statistics:

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

True Sword Breath: 200/200

Physique: 1.32

Mind: 1.38 (+1.97)

Sword Breath: 200

________________________

Personal Skills:

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

'Intermediate Swordsmanship' - Chapter 2 - page 5/10

'Basic Horsemanship' - Chapter 1 - page 3/10

'Close Quarter Combat' - Prologue - page 8/10

________________________

Personal Abilities:

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

'Universal Sword Breathing' - Grade 3 - 4/10

________________________

Events:

-------

- Teaching Crane - Unique

- Rewriting Destiny - Unique (2)

- Counter Elimination - Impossible

________________________

Reminiscing the memories that he was bound to miss, Leo called out his 'Personal Book', revealing the change that took place over the months, the most of which was achieved by today's 'ascension'.

Even though it took twice as much time to reach grade-2, the True Sword Breath only doubled, but Leo already had knowledge of that. As he held the sword up while still on the ground, he roused up his 'new' Sword Breath, causing a more visible silvery sheen to steadily climb the sword's blade, displaying its rise in 'quality' as described in the novel.

'It's kind of worth the pain…'

Having already expected all of that, the part that surprised Leo the most with the increase in Physique. It was normal to have slower progress as the number rose, but his Physique had shockingly risen by a whole 0.14 points! A number that was almost more than double what he achieved from exercising throughout the whole year! If it wasn't for the possibility of death from this abnormality, Leo would have liked to experience it once a week…

Aside from that, Leo finally got to experience the rise in sword skill through 'ascension'! The 'Intermediate Swordsmanship' that had been stuck at 4 pages for a while had finally flipped another page!

Under the effect of time, nothing remained unchanged other than the event tab and its related points, but Leo was thankful that the year had been uneventful…

Although he didn't appear as excited about his 'ascension' this time under his freakish adaptation to this world, Leo was genuinely happy to have reached this point.

'Haaaa…'

In order to reach this stage in a year, Leo had especially put more effort into 'Breathing' for the last six months, now that he had finally reached it, Leo let out a sigh of relief. He now had enough ability to break out from the conventional route, but unfortunately, that also meant…

'It's time to say goodbye once again.'