Only I Am A Reader

"Can you guess what I just heard about recently?"

Hanging out within the inner part of Sky-Pierce City, Jared turned to Leo who had his eyes glued to the book in his hand, slight excitement apparent on his face.

"Oh?"

Even as he read his new book, Leo usually wouldn't lose focus, but he was almost absentminded when Jared spoke, not that Jared actually noticed.

"A Sword Anomaly expedition that almost resulted in total annihilation was carried out close to the Capital. Coincidentally enough, one man saved the whole group just like you did!"

While it wasn't Leo's original intention by accepting Jared's friendship, Jared's casual talks during their daily outings were meaningfully helpful, it was like taking out a newspaper for a walk!

'Did he finally do it?'

"If it was an actual Sword Anomaly, then that makes sense. Even without a traitor like ours, they are far more dangerous."

"No joke, the man that saved them was a peak Sword Grandmaster yet he was barely able to do it!"

'No doubt.'

Leo quickly confirmed his assumptions as he heard Jared's follow-up, this particular Sword Anomaly expedition was one that he was more familiar with compared to the one he participated in. It was none other than the prelude to the finale from Ray's side!

Compared to him who had to diligently practice for the last several months, Ray's path to the peak lay in that Sword Anomaly. It felt like a hurdle at the beginning, but it was another stepping stone provided by the author.

'But…'

"Anyway, let's do something different tomorrow since the Grand Meeting is drawing closer."

"Sure."

Leo's mind got mixed up as he calculated the novel's timeline using the new information, but as soon as he bid farewell to Jared, his mind turned to something else.

[ Plot change confirmed. Special event occurrence has been detected. ]

'What is this supposed to be?'

The reason he was distracted earlier was that he had finally heard the voice in his head after a long silence. Most importantly, the message was slightly different than usual! This was his first 'Special' event!

[ Under the Reader's influence, the protagonist's 'Poison and Cleansing' event has been erased. ]

[ Calculating the value of the plot change according to its impact… ]

[ You have received 99 Reading Points! ]

[ As this is the first occurrence of a Special event, a bonus will be given. ]

[ Bonus randomization in progress… ]

[ Your reading of 'Basic Horsemanship' has deepened as a bonus! ]

As soon as Leo called out his 'Personal Book', he was surprised by the influx of knowledge. Undoubtedly, this 'Special' event was true to its name, at first glance, it seemed like an upgrade to 'Normal' events.

However, what Leo was concerned about more was why did this message trigger especially at this point in time!

Leo couldn't deny his influence on this world now that his Reading Points were over a thousand, but there was only one act of his that could actually be related to this event…

His use of the 'Cleansing Sword' was definitely of relation, but after all of this time, the mystical flower should have already regrown. Most importantly, the book described the event as being completely erased. His action had to have disallowed the event from being even started!

'Did that simple advice really work?'

He had merely thrown a hint at the Poison King when he discovered his identity, but if Leo's deduction wasn't wrong, this hint had enough effect to erase an event!

As for why this event was only triggered now…

'This must be the time 'they' reached out to him.'

Since his hint didn't immediately trigger the event, the only logical explanation was that the hidden organization had made its move!

Coupled with the feedback he got from the normal event a few years back, Leo was sure that it was about time for Ray to start digging around in search of the organization's roots.

After throwing away their older base, the organization was too occupied to re-transfer considering their current location, so they could only hope to distract Ray for the time being.

'That means…'

Unlike the original plot where the Poison King unhesitatingly accepted the organization's task under the threat of losing his distant family, their scheme had stopped before it even started. Without the Poison King's intervention, Leo expected Ray's desperate search for the 'cure' to be similarly nullified!

'I need to hurry.'

As much as he wanted the organization to go down, Leo couldn't let Ray get there all the same. Otherwise, his almost 'perfect' plan could crumble to bits!

Even if they couldn't get the Poison King to do the deed, the organization was bound to find some other form of distraction to buy time until the finale. However, Leo could never be too sure now that he changed the author's plot. Other things were okay, but if he missed this particular final target, he would have to take a step back and continue being an observer…

'Let's hope nothing too drastic happens.'

Despite performing an act that led to an event erasure, Leo's reward for it seemed insignificant in comparison to what he got from nabbing the Sword Pearl. Nonetheless, this was exactly why Leo felt hopeful in regard to its impact. Since they didn't even reach a hundred, there was a good chance that the organization would patch up its failure.

Either way, there wasn't much time left to slack off anyway. Whether Ray intervened or not only mattered if he didn't miss his deadline.

'It's only a matter of days.'

Although he was slightly concerned, Leo still wasn't pressured. With the Sword Pearl's help, it was simply too hard to slack off considering the potential gain. For once, Leo finally managed to abhor being lazy!

"Let's go on a ride, buddy."

Arriving back at the 'hotel' after digesting the new stream of information, Leo went to the stable to take out the horse for a ride, it was better to 'exercise' horsemanship now to solidify the 'bonus' that he had just received.

A ride around Sky-Pierce City wasn't exactly boring, but Leo unconsciously stared into the city's north. The days were drawing him closer to the biggest 'operation' he had to perform…