Only I Am A Reader

Thud! Thud! Thud! Szz!

Leo's spear was viciously entangled with Cheon Chang's, both spears were surrounded by sinister black sparks, but neither of them yielded to the other.

It had already been over a year since Leo started training in the Black Dragon's Transformation and his mastery of the Black Dragon Energy had subsequently increased. Unfortunately, just like him, his opponent wasn't static either. The Absolute Spear had the ability to perfectly mirror Leo's progress, making it feel as if he was battling his own clone that vastly surpassed him in experience.

'It's okay…'

At times, such a battle was extremely frustrating even for the usually calm Leo. It was a battle that he could neither win nor lose. As if stuck in an eternal loop, Leo's effort appeared to be meaningless. Even the Personal Book that gave him confidence in progress seemed useless as he approached the higher end of the slope. However, Leo barely managed to keep his mind intact.

'I can feel it.'

Let alone the opportunity to give back that occurred repeatedly on the next day, his experience told him of his progress. Cheon Chang's eternal silence in battle made him seem like a clone even more, but it at least allowed Leo to maintain clarity in the process of learning.

Unlike his Swordsmanship which was enriched by several bonuses, Leo's Spearmanship reached its current point mostly through training. He didn't have a glimpse of Cheon Chang's Spearmanship, but it was being directly force-fed to him!

Building upon his experience with the sword, Leo could feel that he was at an important step, soon to achieve something, but he had been stuck with that feeling for a while already that he started to question it.

'It's there.'

Thudzzz! Thudzz!

The sudden surge in Black Dragon Energy was visible proof of that! Although it only occurred once or twice in the whole day, it still meant that one of the basics of the Black Dragon's Transformation was on the verge of elevation, and… It didn't feel like it was Energy Channeling.

Thudzz! Thudszsz!

Before he knew it, Leo was so deeply immersed in battle that he didn't notice the consecutive surges. His eyes only saw his and Cheon Chang's spear, trying his best to achieve any possible counter-attack.

Thudsz! Thudzzzz!

'He is close.'

On the other hand, the Absolute Spear easily spotted such an obvious sign. Compared to Leo, this was a simple exercise that didn't consume his everything even though it was strenuous to suppress himself in itself.

However, he remained silent as usual, keeping what he noticed to himself. Even going as far as to produce similar surges so that the battle's pace wouldn't be changed. If anything, knowing that you were taking the jump didn't usually help in doing so. In both cases, the impatience was extremely disturbing. There was obviously a reason as to why one shouldn't look down while crossing a bridge…

Thudzzzzzzzzz!

'Ah.'

It wasn't until the surge went into overdrive that Leo finally noticed it, no voice appeared in his head nor was the Personal Book in front of his eyes, but Leo could instinctively tell what had changed!

Cheon Chang threw in a few additional moves to keep it going, only stopping when a look of confusion appeared on Leo's face, his pushing role was finally over.

'Eh?'

The spear in Leo's hand was trembling with the urge to move, he wanted to make use of this moment to push his senior brother back, but the changes weren't limited to his spear… Something was moving inside his body!

'This is…'

Leo was sure that he wasn't behind this, his mind had been wholly focused on battle. However, somehow… The Internal Energy in his body was circulating on its own!

'Breakthrough?'

Realization suddenly hit Leo as he was experiencing another unrealistic event that was often mentioned in novels, this was the only possible explanation he had for the state he was currently in!

Compared to the great push that he had achieved with the help of 'Ability Reading', it had taken Leo months to max up the first stage of 'Scarlet Sky Breathing', but that was already something that happened several months ago. No matter how much time he invested in meditation or how many years his Internal Energy increased by, Leo had been stuck at the stage of a 3rd rate Martial Artist for a long while…

'Finally!'

Suddenly, however, in conjunction with his Spearmanship's advancement, Leo's Dantian was showing signs of breakthrough. Leo hurriedly sat down to not disturb his very first advancement, but his Internal Energy was still being smoothly circulated, his breakthrough was as stable as it could be!

'A breakthrough of martial arts?'

As he calmly observed the automatic process, Leo slowly discovered another advantage that the world of murim provided… As long as it had to do with Martial Arts, no effort would go unrewarded!

Skill advancement could only show its worth in battle on the Sword Continent, but things were different here! The 'Mu' of 'Murim' wasn't for nothing, the martial way was the undeniable path to supremacy!

As a reader, Leo had once wondered about the connection between absorbing natural energy and Martial Arts practice. Now, he personally received the answer to that absurd question!

Just by achieving a breakthrough in Spearmanship, Leo's martial path had automatically advanced. As if his body was resonating with the world, natural energy passed through the pores in his body, converging in his Dantian with an unexplainable efficiency…

'Incredible…'

Just like any short-lived delicacy, the process didn't last for long, Leo's Energy Circulation steeply slowed down as time went by, subsiding as it threatened to come to an end. Having experienced all of this for himself, Leo felt his sense of reality slightly distorting.

'I could get used to that.'

However, Leo couldn't get himself to accept that. His Internal Energy started moving once again, but he was the one controlling it this time. Since this was something that could be achieved every once in a while, Leo greedily wanted to make the best use of it!

'This should be okay… right?'

Leo only hesitated for a few seconds before he took out a small ceramic bottle out of his inner pocket. At last… it was finally time to serve his 'little' ordeal!