Only I Am A Reader

'Great.'

Stepping foot into the Heavenly Strength Society's hidden arsenal, Leo's lasting exhaustion seemed to be washed away. It was time to receive the reward for completing the second phase!

Although they couldn't be said to have fully graduated from the Heavenly Furnace, Leo and Yeon's achievement of becoming 1st rate Martial Artists wasn't that far from it. The second phase's lodgings were more like a boot camp for geniuses so it wasn't that, but spending so little time to reach that level was an extraordinary achievement even within the entirety of murim!

"You can only pick one, so choose carefully."

While this wasn't a massive opportunity like the one presented by the Heavenly Demon's library, Leo was excited all the same. This was a chance to pick up a weapon that's normally used by the masters of the Heavenly Strength Society!

'This is much better.'

When remembering his time as Arthur, Leo was especially fond of this opportunity. Back then, he had to burn through countless swords before he got his hand on Sword Breaker, but now he had the chance to get a good weapon before he got to face the outside world!

'Well, what to choose though…'

Leo was already aware of this event as it was mentioned in the novel in detail. Just like he read, Yeon had absentmindedly left his side as if attracted by something. It would take some time, but she was bound to emerge after finding her signature weapon…

However, in the case of Leo, no such main character moment happened to him. He was looking around from afar, but there was no way he could make a choice like that.

As someone who used both the sword and the spear, his choices were even more open. Even if he knew about it, he could only decide to take the one of the better quality since no other special weapons had been mentioned in the novel…

'It's definitely helpful, but…'

Luckily enough for Leo, the Smithing skill that he painstakingly learned from Crane allowed him to have a certain grasp of quality by touching the weapons. However…

'They aren't that much different.'

Although not all weapons were of the same quality, they could still be grouped into levels. Even after spending only a few minutes looking around, Leo had already found a couple of swords and spears that were of great enough quality.

<Pick a spear>

Just as Leo was about to inspect another sword, a voice suddenly appeared in his mind. His first impression was that the 'Book' had suddenly started talking to him after a great silence, but he soon recognized the tone of the voice… This was Cheon Chang's!

'This is… Sound Transmission?'

It wasn't a skill that Leo could use at his current stage, but he was naturally familiar with one of the main elements of murim, wuxia and xianxia fiction. Since he couldn't reply back, Leo just retracted his stretched out hand.

Despite not receiving another message, Leo somewhat understood his senior brother's intention. Considering his complex about it, there was no way he told him to pick a spear because he was the 'Absolute Spear'. If anything, Leo's advanced Swordsmanship called for another choice. As such, the only answer was…

'This certainly makes it easier.'

Since there was no longer any need to worry about the sword, Leo restricted his inspections to spears only. The consistent quality still made it hard to favor one against the other. However, it wasn't as if he was just picking randomly.

'Let's see…'

The spear was neither the most common nor uncommon weapon around, so there was a reasonable number of them in the treasury. While Yeon was still lost, Leo managed to filter out a group of spears of the highest quality… It was elimination time!

'Too light.'

A third of the spears were instantly crossed out. The Black Dragon's Transformations was a martial art of extreme balance, so the speed brought by lightness wasn't worth the decrease in force.

In the same fashion, another fraction was ignored by Leo for being too heavy. If he was aiming for crushing strength, it would have made more sense to pick a club or a cudgel.

'Well…'

After applying other kinds of criteria like flexibility, durability, piercing capability, only a dozen spears retained the qualification to be within Leo's options.

Left with no option but to try them out to find the one that truly suited him, Leo grasped the one closest to him. However, just as he did so…

Swish!

The sound of slicing air resounded as Leo finally managed to locate the lost Yeon.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

As if having met her perfect match, a black eastern blade flawlessly danced in Yeon's hand. Resonating with the wind's rhythm. Without a doubt, this was the future Heavenly Demon's Black Heaven Jade!

"I… will take this."

Quickly coming to her senses, Yeon tightly held the blade before she turned to look at the fascinated Leo. This was a very cliche event, but it was a very beautiful sight to see in person… Especially since Yeon was the one experiencing it.

Cheon Jeong's smile flashed in Leo's eyes from the background as he quickly turned to the spear in his hand. He wasn't driven by something like Yeon, but he calmly tried it out.

The spear smoothly flowed in his hand as to be expected of one suiting his parameter. However, as the contrast that came with using wooden spears became more and more apparent, Leo found himself to be enjoying wielding the flexible spear…

Before he knew it, Leo subconsciously channeled his Internal Energy according to the Black Dragon's Transformations. Suddenly sparks danced around the gray spear shaft!

Szsz!

'This is…'

The Energy Channeling immediately stopped before anyone could notice, but Leo's eyes widened. His habitual act wasn't worth getting surprised over. However…

'The electricity definitely flowed through!'

Without hesitation, Leo's Internal Energy moved again while he inspected the spear. As sparks started to flow once more, his pupils dilated as his mouth opened up.

"I will take this."

[ Hidden Event occurrence has been detected… ]