Only I Am A Reader

Arriving before the protruding rock, Leo completely ignored the sunflower as he scanned the area. As hard as it was to actually see the ambient Sword Breath by connecting with one's own, Leo was trying to track its flow through focused observation.

The process of discovering an Elixir through this old-fashioned method wasn't that hard, it only required time to see the tiny bits of Sword Breath slipping into the observed item. However, after spending over 15 minutes of silent observation, Leo saw the exact opposite of that!

'It's here.'

The barely visible sword-shaped particles were even more agitated than the visibly concentrated ones in the 'Breathing Fountain'. Most of them did indeed seem to be converging somewhere, but the source point of this convergence wasn't absorbing them, rather, it just kept them around…

In contrast to the bright sunflower atop the rock, the source point seemed to be 'intentionally' hiding within the rock's shadow, creeping down from its bottom.

The reason it was hard to notice at first glance was simple, this 'source point' had the exact same color as the rock as if it was a chameleon, but it showed no signs of being 'alive'.

'Bingo!'

Squatting down, Leo reached his hand forward to touch the stalk slipping from under the rock. Rather than being elastic as its awkward positioning indicated, it was almost like it was a piece of wood that raised up its prized 'head'.

Once Leo's eyes got used to the lack of color contrast, he was able to see the venus flytrap-like head that the wooden stalk supported. The mouth opening shape was almost the same but the 'teeth' weren't far from being as thin. If anything, they looked like sharp sword tips.

However, this 'plant' was only similar in shape. Even as Leo slipped his fingers past the opened 'teeth', he encountered no trouble before he pulled out a perfectly spherical object.

As soon as it was taken out the tiny object literally had the color sucked out of its, becoming completely transparent as it lost the grayish color that it shared with the rock!

Without any further inspection, Leo immediately threw the transparent object into his mouth! This was far from being an Elixir, but he wasn't searching for one, to begin with…

[ Hidden Event occurrence has been detected. Hidden Piece, Sword Pearl, Discovered. ]

[ You have received 234 Reading Points. ]

This was Leo's objective all along!

'This really is no joke.'

Just by looking at the number of Reading Points he obtained from picking it up, Leo knew that he had definitely found the right thing!

Having obtained his target, Leo stared at the sunflower for a few seconds before storming off. He didn't need to touch it to know that this was an Elixir, in fact, even if it wasn't this obvious, he would be sure of it!

The 'Sword Pearl' that he had just eaten was something completely out of the ordinary even for something found in a bountiful place like this Sword Garden. The pearl itself didn't contain any Sword Breath, but it had the garden's characteristic of collecting it to nurture the objects around it.

Undoubtedly, this area was bound to have the highest number of Elixirs around. Despite knowing this, Leo still decided to bounce as soon as he got what he wanted.

Not to mention that Elixirs would have little to no effect on him after two days of overdosing on them, he no longer needed their help after obtaining the last piece of his 'puzzle'. Most importantly, however, staying in this area for any longer than this was basically the same as seeking death.

'I can make it…'

Moving at his maximum speed, Leo followed the red glow for directions. Now that his own objectives had been fulfilled, it was time to blend in and slowly collect Elixirs before safely getting out of here!

`~~~`~~~`~~~`

"Ugh…"

Jade grunted as she held her head. As soon as she came to, a great headache assaulted her head, while her whole body felt it was torn to pieces. Despite being under the influence of the pain, Jade persisted in standing up as she knew she couldn't rest in the situation they were in. However, her headache only intensified after she opened her eyes.

"What… happened here?"

The only thing she remembered before she fainted was being dragged by Ray as people chased them, but she didn't know for how long she was out. Just what caused all of this?!

The originally green grass was completely dyed in dark red, fully decorated with differently sized body parts. Even a lady with a steel heart like Jade couldn't help but feel her stomach rumble, threatening to throw up the rations that she ate recently…

"Ray… Where is Ray?!"

Holding back through sheer willpower, Jade decided to ignore the gruesome scene and focus on the task in hand, looking around in hope of finding Ray in one piece.

Even in the middle of her confusion, Jade's hazy eyes never stopped moving. In the end, they finally stopped at the center of the bloody field where the color was the densest.

"Ray!"

His body was completely soaked in blood but Ray didn't seem like he had lost any part of his body. After running to him, Jade finally relaxed when she confirmed he was still breathing.

"Did you do all of this?"

Although he obviously lost his consciousness, Ray's hand still held to a strangely shaped red blade that still had blood dripping from it. Jade wasn't awake then, but looking at the arrangement of the battlefield, she could more or less tell the cause of this.

She started associating with someone like Ray because they had similar views, but the reason she accepted him as a friend and an ally was that he was special enough. Regardless of how he did it, it was very possible for him to be responsible for this massacre.

"...Let's get out of here."

After staring at Ray's fainted complexion for a few minutes, she held him up by his arm as he supported her before. She wasn't sure whether she could completely accept what transpired here, but Jade couldn't lie to herself.

Even in the middle of all these deaths, she felt the greatest relief that the only living person amid them was Ray. Everything could be discussed later, but she would make sure he makes it out of this Sword Garden alive!

Throwing one last glance at the strange sword, she used Ray's empty bag to wrap it up, following that she dragged him in the direction of the Sword Garden's exit without any further delay!

`~~~`~~~`~~~`

At the same time, southwest of the Sword Garden…

"Where are they?"

A tall silhouette wearing a gray cloak wandered around in search of someone. He could only enter the Sword Garden like the usual participants so he sent a few 'pawns' to watch the 'seed', but there was no sign of them having even come here.

'That's why it's hard to use these crop-like idiots.'

Disregarding the useless nuisances, the cloaked man moved further ahead until he stopped before the large rock he was familiar with, the ends of his mouth rose slightly into his smile as he bent slightly so he could reach further down. However…

'Nothing?'

The solid sensation he was waiting to feel on his palm wasn't there, the 'Sword Clam' was empty!

'It's not here?'

The man's expression took a full 180-degree turn as he confirmed his objective's absence, he was the one to put 'that' here three years ago. How could it suddenly disappear?!

'He can't be far away.'

Crack.

Smashing the harmless head of the 'plant', the man drew out a longsword from within this cloak before disappearing from his spot. It wasn't that the pawns he picked were being late, but someone had come here knowing of this!

No longer being careful not to make a commotion, the man sprinted around, slashing his sword at any hint of movement that he sensed. Before even a minute had passed, the whole area had received some violent 'gardening' that gave it a completely new look. Only then did the man finally pause his continuous movement.

The man's complexion was completely grim as he took one final look at the rock before disappearing once again.

`~~~`~~~`~~~`

[ Plot change confirmed. Unique event occurrence has been detected… ]

Standing somewhere within the garden, Leo finally heard the confirmation that he had been waiting for. It was only now that he could announce that this Sword Garden Trial was a complete success!