Only I Am A Reader

Shhhhh…

A faint snore spread through the line of beds decorated with children of different ages, the whole scene gave a sense of wholesomeness despite appearing clumsy. However, within this bundle of innocence, a slow-moving figure was revealed by the blurry sunlight rays of dawn.

'Careful…'

After being woken up by his biological clock at the usual dawn break, Leo was regretfully sneaking out of this nest of warmth.

Although not in their specific order, the seasons had their natural cycle even in this fantasy world. As winter was starting to bare its icy fangs, Leo could only resign and return to his original sleeping position within the Orphanage, he had simply had enough of 'sleeping outside' on his way back.

While he had become a true 'Swordsman', the supernaturals in this world only had increased lethality but no other special attributes like 'Cultivators' or 'Players'. He still felt cold all the same.

The air was especially chilly at this time of the morning, but Leo wore all he could and bravely marched outside and into the forest with only one motivation in mind, training was the best way to warm up!

Back in his training spot, Leo unsheathed his sword once more. Breaking his routine from the day before, he went ahead and started executing 'Universal Sword Breathing'!

While moving something ahead usually meant prioritizing it, Leo's current situation was the exact opposite. He might have moved his 'Breathing' ahead, but that was only to quickly finish the part of the training that he had cut down the most.

'Let's get this done with.'

In reality, while 'Breathing' could be considered an enjoyable process from Leo's point of view, being something that you would immediately see the results of. However, ever since he advanced into grade 1, Leo understood the difficulty of climbing the path of domination…

The very first thing that his 'ascension' had brought him was a slight deviation in the 'patterns' that needed to be 'written'. Although it wasn't as miraculous as the mind transmission mentioned in 'Cultivation' novels, Leo suddenly realized that he needed to change his usual 'Sword Calligraphy' as soon as he tried it for the first time after his advancement. Not only did the change in the 'Personal Book' prove this point, but his attempt to use the basic form resulted in 0 gain.

The change itself was only slightly more difficult, but the problem came in the lower starting mastery. With no accurate advice from Rain nor any further 'Ability Reading', Leo's 'Breathing' efficiency reached its lowest point.

Most importantly, Leo was sadly able to confirm the novel's description of grade 2 'Breathing', when doing the same number of sets, the Sword Breath absorbed or produced was half as much! The desperation he felt in the past simply felt like a joke.

At this current rate affected by his low mastery, Leo knew that it would take him about a year to reach the next grade. Although that was well within his expectation, that only motivated him more to focus on his swordsmanship's advancement, trying his best to take the last critical step first!

'Done.'

In the end, Leo settles down for a maximum of 4 sets till the next routine revision. Having only 'gathered' an amount similar to what he gained from one set at his Accumulation Phase's peak, Leo concluded that these forty minutes of effort were more useful for warming up than their intended purpose for the time being.

"Still better than nothing though."

Even then, Leo naturally didn't plan to stop his daily 'Breathing'. His routine adjustment was nothing but temporary. After all, a great river was nothing but the gathering of countless drops.

'Well, it won't be long before I stop walking the conventional route anyway.'

Having reassured himself of a 'bright' future, Leo barely rested for a few minutes in order not to lose the precious warmth that he had generated, moving into the main dish of the day, sword training!

Of all the books that he got access to at Rain's terrace house, Leo had only kept one. After practicing one set of sword movements, Leo sat down on the ground, quickly flipping the pages of this exact book. Unsurprisingly, It was none other than the book containing the sword technique that was currently giving him a headache.

While it was true that all the books that he had read were all memorized into his head without exception, Leo especially liked the return to the physical book itself to revise his mistakes in a more concrete way. The book itself also had a sentimental value as a token written by Rain himself.

'Another mistake…'

As if to be expected of something created by the greatest sword mentor, all of these movements were specifically meant to react in a battle between fellow Swordsmen. Although there were only a total of 24 forms, the variations hidden within were uncountable, each form studied how to attack, counter attack, and defend against a certain movement of the opponent.

In contrast to techniques consisting of hundreds of movements, this nameless sword technique didn't require too much time to perform its basic forms, but the complexity hidden within it made perfecting even the basics a feat beyond simple effort.

As a technique built upon Rain's observation of countless Swordsmen and their battles over the years, the versatility it achieved in its intended field was unrivaled, but this ambitious result wasn't built on nothing. As Leo practiced the technique day after day, Leo had quickly come to understand the great cost…

One had to achieve a great degree of mastery to use the technique properly, otherwise, it was no different from gambling with one's life! Considering the specificness of the movements, Leo could imagine how even 1 cm of deviation would have unpredictable results!

Whether it was in reality or as mentioned in the novel itself, obtaining limited mastery of a dozen or so sword techniques was a much safer bet for most common Swordsmen. In the end, compared to spending a large amount of time that could be used for 'Breathing' to obtain questionable results, mixing styles was a far easier method to achieve relative versatility.

'But… I'm almost there!'

Even though Leo wouldn't dare boast of achieving the stage that this technique visualized, being capable of completely 'manipulating' his opponent, his two months of training wasn't for nothing either!

Building upon the footwork that he was already very familiar with, Leo was very close to 'killing' the shadow that he imagined himself fighting without injury!

Although that only showed a little bit of this technique's prowess, it was the extent of what Leo hoped to achieve on his own. In reality, his main target was far more than the technique itself, otherwise, he would have just followed the normal route.

As a 'Reader' whose learning path was different from other people, what Leo really aspired to obtain was the experienced swordsmanship of someone who mastered such a technique, something that only he could obtain through 'Skill Reading'!

In the hands of others, this book was a treasure that they could only stare at, but in his own hands, Leo couldn't help but feel that he was extremely compatible with it. To him, all his effort so far was nothing but a small price to pay for what he was to receive!

'If not today, then tomorrow!'

Feeling closer than ever to his target, Leo put away the book before his sword swung into action. At this moment, Leo couldn't help but feel like he had all the time in the world…