Only I Am A Reader

Aside from appearing to be regularly moderated, everything was straight to the point.

Posts were separated by region and they were detailed enough. Each post also had its own classification, member limit, team status, etc... So one could easily filter his target listing.

'They are classified by generations? Not a bad idea.'

While such a method of judgment wasn't specific to actual strength, especially in Leo's case, it was far more practical than one could think.

In this haphazard forum where everyone hid behind a mask and revealed little to nothing about their ability, the amount of experience they had as a Roleplayer was a very reliable identifier.

Once you picked a classification you just had to search for a mission where the team had yet to be filled and apply to join.

'Though it can all be irrelevant.'

In reality, none of the missions' rules or requirements truly applied as long as one hid their identity and pretended to be the perfect match.

The way these posts and this forum operated as a whole put the entire responsibility on the Roleplayer himself. They just gave them what they needed to know.

Whether you wanted to risk it or not was on you!

'The World Reservation Council does seem more reliable.'

Controlling a mission where your teammate could be a potential troll was only the privilege of those who had overflowing manpower.

It seemed counter-productive at first glance, but being reliable was the ideal method to procure even more manpower.

'It's an endless cycle.'

Just like you had to spend money to make money, the Council invested both information and manpower to infinitely grow its personnel.

At least that appeared to be the case until recently...

'It's a dry season.'

Old archived listings or ongoing missions existed, but fresh new missions that still required members almost didn't exist in Leo's region.

The only few that were still actively asking for people had a classification starting from one or two generations old. For the zero-generation-old Leo, he basically couldn't apply on paper.

'There is nothing that I can quickly jump on.'

While Leo could easily disguise himself and act as someone who is way older and stronger than a newbie, he had no intention of doing so.

Since it would be his very first encounter with the actual threat, Leo wasn't going to go in strong like a careless idiot.

Danger always escalated on every protagonist's 'first'. If things were already on a high level, the strength Leo had built over decades might end up failing him.

Most importantly, the Mission Manager only generally explained the level of the threat, the major location, and the kind of terrain where the mission would take place.

They didn't say anything about the actual target they would be facing!

Leo already felt that he was going in blind when he decided to attend the recent meeting, but this was on a whole other level!

'Looks like I will have to wait.'

As such, while the Mission Section was quite an eye-opener, Leo didn't find what he was searching for.

'Maybe I'm not the protagonist after all.'

In scenarios similar to the one Leo currently faced, any kind of mission or danger that humanity had to deal with would be instantly multiplied, thus giving the Main Character the opportunity to either grow quickly, properly prove his underestimated self, or do both! 𝐟𝐫𝗲𝗲𝘄𝐞𝐛𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝗰𝗼𝐦

However, Leo was experiencing the exact opposite of that...

'Either that or...'

Considering that everything was going right on track until now, it was also possible that things had grown so overwhelmingly chaotic that the Council's daycare service couldn't function properly, but there was no way to tell for now.

'I'm not in a hurry.'

Trying to maintain his relaxed attitude, Leo continued procrastinating by returning to the main discussion board.

Might as well get a few more laughs and sip on some milk coffee before ending this!

While his excitement was slightly dampened, Leo definitely felt that he understood a little bit more about how this world worked.

Before long, Leo packed up the laptop in his backpack, paid for the milk coffee, and left without a worry in the world.

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

'This was refreshing.'

Since this wasn't as serious as before, Leo only had to slightly deviate from his route home to change his looks back and put the laptop away before going on his way.

'I need to consider what I will be doing next.'

With no mission in sight, Leo no longer had to prepare and make a thousand plans for the time being. He could finally reconfigure his daily schedule without any worries until something popped up.

[ Book 0 ]

Name: Leo Lock

Age: 18

Role: Reader

Energy: [- ]

Reading Points: 0

_______________

'It's back, but it isn't as fast.'

The energy bar that haunted Leo the last time hadn't disappeared, it was just momentarily invisible after his return for some reason.

Now that a few days had passed, it was back in action, but compared to the last time when it just kept on abruptly increasing from time to time, it didn't feel as threatening!

'I'm not that apprehensive about it either.'

That was just how the human mind worked. The first sting hurt the most, making the mind alert about getting another sting. However, once all that flailing and worrying failed in avoiding the second sting...

The mind would split its attention between avoidance and preparing for the third sting!

In reality, even Leo himself didn't know how he felt about the third True Reading.

The first and second experiences not only held a great place in his heart, but they also taught him a lot and greatly developed his stagnated personality.

Was the third time going to be just as helpful? Or would it become the first boring and thankless grind that he encountered?

'I just hope it won't be that extreme.'

Once again, Leo couldn't tell. However, he would pick boring over unsolvable at any time.

Although he had found himself in many extreme situations in the first two books, Leo had read quite a few truly messed up books.

If he ended up in one of those, Leo couldn't guarantee minimal survival even if he knew everything about their worlds...

'Just when will I get the ability to pick the book on my own?'

Though it felt cliche, Leo couldn't resist silently sighing at his thoughts.

𝑓𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸𝘦𝑏𝘯𝑜𝘷𝘦𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝑚