Only I Am A Reader

Going back and forth between his memories and the novel he read, Leo missed Arthur and Baekho's simplicity. They had backstories as well, but getting initiated into them was much simpler.

In comparison, even after fusing with Cassian, Leo still felt a slight barrier that separated their seasoned minds. He couldn't help alternating between speaking as one or referring to Cassian as his own person.

"How would you be paying?"

"With this, please."

Checking into the hotel for the day, Leo handed the receptionist the credit card he picked up just before going in!

'He definitely didn't void all thoughts of escaping.'

Despite Cassian's little self-destructive act, he still kept a few assurances aside, and one of them was a few untraceable credit cards where he stored the wealth he accumulated over the last year.

"Here you go, it's room 404."

"Thanks."

Receiving the card back, Leo turned around before pinching it into nothingness. This was yet another convenient ability he had developed, aptly named Shadow Pocket.

As long as they were in contact with him and had even the smallest shadow, Leo could put things away into some sort of safe space.

In a way, this ability wasn't that much different than Leo's Reading Space, albeit a bit more limited.

Shadow Pocket could only put things in and out, Leo himself couldn't enter that space and play around.

'Shadow Movement does cover that part though.'

As for why Leo had to bend down, it was because he could only take things out of his own Shadow.

He could have used the shadow of his fingers to do so, but considering that Leo didn't want to get noticed by any troublesome Ability User, picking something from the street was a more common act.

In reality, since his ability naturally concealed itself, Leo didn't have to be so careful. However, his target was so important that Leo didn't want to leave things to chance.

It would be too much if a perfect chance like this was ruined because plot events were out on a hunt…

"Not too bad."

Going into the hotel room, the first thing Leo did was scan it for anything suspicious. Fortunately, Leo's paranoid fears didn't come true. This was just like every other normal hotel room.

'It's a shame that it's too far away.'

As a person who spent months making one plan, Cassian naturally had a few safe houses of his own. However, none of them was this close to his target.

Even if he was trying to be more safe, wasting more time would only be counterintuitive!

'Let's go over it one more time.'

One of the conditions that the special Gate required was nightfall. In contrast to the darkness of Cassian's cell, the sun was still up in the sky at the moment, so Leo could only wait it out.

Of course, that was only one of the guidelines that he had to follow. This wasn't just some bonus candy. This Hidden Piece was just as dangerous as it was rewarding.

'But I'm not giving it up.'

Let alone how tempting it was for Leo to even go beyond his current OP state, the person who was supposed to obtain this Enigma Stone was a villain.

Moreover, unlike Cassian who had reasons to be one, this one was just like the many twisted hearts that rotted New Enigma City to its core.

'It's a two bird one stone type of situation.'

Leo was still unclear about the role he had to play in this twisted story, but one thing was for sure. Villains weren't his friends.

The Personal Book made sure to make that clear.

__________________

Quests:

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Main Quest: Save The Protagonist.

Repeatable Quest: Hunt Villains.

__________________

Just like the Main Quest, Leo ended up receiving a somewhat ambiguous Side Quest… If that even counted as one.

In any case, whether it was the first quest or the other, destroying that Villain's path to growth was obviously the perfect thing to do!

'Besides, I need all the help that I can get.'

While it might seem like Leo was already capable of doing pretty much everything, he wasn't exactly that confident about it. Especially with such an unreasonable Main Quest!

Even if one was to imagine how normal novel plotlines usually develop, receiving a quest to save or help the protagonist wasn't something to be optimistic about.

After all, helping side characters usually ended up as the protagonist's plot armor and dying in their place.

However, in the City of Villains' case, things were even more wrong.

'It keeps getting more unreasonable.'

Someone else might have complained that this quest was quite vague, but Leo had a great guess about what the quest wanted.

'After all, there is only one way to save a person who is destined to die.'

Unlike most protagonists that had plot armor to save their lives, the plot actually desired the protagonist's death! This was another reason why this novel was avoided by many like a plague!

The ending was a complicated mind trip that left you asking 'What just happened?'.

'It's anybody's guess.'

Even if Leo somehow managed to prevent the Aurora death scene that was depicted in the novel, that wouldn't necessarily mean that she would be saved.

Rather, it might ultimately lead to more and more death…

'What I need to do is clear for now at least.'

With all of that taken into consideration, there was only one thing that Leo could rely on. More power!

Despite already receiving a cheat character, Leo needed more cheat-like powers to combat the unreasonable plot.

Going against the plot to kill the protagonist was already crazy, but going against a plot that wanted to kill its protagonist was beyond insane!

'No use complaining about it to myself.' 𝐛𝗲𝗱𝐧𝗼𝐯𝗲𝗹．𝐧𝐞𝘁

His third time wasn't exactly a charm. However, Leo chose to forgo the helpless anxiety… At least until he found how far Cassian's true potential could go.

'Here we go.'

Thankfully, after such a long overthinking session, time went by very fast. Before Leo knew it, the sun could no longer be seen.

It was finally time for the forgotten legend to prowl in the darkness!