Only I Am A Reader

'It doesn't look that grandiose, but this should be it.'

As Leo quickly emerged from his shadow, he slowly circled around his target. For a place that held one of the few paths of ultimate power, it was very unassuming.

Aside from being suspended in the air, the circle looked like a 2d shape that someone had clumsily drawn. The jagged edges would have looked awful if not for the dim light they emitted.

Of course, one could still tell that it was special quite easily. The slithering darkness at the center of the circle drew both fear and mesmerizing out of the observer's heart.

'It's definitely easier to read about it than look into it.'

Leo felt his heart beating loudly, asking him to quickly go into the sinister circle. This wasn't because he came here for it, this was just the kind of Gate this one was.

It tried its best to stay hidden from the eyes of the masses. However, once it encountered its unlucky prey, it charmed them to abandon all common sense and jump in. It was no different from a sticky spider web…

"No need to lure me."

Naturally, that wasn't enough to deter Leo from entering. Entering an unknown Gate like this alone was a risk that almost all Ability Users advised against, but he had to take this risk.

Nothing was truly guaranteed, so it was enough to be cautious. Most importantly, he was already running out of time.

Although this world looked completely fine now, doing better even, things would soon fall into a downward spiral, the earlier Leo had more freedom, the better.

'Here goes.'

Calming down his mesmerized heart, Leo took a confident step into the circle. Fortunately, only the scenery around him changed. He didn't seem to experience the disorientation that he read about!

'Did Cassian develop some kind of resistance to it, or is it another trait of this Gate?'

Leo didn't find information regarding this in Cassian's memory, but it was plausible considering the number of Gates that he went into.

Regardless, Leo was no longer inside the debilitated building. He was somewhere similar to a wide inner cave. However, the walls weren't made from normal rocks.

A scheme of moving astral purple color was spread everywhere, making it look like the walls were just a glass window that transmitted some sort of live scenery…

'Somewhat similar to Enigma Stones?'

The color scheme was almost the same as the colorful waves inside Enigma Stones, only that they had a more uniform color. 𝗯𝗲𝗱𝗻𝐨𝐯𝗲𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

That being said, even if someone could harvest them, they couldn't be used. Otherwise, Enigma Stone wouldn't have had such high value.

'This is better.'

Although Cassian had stored more than a few solutions to the lack of light in his Shadow Pocket, not having to rely on them was more convenient. These walls acting as a source of light were a bonus to Leo.

Naturally, Leo had no plans to admire the scenery for long. As soon as he performed an appropriate scan of the area around him, he moved forward in a straight line.

There were no monsters or enemies at his point of Entry, but that only meant that this Gate was wide, not that there weren't any.

In fact, Leo hoped that he would meet some enemies sooner than later.

'Otherwise, this is never going to end.'

While additional conditions had to be met depending on the kind of Gate, the most basic prerequisite of clearing a Gate was to kill all the monsters inside. Leo practically couldn't leave until he met at least one.

Furthermore, just clearing this Gate normally wasn't what Leo was aiming for. More special actions had to be taken to properly obtain the reward that he was after!

After walking around for a while, Leo melted into his shadow once again. He needed to increase the pace if monsters weren't readily available.

'There we go.'

Thankfully, as Leo kept moving forward he finally chanced upon something that kept scratching at biting at the wall.

'A… Gargoyle?'

The monster looked familiar to one of the species that invaded Murim. However, Leo wasn't sure if he could use the same name to describe them both.

'This one is far more ugly.'

Despite having the trademarks of a Gargoyle, the monster's overall shape looked more like an abomination.

Its limbs, ears, eyes, and torso all had distorted shapes, its body completely broke the basic rules of symmetry! Even its stone skin had a much darker shade in comparison.

Nonetheless, the shape or the form of something that he had to kill didn't really matter to Leo. He just had to take it down.

'Should I start with a little warm-up?'

Slowly emerging from his shadow, Leo browsed his list of abilities, quickly settling down on one option. His heart still burned with the desire to try everything, but he chose to start from the basics!

Raising his right hand, Leo playfully manipulated the shadow on his palm before it started bubbling upward. It then took on a solid shape as it started rising out of Leo's palm.

'Shadow Armament.'

Only one second later, a longsword reminiscent of the White Tiger was already in Leo's hand!

Just as the name of the ability suggested, it could create any form of weapon, not just swords. Nonetheless, Leo's choice was long confirmed.

He might have just obtained a close to Advanced Daggermanship, but that was Cassian's specialty, not Leo's.

Rather than checking out his new abilities first, Leo's idea of a warm-up was to find out how far the synergy between him and Cassian could go, and Shadow Armament perfectly suited that approach!

Although the blade now had a different color, Leo could perform his White Tiger Transmutations with it all the same, and this revolting Gargoyle would be this world's first to get a taste of it.

'Good boy.'

Swish!

Leo's sword swung down, yet the poor Gargoyle was still unaware of his presence.

Without the complementing Energy Channeling, Murim Swordsmanship was just pure sword skills. However, Leo didn't show the least bit of worry.

While might not be a Peak Martial Artist here, he was already a Peak Ability User!