Only I Am A Reader

529  Omitted Setting!

{ Congratulations! The Final Challenge has been cleared! }

Although the ominous tower was no longer standing, the charge counter remained floating in the air. Only, it had now turned stagnant, announcing the final result of the challenge.

{ 5.99% }

'This much should be fine… Right?'

The perfect case scenario would have been a value less than one percent, but Leo was fully aware that it was a very unrealistic expectation.

Even if he was blessed enough to get the simplest initial challenges, the passing of the first cycle was inevitable. Still…

'I definitely gave it my all.'

Leo couldn't help feeling that his results were a little inadequate. If he was also strong enough to annihilate the monster waves and the Miniboss in an instant, this charge could have been cut down by half!

'I have to be satisfied with this.'

As a reader who knew everything that was going to happen, the perfectionist in Leo might have been left unsatisfied, but as the one who went through the whole thing just now, Leo also believed that he gave it his all.

Even as a versatile overpowered character, there was a limit to how much could be done in so little time.

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Although he couldn't compare himself to Aurora who was busy doing so much at that time, things weren't that simple just because the obstacles had been removed.

Leo acknowledged that he didn't do things perfectly. However, that was merely something to learn from in the future. Being ambitious was good, but greed was pure poison. In all truthfulness, Leo wasn't sure he would change anything if he had another run at this challenge.

It might not be perfect, but a realized result was something far more precious than useless hypotheses.

'I also need to grow beyond this.'

Cassian was only considered overpowered as an individual, not as an army. In situations where he wasn't bound by conditions, he could practically kill anyone.

However, Leo had to use these abilities against an army as well as a supernatural building. Unless he could once again grow to adapt to these circumstances, the same result would repeat.

{ You have managed to withstand the First Assault! }

Just when a new target had been etched into Leo's mind, something completely unexpected happened.

{ Special rewards will be given out to contributing Challengers for keeping the Encroachment rate below 10%! }

For once, Leo's shock was very genuine. "Huh?"

The first voice message was something that he was familiar with. In fact, Leo was waiting to hear it so that his path out of there would finally open up, but…

The plot deviation that he caused didn't seem to end at that!

'There was actually something like this?'

Even taking future challenges into consideration, Aurora's clears had never managed to trigger anything like this.

'No, is it even possible?'

Leo questioned the existence of a whole new setting that had never appeared in the novel!

Of course, this wasn't Leo's first encounter with a hidden setting. Arthur's true identity was something that brought him as much shock. However, Arthur's final form did at least appear in the novel, the only missing plot was what happened in the middle.

On the other hand, for the supposedly hostile Gates to provide a reward other than the dropped Enigma Stone…

'This probably has nothing to do with the Author.'

Although it was a mere doubt before, Leo was now becoming more and more convinced of his theories. The omission of Cassian's plotline was one thing, but did it make sense for a writer to make a hidden reward system when his protagonist wasn't even going to meet its requirement?

Unless it was a scrapped setting that the Author decided against to make Aurora more miserable, it was unlikely for them to be the source.

Instead, following Leo's two main lines of theory, it was either something that wasn't revealed to them… Or it was something that the world had to emulate to keep up with the change!

{ Your contribution has been calculated. Please proceed with selecting your reward. }

'How?'

One more question crowded Leo's thoughts, but the answer didn't come too late. Just an instant later, a stream of platinum light rose from the Encroachment Tower's rubble before rushing in his direction.

'Is this supposed to be a roulette wheel?'

The platinum light took the shape of a circular surface split into many slices. However, instead of the flashy images that usually came with pulling gacha, there were only boring symbols on each partition.

'Is there no button?'

Leo reached out to the wheel in search of one more answer, but another light stream connected with his finger before he could touch the wheel. Feeling a light sting in his hand, Leo received another voice message. { Reward selection is in progress, please prepare to receive your reward. }

The wheel immediately started spinning after zapping him, but Leo couldn't exactly cheer for a specific prize. Even if he could somehow read the symbols, the wheel spun too fast for him to see anything.

{ 'Secondary Energy Storage' has been chosen. }

All of a sudden, the wheel instantly stopped in tandem with the voice message in Leo's ear. Compared to the incomprehensible symbols, the words that Leo heard were almost self-explanatory, but he still wasn't sure what it was meant for.

{ 'Secondary Energy Storage' will be imparted to you. }

Before Leo could even come up with any theories, the platinum wheel exploded into a cloud of shiny particles, instantly disappearing into his body!

'They sure are forceful.'

Rather than asking Leo if he wanted to receive it or not, the voice's source immediately acted on its words.

So far, Leo could recognize the platinum light's presence only with his eyes, but once it went through him, he could feel every part of it.

It was unlike any other energy that he had dealt with before, something even more mysterious than Enigma itself.

'Wait…'

Regardless, the platinum energy didn't linger for long. In order to complete its task, all the particles joined together in Leo's abdomen, working together to construct something very special.

'Isn't this just a Dantian?'

- Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

LightningAsura