Chapter 53 - Reading Analysis

The first part that Leo’s eyes laid on was ‘Personal Statistics’. Despite already confirming the presence of Sword Presence in his body, he was curious about the quantification applied by the personal book.

‘I wonder how many points are needed to reach grade 1…’

Due to the lack of a conversion rate, Leo held little to no clue, but his attention quickly shifted to his other statistics which had surprisingly increased.

‘Is it just a coincidence or?’

The fact that Sword Breath was more of a tool rather than ‘nutrients’ that could enhance the body was well established in the novel, but Leo was slightly suspicious of this timely increase.

‘It should be clear in time.’

Deciding to put his doubt away until gathering more evidence, Leo’s eyes went down to the fresh addition brought by the newly unlocked attribute.

‘Not ‘Origin Manual’...?’

According to both his memory and the log pages, the voice had definitely described the ‘Sword Art’ that he performed today as ‘Origin Manual’. However, now that it became an ability, its name had completely changed?

In the first place, what made such a performance qualify as an ‘ability’? Was it because it corresponded to this world’s law, allowing one to absorb and produce Sword Breath?

After experiencing the exaggerated effect of ‘Ability Reading’, Leo couldn’t help but get absorbed in thought. However, in the end, he only came to one conclusion that was more of a guess.

‘Skills exist and apply in every world, but abilities are restricted to one world and given power by this world’s law…?’

Perhaps due to his origin, Leo had to undergo a more thorough process to ‘Read’ the ability to ‘Sword Breath’ in contrast to basic skills applicable everywhere. In essence, his ability to ‘Read’ seemed to have a different set of ‘frequencies’ according to the ‘type’ and ‘effect’ of reading.

‘As for the ‘Universal’... why does it feel familiar?’

Thinking back to the changed name, Leo felt like he had discovered something. He originally found the name odd as it opposed the name mentioned in the novel. However, as soon as he ignored the possibility of ‘Universal’ being used to make it grand enough, a thought flashed in his mind, pointing towards the word’s actual definition!

‘Universal… means something used by all or related to everyone. Is this supposed to be the original purpose of this ‘Sword Art’...?’

Although none of his thoughts could be confirmed even with his knowledge of the novel, Leo felt that it fell into place logically according to the main plotline. Regardless, he could only keep it in mind for now and move on to the next point.

It was interesting to see that the ability retained a grading system similar to the one used in this world, but Leo still had to see how it would change with time. Feeling satisfied with his current findings for the time being, he gave the rest of the page a quick scan for any additional changes.

Other than the editing of the ‘Change of Destiny’ and the number added to it, indicating a ‘chain event-like’ sequence, the only thing worth noting to Leo was his maxed-up ‘Basic Swordsmanship’.

Despite not practicing the skill at all today, the imaginary ‘years’ Leo spent during his ‘Ability Reading’ seemed like enough of a reason for a certain increase in familiarity with the sword. Moreover, it was vaguely mentioned in the novel that ‘Sword Breathing’ had a slight positive effect on the user’s sword skills.

‘Let’s do some cardio and get back to sleep.’

After focusing his gaze on the accumulating pile of ‘useless’ points, Leo left his bed and started doing some light stretches.

Even though it didn’t feel like much time had passed, there were only 2 hours left before dawn by the time Leo was done with his brainstorming session. The time he spent sensing Sword Breath especially took a large portion of the day.

Since Rain expected him to spend the whole day on this task, Leo quickly slipped back into the warmth of his bed after he finished exercising.

Sensing the lifelike threads which he had no control over as of yet, Leo gradually calmed down as his consciousness traveled to dreamland. That night… Leo dreamed of his life back on Earth for the first time.

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

‘What a timely dream…’

Staring into the ceiling as he recalled the faint illusion of going back, Leo only let out a faint sigh before he left the bed.

As he had barely slept an hour yesterday, Leo had woken up two hours later than usual. His stomach was growling from skipping lunch, but he still took his time to shower before he visited the kitchen.

“Good morning, Teacher.”

“Oh, good morning.”

Unlike the day before, the kitchen wasn’t empty this time. Rain, who woke up earlier, was already there, sipping a cup of milk tea.

“I will be preparing some breakfast, would Teacher like some?”

Taking out ingredients from the pantry, Leo threw a glance at Rain. His eyes looked nonchalant, but his mouth slightly twitched, allowing Leo to easily receive an answer.

“Do as you like… hssp...”

Ignoring the dishonest answer of Rain who awkwardly sipped his tea, Leo quickly fried some chicken breast, he then proceeded to cut some pepper and tomatoes, letting the onion turn colorful as he mixed it from time to time.

After throwing the vegetables into the pan and letting them cook for a bit, Leo finally added the cut chicken breast and gave it one last cook as he added some spices.

‘This needs some ketchup and mayo…’

Lamenting the lack of modern condiments, Leo split the pan’s content into two plates, putting one in front of Rain before sitting down to eat.

“Not bad.”

Being more capable of controlling his facial expressions today, Rain calmly enjoyed Leo’s ‘new’ recipe, perhaps Leo wasn’t the only one receiving benefits in this exchange…

“Teacher, there… is a question that has been weighing on my mind since yesterday.”

Having been waiting till Rain finishes his food, Leo paused his own meal as he raised his finger inquisitively.

“Go on.”

Feeling his satisfaction with Leo’s performance boosted by the meal’s deliciousness, Rain didn’t try to read Leo’s face as he merrily tapped the table.

“Although I was able to sense something after recalling the feeling of the ‘streams’ that entered my body, I don’t seem to be able to move them. They didn’t budge even after I wholly focused on them!”

While Leo already had the answer to this ‘question’, he innocently recited it in a ‘recounting’ manner, revealing a hint of worry on his face.

“Oh! It’s great that you already reached this point. Don’t worry, there is nothing wrong with the manual.”

‘Perfect.’

As the tip of his lips curled upwards, Rain’s satisfaction rose, his eyes almost producing sparkles.

“It’s undeniably true that your ‘performance’ yesterday signified your entry into the path of swordsmen. However, the stage you are currently at is a necessary procedure to the next step that you were expecting to achieve by now. It’s commonly referred to as the accumulation phase!”

‘I think ‘Foundation Establishment’ is a more adept name though…’

Making a mental note, Leo ‘excitedly’ listened to Rain’s explanation...