Only I Am A Reader
chapter-513

'Looks like she is getting serious.'

Leo was naturally aware of Jane's special Martial Arts. Although the details regarding the process were missing from the novel, it was mentioned that she obtained it using her ability.

In a way, Leo found the versatility of Jane's ability to be somewhat similar to his own, but he was more interested in seeing her Martial Arts.

Could her makeshift Martial Arts compare to the Martial Arts of Murim? There was only one way to find out!

"I just want to have a friendly spar."

The sword and the spear were what he truly excelled at, but Leo wasn't that far behind when it came to using his body as a weapon.

"Haaaaa!"

Releasing a long cry, Jane took two long steps before throwing her fist toward Leo's face. He could have dodged if he wanted, but Leo remained in place, only moving his arm to block.

'Interesting.'

He needed to receive her blow head-on to understand how it worked, and what he found didn't fail to surprise him. Although it wasn't exactly Internal Energy, Jane was able to utilize something similar to it to bolster her attacks!

At this level, it was almost like she possessed two different Special Abilities!

'Cheats. Cheats everywhere.'

Leo couldn't help wondering about the way this world worked. The setting implied that every Ability was special and unique in its own right, and whether they were weak or strong, almost everyone in the novel lived up to that hype.

However, was that truly the case for irrelevant characters? Were there dozens more like Jane who had an Ability that could generate other abilities but was too lazy to use it?

Wouldn't the world end if even half of those dormant people went a little bit crazy? Or was the normalization of Special Abilities the reason behind the major silence?

'Let's hope the novel was wrong again.'

The majority had to at least have more lame powers than cool, right? Cassian did have to start with a party trick, so it wasn't impossible.

Considering how almost every last one of these scammers had such interesting abilities, if one made a small army of people like them, they could really wreak some havoc.

Thankfully, everyone preferred money and fame to destruction, so as villainous as Heroes could be, they exercised some restraint. As for actual Villains…

'It's the only thing good about them being crazy.'

Villains didn't do 'working together', at least none of the truly strong ones did. The make-believe villains made some groups that masqueraded as the great evil organization, but in reality, there was no such thing.

'Thankfully.'

If there were actually a group that was obsessed with conquering the world, Villains or not, the Earth wouldn't have to wait for the imminent danger that Leo was trying to delay, it would already be in ruins by now.

"Body Strengthening?"

This was the conclusion that Jane came to when Leo received her ability without being the least bit fazed.

'Troublesome, troublesome… This is really troublesome!'

This illusion Ability User didn't barge in with malicious intent without being ready!

"You could say so."

While he might not have access to his Internal Energy in this new body of his, Shadow Armament did the job just fine.

With a little bit of extra manipulation, Murim's Martial Arts flowed more smoothly using his new ability. The degree of assimilation that Shadow Armament could achieve couldn't be replicated using Internal Energy just yet.

"My turn."

Since Jane was stuck analyzing him before making her first move, Leo used the Heavenly Reign Steps to arrive right in front of her.

Jane tried to react, but Leo's fist was already in front of her stomach!

Thud!

Even with the support of her Qi, Jane couldn't resist the impact as she crashed into the wall. Unless his illusion was capable of completely controlling her consciousness, then what he was showing couldn't possibly be fake!

She was screwed in both cases, but Jane still tried to understand what Leo was while her world was still shaking, being at the brink of fainting actually helped her come to two quick guesses.

'He can realize his illusions.'

One thing that seemed plausible was that her opponent might be capable of materializing his own illusion. The shadows that he used earlier did indeed look too real, and now she even ended up getting a taste of his crushing fist.

While she was living proof that one could have more than one ability with the right conditions, Jane didn't think that was the case with Leo.

'Or he can imitate the people he disguises at.'

Didn't he use shadows as Cassian? Although his face didn't change again, he could be just borrowing another person's ability using some kind of internal trick. In fact, Jane leaned towards the second guess more.

"Are you going to take a nap? I can skip your turn if you want."

Woken up from her bubble by Leo's call, Jane quickly jumped back up. She still felt like her abdomen had a big hole in it, but she couldn't just give up this quickly.

'If he can only realize or imitate a specific part, then I can still do this.'

Rather than naively assuming that her opponent's ability was all-powerful, Jane was poking at any possible loophole. Since her ability was still telling her that he was a nobody, he couldn't be unbeatable!

It was more likely that his Ability had a very limited scope to it. The shadow tendrils, the cocoon, the stone-like arm, the hammer-like fist, all of these were moves that he exhibited on their own. Now…

What would it be like if she managed to hit him at a point that he couldn't expect? Jane bet everything on that prospect!

She moved forward but then took a sudden turn before running around Leo in circles. While her actions looked silly, Jane kept going until she felt that her opponent could no longer follow her before turning to strike his side.

Thud!

Unfortunately…

"Satisfied?"

The stone-like defense was still in place!