Only I Am A Reader-Chapter 561: Achievements? True Growth!

'I thought it would be possible to analyze the book's formula for calculating points with such a large sample group, but it's still a mystery.'

The influence of the Villains that Leo hunted didn't always matter, just like some mid-level Villains gave a horribly low amount of points sometimes, a few small-time Villains also ended up paying far too many Reading Points.

'It does make sense, but…'

Of course, even as someone who knew the most about this world, past, present, and future events included, he still didn't know everything, especially when it came to the minor Villains that Leo targeted.

Most importantly, the workings of fate weren't something that any human could grasp. Influence in the present was definitely a vital indicator, but it could never enable true prediction of its future counterpart.

'This only piques my curiosity even further.'

It was precisely these anomalies that tickled Leo's interest.

Getting too few points was disappointing but expected, the downfall of a Villain was something that happened overnight, which would explain the shrinking in both influence and Reading points.

However, when a nobody Villain forks out hundreds of Reading Points out of nowhere, this was when things got really interesting.

If Leo had left him alone, what would he have become of these few surprise jackpots?

Would one of them have become the head of some crime syndicate? Or maybe one of them would have eventually created a true Villain organization?

'Maybe not that far.'

That being said, what they could achieve had to be within limits. After all, if it was something big enough, it would have been already mentioned in the novel. Unless…

'...Only if their future influence increased due to my butterfly effect.'

Regardless, these futures no longer mattered since most of Leo's prey were rotting in prison after losing their Special Abilities.

In the end, this was never about them. This was just Leo's side quest of cleaning up the streets, which was the quickest way to amass as many Reading Points as possible.

'I'm going to need as many as I can get.'

While Leo really hoped that he would be able to get Cassian's entire Ability Tree for a discounted 10k points or so, the plausibility of this wish was almost lower than zero.

The current Shadow Mastery was just far too powerful compared to the Abilities that Leo had exchanged before, and even then, those powers were already very pricey, at least according to the number of points he had at that time.

As such, while 9 months could be considered a long amount of time, it was well worth investing in this side quest, besides…

'It wasn't like I was only running errands for the entire time.'

With Leo's trusted filtering system, the time he actually spent on the street fighting crime was very little. Even with the time he spent tracking or locating his prey, most of his daytime was basically free.

'It might not be as effective as the time I spent in the Heavenly Furnace, but the results aren't too bad.'

Going from a useless child into a capable Martial Artist, every day that Baekho spent was worth months, but that was majorly thanks to Murim's nature.

Even if they weren't especially talented, anyone who was willing to put in the effort could get stronger if they were supplied with the right techniques and supplements.

On the other hand, Cassian's superpowered world was the exact opposite. Cassian himself was a special case, but almost every Ability User had their worth decided upon receiving their abilities.

Most importantly, it didn't matter if they started incredibly strong or terribly weak, growth wasn't a very viable notion.

Once they became a registered Hero, the only thing that could visibly grow was their wealth and achievements.

The higher their rank went, and the more their fame increased, the recognition they received was the perfect replacement for true growth.

After all, having the ability to do something and actually doing it was never the same. The act of doing it was like taking a step forward.

As a result, even some of the Ability Users who started out with pure intentions could only end up addicted to fame and recognition. Soon enough, their image became much more important than their actual reality.

Of course, there were still some Ability Users who took Cassian's route of consuming Enigma Stones to grow little by little, but that only boosted their greed even further.

Sure, they could dive into Gates to obtain their own Enigma Stones, but the risk they had to take was too much compared to the share they would receive after dividing the loot among a dozen or two team members.

Comparatively, as long as they were famous enough to get safe jobs with ridiculous pay, they could just buy Enigma Stones from the safety of their soft beds…

'Thankfully, I'm not that desperate.'

In Cassian's case, the problem should have been even more severe since he already went beyond the normal ceiling of Special Abilities, but among his long list of extensive abilities, there was always some room for growth.

Whether it was Shadow Domination or Shadow Movement, just playing with them every day was enough to increase Leo's control and precision over time.

As for Shadow Armament, it was the perfect tool for training Leo's various weapon arts.

Although said skills only advanced a few pages at best, it was definitely a great harvest for anything less than a year of training. Shadow Armament was undeniably an immense training aid.

Of course, when it came to Shadow Nightmare, time wasn't really that important of a factor. All that truly mattered was inspiration.

As long as Leo got the right idea and was able to apply it correctly, his control and understanding of that elusive ability branch would grow substantially.

However, all of that considered, this was merely technical growth. Application and efficiency did increase, but that was the limit… Or at least it should have been, if Leo didn't receive the mysterious reward presented by his Personal Book as the 'Secondary Energy Storage'!