Only I Am A Reader-Chapter 578: Possibilities And Modification

"What do you think?"

"There is no way I wouldn't like the name that Master picked for me, but…"

Drunk on the taste of her very first praise, Kara's head was fuzzy all over. However, when it came to certain aspects, her mind stayed as sharp as ever.

'I don't want to…'

While a more normal person might have declined out of the embarrassment of childishly calling themselves a 'good student', Kara's reason was far more bizarre.

'I don't want to share it with everyone else.'

Being called a Star Pupil was a source of pride for her, but she didn't want such a special name to be rolling around everyone's tongue.

She preferred it to be a fond secret that only she and her master knew!

"I think I would still like to refer to myself as Shadow Crow to other people. Of course, Master is free to call me however he wants to."

Being called 'Master' so many times, Leo felt strange about the entire thing, sparking conflicting emotions.

On one hand, he hadn't truly taught Kara anything. Although her current abilities did originate from him, all she learned could only be owed to her very own special ability.

'Teaching doesn't work with Special Abilities.'

Even if he wanted, imparting Special Abilities to someone was virtually impossible. Whether it was Leo or Aurora, the special Ability User with the highest conceivable potential, the most they could do was teach others how to control Enigma better.

While that would help an Ability User grow stronger, it wouldn't teach them the Laws of Shadow or Light. The only alternative that Leo could think of was the existence of other special cases like Kara.

'Just like stu- 'Star Pupil' exists, there could be a 'Teacher' counterpart.'

Given how boundless the realm of abilities was in the City of Villains, Leo didn't completely strike such a possibility from his mind.

Just because they never appeared in the original novel nor made a fuss in this reality, didn't mean they didn't exist.

Hidden as they may be, the existence of someone who could impart abilities to others, someone who could truly copy and paste abilities without limits… was a very valid possibility.

'It might even explain the large number of 'Heroes' that this city has to offer.'

Despite the prologue starting with a comprehensive explanation of how rare Special Ability Awakenings were, the number introduced later on always felt inflated to Leo.

Now that he was entertaining the possibilities of such extreme existences, perhaps this was the result of a hidden Special Ability Factory rather than a case of an overall plot inconvenience.

'Not that it matters.'

While taking it to mind would be wise, being overly guided against such a hypothetical existence wasn't Leo's style.

After all, he didn't come to this world to fix it in its entirety. As long as they didn't interfere directly with his plans, he would have let such an organization go even if he truly confirmed its existence.

'Unless it's something I can't turn a blind eye to, anything goes in a world that's heading towards total destruction.'

Sure, if something unsavory was taking place, Leo might dedicate the last of his free time toward unraveling such an atrocity, but he wouldn't waste that time just to confirm that possibility.

Had he truly wanted to fix everything, he would have started by uprooting the City of Villain and making it anew, but that would simply take too long.

According to some quick calculations, not even 10% of the work would be done before the disaster hits.

While the Law of Shadow Mastery, coupled with Enigma refinement, practically made him the strongest Ability user in the current timeline, when it came to fixing things, brute force wasn't the best tool for the task.

'Seeing things reversed this soon is somewhat exciting.'

These complicated thoughts aside, Leo did feel the emotional impact of taking his old Master's place.

Although it didn't take long before Cheon Chang became more of an older friend rather than just a master, hearing the same word refer to himself, Leo was slightly affected by the nostalgia that kept reminding him of that unreachable past.

"Do as you see fit. In any case, what I have in mind is somewhat different from what you think."

While he couldn't read her mind, Leo could tell that Kara was reluctant about something, so he didn't press her further. Especially, since something like a name would only hinder her very first mission.

From the very beginning, Leo had no intention of using the identity that Kara revealed to the world; what he needed was an entirely new face that would fit right into his plan like a long-lost puzzle piece.

"Different?"

"I will explain things in detail later, but the main gist of things is that you will be going undercover. Crow or Pupil aside, isn't blending and hiding in plain sight what a Shadow should be best at?"

At first, Kara's role was just another part that he had to execute himself, but in consideration of the bigger picture, the addition of Kara to his team made her the perfect replacement.

'Things were rough the first time, so it might be harder to step in unannounced.'

Tricking a person twice or ten times would have been the easiest task for the Lord of Shadow to handle. However, since the target of this trick was none other than Aurora herself, it didn't hurt to take extra precautions.

Most importantly, since Kara's abilities were practically a copy of Leo's, he trusted her to be capable of doing everything he planned to do.

'It might not be perfect, but it's better than blowing up the entire plan.'

The constant pokes he took at Aurora in the last period were all aimed to make her relax her guard against him, but there was no telling if it had actually worked. For all he knew, she could be even more on edge against him.

Now that there was a perfect alternative standing right in front of him, Leo didn't mind remolding the plan to fit a more successful layout!