Only I Am A Reader

Rather than pushing her into it, Leo opted to ease Yeon's tension. To him, this might be the perfect opportunity to ensure the success of his quest, but to Yeon, it was a decision that dictated how the rest of her life would roll out.

'There was no way I would give her up, but…'

As much as Leo believed he would eventually be reunited with Yeon, he understood that it would be a time-consuming process to find a way to do so. And while it might not seem like much back on Earth, time passed faster over this side.

With Yeon having to handle this role possibly for decades… There was no way that Leo wouldn't deal with this matter delicately.

"We both know that you are just letting me take the lead because you want to. You are undeniably capable of leading more than just the Heavenly Strength Society."

Although Yeon acted silently most of the time, following Leo around without any questions, this wasn't because she had no thoughts or opinions of her own. In reality, she was the leader figure within their team, and she did well enough in the novel despite not knowing the future like Leo!

Just like how her talent was the real deal while Leo's was artificial, her intelligence and leadership skills were superb enough not to pale against Leo's cheating!

If anything, it could be said that Leo stole her spot, but Yeon was completely fine with that. In fact, it seemed like she enjoyed being spoiled in that manner.

"We will do this together, just like we did before."

It was already hard to understand a character through reading. Yet, Yeon's character had changed even more under Leo's influence, so the interaction simulator mode that he was on was already obsolete for years. All that while till now, Leo was actually trying to interact normally as a person, and it wasn't easy. Everything either sounded cold or straight-up cheesy…

'Both of us being abnormal isn't helping much.'

Whether it was himself, Yeon, Yong, or even Sohee they were all weirdos in their own right. The only one that was slightly more normal than the rest was Sohee, but that wasn't enough for Leo to learn how to talk well enough.

"Right, I… We can do this. You said that there is something that we need to deal with, so…"

Being the only person he could share illogical stuff with as well as the person who was supposed to help him with it, Leo had let Yeon in on a hint regarding the final confrontation. It went without saying that there wasn't much they could do in their current state, so now was their chance!

The pair moved towards the pedestal and picked up the book embedded right next to it. Instead of looking fancy like the rest of the room, the book looked no different from the one they received Scarlet Sky Technique through.

The start of the book was also just the introduction of the very same technique but after that… The content started to change.

The normal Scarlet Sky Technique instructed one on how to absorb the natural energy spread out in the atmosphere and refine it to become theirs. On the other hand, this one was specifically designed to absorb the enormous amount of already refined energy contained within the confines of the departed Heavenly Demon's Dantian.

To most people, consuming other people's Internal Energy was like taking poison. Not only would they be filling their body with impurities, but they would also be unable to make use of it. However, thanks to the unified nature of Scarlet Sky Internal Energy, such an obstacle could be overridden as long as there was an additional characteristic linking the two ends.

This was precisely why only Yeon could do this! Being so close to awakening, the nature of her Internal Energy was almost the same as that of the Heavenly Demon!

"Let's do this!"

Yeon finally settled down on the pedestal, putting down the condensed Dantian into the half-sphere carved into the pedestal between her and Leo. With the new channeling sequence and chant in her mind, it was time to start the succession process…

Sending out her Internal Energy into the Inheritance Core, it slowly rose up from the half-sphere. Leo was sitting in the same state in front of Yeon, but he could only watch and do nothing for now.

It was different for magnets, but the general rule was that like attracts like. Although Yeon couldn't use the sense of familiarity that she shared with the energy to pull it straight out of the Dantian, she could stress on that close relationship that the energy held so that it would come out on its own!

The rules behind this appeared to be heavily theoretical and unrealistic, but natural energy and its forms in Murim operated based on that concept. Despite taking a few days, the sanguine Internal Energy finally made an appearance as it slipped out of the condensed Dantian!

'Is it about time?'

Having spent the last few days in energy meditation in order not to distract Yeon with the important starting process, Leo was suddenly woken up by the tickles of the slightly foreign energy knocking on his door… The process was finally up and running!

Unless one satisfied certain prerequisites like Yeon, only negative results could be obtained by devouring another person's energy. However, the situation would be completely flipped around if the energy's owner directly gave it to another!

If the Heavenly Demon had been alive and willingly transferred his energy to Yeon, the already simple process would have become much easier, and in the same vein, Yeon could now transfer part of that energy with ease, the only catch was… Time, it required a relatively long amount of time.

'Well, I'm more than ready for this.'

Let alone the slow aspect of the process, Leo couldn't complain about any inconvenience with energy being delivered right at his door as he simply let it in.

In the first place, it couldn't be called a seclusion if it wasn't going to last long enough, right?