Chapter 135 - Return
"Leo!"
'Huh?'
He could have sworn that he had just heard a different name just now. However, the last thing he trusted in at this moment was also his memory, seeing the group of four's reaction at his spacing out followed by his shocked expression, Leo could only awkwardly smile.
"Did you see something else in the mirror to stare for so long?"
"Hehe, you wish. I was only surprised to find myself to have grown an actual total of 2 centimeters! It seems like birthdays do help you get taller!"
"I told you, you know. Good thing my birthday is coming along soon."
Dispersing the awkwardness with jokes, Leo went back to join the rest. It was only then that he knew why they were eagerly calling him like this.
"Well then, it's time to… check your gifts!"
All four stood with their hands behind their backs. Although he could already guess the type of gifts that he got, Leo felt his passion igniting again thinking about the 'content'.
"Here you go."
"Happy birthday."
"Here you are."
"Here is your mysterious object!"
Lia was the first to hand her squarish wrapped object, but rather than unwrapping it, Leo proceeded to collect the rest of the similarly-sized gifts. Undoubtedly, they were all books!
"It's a new one."
Despite being used to receiving books as birthday gifts, there were quite a few times that he received repeated ones that he had already read. Lia's gift this time was actually a new Sci-Fi novel.
"This one… and this… They are all new!"
The four books weren't all novels, but they were stuff that he had never read before! This was undeniably the first time this happened. Moreover, they all seemed to be right down his alley! That was especially the case for the one his father chose…
"Seems like we did it."
Shawn had a proud smile on his face, while the others shared the sentiment. However, Leo's attention was all focused on the last book. It was a… fantasy novel about swords?
Putting the other books aside, Leo felt a strange foreboding as his hand slowly stretched towards the book's cover, yet he didn't stop. Firmly grasping the fresh new cover, he directly flipped it open!
'Huh?'
The page was extremely white, there were no words to read, this wasn't just the first page. Before he knew it, Leo had already flipped through the whole empty book!
"Wh…"
Leo was just about to turn to his father in confusion. However, it was just when closed the book again that the flood arrived.
'What?'
The flood of memories wasn't the one that he had already ignored, it was a whole new set of memories. Nonetheless, there was no headache that followed it, nor there was any confusion. In fact, the confusion was slowly clearing up.
As if the previous set of memories were an incomplete puzzle set, the new set contained exactly the pieces that they lacked. One picture after the other became stunningly clear, barely allowing Leo to stay calm.
"Thanks for everything! I will make sure to cherish them!"
Receiving a new piece of memory, Leo held the four new books in his embrace, energetically nodding before storming off to his room!
"Ahem… It's okay, if he is this excited to read them, then he liked them!"
Sporting an awkward smile just like the one Leo had earlier, Shawn scratched the back of his head as he gave the other three a thumbs up.
"Anyone up for snacks?"
`~~~`~~~`~~~`
"I really returned?"
Closing the door of his room, Leo took a quick glance at the familiar room in front of him. He always imagined what going back would be like when he was still stuck in the novel's world, but he didn't exactly expect it to be this awkward.
'Come out.'
Leo's chest tightened with nervousness. However, he quickly let out a sigh of relief upon seeing the golden book floating in the air.
He could notice there were some changes as the pages flipped, but the book automatically continued 'progressing' till it reached the last inked page, revealing both new and old messages.
[ Your current deposit has reached its limit. ]
[ Reality Acquisition Complete! 'Reality Reading' has been suspended. ]
'This should be it.'
These messages were already something that he heard just before he exited the white space. Although he barely heard them as his mind had been directly 'shut down' after.
[ Character Inheritable transfer complete! ]
The following message, however, was completely new. He had heard it earlier when his memories were recollected. It didn't explain much, but it made sense to Leo.
The last time he received his 'Leo memories' as Arthur almost ended up causing an existential crisis, if this had happened the other way around, there was no knowing what would have happened. Although this caused some awkward moments earlier, this was probably the best-case scenario.
"Huuuu… this is real."
After accepting the gradual process earlier, Leo suddenly felt dizzy. For some reason, it was harder for him to accept the supernatural flying book in front of him than when he accepted being sent to another world…
The thing that made it feel the most unreal was the time, barely 80 minutes had passed in here, yet he had already spent a whole 8 years there. The time conversion rate was just as unrealistic as his whole situation!
'Did my birthday have anything to do with this?'
Getting the 'Personal Book' to flip the pages back to the front page, Leo couldn't help but consider the symbolism that this day held. He hadn't considered it before since he forgot about it, but did the so-called 'Energy Threshold' have anything to do with becoming 18-years-old?
Just as Leo fell deep in thought, the page that he desired showed up before his eyes, but it wasn't on its own!
[ Book 0 ]
Name: Leo Lock
Age: 18
Role: Reader
Reading Points: 0
________________________
Personal Statistics:
----------------
Physique: 1.96
Mind: 2.16
________________________
Personal Skills:
---------------
'Advanced Swordsmanship' - Chapter 3 - page 0/10
'Intermediate Smithing' - Chapter 2 - page 0/10
'Basic Horsemanship' - Chapter 1 - page 9/10
'Basic Close Quarter Combat' - Chapter 1 - page 10/10
________________________
'Where is…'
The addition immediately filled up Leo's mind with questions. However, before the most urgent one of them could surface in his mind, he had already received an answer…
[ Your selected 'Reality' has been transferred to your 'Reading Space'. ]