Only I Am A Reader

After all roaming monsters had been dealt with, humanity was finally able to focus on the true long-lasting threat, the Gates that spat them out.

It had already been tested that clearing a Gate of monsters results in its erasure. Unfortunately, as much as it made sense to concentrate on clearing the sources as the number one priority, it just wasn't feasible at the time.

Years later, however, everyone was racing to capitalize on the value of Gates. It was no longer a matter of life and death, it was all about profit.

While the Enigma Stones had long failed the test as an energy resource, the Ability Users that they created didn't. As long as you hit the jackpot with your ability, much more than simple energy could be created.

The biggest example of using abilities to advance society were Ability Measurement Devices. Through the group work of some special Ability Users, they managed to create a machine that could measure and identify the abilities of others!

Of course, that was just one of many. The Suppression Bracelets that could silence the ability of its wearer, weapons that held the power of a nuke with little to no aftermath to deal with…

'There are always two sides to a coin.'

This Earth might have advanced into a futuristic phase, but it also held things that were far more dangerous than they could imagine.

Naturally, considering the value of mining Enigma Stones, all countries raced to ban the rest of the world from accessing their Gates, something that only led to a great backfire.

The Gate Breaks that people no longer feared started happening again at large! The shadow of Death started lingering around the necks of everyone once more!

Of course, the few countries, that had sufficient Heroes to deal with the Gates they had, barely suffered in damage.

As for the countries that had far too many Gates rather than Heroes... They ended up quickly realizing the result of their greed.

No one was going to pay the exorbitant prices that they asked for in exchange for international entry, especially when they were bound to come back groveling once they realized how stupid they were.

Now receiving the offers to get in exchange just for help, a lot of Heroes and Ability User Organizations wanted to exploit the situation. Sadly for them, an intervention followed not too long after.

A summit was quickly held among the leaders of all countries on Earth. The one that headed was the Heroes' Nest, they were the country known for not only producing the most heroes but the strongest ones as well!

Taking on a righteous front, they steered the meeting towards a single conclusion. Monopoly over Gates is a disaster.

Naturally, they had the perfect solution for it already prepared. The creation of an independent state that would govern Earth's most Gate-Dense area!

All countries were reluctant to agree, especially those that were already handling their Gates just fine. However, it all made perfect sense for anyone to argue.

Even on such a wide round Earth, most Gates were still concentrated towards a certain center. To begin with, the first Gate appeared at that point before they started to spread over to the rest of the world.

Turning that origin point and a certain amount of area around it into an independent state did make it more accessible to heroes of all nationalities…

'Hypocrisy is a good excuse.'

Most importantly, while the so-called Heroes' Nest obviously had their own agendas for suggesting that, they were speaking from a point of empathy and worry over the rest of the world.

No one could point fingers at them when they could just let the rest of the world burn while they lived in peace.

'And here we are.'

Ultimately, that led to the creation of New Enigma City, the state where Leo was currently enjoying his walk, and also the place where Cassian had lived for his entire life.

Of course, his residency originally belonged to one of the countries that gave up their land, but everyone had long since forgotten the City's past.

'They are everywhere.'

Even without spreading his slightly unfamiliar Enigma around, Leo discovered dozens of Ability Users walking everywhere. He was naturally more sensitive as a Peak level Awakened, but their excessive numbers made them even more noticeable.

'At least they aren't too strong.' 𝒊𝒏𝒏𝙧𝒆𝙖𝙙.𝙘𝙤𝙢

While almost every prominent Hero relocated into New Enigma City after its creation, the Home of Heroes still didn't have a handful of Awakened at Cassian's level normally walking around the street.

Those kinds of Heroes were more like celebrities that were followed by fanfare wherever they went out. On their hand, their villainous counterpart lurked in the shadows and took more than a few measures to silence their Enigma signal.

'It feels especially good to stand at the top.'

The history of the City was flashing in his mind, but on the surface, Leo was overcome by a sense of carefreeness. After changing into his new look, he felt like nothing could stop him.

The City's officials and the Gate Association referred to Heroes or Villains by a rank of their construction, something that factored in their achievements and misdeeds more so than actual strength.

However, all that was irrelevant, Ability Rating was the only thing that truly mattered!

Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced. As soon as a person awakened their Ability through a legal procedure, they were usually assigned one of these ratings alongside the information about their abilities.

For Most Awakened, they were basically stuck with the rating that they started with. Especially if they weren't confident in entering Gates. Some didn't even improve after consuming more Enigma Stones.

In reality, however, an Advanced rating wasn't the end of the road. For those who had really gone all the way, a new Peak was achievable. Cassian was a great example of that.

That being said, said Peak wasn't actually insurmountable. In fact, the existence of one more final rating beyond it was quite the popular hypothesis.

Unsurprisingly, this was something that should have only appeared towards the finale of the novel, but…

'I'm not going to wait.'

This was the true aim of Leo's first raid!