Mount Kumotori was engulfed in a torrential blizzard. Snowflakes the size of goose feathers painted the entire mountain into a beautiful silver scroll.
In a dense forest halfway up the mountain, Ren was shirtless, lying in the snow and doing one-armed pushups. Even though he was drenched in sweat, he had no intention of stopping.
His short black hair danced in the wind. At this moment, he resembled a ball of scorching fire; the instant the pristine white snow landed on his body, it evaporated immediately.
"955, 956, 957, 958..."
Ren counted silently in his heart while he trained. Since about half a year ago, he had made it a habit to perform one thousand pushups every morning before starting his day.
"Good morning, Brother Ren! You're still training in such cold weather?"
Just as Ren was training, a short boy suddenly appeared behind him.
The boy had short, dark red hair and a pair of bright crimson eyes, with a distinct scar on his forehead.
Despite his thin frame, that small body contained immense strength; even with a basket full of charcoal on his back, his posture remained unbowed.
"Haha, you know me, Tanjiro. This is my habit. Rain or shine, fever or cold, I train here for two hours."
Ren smiled slightly, then looked at the charcoal behind Tanjiro with surprise. "Tanjiro, are you going to sell charcoal in this freezing weather?"
"Yes, the New Year is coming soon, and I want the family to eat well!"
Tanjiro nodded and smiled gently. "This family can't just rely on you, Brother Ren. I've grown up, and I should learn to share the burden for the family."
"Is that so? Then good luck. I hope you sell all the charcoal."
"Hehe, thanks to your good words, Brother Ren. I'll be going now!"
Tanjiro waved his hand, bidding farewell to Ren. Watching his retreating figure, Ren frowned and murmured to himself.
"I've been in the Demon Slayer world for three years. Has this day finally arrived?"
As he spoke, Ren recalled an event from three years ago. He was not originally from this world, but from a parallel world called Blue Star.
Three years ago, he woke up to find himself inexplicably transported to the world of Demon Slayer, becoming a random nobody who nearly froze to death on Mount Kumotori.
Fortunately, he was discovered by Tanjiro, who was chopping wood on the mountain, and managed to survive.
Tanjiro's family was very warm-hearted. Upon learning he had nowhere to live, they invited him to stay.
Since then, Ren became a part of the Kamado household, helping Tanjiro chop wood and burn charcoal on regular days.
In the summer, he went to the river to catch fish, and in the winter, he set traps to hunt wild boars, improving the family's livelihood. Life was quite pleasant.
But Ren never forgot that on a stormy, snowy night, the Demon King, Kibutsuji Muzan, would come to the Kamado home and slaughter the entire family, leaving only Tanjiro and Nezuko, who would be turned into a demon, to survive.
"No matter what, no matter what, I must change all of this!"
Having lived with the Kamado family for three years, Ren had long since developed a bond with them. Therefore, he was determined to stop the tragedy from happening.
As his thoughts raced, Ren finished his one thousand pushups. Simultaneously, an emotionless mechanical voice rang in his ears.
[Detected that the host has completed one thousand pushups. Strength +1, Constitution +1]
Hearing this cold voice, Ren suddenly smiled. "Heh, thankfully the heavens haven't treated me poorly. Knowing I transmigrated, they gave me a system for free, giving me the confidence to face Muzan!"
After transmigrating, Ren had bound the [Heaven Rewards Diligence System]. As the name implied, as long as he trained diligently, he could infinitely improve his physical attributes!
And after three years of training, his physical body strength far exceeded that of ordinary people.
With a thought, a panel appeared before his eyes, displaying his basic attributes.
[Ren]
[Strength: 203]
[Speed: 180]
[Constitution: 155]
[Five Senses: 120]
[Combat Techniques: None]
(The average value for a normal person is 10)
...
Looking at the values displayed on the panel, Ren felt incredibly confident. He was essentially a humanoid tank right now. He could kill an adult black bear with one hand, and his grip strength exceeded one ton. He was as strong as an ox and as swift as the wind.
'Sigh, it's just a pity that as my base attributes grow, the attribute points gained from daily training are becoming fewer and fewer...'
Ren sighed. He vaguely remembered that the first time he completed one thousand pushups, his Strength and Constitution had increased directly by 10 points. He had been overjoyed back then.
But now, even doing one-armed pushups, it took over ten days of effort to increase an attribute by a single point.
'Maybe in the future, I'll only be able to rapidly improve my base attributes by fighting evil demons.'
Aside from daily training, fighting enemies could also yield attribute points and even lead to learning combat techniques. After all, actual combat was considered a part of training.
It was just a pity that in three years, he hadn't encountered a single demon.
Shaking his head, Ren closed the information panel and started working. He lifted the axe beside him, exerted sudden force, and swung it at a nearby tree.
Extreme strength combined with extreme speed caused a simple swing of the axe to whip up a howling gale.
The moment the axe struck the trunk, the large tree, which would require a person's arms to encircle, fell with a crack, splashing snow into the air!
After chopping down the tree, Ren continued to swing his axe. A series of loud bangs resonated through the dense forest; each bang signified another large tree being severed by him.
Ren didn't stop until he had chopped down thirty trees. Although his constitution would allow him to keep chopping, there were only so many trees here. He couldn't chop them all down at once; he had to prepare for the coming year.
After cutting the thirty trees into wooden strips, Ren began to burn charcoal according to the method Tanjiro had taught him, working until night fell.
"Brother Ren, dinner is ready! Mom is calling you to eat!"
A gentle and melodious voice drifted over. Ren turned around and saw a young, beautiful girl.
The girl was like a lotus rising from the water, graceful and upright. Her face was pretty and delicate, her snow-white skin glowing with a healthy rosiness, and her long black hair fell naturally to her waist.
"Alright, Nezuko, I'm coming!"
Ren smiled. The girl was Tanjiro's younger sister, Kamado Nezuko, and also the girl he liked most aside from Kocho Shinobu when he watched Demon Slayer.
After transmigrating, she had become his sister from another family.
Seeing the charcoal soot on Ren's face, Nezuko thoughtfully took out a towel to wipe his cheeks and neck, smiling gently as she did so.
"Thank you, Brother Ren. You do so much for our family. But you must pay attention to staying warm. It's such a cold day, yet you're wearing so little."
"Haha, don't worry, Sister Nezuko. Your brother is strong. Even if it were colder, I wouldn't catch a cold."
This wasn't a lie. His physical constitution was more than ten times that of a normal person. Let alone a cold, he didn't even feel chilly in such heavy snow.
"Alright, I know Brother Ren is the most amazing. Let's go eat."
"Okay, okay, let's go."
The two soon arrived at the dining table. Today's dinner was very sumptuous, featuring grilled fish, roasted potatoes, miso soup, and braised wild boar meat. Incidentally, Ren was the one who had taught Kamado Kie how to make the braised pork.
After dinner, Ren spoke up. "Auntie Kie, I heard from the neighbors that a black bear has been seen on the mountain recently. I'm going to check the surroundings. It wouldn't be good if a black bear came in during the night."
"Ah? Won't that be too dangerous?"
Kamado Kie spoke with concern. Although Ren had come to this family suddenly, she viewed him as her own, so she didn't want to see him face any danger.
However, Ren waved his hand and smiled. "Don't worry, Auntie Kie, I'll be fine!"
With that, he walked out of the wooden house, went to the storehouse, and picked up a spiked club weighing a full three hundred pounds. Ordinary swords were too light, but a heavy weapon like this could perfectly utilize his strength advantage.
After grabbing his weapon, Ren moved to the small path halfway down the mountain.
It would be fine if Muzan didn't come today, but if he did, Ren would protect the Kamado family no matter what!
Tonight was the night that would decide their fate!
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]