"Kyusha, I have nothing left to teach you."
Far to the east, deep in the mountains of Honshu.
An elderly man with silver hair and a face lined like weathered stone stood with his back to the boy on the training ground and spoke slowly.
"You have mastered every sword form, along with the Breathing Style."
"With that, you can be said to have entered the gate."
"By the Demon Slayer Corps' tradition, the next step is to take part in the Final Selection. If you pass, you will become an official member."
When the boy behind him stayed silent, ripples stirred in the old man's heart.
His name was Kazami Koyoshi. A retired swordsman and a trainer, someone devoted to raising demon slayers.
Behind him stood the student he had poured a full year of effort into teaching, Kyusha Natsuo.
The boy's talent was good.
Hardworking, steady, pure at heart.
Yet when the boy truly learned everything he had to offer and was about to graduate, Kazami found himself feeling a long unfamiliar hesitation.
By tradition, the Final Selection Natsuo would take next had a high death rate.
After a year together, he had already come to see the young man like family. He could not bear to watch him step into danger.
But when Kazami turned around, what he saw was still that calm face, just as steady as ever.
Just like a year ago, when he had taken the boy away from that massacre that wiped out his home.
Those eyes were pure, yet deep.
At last, the old man made up his mind.
The Demon Slayer Corps existed to destroy demons.
Since the boy had chosen this path, he must already have the resolve to die.
"Kyusha, take this Nichirin Blade with you when you leave."
"It is an old piece, but having it on the road is still better than going empty handed."
"You know this well. Only a blade forged from Scarlet Crimson Iron Sand can completely slay a demon."
"I will pack your things first. In three days, you set off."
The boy still did not speak.
"Kyusha, do you still have something to say to your sensei?"
Only then did the boy seem to wake from a dream and look at Kazami.
"No, Kazami-sensei."
But what the boy was thinking was:
Skip.
Skip.
Skip!
Wait, what did my bargain-bin sensei just say?
The "cutscene" that had been flashing past his eyes suddenly returned to normal.
Above his sensei's head, that same line still hung like a subtitle.
"Kyusha, do you still have something to say to your sensei?"
Natsuo hurriedly scrolled back through the dialogue log he had just skipped.
A little absentmindedly, he replied, "So, sensei, if I pass the selection, I'm officially a demon hunter?"
This kid really was as easily distracted as ever.
"Yes. Once you pass, you will run across the country slaying demons, just like I did back then," the old man corrected him helplessly. "Also, it is the Demon Slayer Corps, not 'demon hunters'."
Natsuo glanced at the trainer's head, then at himself.
Kazami Koyoshi (Power Level: 187)
Kyusha Natsuo (Power Level: 29)
That big a gap and I'm supposed to be like you, old man?
With my stats, can I really pass that Final Selection thing?
But after another thought, Natsuo decided he was probably worrying too much.
From his experience with games, tutorial mentors being ridiculously overtuned was normal.
High numbers were expected.
High level, high stats, flashy effects. If they did not sell that dream, how would players spend money?
But for main story progression, they would not set difficulty based on top-tier characters' numbers. If they did, players would curse the devs for soft-locking them.
With that logic, the Final Selection was probably dangerous in appearance, but safe in reality.
After a brief hesitation, the boy nodded and bowed.
Then he took the Nichirin Blade and prepared to leave.
But he suddenly remembered something, turned back, and said to Kazami, "Kazami-sensei, after I go, take care of yourself. Don't get taken out by some old enemy or by a demon."
Story starts. Mentor gets sacrificed.
Too many stories loved sacrificing a teacher just to celebrate the protagonist's debut.
He did not want Kazami Koyoshi to get deleted by the devs the moment he walked out the door.
After all, he had spent a long time with this teacher NPC.
He would miss him.
What he did not know was that his casual warning made Kazami's mustache bristle and his eyes widen.
"You brat, even if you die, I'll live just fine!"
"Hold that Nichirin Blade and get lost! Stop hovering in front of me!"
Watching the boy walk away under his scolding, Kazami's gaze gradually softened.
So the kid could care about people after all.
"He's grown up…"
Meanwhile, back in his room, Natsuo was already focused on studying the system panel.
On the quest panel, the main quest had updated from Prologue: Complete Sword Training to Chapter One: Complete the Final Selection to Join the Corps.
On the skill panel, only a single entry hung there, lonely.
Wind Breathing
Level 1: Beginner
Progress: 271/500
As the main quest entered Chapter One, the system unlocked a brand new Life Skills feature.
But Natsuo planned to look into that later.
He had spent nearly a year in the trainer's house for the prologue storyline, which translated to about three hours in real time.
It was time to log out and eat dinner.
Natsuo was not only "Kyusha Natsuo" inside the game. Outside the game, he was also a veteran action game player on Earth.
His hobby, of course, was playing all kinds of so-called hardcore and cutting-edge new games.
The one he was experiencing right now was a new title from a mysterious game studio, one that had not even entered open beta yet.
Demon Slayer Tale: Blood Rain and Carnage
A magic-core engine and the Onion Head AI Algorithm had pushed the visuals and physics to an extremely realistic level.
The freedom inside the game also far surpassed other studios.
And the latest seventh-generation brainwave interface plus quantum deep-dive tech had achieved a shocking time ratio of 1:2400.
Spend one hundred days in the game, and only one hour passed in reality.
Mainstream games on the market had only barely reached around 1 hour to 720 hours.
Add in the studio's consistently excellent reputation across its past releases, and the game had been hyped to the heavens before it even launched.
And Natsuo, as a well-known action game player of 2099, naturally was not going to miss the early test.
So far, his experience confirmed it. The visuals and realism truly matched the level the studio had advertised.
Miles ahead.
Absolutely, unquestionably miles ahead.
It was not only that the simulation of the five senses felt identical to reality.
His bargain-bin sensei, and the occasional visitors, even spoke and acted almost like real people.
Though in some places, the realism was a little too thorough.
Like a reeking outdoor latrine.
Or like Kazami-sensei's thunderous snoring.
Why put effort into those parts? Put your development power into the gameplay!
Complaining in his head, Natsuo kept searching through the system menu, preparing to log out.
One life, four hours, 5,000 Federation Credits.
That was the price of the test access he had managed to grab.
Not cheap.
Four hours in reality was just a little over a year in the game.
Once he finished dinner, he would come back, clear the class-change quest, and his time would probably be up.
Confirm Logout
Attempting logout… Attempting logout… Retrying (1/10)…
He idly wondered whether other players online had progressed faster than him.
Natsuo even started thinking about whether he should just eat instant noodles tonight to save time.
Protocol error detected… Retrying (5/10)…
As a test player, he was not only playing. He also had to write an experience report and submit bug feedback.
While waiting, he was already drafting the outline of the report in his mind.
Logout failed…
Warning: Unknown spacetime protocol interference detected… System conflict…
Emergency plan activated: Deep immersion mode enabled. Time ratio recalibrated to 1:8760.
Reconnected. Attempting repairs… Estimated remaining time: approximately 4 to 8 hours.
DR cognitive buffer increased.
LZ deep-dive depth increased.
"Huh?"
Coming back to himself, Natsuo stared at the greyed-out exit button and the dense wall of error messages on the panel, eyes widening.
A system error, and he could not log out?
It was already 2099. How could there still be a basic blocking bug like this?
Was the new tech really that unreliable?
And 1:8760 meant…
One hour was about a year. Four to eight hours would be four to eight years?
That meant he would miss dinner!
However, after the initial panic and frustration faded, another thought quietly surfaced.
Wait. From another angle, this was a profit, wasn't it?
He had paid for a four-hour trial ticket.
And now his trial time had basically been multiplied.
As for spending several years in the game, the cognitive buffer was already mature tech. A few years of in-game adventure under a cognitive buffer was just a longer lucid dream.
It was not like he had never pulled all-nighters grinding games.
Besides, plenty of hardcore grinders online played for dozens of hours straight to experience decades worth of in-game story.
If so, why not seize the chance and enjoy it more?
Time to grind.
Before he finally logged out, he would clear this single-player game in one life.
Natsuo opened the skill panel.
Wind Breathing, Level 1, right?
While he was still in the tutorial area, he would grind it to Level 2 in the next couple of days.
(End of Chapter)
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