AI Model: moonshotai/kimi-k2-instruct-0905
Chapter 18 – Frost Breathing (Part 1)
For the next few days, aside from occasionally returning to his Exclusive Room to "reset fatigue," Roland spent almost every waking hour inside the Training Ground.
Thanks to his relentless grind, every skill in his arsenal was now max-level.
His current skill list looked like this:
Ninja Arts Lv.10 (Max):
Proficiency: MAX
Effect: Increases slashing-type attack power by 15% and corresponding weapon proficiency;
When wielding a blade, attacks and blocks deal an extra 15% torso damage; movement noise and footprints are reduced by 20%.
Bonus 1 – Hidden Shadow: While stealthing, detection chance is reduced by an additional 15%.
Bonus 2 – Owl's Breath: When attacking an unaware target, hits to vital areas become 'executions' dealing 300% damage and restoring 10% HP and stamina.
Ninja Prosthetic Arm Arts Lv.10 (Max):
Proficiency: MAX
Effect: Increases prosthetic-weapon damage by 18% and corresponding proficiency; leaping, climbing, and vaulting gain +10 Agility; special-attack potency rises by 20%.
Bonus 1 – Fangs: Special-attack potency rises by an extra 15%.
Bonus 2 – Flying Ape: Leaping, climbing, and vaulting gain an additional 20% flexibility.
Senpou Arts Lv.10 (Max):
Proficiency: MAX
Effect: Increases bare-handed damage by 20% and corresponding proficiency; while unarmed, attacks and blocks deal an extra 20% torso damage.
Bonus – Shock: After five consecutive strikes on the same target, the next punch gains impact equal to the user's Strength stat.
Intent Lv.10 (Max):
Proficiency: MAX
Effect: Spend stamina to enter an on-the-spot 'charge' state; the next attack gains +15%–75% damage based on charge duration.
Bonus 1 – Boundless: Charged attacks gain +20% range.
Bonus 2 – Unfettered: While charging, enter Secondary Super Armor.
Secondary Super Armor: Cannot be interrupted by normal attacks and grants 25% damage reduction.
Gecko Lv.10 (Max):
Proficiency: MAX
Cost: 30 MP to activate, then 5 MP per 30 seconds.
Effect: Climb vertical surfaces without handholds; climb speed +40%.
Bonus 1 – Conceal: After remaining still while climbing for 3 seconds, enter stealth.
Bonus 2 – Venom: After staying stealthed for 5 seconds, the next attack deals +50 poison damage.
Frost Sky Breathing Technique Lv.10 (Max):
Proficiency: MAX
Effect: Inhale frost qi into the lungs; every 10% stored grants 2.5% frost resistance; spend 25 MP to exhale all stored qi, dealing up to 1,000 frost damage.
Bonus – Crystallize: At 100% storage, frost damage upgrades to ice-attribute damage.
Everything's ready—only the final two steps remain! A small stake for a huge reward: a pale-gold Tier-0 skill at minimal cost!
If this works, I'll post a guide tonight. Let's hope our data model wasn't off.
Roland drew a deep breath, calmed his racing heart, and spoke:
Summon Isshin Ashina!
Special privilege activated. High-tier mirror of Isshin Ashina from sekiro has been summoned; facility fee reduced by 50%.
Oh, my pupil! Have you completed your training?
Yes, Lord Isshin!
I've fully mastered your Ashina Style, as well as Owl's Ninja Arts, the Ape's Ninja Prosthetic Arm Arts, and Senpou Temple's fists.
Surely I'm now qualified to learn the Ashina Heartless Style!
Isshin Ashina nodded, admiration plain in his eyes.
Indeed! You truly possess the talent to cut down men. As your reward, I will guide you in the Heartless Style!
Ashina Heartless Style is the secret ultimate art created by Isshin Ashina himself.
Unlike the easier-to-learn Ashina Style, Heartless demands absolute mastery of one martial art—anything less bars entry.
In his youth, Isshin was a man who forged ever onward, ever higher.
Greedy for strength, he pursued it relentlessly.
In the end he stole a nation.
His eagerness to absorb every school and skill was his original heart,
and the reason this manual remained unfinished all his life.
Drawing from countless schools, Isshin took their best, cross-referenced them, and pushed them far beyond their origins.
Heartless Style contains advanced forms of many arts, and its open philosophy lets new techniques be woven in, ever increasing its power.
With the founder himself teaching, and every prerequisite art already maxed, Roland's progress stayed swift.
In under an hour he merged Ashina Style, Ninja Arts, Ninja Prosthetic Arm Arts, and Senpou Arts into Heartless Style, slimming his skill list.
But he wasn't done.
Next he would use Heartless Style's compatibility to fold in Water Breathing and Frost Sky Breathing Technique.
It was still integration, not true fusion—
like building a mod pack: Heartless Style as the framework, Blade Technique Specialization as the required patch, Water Breathing and Frost Sky Breathing Technique as content.
The hard part was resolving the clash between two Breathing Techniques.
As any fan knows, demon slayer: kimetsu no yaiba's Breathing Techniques expand lung capacity through set rhythms, flooding the blood with oxygen for explosive power.
In the anime, the flames, water, or lightning are just visual flourishes of sword energy—no real elements involved.
Frost Sky Breathing Technique, however, stores actual frost qi in the lungs to be spat out when needed, making it feel stiff in combat.
Understandable for an entry-level art.
But if he could channel that stored frost qi into his strikes using the Demon Slayer breathing method,
he'd keep most of the original effects while flexibly boosting sword-form damage.
Theory approved—time to test it.