Chapter 426: Demon Slayer
Konoha looked exactly as Ryū remembered it, nothing much having changed. If anything had shifted at all, it was simply the temperature — noticeably warmer than before.
Made sense, given the calendar was creeping toward February — spring's own warmth setting in naturally. No reason for spring to feel colder than winter, after all.
"120,000 Points from that last quest — need to think carefully about how to actually put that to use."
Ryū wasn't in any rush to spend it, though. His current strength already sat comfortably at the very peak of the Dimensional Chat Group's hierarchy.
Deciding exactly where to allocate that balance called for some genuine thought.
Ki didn't need any further investment for now — it had only just gotten its quality upgrade recently, and at its current tier, dumping the entire 120,000 into it wouldn't move the needle much at all.
Mirror-space magic, on the other hand, seemed worth focusing on — his current version could only open a space roughly the size of a few Konohas stacked together, and that clearly wasn't nearly enough room to properly cut loose in.
Beyond that, Armament Haki and Observation Haki could both use a proficiency boost too — both abilities had already broken past their normal ceilings entirely, no cap left to worry about.
And his often-neglected Devil Fruit ability was probably overdue for some attention as well.
Out of the 120,000 Points, Ryū figured 30,000 toward the Devil Fruit ability, leaving roughly 90,000.
Of that, 60,000 into mirror-space magic, expanding its usable area significantly — enough, at least, to properly cut loose inside it. Maybe not quite enough for his absolute full power, but certainly not cramped anymore either.
The remaining 30,000 he split evenly — 15,000 into Observation Haki, 15,000 into Armament Haki — a modest proficiency bump for both.
All told, this would nudge his overall strength up another notch.
Because, honestly, at his current level, 120,000 Points wasn't nearly enough to trigger any dramatic leap in power anymore — even a modest bump had gotten genuinely difficult to pull off.
120,000 Points, at this point, bought him only the smallest sliver of additional growth.
Of course... for someone weaker, that "smallest sliver" of growth on his end would still look absolutely suffocating in scale.
After careful consideration, Ryū committed the full 120,000 Points, and could feel, with total clarity, the subtle changes rippling through his own body as a result.
He took a deep breath, and just as he was about to go shower and finally rest, a notification chime suddenly rang out from the Dimensional Chat Group.
Resigned, he let his consciousness slip in — and blinked, mildly startled, muttering to himself. "Seriously? Quests are coming this fast this month? And this time it's an invitation quest?"
The notification wasn't a private message, wasn't someone tagging him, and wasn't another system update — it was, in fact, an Invitation Quest.
Which meant a new member was on the way. Genuinely, quests and newcomers both seemed to be piling up unusually fast lately.
[Invitation Quest: The newcomer "Kamado Tanjirō," from the world of Demon Slayer, was meant to stay overnight at the base of the mountain for reasons unknown, but instead chose to head home up the mountain.
Along the way, however, he's encountered a minor demon not present in the original story, and now finds himself in mortal danger!
Please assist newcomer "Kamado Tanjirō" in eliminating this vicious demon and helping him escape the crisis!
Time limit: 24 hours
Participants: 1
Reward: 100 Points]
Invitation quests worked differently from group quests — group quests were now tiered from one to six, but invitation quests carried no tier restriction at all. Any member, regardless of power level, could take one on.
"Kamado Tanjirō — isn't that Demon Slayer's own protagonist? I remember it being some new anime — think I only made it through five, six episodes before... yeah, before I transmigrated."
Ryū's expression shifted into genuine surprise. He hadn't expected this newcomer to turn out to be this particular show's actual lead.
Out of every anime protagonist he could think of, this particular one had one of the roughest openings imaginable — Kamado Tanjirō was the poster child for "entire family wiped out before the story even properly begins."
Even his own sister, Nezuko, had turned into a demon by that point — sure, demons technically still existed in the world, but in a sense, that counted as a kind of death in its own right too.
Really, only that legendary "starting orphanage" protagonist trope could give Tanjirō a run for his money in the misery department.
Setting aside the mental commentary, Ryū didn't hesitate for a second, claiming the quest immediately.
Invitation quests, unlike group quests, only ever triggered when a newcomer landed in genuine mortal danger — sometimes with barely a second to spare before it turned fatal.
Especially given the quest's own description: Tanjirō, right now, was still an ordinary human. Under those circumstances, even the weakest, most ordinary demon could kill him outright without much trouble.
Ryū activated his own crossing permissions and vanished on the spot — his chair hadn't even had time to cool down before he found himself crossing into yet another world.
Demon Slayer had been a genuinely dominant anime hit, leaning heavily into that classic passionate, hot-blooded shonen style — and its female lead happened to be the protagonist's own sister.
Not that anyone should get too excited about that detail — theirs was a perfectly wholesome, ordinary sibling relationship.
Though, admittedly, the animation studio did occasionally slip in a few sibling-focused fan-art-style shots during transitional scenes here and there.
Say what you like, but somewhere on that animation staff, there had to be at least one kindred spirit of Ryū's own particular tastes.
He'd actually meant to catch up on the manga back in his old life too, but he'd transmigrated before he ever got the chance.
From what Ryū remembered, Demon Slayer's overall power scaling wasn't especially high — probably below One Piece's, if he had to guess. Drop practically any random Warlord of the Sea into that world, and they'd probably end up the final boss without much effort.
The moment Ryū materialized in the world of Demon Slayer, his legs sank straight into a thick blanket of snow.
Looking down at the deep snowpack covering the ground, he murmured to himself, "Winter, huh... right, come to think of it, the story does open in winter. This must be right around the opening massacre arc."
Observation Haki spread out instantly, blanketing the entire mountainside — letting him "see" plenty at once.
Kamado Tanjirō himself, caught in genuine danger.
A house soaked in blood, bodies scattered across the floor.
The forest, thick with the unmistakable presence of death, hanging in the air all around.