Jiuche Xiaxi [Wands][Chariot][Star]
[Power Level: 29]
┣ Body: 12
┣ Skill: 7
┗ Mind: 10
Combat Skill — Wind Breathing
[Wind Breathing]
┣ Lv.1: Just Barely Learned the Basics
┣ Progress: 271/500
┗ Forms Mastered 9/9:
[First Form: Dust Whirlwind Cutter]
[Second Form: Claws, Pure Wind]
[Third Form: …]
Discarding the bloated, flashy interface design common to most games, the panel before Xiaxi was exceptionally clean and easy to read.
Jiuche Xiaxi was the game name the system had automatically generated based on what he entered during character creation.
It was a special feature meant to preserve immersion and prevent players from inputting bizarre nonsense into the story.
After all, during some dramatic life-or-death farewell scene, if an NPC suddenly cried out names like "Mr. Wolf-Fang Potato," "Little Armstrong Cyclone Jet Armstrong Cannon," or "Brother J↑e↓"…
…it would absolutely ruin the atmosphere.
As for the words that appeared after his name, those were background tags randomly rolled during character creation.
[Reversed — Wands]
You have become a torch of hatred and poison: both your parents were killed by villains, and the younger sister who depended on you was devoured by a demon.
Effect: Slightly increases the sympathy of others; slightly increases willpower in battle.
[Upright — Chariot]
You wear wounds like decorations: for you, fighting? Killing? It is as natural as eating and drinking.
Effect: Slightly increases damage dealt in battle; slightly improves the effects of training.
[Reversed — Star]
With your spine as your sword, you walk against the mediocrity of the world: an unyielding will and a rebellious backbone ensure that you never bow your head.
Effect: Reduces the debuffs caused by physical injury in battle; slightly increases attributes when facing powerful enemies.
"…Ehh…"
Staring at the tags, Xiaxi fell into brief thought.
He played games for fun; he was, at heart, a purebred human supremacist gamer. In other titles he was always the type to shout things like "For the Emperor of Mankind!" or "Purge all xenos!"
This time too, he had picked the human race before entering the game, but he had never really paid close attention to the background settings the system rolled for him.
Looking at them now, they were all combat-oriented tags.
So it was an orphan start, huh…
No wonder his master always looked at him with that mixture of sympathy and understanding.
As for his stats, they were similarly simple—just three:
Body (physique / physical condition),
Skill (technique / combat technique),
Mind (精神 / willpower).
All together they only added up to 29 points, not even a fifth of Master Kazami's.
If he remembered correctly, when this character had first started, the total had only been around 10.
It was through this year of training, together with his breathing practice, that the numbers had slowly climbed.
And as for Breathing—
that was the game's primary combat system.
By cultivating this technique, one tempered the body and battle skill into something far stronger.
Using that as a foundation, humans could fight demons, creatures far beyond ordinary mortal limits.
The weak triumphing over the strong.
Every strike landing with impact.
Breaking each move with another.
A traditional action game, in other words.
Xiaxi knew the genre well.
So after more than half a year of physical conditioning, his character had needed only three or four months to master the essentials of this breathing style and all its sword forms…
Even by Kazami Sarayoshi's standards as a longtime trainer, Xiaxi's training speed counted as remarkably fast.
"But if they're really throwing you into a high-mortality selection exam right after you've barely entered the path…"
Could it be that the Demon Slayer Corps had so much manpower that they could afford to waste rookies' lives at will?
The setting was an old-fashioned Far East world, with humans and monsters locked in brutal combat—an action game through and through. Was the plot really going to pull that classic old Eastern cliché of 'if you lack the resolve to die, then perish now'?
He could think whatever he liked, but his hands never stopped moving.
Taking up a perfect stance, Xiaxi began once more to swing his wooden sword again and again.
Two hours of basic swings.
Two hours of breathing training.
Two hours of sword-form practice.
Between each set, another half-hour of meditation or going up to the hilltop to sense the movement of the wind.
That was the training plan his instructor Kazami had designed for him.
Of course, in the beginning there had also been physical conditioning and sparring drills with wooden swords, but once Xiaxi's strength had risen above 10 and he had learned Wind Breathing, those foundational exercises had gradually taken up less of the schedule.
He still had three days left.
Xiaxi decided to seize the time and see whether he could raise his Breathing level a little further.
Very quickly, he felt his awareness gradually slipping away from his body.
This meant he had entered [System Assist Mode].
Modern games, to spare players the boredom of repetitive content and preserve the experience, often accelerated actions like repeated training or dull stretches of travel.
For Xiaxi, that basically meant he would train and train until the game shifted into what felt like auto-play, letting the system animate the drills while fast-forwarding the in-game clock.
Experience +1
Experience +1
…
In short, all he had to do was watch the stat panel and collect, with his own eyes, the fruits of his hard work.
And while Xiaxi was fully absorbed in sweating his life away through training,
inside the distant house, Kazami Sarayoshi silently watched the boy's efforts.
In his eyes,
Xiaxi had always been a silent and extremely disciplined child.
He never played around. Never slacked off.
He never once complained that the training assignments he was given were too hard.
As long as it wouldn't kill him, he would push himself like it might.
He never allowed himself even a moment's rest.
Kazami naturally knew why.
His sister's death.
In the flames, she had cried and screamed as a Lower Rank demon slowly devoured her alive.
The sheer horror of that scene—
let alone for a teenage boy—
was enough that even Kazami himself found it difficult to recall.
The impact it had left on Xiaxi had simply been too great.
He didn't know whether that blazing hatred for all demons would one day burn the boy to ashes, or instead become the strength that carried him forward.
The old man unconsciously tightened his grip on the window frame.
The wooden frame let out a faint creak beneath his palm.
"I hope that effort of yours, and that fury, will help you pass the Final Selection."
Morning gave way to dusk, and then dawn again.
Two days passed in the sweat shed by the young man.
[Wind Breathing]
┣ Lv.1: Just Barely Learned the Basics
┗ Progress: 316/500 (+45)
Martial skill was, in the end, the result of a thousand days of work—not something that could be achieved overnight.
After two sleepless days of grinding, all Xiaxi's effort and sweat had earned him, aside from a [Fatigued] status effect, was nowhere near enough to push Wind Breathing to Level 2.
That said, a visibly growing pace like this was already nothing short of genius compared to most other swordsmen.
"Not enough time… Hm? Did a new feature unlock?"
Seeing that there was no longer enough time, Xiaxi finally ended his harsh training.
As he wiped away the sweat, he noticed a new prompt on the system panel.
Inside the newly unlocked [Life Skills] tab, two newly lit icons had appeared.
[Basic Sword Swings Lv.1 (17/500)] (NEW)
[Physical Training Lv.1 (89/500)] (NEW)
Almost reflexively, he expanded them to view the details.
[Basic Sword Swings Lv.1 (17/500)]
Summary: The foundation of swordsmanship lies in the tempering of heart, spirit, and body. It is also the essence of cultivation.
Effect: Slightly increases the speed of sword-training growth.
[Physical Training Lv.1 (89/500)]
Summary: Forge a strong body and lay a solid foundation for future cultivation.
Effect: Slightly increases the growth speed of Strength and Agility.
At the same time, another message popped up—one Xiaxi had not expected at all.
[Achievement Points obtained ×2]
[These points can be used to increase the level of combat skills.]
…Huh?
Xiaxi blanked for a moment.
Could this… actually be the game's core mechanic?
Unlocking life skills could raise the level of Breathing?
So as long as he went insane grinding life skills, he could feed endless points into his core breathing style?
Wasn't this basically him drawing circles with one hand and squares with the other, grinding stats to the sky?
He immediately switched back to the Breathing screen.
Sure enough,
a [+] symbol had appeared next to [Wind Breathing].
With a thought, a faint projected progress bar appeared over his experience gauge—the preview of how much progress he would gain by spending achievement points.
[Experience +325]
[Please note: Current Breathing Compatibility: 65%]
[Achievement Point conversion loss: 35%]
…Wait, what?
Xiaxi couldn't help freezing again.
This level-up system for Breathing actually had conversion loss?
He suddenly remembered that Master Kazami had once said that there were many schools of breathing in the world.
There was no absolute hierarchy among them,
but because each person differed in physique, temperament, and spiritual disposition, the results they got from different breathing styles also varied.
Even the power of the corresponding sword forms would be affected.
Translated into game terms, that meant:
every person had a Breathing style most suited to them.
The higher the compatibility, the smoother the training and the stronger the techniques.
The lower the fit, the more effort for worse results.
And only now did Xiaxi realize that Wind Breathing did not seem to be his ideal match.
Did that mean he should switch to another style?
Would his bargain-bin master slap him with a "betrayer of the school" debuff if he did?
Damn it, devs—get out here and take your beating!
He cursed inwardly, but in the end his body was perfectly honest and chose to spend the points.
After all, this was the only Breathing style he had at the moment.
A cheerful ding that only Xiaxi could hear rang out.
[Wind Breathing Lv.1 → Lv.2]
[Just Barely Learned the Basics → Moderately Proficient]
[Progress: 141/1000 (+325)]
[Power Level: 29 → 35]
┣ Body: 12 → 16
┣ Skill: 7 → 8
┗ Mind: 10 → 11
[Your mastery of your sword forms has increased!]
"This rank naming really feels like it was copied straight out of some wuxia game next door…"
He had barely finished muttering when
a warm current, gentle as a spring breeze, surged through his entire body.
Jiuche Xiaxi froze for an instant, then his eyes lit up, and even his cheeks flushed slightly with excitement.
Ohhh!
Here it comes… that long-lost feeling of breakthrough!
He could feel it clearly—
Power.
Power was flooding into him!
-------
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