"Natsunishi, I have nothing left to teach you."
In the deep mountains of Honshu, in the Far East.
An elderly man with a face lined like a parched riverbed stood with his back to a youth in the training yard, speaking slowly.
"You have mastered all the sword forms, along with the Breathing Style (Technique)."
"As such, you can be considered to have crossed the threshold."
"According to the traditions of the Demon Slayer Corps, the next step is to participate in the Final Selection... Pass it, and you will become an official member."
Seeing the youth behind him remain silent, the old man felt a ripple of emotion in his heart.
His name was Kazami Sarayoshi, a retired swordsman and a Cultivator—one specifically tasked with training those who hunt demons.
The youth behind him was the student he had poured a year of effort into teaching: Kuguruma Natsunishi.
This young man possessed decent talent. He was hardworking, composed, and pure of heart.
Yet, now that the boy had truly learned all his techniques and was about to complete his apprenticeship, Kazami felt a long-absent sense of hesitation. According to tradition, the Final Selection Kuguruma Natsunishi was about to face carried a high mortality rate. After a year together, he had long since come to view this young man as a nephew or son, and he truly couldn't bear to see him walk into such danger.
But when Kazami Sarayoshi turned around, he saw that same composed face as always. It was identical to the expression the boy wore a year ago when Kazami had rescued him from the scene of a family massacre.
His eyes were pure and deep.
The old man finally made up his mind.
The Demon Slayer Corps—slayers of evil demons. Since he had entered this path, he must have already prepared himself for death.
"Natsunishi, take this Nichirin Sword when you depart."
"Though it's an old piece, having it on the road is better than being empty-handed. You understand that only a blade forged from Scarlet Crimson Sand Iron can truly exterminate a demon."
"I will pack your gear first. You shall depart... in three days."
The youth remained silent.
"Natsunishi, do you... still have something to say to your master?"
The youth named Kuguruma Natsunishi finally snapped out of it as if waking from a dream, looking toward Kazami.
"No, Mr. Kazami."
What the youth was actually thinking at that moment, however, was...
Skip.
Skip.
Skip!
Darn, wait, what did my cheap master just say?
The "animation" that had been rapidly flashing before his eyes suddenly returned to normal. Floating above his master's head was still the subtitle: [Natsunishi, do you... still have something to say to your master?]
Kuguruma Natsunishi quickly reviewed the dialogue log he had just skipped.
A bit absent-mindedly, he replied, "So, Master, once I pass the selection, I'll be an official member of the Demon Hunters?"
This kid, still so prone to spacing out.
"Yes. Once you pass, you will have to travel across the country to slay demons, just as I did in my day," the old man corrected helplessly. "And it's the 'Demon Slayer Corps,' not 'Demon Hunters.'"
Kuguruma Natsunishi looked at the floating text above the Cultivator's head, then at his own.
[Kazami Sarayoshi (Energy Level: 187)]
[Kuguruma Natsunishi (Energy Level: 29)]
With such a massive gap in stats, how could I be like you, old man? With my current stats, can I actually pass this 'Final Selection' thing?
But on second thought, Kuguruma Natsunishi felt he might be overthinking it. According to his past gaming experience, it was normal for mentors in the tutorial stage to have overpowered stats. High values were standard. They were designed to show off high levels, high stats, and flashy special effects. If the developers didn't dangle that carrot, how would they get players to spend money?
As for the main storyline, the difficulty shouldn't be set based on the stats of these powerhouses. If they balanced the game that way, the players would be cursing the developers' families for making it impossible to progress.
Thinking this way, the Final Selection would likely be a breeze.
After a brief hesitation, the youth nodded and gave a polite bow. He took the Nichirin Sword and prepared to leave.
Suddenly remembering something, he turned back to Kazami. "Mr. Kazami, after I leave, take good care of your health. Don't let some old enemy or a demon catch you off guard."
The plot begins, the master is sacrificed. Too many stories liked to celebrate the protagonist's debut by sacrificing a mentor to the plot. He didn't want Kazami Sarayoshi to be killed by the game's writers the moment he stepped out the door. After all, he had spent a significant amount of time with this mentor NPC. He'd actually miss him.
Little did he know that his casual instruction made Kazami huff with indignation.
"You brat! I'll still be living well long after you're dead!"
"Take your Nichirin Sword and get lost! Stop loitering in front of me!"
Watching the figure walk away amidst his scolding, Kazami Sarayoshi's gaze gradually softened.
This kid... so he does know how to care for people.
"He's grown up..."
On the other side, having returned to his room, Kuguruma Natsunishi focused intently on studying his system panel.
On the Quest Panel, the main quest had updated from [Prologue: Complete Sword Training] to [Chapter 1: Complete the Final Selection].
In the Skill Panel, only a single record hung lonely:
[Wind Breathing]
[LV.1 - Novice]
[Progress: 271/500]
As the main quest entered the first chapter, the system had unlocked a brand-new "Life Skills" feature. However, Kuguruma Natsunishi planned to study that carefully later.
He had been in the prologue plot at the Cultivator's house for nearly a year. Converted to real-world time, roughly three hours had passed. It was time to log off and eat dinner.
Kuguruma Natsunishi wasn't just "Kuguruma Natsunishi" in the game; outside the game, he was a hardcore action gamer from Earth. Naturally, his hobby was playing all the so-called "hardcore" and cutting-edge new games.
The one he was currently experiencing was a new game from a mysterious developer that hadn't even begun its open beta yet.
Demon Slayer Tale: Blood and Wind.
The Magic Core Engine and Onion-Head AI algorithms had pushed the game's artistic effects and physics engine to an incredibly realistic level. The freedom within the game far surpassed other developers.
The latest seventh-generation Brainwave Interconnectivity and Quantum Deep-Dive technologies allowed the game-time-to-real-time ratio to reach a staggering 1:2400. One hundred days in the game was only one hour in reality. For context, mainstream games on the market barely managed a ratio of 1:720.
Combined with the developer's consistently excellent reputation, the game was already being hyped to high heaven across the internet before its release.
As a well-known action gamer in the year 2099, Kuguruma Natsunishi naturally wouldn't miss the early access testing for this title. Based on his current experience, the graphics and realism had indeed reached the levels promised by the mysterious company.
Far ahead of the competition! Absolutely far ahead!
It wasn't just the simulation of the five senses that felt real. His cheap master and the other occasional visitors spoke and acted almost indistinguishably from real people.
However, it was perhaps a bit too meticulously realistic in certain areas. For instance, the foul-smelling pit latrines. Or Master Kazami's thunderous snoring.
Why put effort into those things? Put that development power into the gameplay instead!
While grumbling internally, Kuguruma Natsunishi navigated the system panel to log out. One life, four hours, five thousand Federal Credits—that was the cost of the testing slot he had managed to snag. It wasn't exactly cheap.
Four hours in reality was a bit over a year in the game. After he ate dinner and came back to finish the "class advancement" quest, his testing time would probably be over.
[Confirm Logout]
[Attempting logout... Attempting logout... Retrying (1/10)...]
I wonder if any other players online are further ahead than me, Kuguruma Natsunishi thought idly, even considering whether to just settle for instant noodles for dinner to save time.
[Protocol failure detected... Retrying (5/10)...]
As a tester, he wasn't just there to play; he also had to write a playtest report and bug feedback. While waiting, he was already mentalizing the draft of his report.
[Logout failed...]
[Warning: Unknown Spatio-Temporal Protocol interference detected... System conflict...]
[Emergency Protocol Initiated: Enabling Deep Immersion Mode. Time-flow synchronization calibrated to 1:8760.]
[Reconnected. Attempting to repair... Estimated time remaining: approx. 4-8 hours.]
[DR Cognitive Buffer increased.]
[LZ Deep-Dive depth increased.]
"Huh?"
Snapping back to his senses, Kuguruma Natsunishi stared blankly at the greyed-out exit button and the dense error messages on the panel, his eyes widening.
System failure? Unable to quit? It was already '99—how could such a basic blocking bug still exist? Was the new technology really this unreliable?
And 1:8760... wouldn't that mean...
One hour roughly equals one year? Four to eight years?
That means I'm going to miss dinner!
However, after the initial panic and dissatisfaction subsided, another thought quietly surfaced.
Wait, looking at it from another angle, I'm actually making a profit?!
He had only paid for a four-hour experience voucher. Now, his experience time had been massively multiplied. As for spending several years in the game? Anyway, Cognitive Buffering was a very mature technology. A few years of adventure in a game, under the influence of the buffer, would be nothing more than a slightly long lucid dream.
It wasn't like he hadn't pulled all-nighters grinding games before. Not to mention the many "grind-lords" on the internet who played for dozens of hours straight to experience decades of in-game plot.
In that case, why not take this opportunity to enjoy himself more?
Time to grind!
He would strive to beat this single-player game in one life before logging out.
Kuguruma Natsunishi called up his Skill Panel.
[Wind Breathing LV.1], right? Since he hadn't left the beginner village yet, he'd try to grind it to Level 2 in these next two days!