Strength Analysis

Morning, seven o'clock.

Kurozawa waited at the station, still shaken.

Last night, after saying goodbye to Hongyue, every step he took had felt exceptionally heavy.

Only after he could no longer sense her gaze upon him did Kurozawa finally breathe a sigh of relief, only to discover that his clothes were soaked through with cold sweat.

"There was actually a giant Buddha hidden in Asakusa."

"This trip was well worth it. Truly well worth it."

Standing in the waiting area, Kurozawa's mind was filled with thoughts of Hongyue.

He had already classified Asakusa as a high-risk area. Unless he became strong enough, there was no way he would ever come back.

Hongyue was most likely the ultimate existence in the Demon Slayer World—the Demon Progenitor, Muzan Kibutsuji.

"Just her presence alone made me feel completely powerless."

"The gap in strength is far too great."

"I just don't know whether my current Power of Despair can hurt her."

Kurozawa guessed that it could probably injure her, but only slightly.

When Pitch-Black Aura struck demons, simply hitting their bodies required a great many accumulated blows to kill them.

Damaging the brain could kill them instantly, but Kurozawa was not sure whether that would work just as effectively against exceptionally powerful demons.

That still needed to be tested. After all, every demon he had killed so far had been extremely weak.

Those feeble demons on Mount Fujikasane could not be compared to the demons outside that fed on blood and flesh every day.

"Should I still go to Hachijo Island now, or should I head straight back to Mount Sagiri and tell Master about Hongyue?"

"No, forget it."

"I'll go to Hachijo Island first and think about how to handle this along the way."

"Right now, the Demon Slayer Pillars only have three left after the Stone Pillar, Flame Pillar, and Flower Pillar retired."

If Kurozawa remembered correctly, in the original story, the Demon Slayer Corps at its peak had eight or nine Pillars, along with a powerful group of protagonists. Only when all of them joined forces did they manage to fight Muzan Kibutsuji to an almost mutually destructive end.

Even if they found him now, they could not beat him.

Muzan Kibutsuji had always avoided the Demon Slayer Corps' search, but that did not mean he feared them.

After an intense internal struggle, Kurozawa decided to go to Hachijo Island first and complete his mission.

During that time, he would carefully consider what to do about Hongyue.

Chug, chug, chug. Before long, accompanied by a thunderous roar, a steel beast gradually entered Kurozawa's field of vision.

Gray paint, enormous steel wheels, billowing steam... The black train slowly came to a stop after entering the station.

Kurozawa glanced back once, then stepped forward and left Asakusa.

On the train, Kurozawa found his seat.

Since the journey to the Hachijo Island ferry terminal would take a long time, he had bought a sleeper ticket.

Kurozawa had the lower berth. Across from him, the upper and lower berths were occupied by a man and a woman who looked to be in their thirties. Judging by their conversation and mannerisms, they were probably a married couple.

The upper berth above Kurozawa belonged to a tall girl who was no more than twenty.

The moment Kurozawa entered, the girl's gaze had been helplessly drawn to him.

After casually observing his surroundings for a moment, Kurozawa lay down on his berth and closed his eyes to rest.

At the same time, his Breathing Technique began circulating, constantly tempering his body.

Out of the corner of his eye, Kurozawa checked his current attributes.

Strength 0.59, Agility 0.54, Constitution 0.63, Intelligence 0.29.

Through Potential Points and his own Breathing Technique training, the average of his four physical attributes—aside from Intelligence—was close to reaching 0.6.

"The speed at which my strength has improved is making even me nervous."

"Hongyue... whoever you really are, when I return to Asakusa next time, we'll get properly acquainted."

Kurozawa felt that his physique should barely be able to catch up to a Demon Slayer Pillar's.

However, the Pillars' sword forms were all extremely formidable. If they truly fought, Kurozawa was most likely still no match for them.

"Judging by the pressure Hongyue gave me, if her physical stats could also be displayed as numbers, what would they be? An average of 1.5? Or above 2?"

Considering that demons were naturally blessed with powerful physiques, the possibility of her being above 2 was very high.

After reviewing his physical attributes, Kurozawa turned his attention to his special attributes.

As for Skills, Water Breathing Sword Forms remained at Tier 2, while Water Breathing remained at Tier 4. Neither had improved.

His Charm Stat, on the other hand, had increased considerably. His smile in particular had changed so much that when Kurozawa looked in the mirror, he had nearly failed to recognize the dazzlingly smiling version of himself.

The price, however, was that his Potential Points had dwindled to a pitiful forty-odd points.

Given the number of Potential Points Kurozawa now needed to raise his attributes, forty-odd points were basically as good as nothing.

Immortal Man-Eating Demon Power of Despair: 63 points

"Mm, the Power of Despair has been steadily increasing."

"The density and coverage of the Pitch-Black Aura have indeed been expanding along with the increase in the Power of Despair."

"Given enough time, forging a sword from despair and turning despair into armor may not be impossible."

"My overall strength should have fully reached the level of a Lower Rank demon moon."

After analyzing his own strength and combining it with the information Sakonji Urokodaki had given him about the Lower Rank demon moons, Kurozawa came to this conclusion.

"If I could gain Hashira-level mastery over sword forms, I might even be able to fight an Upper Rank."

"Unfortunately, nothing is perfect. My talent for sword forms is simply too poor."

Sabito had practiced swordsmanship for only a year or two, yet his mastery of sword forms had already caught up to Kurozawa's. Kurozawa, meanwhile, had trained in sword forms for more than ten years. If not for his Breathing Technique reaching the Constant stage, he would have already been surpassed by his junior brothers and sisters.

If Kurozawa's sword forms had been strong enough, his Nichirin Blade would not have broken when he fought the Hand Demon.

It was precisely because he understood that sword forms were not his strength that he decided to focus on his Breathing Technique, prioritizing the improvement of his physique.

"No matter what world it is, the word talent really does make people feel powerless."

"If it weren't for Gray-White, I might have spent my entire life as nothing more than a background extra."

"I won't think about that for now. It's time to rest for a while."

On the rapidly moving, constantly swaying train, Kurozawa did not exchange a word with the people nearby. Before long, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Because of what had happened the previous night, Kurozawa had remained vigilant and gone without sleep all night. Combined with several days of travel, he was already exhausted, his eyes densely bloodshot.

Yet even in sleep, Kurozawa's Breathing Technique continued to circulate without pause.

That was the strength of the Constant stage of the Breathing Technique, known as the threshold of Hashira-level power.

It operated at every moment—while eating, walking, spacing out, or sleeping. At all times, it subtly improved the user's physique, even granting swordsmen bodies capable of contending with demons!

Time passed bit by bit, from the early morning to noon, then from noon to dusk.

The train was lively. Once the passengers nearby became acquainted, they opened up and began chatting familiarly.

Kurozawa, however, remained asleep, utterly unaffected by the noise around him.

The married couple in the upper and lower bunks opposite him marveled at how deeply Kurozawa could sleep, while also complaining about how noisy the train was.

In truth, Kurozawa looked completely dead to the world, but even his sleeping body remained poised to spring up at any moment.

This was one of the results of swordsman training on Mount Sagiri.

Sakonji Urokodaki possessed an ability called suggestion, which helped his disciples condition their brains to filter out safe information and designate the sounds and movements of real danger as warning triggers. Once triggered, they would awaken instantly.

This suggestion allowed swordsmen to sleep peacefully while maintaining complete vigilance.

In the original story, Sakonji Urokodaki had successfully suppressed Nezuko's bloodthirsty nature through uninterrupted suggestion.

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