Terrifying Ability

The instant Nita Taku died, indescribable things surged into Kurozawa's body.

He focused his mind on the Gray-White symbol in his field of vision, and sure enough, it changed.

Strength: 0.33.

Constitution: 0.41.

Agility: 0.31.

Intelligence: 0.20.

Potential Points: 65.

Skills: Water Breathing, Fourth Stage (Upgradeable); Water Breathing Sword Forms, Second Stage (Not Upgradeable)

The Power of Despair now had a new living-being branch.

Power of Despair (Immortal Man-Eating Demon): 1 point.

(The earlier text has been revised. Potential Points and the Power of Despair have been changed from percentages to numerical points.)

"Potential Points were previously at 55, so they increased by 10. Just as I expected, when I killed ants before, my Potential Points seemed to increase slightly. It was just a tiny amount. Like the Power of Despair, killing any living being can earn Potential Points and the Power of Despair."

Kurozawa looked at the newly added Potential Points, rubbing his chin as he considered where best to allocate them.

He tried focusing his mind on Water Breathing, but Water Breathing showed no reaction at all.

It seemed that 65 Potential Points still were not enough to raise Water Breathing again.

That made sense. The Total Concentration: Constant-stage sword forms were already the highest-level sword forms Kurozawa had ever heard of. Although the Status Panel indicated that they could still be upgraded, it would surely consume a massive amount of Potential Points.

"Keep accumulating Potential Points and raise Water Breathing to an unknown Fifth Stage... Forget it. I'll use them. I, Kurozawa, am naturally gifted. If I rely on my own training, I might be able to reach the Fifth Stage anyway."

Who knew how many Potential Points he would need to accumulate to improve Water Breathing, which was already at the Fourth Stage?

And the Swordsman Trial was only a month away. Kurozawa decided it would be better to improve his strength a little more first.

"Strength, Constitution, Agility, Intelligence."

"My innate Constitution is the highest. It surpasses my other three attributes by quite a bit, so that's my advantage."

Kurozawa carefully analyzed his physical attributes without rushing to improve them.

The amount of Potential Points required to improve physical attributes was not fixed. As his attributes changed, the exact amount of Potential Points required would change as well.

Potential Points were extremely valuable, and Kurozawa did not want to waste them carelessly.

"Improving Strength would further increase my offensive power. My fists and feet would become weapons. Improving Agility would enhance my ability to pursue and flee. As for Intelligence, the analytical ability, thinking ability, logical ability, and so on brought by 0.2 Intelligence are already sufficient."

"Strength and Agility are both good choices."

After carefully considering it, Kurozawa made his decision, and 50 Potential Points vanished in an instant.

At the same time, a strange sensation suddenly came from deep within his body.

"Haah... that feels good!"

The sensation was incredibly comfortable, beyond description. Every cell in Kurozawa's body seemed to be immersed in a warm ocean, while countless tiny mouths and hands continuously massaged and altered his cells, rapidly increasing the strength of every kind of cell within him.

The process lasted a full ten minutes or so.

More than ten minutes later, Kurozawa's body trembled slightly, and he suddenly shuddered.

"This feeling... it really makes you crave more."

Kurozawa half-closed his eyes, recalling the sensation that had lasted for over ten minutes. His breathing grew somewhat heavy.

A few seconds later, he opened his eyes, wariness visible within them.

"If someone lacks sufficient willpower, they might become addicted after experiencing that sensation."

"Fortunately, I, Kurozawa, am kind, pure, and strong-willed. I won't be influenced by such lowly desires."

Strength: 0.37, Constitution: 0.51, Agility: 0.33, Intelligence: 0.21. That's right—Kurozawa had feinted and ultimately chosen to improve his Constitution.

It was simply because Constitution would let him last longer. It was absolutely not because he feared death.

At the same time, the other three attributes had all improved to varying degrees.

The body's four attributes were closely interconnected. Whenever one main attribute was improved, the others would change as well, and for now, those changes were all beneficial.

However, Kurozawa guessed that if he kept improving Strength, then once the disparity between his attributes reached a certain point, would Agility begin to decrease if he continued raising Strength? The human body was a balanced system. Every attribute was important, so he could not mess around like that.

After his Constitution improved, Kurozawa examined his body and found that the outlines of his muscles seemed to have shrunk slightly. However, the fibers composing them had become more refined and powerful, and his skin also felt far tougher.

He touched the edge of his Nichirin Blade to his arm and gave it a light slice.

A faint white mark appeared on his skin. Kurozawa slowly increased his strength until he was using roughly one-fifth of his power before the blade finally broke his skin and left a bloody mark.

That shallow wound was actually healing at a visible rate. It should close within a few minutes.

Seeing this, a satisfied smile appeared on Kurozawa's face.

"If I keep improving my Constitution, I wonder whether I can reach the level of demons, where even severed limbs regenerate instantly."

"One day, I, Kurozawa, will stand still and let people chop at me until my enemies drop dead from exhaustion."

Potential Points: 15.

After glancing at his remaining Potential Points, Kurozawa looked forward to the Swordsman Trial in a month even more.

By then, with the Demon Slayer Corps' intelligence network, he would be able to actively hunt demons and rapidly increase his Potential Points.

"Come to think of it, people can also increase Potential Points. And people are everywhere—there are no telling how many more of them there are than demons."

Having tasted the benefit of gaining 10 Potential Points at once from killing a demon,

A terrifying thought began to grow in Kurozawa's heart.

Yet after only a second, Kurozawa strangled that thought in its cradle.

"If I really did that, I would only become a slave to power, lose myself in addiction and depravity, rather than becoming the master of power."

"But if someone comes looking for trouble, I wouldn't mind seeing how many Potential Points a human can give me!"

Though he said that, at that very moment, Kurozawa realized just how terrifying his ability was.

He had stopped that thought, but it was like the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. It kept surfacing, impossible to eradicate, tempting Kurozawa to pluck it.

"Everything has two sides. An ability this useful also conceals terrifying consequences."

Kurozawa shook his head. He could only warn himself to remain true to his heart and be careful not to become a slave to power.

Other than that, he had no good solution. Or rather, there was no solution at all.

As long as he desired power, such thoughts would continue to emerge without end.

And because of his experiences in his previous life, Kurozawa was precisely the kind of person who craved power. Every improvement to his physical attributes filled him with sincere joy and pleasure.

"Enough thinking about this. Thinking won't help."

After taking a deep breath, Kurozawa exhaled his chaotic thoughts and looked at the bloodstained sack on the ground ahead.

He walked over and untied the sack.

A pungent stench of blood filled the area.

Inside the sack was the corpse of a girl around seventeen. She had delicate features, and a massive hole had been torn through her chest.

Judging from the wound, she had been killed when claws tore directly through her chest.

"Hmph, suicide?"

The part of what Nita Taku said about having a daughter was probably true. Otherwise, his acting would have deserved an Oscar.

But as for collecting corpses to eat and never having eaten people before, Kurozawa could only sneer.

That guy had probably just been stalling for time and looking for an opportunity.

Kurozawa had played along with him for a while to see whether the Power of Despair would increase when he was desperate, but he had never let down his guard, leaving the other party no chance to act.