"Kurumaji, there is nothing more I can teach you."
In the Far East, deep in the mountains of Honshu.
An old man with silver hair and a deeply lined face stood with his back to the boy in the training yard and spoke slowly.
"You have mastered all the sword forms, along with the Breathing Style."
"With that, you have learned the basics."
"According to Demon Slayer Corps tradition, you must now attend the final selection... Pass, and you will become a full-fledged member."
When the boy behind him remained silent, unease stirred in the old man's heart.
His name was Kazami Kōgi. He was a retired swordsman and a cultivator-a trainer dedicated to raising demon slayers.
Behind him stood the student he had poured a year's worth of effort into teaching, [Kurumazuka Natsumi].
The boy had considerable talent.
Hardworking, steady, and pure of heart.
Yet now that his student had truly mastered all his skills and was about to leave his tutelage, Kazami found himself torn for the first time in years.
By tradition, the final selection Xia Xi would attend next had a substantial death rate.
After a year together, he had come to see this young man as family. He could hardly bear to see him face such danger.
But when Kazami Kōgi turned around,
he saw the same steady face as always,
unchanged from a year ago, when he had taken the boy away from the scene of his family's massacre.
His eyes were clear and deep.
At last, the old man made up his mind.
The Demon Slayer Corps existed to destroy demons.
Having joined the Demon Slayer Corps, surely the boy had already prepared himself to die.
"Kurumaji, take this Nichirin Blade when you leave."
"It may be old, but having it on the road is better than going empty-handed."
"As you know, only a blade forged from crimson red iron sand can destroy demons completely."
"I shall pack your things first. In three days... you will set out."
The boy still said nothing.
"Kurumaji, is there... anything else you wish to say to your master?"
Only then did the boy named Kurumaji seem to wake from a dream and look at Kazami.
"No, Mr. Kazami."
But what the boy was thinking at that moment was...
Skip.
Skip.
Skip!
Oh, wait, what did my freebie master just say?
The "cutscene" flashing past his eyes suddenly returned to normal speed.
The subtitle [Kurumaji, is there... anything else you wish to say to your master?] still hovered above his master's head.
Kurumazuka Natsumi quickly reviewed the dialogue log he had just skipped.
Somewhat distracted, he replied, "So, Master, once I pass the selection, I'll be a full-fledged member of the Witchers?"
This boy was still so easily distracted.
"Yes. Once you pass, you will travel the country slaying demons, just as I did in my youth." The old man corrected him helplessly. "Also, it is the [Demon Slayer Corps], not the [Witchers]."
He glanced above the cultivator's head, then at himself.
[Kazami Kōgi (Power level: 187)] [Kurumazuka Natsumi (Power level: 29)]
With that huge a stat gap, how was I supposed to do what you did, old man?
Could I really pass this final selection with my stats?
But on second thought, Xia Xi felt he might be worrying too much.
In his past gaming experience, overpowered mentors were standard fare in tutorials.
High stats were normal, too.
It was all about flashy high levels, high numbers, and spectacular effects. How else would they entice players to spend money?
The main story, though, didn't have to be balanced around those powerhouses' stats. If the developers set the numbers that way and left players stuck, their mothers would never hear the end of it.
Seen that way, the final selection would probably be a scare rather than a real danger.
After a brief hesitation, the boy nodded and bowed.
Then he accepted the Nichirin Blade and prepared to leave.
Suddenly remembering something, he turned back to Kazami. "Mr. Kazami, take good care of yourself after I leave. Don't let some old enemy or demon ambush you."
The plot begins, and the master gets sacrificed.
Far too many stories liked to celebrate their protagonist's debut by sacrificing a mentor.
He didn't want the developers to kill off Kazami Kōgi the moment he stepped outside.
After all, he had spent quite a long time with this mentor NPC.
He would miss him.
Little did he know that his casual parting remark had made Kazami bristle and glare.
"Why, you little brat! I'll still be alive and well long after you're dead!"
"Take your Nichirin Blade and get out! Stop hovering in front of me!"
As he watched the boy walk away amid his scolding, Kazami Kōgi's gaze slowly softened.
So this boy knew how to care about others, too.
"You've grown up..."
Meanwhile, back in his room, Xia Xi had already begun studying his system interface intently.
On the quest panel, the main quest had updated from [Prologue: Complete swordsmanship training] to [Act one: Complete the final selection for admission].
Only a single entry hung all alone on the skill panel:
[Wind Breathing Style] [LV.1: Novice] [Progress: 271/500]
As the main story entered its first act, the system unlocked a new [Life Skills] feature.
But Xia Xi planned to examine it more closely another day.
The prologue he had spent studying at the training house had lasted almost a year. Converted to real-world time, nearly three hours had passed.
It was time to log off and have dinner.
Xia Xi was not only [Kurumazuka Natsumi] in the "game." Outside it, he was also a veteran action-game player from Blue Star.
Naturally, his hobby was trying all sorts of supposedly hardcore, cutting-edge new games.
The title he was currently playing was a new game from a mysterious developer that had yet to enter open beta.
"Tale of Demon Slayer: Blood and Fury"
The Magic Core Engine and Onion-Head AI Algorithm had brought the game's visuals and physics engine to an extraordinarily realistic level.
Its degree of freedom was also far ahead of anything other developers offered.
The latest Seventh-Generation Brainwave Link and Quantum Deep-Dive Technology had pushed the ratio between real time and game time to an astonishing 1:2400.
A hundred days in the game passed in just one hour in reality.
By comparison, mainstream games on the market had barely reached a ratio of one hour to 720 hours.
Add to that the consistently excellent reputation of the developer's past games.
Before the game had even been released, the entire internet was already singing its praises.
And Xia Xi, as a well-known action-game player in 2099,
naturally wasn't about to miss its early-access test.
Judging by his experience so far, the graphics and realism really did live up to the mysterious game company's advertising.
Far ahead!
Absolutely miles ahead!
It wasn't just that the simulated five senses felt identical to reality.
His freebie master and the other occasional visitors also spoke and behaved almost exactly like real people.
Still, some aspects were a little too painstakingly realistic.
The reeking outhouse, for instance.
Or Master Kazami's thunderous snoring.
Why put so much effort into those things? Put that development talent into the gameplay!
Grumbling inwardly, Xia Xi searched through the system interface to log off.
One life, four hours, 5,000 Federation Credits.
Those were the terms of the test slot he had managed to snag.
It wasn't exactly cheap.
Four hours amounted to just over a year in the game.
Once he finished dinner, came back, and completed the class-change quest, his trial time would probably be over.
"Confirm logout."
[Attempting logout... Attempting logout... Retrying (1/10)...]
I wonder if anyone online has progressed faster than me.
Xia Xi pondered idly, even considering whether to make do with instant noodles tonight to save time.
[Protocol error detected... Retrying (5/10)...]
As a playtester, he wasn't merely supposed to play the game. He also had to write up his experience and submit bug reports.
While he waited, he was already outlining his report in his head.
[Logout failed...] [Warning: Unknown spacetime protocol interference detected... System conflict...] [Emergency procedure initiated: Enabling deep immersion mode. Time-flow synchronization calibrated to 1:8760.] [Connection restored. Attempting repairs... Estimated time remaining: Approximately 4-8 hours] [DR cognitive buffering increased] [LZ deep-dive level increased]
"Huh?"
Snapping back to attention, Xia Xi stared blankly at the grayed-out exit button and the error messages crammed across the panel, his eyes widening.
A system failure? I couldn't log out?
It was already '99. How could a basic game-breaking bug like this still exist?
Was the new technology really this unreliable?
And 1:8760-that meant...
One hour was roughly a year. Four to eight years?
Wouldn't I miss dinner?!
Yet after his initial panic and dissatisfaction gradually subsided, another thought quietly surfaced.
Wait. Looked at another way, wasn't this a win for me?!
He had only paid for a four-hour trial pass.
Now his trial time had suddenly been doubled.
As for spending several years inside the game?
Cognitive buffering was already a very mature technology. With it, several years of in-game adventures would feel like nothing more than a somewhat longer lucid dream.
It wasn't as though he had never pulled an all-night gaming session before.
Not to mention the countless hardcore grinders online, who played for dozens of hours straight to experience decades of game story.
In that case, why not seize this chance to have some more fun?
Time to grind!
I'd try to beat this single-player game in one life before logging off.
Xia Xi brought up the skill panel.
[Wind Breathing LV1], huh? While I was still in the starter area, I'd try to grind it up to level 2 over the next couple of days!
Before you continue