Kid, I suggest you stop playing with fire

Several days later.

Xia Xi returned to the remote mountains where his trainer, Kazami Kōgi, lived.

"Mr. Kazami, I'm back!"

Spotting the little house and the old man watering his fields, the boy called out from afar.

Although he had practiced his Breathing Style and sword forms during breaks in his travels these past few days, he was still a long way from level four...

If only I could run two more "high-quality dungeons" like that.

All I'd have to do is grind mobs and train my skills.

He had saved up another achievement point, but he still needed at least six more to reach level four.

But dumping all the points in at once wouldn't maximize their value. It feels like a bit of a waste...

As he pondered this, he saw the old man set down his carrying pole and water buckets.

Then the old man hurried toward him.

At first, he merely walked briskly, but he grew faster and faster, his robes billowing in the wind.

With the visual effects enabled, that charging figure looked nothing like an old man running.

He looked exactly like an aged beast riding an invisible storm, roaring toward him.

That speed. Those effects.

My bargain-bin master's Wind Breathing has to be at least LV5.

"It's been a while, sir..."

Thump!

Kazami Kōgi pulled Xia Xi into a tight embrace, squeezing hard enough to hurt a little.

"You're back. That's what matters, you little brat."

Huh?!

What kind of special story event is this?

Xia Xi was taken aback.

Did I skip some affection event earlier? Before I left, this bargain-bin master was always scowling and scolding me for my "sloppy breathing" and "weak swordplay."

Why was he suddenly so... emotional?

After a moment of stunned silence, Xia Xi chose not to skip the cutscene.

Come to think of it, this game is way too realistic.

The exhaustion of days on the road, the exhilaration of a blade drinking blood, the lingering fear after brushing against death, and now...

The weighty warmth of the old man's embrace.

None of it could be summed up by a few brief status labels on a system panel.

In a daze, Xia Xi suddenly remembered a Spring Festival many years ago.

He had come home from out of town with his luggage on his back, pushed open the door, and seen his father standing in the light.

His father had silently hugged him just like this.

When the embrace grew a little uncomfortable, his father had smiled and patted his back.

It's the same warmth.

"Old... Mr. Kazami."

Xia Xi gently patted the old man's slightly stooped back, his voice softer than he realized. "I passed the selection. I'm home."

Why is my nose stinging?

Damn you, lousy devs. Making me get emotional over something like this!

That night.

For once, he neither trained nor pondered anything, choosing instead to get a good night's sleep.

The next day, when the sun was already high in the sky.

Xia Xi finally entered the training hall, yawning.

That was such a good sleep. Even all my fatigue and negative debuffs are gone.

Xia Xi sat down in front of Kazami Kōgi and began eating the oden the old man had prepared.

Once again, he did not skip the cutscene.

He simply ate while chatting with Kazami Kōgi, sharing everything he had encountered on his journey with a touch of excitement.

His stories had the old man, who had not traveled far in years, bristling and glaring.

"What do you mean, high stats? Special skills? Unbalanced late game? Oh, you mean those demons have stronger bodies than ours? That's true. You can't fight them head-on..."

"What? You actually encountered a demon with a Blood Demon Art?! No wonder you changed swords. You really went through a lot, Kurumaji..."

"You've even mastered Total Concentration. You're progressing so quickly..."

"You think Oyakata-sama might be a schemer? Impossible. Absolutely impossible. Both the previous Oyakata-sama and our current one were kind and courageous men..."

"You even saved other swordsmen? What? There was a young girl too? Tell this old man everything..."

"You can request custom weapons? That's a first for me too..."

"I never imagined that after only a year of training, you would already be an accomplished swordsman, Kurumaji."

Kazami Kōgi sat up straight.

He addressed Xia Xi.

"Truly remarkable!"

"Naturally, I shouldn't keep treating you like a child."

"There are some things I ought to tell you."

"There are many kinds of demons. Aside from ordinary demons, there are those that have gained greater strength by eating people."

Xia Xi nodded.

Those were essentially the kinds of demons he had killed on this trip.

No technique, no skills. Aside from a handful with excessively high stats, they were basically trash mobs.

It was not just him.

Other demon-slaying swordsmen could generally handle them too, provided they were careful.

"But the more dangerous ones are those that possess special abilities called [Blood Demon Arts]."

"Like the one you encountered during Final Selection."

"They each have unique abilities, and their individual strength ranks among the best of all demons. Add the fact that their abilities are unknown, and they're extremely dangerous."

Kazami then gave several examples of demons that had left a deep impression on him.

A demon that could teleport by repeatedly stamping the ground.

A demon that could unleash inextinguishable flames with its gaze.

A demon that could hypnotize people into seeing illusions.

"No matter how skilled your swordsmanship is, you can still fall into their traps if you don't know their abilities."

Got it. Mechanics-based mobs.

Just like that demon with the Rust-Rust Fruit ability this time. A casual touch was enough to inflict [Weapon Destruction].

Without a Nichirin Blade, an ordinary swordsman could do nothing to it.

"However..."

"Even these demons with Blood Demon Arts aren't the truly dangerous ones."

"Because no matter how dangerous an ability is, the demon wielding it still has a body of flesh and blood."

"You can behead it with a Nichirin Blade."

"And once it's beheaded, it dies."

"Kurumaji, once you start carrying out missions on your own, you must pay attention to the demons' eyes."

"Especially demons with numbers in their eyes-the Twelve Kizuki."

Kazami took a deep breath and gave him a solemn warning.

"The moment you see one, have your Kasugai Crow call for help

and request support from higher-ranking swordsmen, or even a Hashira."

"Don't try to defeat one on your own. They aren't opponents you can beat as you are now."

"Calling for help, holding them off, or even stalling until sunrise forces them to retreat."

"Any of those counts as your victory."

"If all else fails, you can abandon the mission and flee."

Xia Xi was somewhat surprised.

That was hardly something he expected his old-fashioned master to say.

And the Twelve Kizuki?

Xia Xi said, "So these demons don't have Four Heavenly Kings, but Twelve Heavenly Kings? What is this, the twelve houses of the zodiac?"

"The Twelve Kizuki," Kazami corrected. "Six Upper Ranks and six Lower Ranks. Every one of them has physical abilities far beyond ordinary demons, along with a unique Blood Demon Art."

"You could call them the elite guard of the Demon King, Muzan Kibutsuji."

Xia Xi asked curiously, "What about this Demon King, then? How strong is he? Could he take on all twelve of his guards by himself?"

As a power-scaling enthusiast, how could he not be curious?

Noticing how much more animated Xia Xi became when discussing demons, Kazami cautioned him.

"I don't know how strong he is, but he's certainly stronger than his guards... the Kizuki."

"All demons are created from his blood. You could say he's the creator of every demon. He certainly can't be weak."

"I'm telling you, don't go looking for him to take revenge now. That would be suicide. Neither you nor I can defeat him as we are."

"Besides..."

"There hasn't been any reliable information about him in over a century. Nobody knows where he is."

Oh, a mysterious hidden final boss.

Maybe the devs haven't finished making him yet, and he's just a background character.

Rather than feeling afraid, Xia Xi found himself looking forward to it.

After all, were challenges and difficulties in games not meant to be conquered through a player's ingenuity and skill?

Overcoming the designers' challenges one by one-that exhilarating satisfaction and the rewards within the game were what players like Xia Xi valued most.

He continued asking, "Leaving the Demon King aside, Mr. Kazami, let's just talk about the Twelve Kizuki. What would your chances be against them?"

After all, Kazami was the friendly NPC with the highest stats he had encountered so far.

Using him as a benchmark should give Xia Xi a rough idea of the Twelve Kizuki's strength.

Kazami pondered for a moment, then finally decided to tell the boy before him.

"Although the Lower Ranks are replaced from time to time... they aren't unbeatable."

"In my prime, perhaps I could have defeated Lower Rank Three or Four if I put my life on the line."

Xia Xi asked, "Sir, have you met a Lower Rank?"

Kazami replied irritably, "No, but I've met swordsmen who killed Lower Rank Three and Four. I consider myself no worse than them."

Tch. A prideful old man.

Still, these Kizuki really are pretty tough.

Master Kazami's current stats were already at 187, on top of a Breathing Style above LV5.

Judging by the demons Xia Xi had fought, an ordinary demon probably could not beat Kazami even with stats of two or three hundred.

No, a Blood Demon Art would make a real difference.

That demon with the Rust-Rust Fruit ability had stats below 50, yet it had put him under more pressure than demons in the seventies or eighties.

If every one of the Twelve Kizuki had high stats and a sufficiently powerful Blood Demon Art...

Then they really were beyond an ordinary swordsman's league.

Then...

"What about the Upper Ranks? How strong are the Upper Ranks of the Twelve Kizuki?"

Kazami answered with silence.

After a long while, he finally said, "I don't know."

He doesn't know?

Does my bargain-bin master think the gap is so huge he wouldn't last even a few moves?

"Because for nearly a century, no one who has seen an Upper Rank has survived."

"They all died?"

"Yes. They all died."

Every member of the Demon Slayer Corps who had encountered an Upper Rank had fallen.

With them dead, there was naturally no intelligence to gather.

Nobody knew what those six Upper Rank demons looked like, or where they hid among the tens of millions of people in the Far East.

Nor did anyone know what abilities they possessed.

Xia Xi frowned. "What about the Hashira? Aren't there nine of them? Surely they might know something."

As the Demon Slayer Corps' strongest fighters, perhaps they had power equal to the Upper Ranks.

Isn't that how the other game's setting works? The [Organization of Death Gods] is weaker than the villains, but they can still put up a good fight against the ten [Masked Demons] later.

But Kazami merely glanced at him.

Then he shook his head again.

"I'm talking about the [Hashira]."

"The nine Hashira positions have almost never all been filled. Partly because talent in the Demon Slayer Corps is dwindling."

"But the main reason is that Upper Rank demons have killed a great many Hashira."

"Even the Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps struggle to survive against an Upper Rank."

Xia Xi: ???

They're that strong?