Pre-Initiative.
It was a unique skill Igarashi Usen had gradually honed through five years of grueling training.
He extrapolated the immediate future from muscle movements, shifts in balance, vast amounts of environmental information, where his opponent was looking, and the details of his surroundings.
Against ordinary people, he could predict roughly 80% of their possible actions over the next three seconds.
It worked about as well against ordinary demons.
Against stronger demons with outrageous physical abilities, however, the technique became much less effective.
If his opponent reacted faster or possessed a similar predictive technique...
The effective window of Pre-Initiative would shrink to around one second.
The more familiar he was with his opponent, of course, the better Pre-Initiative would work.
Naturally, the technique was useless against the strange, unpredictable effects of Blood Demon Arts.
There was no way to determine what those superpower-like abilities did simply by observing an opponent's body and movements.
At most, he could detect the instant a Blood Demon Art was about to activate.
Igarashi set down his cup, his voice as calm as still water. "But one second is already enough to do a great deal."
One second was enough for Sabito to slice apart the wooden target balls thrown during still-water training.
One second was enough for Kanae to use the Thrusting Sword Form to leap nearly twenty or thirty meters.
One second was enough for Uzui to throw more than a dozen specially made bombs and knock them toward his opponent with his blades.
And for Igarashi Usen, the [Mist Pillar] who already stood at the pinnacle of the Demon Slayer Corps...
One second was enough to behead the vast majority of demons and mince the rest of their bodies with a storm of flashing steel.
Xia Xi: Got it!
This was prediction and combat execution pushed to the absolute limit!
Then another thought occurred to him.
I can see the names and icons of Blood Demon Arts directly.
If I learned this skill, wouldn't I be even stronger than this senior brother I got for free?
"You're absolutely right, senior brother."
Xia Xi said solemnly, "Please, you must teach me [Pre-Initiative]."
Igarashi nodded. "Of course."
"But for today, finish your coffee first, then come take a walk around Yokohama with me."
He had learned quite a bit from Master Kazami's letter.
For instance, this junior brother of his was stubborn.
Every day, he was either thinking about how to kill demons or training himself half to death in preparation for revenge.
But people weren't machines. They needed rest.
Besides, his junior brother had come from a little mountain village. As his senior brother, he ought to show him some proper hospitality in the city.
Xia Xi said, "There's no need to waste time, senior brother. I think we can start this afternoon."
Igarashi pushed up his glasses. "No. This is part of your training."
Train well, study well, slay demons well, eat well, and rest well. Those were the training principles he lived by.
And so...
After lunch, Xia Xi was taken to see Yokohama Bashamichi by his senior brother.
Together with a few of Igarashi's close friends who were ordinary civilians, they also visited a theater and a department store.
They strolled down Japan's first gaslit street and ate the earliest, most authentic ice cream in the Far East.
He saw fashionable modern girls and European and American merchants, along with the harbor's old-fashioned redbrick walls and elegant musical performances at the opera house.
Xia Xi even had a somewhat familiar drink, [Calpis], in the rooftop garden of the Mitsukoshi department store.
This was a city steeped in romance and vitality.
Western influences were everywhere.
Xia Xi caught glimpses of modern life in more than one place.
I'm actually browsing stores and strolling the streets in a foreign country inside a game?
It was a pretty remarkable experience.
Still...
It felt nice.
The next day, Igarashi began teaching him as promised.
Their daytime "classes" took place in Yokohama's streets and alleys.
He had Xia Xi observe porters.
He took him to watch sailors work.
He led him to busy streets to watch every person's words and movements.
He had him watch how their muscles exerted force, the curvature of their spines, the movements of their hands, and the expressions on their faces...
Xia Xi's task was to [watch], then [remember] everything.
Their nighttime "classes" involved taking Xia Xi along on missions and having him learn Igarashi's methods of observation and various demon-slaying techniques.
By the second week, he began having Xia Xi try to make predictions.
He had to close his eyes and name three things the person he had observed might do next.
These weren't wild guesses, but predictions made through observation, understanding, and drawing conclusions.
And at night...
He gradually began allowing Xia Xi to participate in his missions as well.
He also had him try to understand the [logic] behind demons' movements.
The results were modest, but Xia Xi could feel that he was starting to get an inkling of the Pre-Initiative Igarashi spoke of.
Of course, learning this predictive technique wasn't all Xia Xi did.
Igarashi continued to instruct him in swordsmanship.
He helped Xia Xi grow familiar with the four Breathing Styles and how they generated force, accelerating his mastery of them.
He also used Pre-Initiative while sparring with him in the courtyard.
When they went out to slay demons at night...
He would sometimes have Xia Xi fight a demon blindfolded during a mission, while he stood nearby to guard him and offer pointers.
Whenever Igarashi had to travel far away for a mission...
He would send Xia Xi to the various kendo schools and martial arts halls in Yokohama.
There, he would spar with swordsmen and martial artists without using any Breathing Styles.
The point wasn't to win.
It was to understand other people's techniques and [logic] across different combat styles and systems.
Of course, their weekly breaks were never neglected either.
The Mist Pillar always took him out to enjoy Yokohama's luxurious lifestyle.
After two months...
Although he hadn't mastered the [Pre-Initiative] the Mist Pillar spoke of, Xia Xi had still gained a great deal.
His Thunder Breathing had broken through to LV.4.
His progress in Wind Breathing had also passed the halfway mark.
His life skills had improved as well.
Not only had he unlocked five new skills-[Dojo Challenge], [Insight], [Baking], [Drinking], and [Luxury Appraisal]...
His long-neglected [Practice Swings] had also risen to LV.3.
His achievement points had been replenished to 8.
Kurumazuka Natsumi [Power level: 189]
I'm seriously terrifyingly strong now!
But what delighted him most was that his custom-made secondary Nichirin Blade had finally arrived.
In a secluded Japanese-style room arranged by the Mist Pillar, the visitor knelt quietly.
He was stocky and wore clothing in a style distinctive to the Far East.
Naturally, the most conspicuous thing about him was the oddly shaped, even somewhat comical "ugly" mask on his face.
But Xia Xi didn't care about that.
After all, weapon merchants in other games were even stranger: a blindfolded bald old man, a green-skinned peddler carrying an enormous rack of goods, or a big white cat holding a cane.
By comparison, the merchant before him wearing an ugly mask was actually pretty normal.
Xia Xi was quite respectful of others, even if this man had a fetish for ugliness.
"Where are the blades?"
"Master Kurumaji, I am Hido Tamamaru of the Swordsmith Village."
His voice came muffled through the mask, but it was extraordinarily respectful.
A purple silk-wrapped bundle lay beside him.
"The prototype 'Punch Daggers' you requested are complete."
"The village chief responsible for forging them, Master [Tetsuchikawahara], is advanced in years and has difficulty walking, so he cannot travel far. I have come to present them on his behalf."
He carefully untied the silk cloth, revealing the weapons inside.
About the length of a forearm, they were a pair of gleaming metal weapons with sleek, vicious contours.
Rather than traditional Nichirin Blades, they looked more like a combination of blades and armored gauntlets.
Each had a transverse grip, with a curved cutting edge of scarlet crimson sand iron extending forward from the joint.
They could be used for both thrusting and slashing.
Xia Xi picked them up.
Sure enough, having been forged as Nichirin Blades, they underwent another complicated series of color changes.
Last time, it had left a Kakushi member dumbfounded.
This time, it was the Swordsmith Village's smith's turn.
Fortunately, they finally settled into a silvery white. Otherwise, Xia Xi suspected the masked man opposite him might have prostrated himself in apology.
The man's first assumption had also been that there was a quality issue.
Looking at the new weapons in his hands...
Then glancing at the three swords at his waist...
Xia Xi felt his enthusiasm for naming blades flare up again.
Since their names were [Sandai Yasushi], [Jinmailie], and [Tongyi Maru]...
The new weapons would naturally be called...
Xia Xi made his decision.
"I'll call them [Severing Wind]!"
(Something like this, probably. The outside of the fist section is just a striking surface.)
Before you continue