Demon Slayer: I Level Up Alone

Chapter 15

As the sun rises over the mountains, darkness fades away, and insects and birds begin to stir.

"No matter how many times, watching the sunrise in this era is breathtaking..."

The sun rises from the distant mountains, its warm light illuminating every piece of land and every survivor of great calamity.

"Whoa—"

Akito closed his eyes, experiencing a breath that was entirely different from the Water Breathing technique.

But soon, the breath was interrupted.

"I have some understanding... but it's not enough. The Water Breathing technique within me has become a barrier; the transformation between the two is too difficult, and the Light Breathing technique conflicts somewhat with the Water Breathing technique..."

"No wonder in my past life, when watching anime, those Hashira said that one person cannot possess two Breathing techniques at the same time. It's not that it's impossible, but because there is a barrier between the two techniques. If this barrier is not broken, it will only cause harm to oneself..."

Akito touched the fox mask on his forehead, not knowing what he was thinking.

"Welcome back!"

The siblings, kiriya and Kanata, spoke up.

"Congratulations, everyone, it's good that you're all fine."

"And then? What should we do next?"

Someone among the trial participants asked.

"First, we will distribute team uniforms and measure everyone's sizes, then engrave the ranks. There are a total of ten ranks: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J."

"You are all currently at the lowest rank, J rank."

Akito watched from the side as they recited their lines like memorised script, feeling a bit amused.

He wondered how these two siblings managed to keep their expressions unchanged, standing still, and not even blinking for so long.

"Today, you will choose the ball steel for forging swords, but the sword forging will take ten to fifteen days."

"Before that, I have an announcement."

"Due to the presence of some exceptionally strong participants in this trial, a few do not qualify to pass."

With that, their gazes turned towards Akito.

Seeing this, Akito waved his hand, indicating his innocence; he just wanted to accumulate more sword-swinging opportunities and had no intention of saving them.

"The following names I read out are those who did not pass the trial: Shigekuni Ichirō, Nagashima Yoshiko..."

After reading out ten names, it finally ended.

However, those whose names were called erupted in protest.

"Why not? We all survived the seven-day survival trial; why aren't we allowed to pass? We refuse to accept this!"

A group of people spoke out indignantly.

"Everyone, this is for your own good. Your strength does not qualify you to pass the trial. Even if you pass this time, the subsequent missions are fraught with danger, and you would still meet your demise at the hands of demons."

The Ubuyashiki siblings spoke.

As expected, after their words, most people fell silent, as their experiences over the past seven days had terrified them.

Even the most ordinary demon was beyond their ability to slay, watching their companions being killed and devoured by demons.

If it weren't for a man saving them, they wouldn't be standing here...

Thinking of this, those who had been silent began to leave the square.

But some still refused to accept it, believing they had the strength to survive.

In response, the Ubuyashiki siblings ignored them, leaving them to their own devices.

When those few saw that the Ubuyashaki siblings were ignoring them and were about to take action, Akito moved, kicking them all away.

"Get lost, a bunch of useless trash. I should have let the demons eat you before killing them; otherwise, you wouldn't be here dirtying my eyes."

Akito said flatly.

Those who were kicked away looked at Akito with expressions of fear.

They knew Akito was ruthless, able to take on a dozen demons without a scratch, and thus gave up and left the place.

The house of the Ubuyashiki family, Kiriya, gave a meaningful glance at Akito, then clapped his hands.

A crow's call echoed in the sky.

Then, a crow landed on the shoulders of everyone present who had passed the trial.

Akito looked at the crow on his shoulder, and the crow was watching him as well.

"From now on, there will be crows following each of you," the Ubuyashiki siblings announced.

"That's pretty good. After completing the trial task, I'll try to make a contract with the crow, and then let Ritoruho and Kuro learn the beast breathing technique..."

Akito naturally named the crow he had just met Kuro and arranged a happy life for it.

"The crow is mainly used for communication."

Those who received the crow began to study it, occasionally teasing it and then touching its feathers.

"Next, please choose a piece of ball steel, slay the evil demons, protect your sword, and the steel for forging your sword is to be chosen by yourselves."

Everyone gathered in front of various pieces of ball steel.

"How... how do I choose? I have no idea how to pick..."

"Yeah, I've never seen these before..."

...

Everyone was puzzled, unsure of which piece of ball steel to select.

Akito, however, said nothing and simply stepped forward to choose a piece of ball steel that he liked.

Seeing Akito choose, everyone else began to select as well, and soon everyone had chosen their forging materials.

"Now that everyone has chosen their ball steel, your swords will be delivered to you within ten to fifteen days."

...

Thus, the final trial came to a close. akito's system was still upgrading, but the sound of task completion rang out.

"Upgrading the system is really troublesome. I wonder how long it will take to finish. The task is completed, but I can't claim the rewards. I was hoping to let Kuro learn the beast breathing technique right away..."

"I can only wait a bit longer..."

Then Akito fully dressed set off on the road back to the mount Sagiri.

Demon Slayer Corps Headquarters

A crow arrived in front of Ubuyashiki, informing him of the results of the trial.

"I see, sixteen people survived, but only six truly passed. How excellent! My children have increased again. I wonder what kind of swordsmen they will become..."

Ubuyashiki smiled as he patted the crow's body, his white eyes gazing into the distance.

...

"Compared to my past life when I saw Tanjiro return covered in injuries, is there a bit of a difference with myself now..."

Akito thought to himself, stroking his chin.

"I wonder how Tanjiro is doing now..."

"I'm really looking forward to the expression on that old man Sakonoji's face when he sees me now..."

"That feeling must be great..."

As the sun set, Akito leisurely walked towards the Mount Sagiri.

Little did he know, his breathing had changed at that moment.