Chapter 1: Wait, Where's My Log Out Button?
"Kokonoe, this old man has nothing left to teach you."
Far East. Deep in the mountains of Honshu.
A silver-haired old man, his face carved with the deep wrinkles of time, stood with his back to the teenager in the training dojo. He spoke slowly, his voice raspy.
"You have mastered every sword form. You have grasped the Breathing Style."
"You have stepped through the gate."
" according to the traditions of the Demon Slayer Corps, you must now head to the Final Selection... Only by surviving that can you become an official member."
Sensing the silence of the boy behind him, the old man felt a ripple of emotion in his heart.
His name was Kazami Koichi. He was a retired swordsman and a Sodate—a cultivator of the next generation of slayers.
Behind him stood the student he had poured his heart and soul into for the past year: Kokonoe Natsuya.
The boy had excellent talent. He was hardworking, steady, and possessed a pure heart.
But now that the boy had truly learned all his techniques and was ready to graduate, Kazami felt a knot of anxiety tighten in his chest.
Tradition or not, the mortality rate of the Final Selection was terrifyingly high.
After living together for a year, he had come to see this young man as his own nephew or son. He couldn't bear the thought of sending him to his death.
But when Kazami turned around, what he saw was that same calm, unshakable face.
It was the same look the boy had worn one year ago, when Kazami had rescued him from the bloody aftermath of a demon massacre.
His eyes were pure and abyssal.
The old man finally steeled his resolve.
The Demon Slayer Corps exists to destroy evil.
If he joined the Corps, he must have already accepted the inevitability of death.
"Kokonoe, take this katana with you when you depart."
"It is an old thing, but having it on the road is better than fighting with your bare hands."
"You know this well—only a blade forged from Scarlet Crimson Iron Sand and Ore can truly kill a demon."
"I will prepare your travel gear. You will depart... in three days."
The boy remained silent.
"Kokonoe... do you have nothing to say to your master?"
The boy, Natsuya, seemed to snap out of a trance. He looked up at Kazami, blinking.
"No, nothing, Kazami-sensei."
[Internal Monologue]
What Natsuya was actually thinking was...
Skip.
Skip.
SKIP!
Wait, hold on. What did my cheap Master just say?
The "cinematic cutscene" that had been speeding past his eyes suddenly returned to normal speed.
A subtitle box still floated above the Master's head: [Kokonoe... do you have nothing to say to your master?]
Natsuya quickly scrolled up to check the dialogue log he had just skipped.
He replied, somewhat absent-mindedly, "So, Sensei, if I pass the selection, I become an official demon hunter , right?"
This kid. 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 with a sigh. "Also, it is the Demon Slayer Corps, not 'demon hunter'."
Natsuya looked at the text floating above the Sodate's head, then looked at his own status bar.
[NPC: Kazami Koichi (Power Level: 187)]
[Player: Kokonoe Natsuya (Power Level: 29)]
With that kind of stat gap, how can you expect me to be like you, old man?
With my current stats, can I actually pass this so-called Final Selection?
But on second thought, Natsuya figured he was worrying too much.
Based on his years of gaming experience, the tutorial NPC is always supposed to be overpowered. It's a standard trope.
High levels, high stats, flashy special effects—if the devs didn't paint a pretty picture of end-game power, how would they trick players into buying microtransactions?
However, for the main quest line, they wouldn't balance the enemies based on the mentor's stats. If they tuned the difficulty that high this early, the players would rage-quit and curse the developers' mothers on every forum known to man.
Thinking of it that way, the Final Selection was probably just a scripted event. Scary but safe.
After a brief hesitation, the boy nodded and bowed respectfully.
He took the rusted Nichirin Sword and turned to leave.
Then, remembering something, he turned back to Kazami.
"Kazami-sensei. After I leave, take care of your health. Don't let some old nemesis or a random demon sneak attack you while I'm gone."
The plot begins, the mentor dies.
Too many stories love to sacrifice the master to celebrate the protagonist's debut.
He didn't want to walk out the door only for the devs to kill off Kazami Koichi the moment the scene changed. After all, he had spent a long time with this NPC. He'd actually miss him.
Unbeknownst to him, his casual advice made Kazami blow his top.
"You brat! Even if you die, this old man will still be alive and kicking!"
"Take the sword and get out! Stop lingering in front of me!"
Watching the boy's back recede amidst his scolding, Kazami's eyes slowly softened.
That kid... he actually knows how to care about people.
"He's really grown up..."
Meanwhile, back in his room, Natsuya was focused entirely on his System Interface.
On the Quest Panel, the Main Mission had updated from [Prologue: Complete Swordsmanship Training] to [Chapter 1: Complete the Final Selection].
In the Skill Panel, a single entry hung lonely in the void:
[Wind Breathing]
[LV.1 Novice]
[Proficiency: 271/500]
With the start of the first chapter, the System had also unlocked a [Life Skills] tab.
But Natsuya decided to check that later.
He had spent nearly a year in the Sodate's hut in-game. Converting that to real-world time, about three hours had passed.
It was time to log off and get some dinner.
Natsuya wasn't just "Kokonoe Natsuya" in the game. In the real world—Earth, year 2099—he was a hardcore action game fanatic.
His hobby was testing the most cutting-edge, "hardcore" games on the market.
Currently, he was participating in the closed beta for a mysterious new title from an unannounced developer.
[Demon Slayer Tales: Chronicles of Blood and Wind]
Powered by the Magic Core Engine and Onion-AI Algorithms, the game's art style and physics engine were terrifyingly realistic.
The degree of freedom within the game was lightyears ahead of any other developer.
Using the latest Gen-7 Brainwave Interconnect and Quantum Deep-Dive Technology, the time dilation between the game and reality had reached a staggering 1:2400.
One hundred days in-game was only one hour in reality.
For context, mainstream games on the market barely managed a 1:720 ratio.
Combined with this developer's history of excellence, the game was already being hyped to the moon across the entire internet before it even launched.
As a renowned gamer of 2099, Natsuya naturally wouldn't miss the chance to grab a beta key.
From his current experience, the graphics and realism were exactly as advertised.
Way ahead.
Absolutely leagues ahead.
It wasn't just the simulation of the five senses. His "Cheap Master" and the occasional visitors behaved and spoke almost exactly like real human beings.
However, sometimes the realism was a bit too obsessive.
For example, the eye-watering stench of the squat toilet.
Or Master Kazami's thunderous snoring at night.
Why put so much effort into those details?! Put that dev time into the gameplay mechanics, dammit!
While mentally complaining, Natsuya navigated the menu to log out.
One life. 4 hours real-time. Cost: 5,000 Federation Credits.
That was the price of his beta test qualification. Not exactly cheap.
4 hours IRL meant a little over a year in-game.
He planned to eat dinner, then log back in to finish the class-change quest (Final Selection) before his time ran out.
[Confirm Log Out]
[Attempting to disconnect... Attempting to disconnect... Retry (1/10)...]
I wonder if any other players have progressed faster than me?
Natsuya thought idly, considering if he should just eat instant noodles to save time.
[Protocol Fault Detected... Retrying (5/10)...]
As a beta tester, he wasn't just playing; he had to write reviews and bug reports. He was already drafting the report in his head while waiting.
[Log Out Failed...]
[WARNING: Unknown Spacetime Protocol Interference Detected... System Conflict...]
[Emergency Protocol Activated: Deep Immersion Mode Enabled. Time Dilation synchronized to 1:8760.]
[Connection Re-established. Attempting Repairs... Estimated Time: Approx. 4-8 Hours.]
[Cognitive Buffer Increased.]
[Deep Dive Level Increased.]
"Hah?"
Snapping back to attention, Natsuya stared blankly at the grayed-out [Exit Game] button and the wall of error text. His eyes went wide.
System failure? Can't log out?
It's the year 2099, how does a game still have such a basic soft-lock bug?!
Is this new tech really this unreliable?
And wait... 1:8760?
One hour equals one year. 4 to 8 hours IRL?
That's 4 to 8 years in-game?!
I'm definitely going to miss dinner!
However, after the initial panic and dissatisfaction subsided, another thought quietly surfaced.
Wait. Look at it from another angle. Isn't this... pure profit?
He had only paid for a 4-hour trial.
Now, the system was giving him a massive time extension for free.
As for spending years in a game?
Cognitive Buffering was mature technology. Years of adventure in a game would feel like nothing more than a very long, vivid lucid dream once he woke up.
It wasn't like he hadn't pulled all-nighters before. There were "hardcore grinder" players online who stayed submerged for dozens of hours to experience decades of game plot.
Since that's the case... why not seize this opportunity?
Let's grind!
I'll aim to beat this single-player game in one life before the server kicks me out!
Natsuya summoned his Skill Panel.
[Wind Breathing: LV 1], huh?
Alright. Before I even leave the starter village, I'm grinding this thing to Level 2!