After an unknown amount of time, Kilo slowly woke up from his coma once again.
Opening his eyes, a dim, yellowed ceiling came into view.
Straining his waist and abdomen to sit up, Kilo felt aches and pains all over his body; the soreness made him gasp in a breath of cold air.
Who would have thought that in just one day, he would fall unconscious twice!
Fragmented memories flooded into his mind—memories belonging to the original owner of this body.
With a splitting headache, Kilo slowly digested the complex information, only regaining his composure after a while.
Breathing the air of a survivor, Kilo tried to lift his hands, only to find them wrapped tightly in bandages.
"You're awake!"
An exclamation came from the side. Kilo turned his head and saw a pretty young girl with a look of pleasant surprise, leaning toward him.
The girl had slightly tanned skin and long, beautiful black hair. Her high bridge of the nose complemented her bright, large eyes, which were red from crying but now filled with joy as she looked at the waking Kilo.
From the girl's delicate features, it wasn't hard to see that she was a beauty in the making.
Looking at the petite girl before him, her figure gradually overlapped with the image in his memories.
Robin!
The intellectual, wise, and emotional archaeologist from the original story was currently just a young girl who hadn't grown up yet, grieving over the destruction of her hometown.
Through his memories, he learned that although Kilo's original self was a scholar studying in Ohara, he had never interacted with Robin.
Seeing little Robin with her red-rimmed eyes, clearly having just cried, Kilo was about to get out of bed when he was stopped by her startled cry.
"Your injuries are so heavy! The doctors said you need to recover for a while before you can walk!"
Looking at the bandages wrapped around various parts of his body, Kilo suddenly thought of something and asked,
"Wait, how long was I out? What happened after I collapsed?"
Robin counted on her fingers for a moment and quickly replied,
"Two days!"
"Back then, you suddenly appeared behind me and collapsed covered in blood. You gave me quite a fright, so I quickly rescued you."
"And not long after that, the Tree of Knowledge... fell!"
At this point, Robin's voice suddenly choked up.
"Mama... Sauron..."
"Maybe... Ohara only has the two of us left..."
Kilo looked at Robin, whose eyes were welling up with tears, and felt a pang of heartache.
But soon, Robin adjusted her emotions and looked at Kilo with bright eyes.
From the Pattern on Kilo's collar, Robin recognized him as a scholar of Ohara. He was only slightly older than her, making him a rare peer!
For various reasons, she felt a certain fondness for this partner she had met for the first time, especially now that their hometown was destroyed and they were the only two left to rely on each other.
She blinked her large eyes and asked with a look of expectation,
"What is your name? I've seen you in the library!"
"Oh, right! I haven't introduced myself yet! I am..."
Before she could finish, Kilo immediately answered for her.
"Nico Robin, right?"
"On the whole island, it seems no one doesn't know your name."
To his surprise, upon hearing Kilo's words, Robin took a step back, seemingly thinking of something.
In her impression, the vast majority of people on Ohara Island would treat her with prejudice because of her Devil Fruit ability.
Since he had heard her name, this young man before her must have already known about her uniqueness.
Could it be that even the companion she saved held a prejudice against her?
Robin's eyes dimmed, and a slightly aggrieved mist swirled in her eyes.
What had happened over the past few days was far too heavy for this eight-year-old girl.
She had to use her ability to carry the unconscious Kilo to find a place to rest, while also enduring the pain of her hometown's destruction and her mother's death.
No one knew how sad this little girl was in her heart.
Just as the light was fading from Robin's eyes, the sound of a finger snap interrupted her thoughts and drew her gaze over.
Kilo had sat up at some point. With a thought, a visible green hurricane actually formed out of thin air, rotating continuously around him.
With a smile, he looked at Robin, who was stunned by the scene, as if he had seen through her inner thoughts.
"Although I don't have a Devil Fruit, I have a similar power."
"We are the same kind of people, Robin."
"First time meeting you, I'm Kilo!"
Kilo was about to pat little Robin's head, but his outstretched hand suddenly froze in mid-air.
According to the information in his memories, he was currently only about twelve years old, only four years older than the eight-year-old Robin.
So Kilo urgently retracted the head pat and instead reached out his right hand.
Robin looked blankly at Kilo's outstretched right hand, and her eyes gradually lit up.
She stepped forward and grasped Kilo's right hand, joy welling up in her eyes.
On Ohara, whether it was children her age or adults, everyone held a certain prejudice against Robin.
Not just because Robin was an orphan, but mainly because of her extraordinary ability.
This ability came from the Paramecia-type Flower-Flower Fruit, which once caused Robin to be bullied and called a 'monster' by others.
And for as long as Robin could remember, Kilo was the first person she had met who had a strange ability just like her!
The smile on Robin's face was innocent and pure. Excluding Professor Clover and Sauron, Kilo was the third friend she had made!
And her only friend of the same age!
She suddenly thought of something, brought over a glass of water, and said seriously to Kilo,
"You rest well first. I'll use the pocket money Professor Clover gave me to buy something to eat!"
Kilo watched Robin jog out, feeling somewhat emotional. He hadn't expected that the eight-year-old Robin would actually become his savior.
Feeling the injuries across his body, Kilo subconsciously circulated his Breathing Technique, accelerating his recovery while sinking his consciousness inward.
As he softly called for the panel, a familiar, cold voice rang out.
[Ding!]
[Upgrade complete!]
[proficiency panel reactivated]
[Name: Kilo]
[Age: 12 years old]
[Current Skills: Pattern (Entry), Sun Breathing (Perfection), Wind Breathing (Mastery), Thunder Breathing (Mastery), Water Breathing (Competence), Flame Breathing (Competence)...]
[Current Points: 67]
[Upgrade][Deduction]
Seeing the panel that had always accompanied him reappear, Kilo's brow relaxed, and the corners of his mouth curled up.
The cheat is back, that's more like it!
Ever since Kilo transmigrated to the Demon Slayer World several years ago, he had unlocked this cheat called the 'proficiency panel.'
Through a period of exploration, he had basically mastered the functions of this panel.
It was very simple, as the name suggested—the core of this system was to improve skill proficiency through points.
And every time he defeated a powerful enemy, he could obtain a certain amount of points.
Before Kilo participated in the operation to surround and suppress Muzan, he only had 7 points.
After killing Muzan, the number immediately reached a staggering 67 points.
For Kilo, who usually spent points as soon as he earned them, he had never seen so many points before.
Points could raise the proficiency of the skills he mastered by one level. From shallow to deep, they were divided into six levels:
Entry, Skilled, Competence, Mastery, Perfection, Limit Break.
It looked very simple, but in reality, the span of each stage required years of honing in real life to cross and enter the next stage.
The final Limit Break required an especially large number of points. Kilo, who couldn't save up points, had never reached it before.
Relying on this panel, Kilo had swept through the Demon Slayer World, raising most Breathing Techniques to Competence, while a few Breathing Techniques that fit his personality were raised to Mastery.
However, the special attributes of the Breathing Techniques were only unlocked after reaching Mastery proficiency.
For example, the astral winds of Wind Breathing, the fierce flames of Sun Breathing, the lightning of Thunder Breathing, and so on.
Before that, Breathing Techniques simply increased physical attributes and did not attach these special effects.
As the only one at Perfection proficiency, the power of Sun Breathing was the strongest among all Breathing Techniques. It played a huge role in the great battle with Muzan, though unfortunately, it consumed a massive amount of physical strength.
However...
Looking at the new function that appeared at the bottom of the panel—[Deduction], Kilo's eyes lit up.
He guessed that it was very likely the warm current after killing Muzan that caused the panel to upgrade, thereby allowing the panel to update this function.
Judging from the literal meaning, this function was not as stable as [Upgrade] and had obvious uncertainty, but the rewards would likely be higher.
"A new function... Should I give it a try?"
The soul of a gambler within Kilo's body suddenly began to stir.