04. After a Whole Week of Exp Farming

Since I already suspected that I was in the anime world, I intended to create a sword using the ore and sand containing sunlight energy. If I remember correctly, the katana wielded by demon slayers contained sunlight energy as well, but I just forgot the name.

Anyway, I attempted to make a sword. Unfortunately, I'm not a blacksmith, so the sword I created was poorly crafted. In the end, I just molded it into a metal bat.

I was right. I'm currently in an anime world, or perhaps a universe similar to that world. Because, I saw some people wearing demon slayer uniforms in front of me, confirming my previous conjecture. Initially, they suspected me as an Oni since I emerged from the forest alone at night. However, when they saw my appearance, they relaxed their guard.

Then, a trace of worry flashed across the face of the group leader, a young man around 19 years old.

The leader stepped forward and asked me, "Little miss, why are you here alone?"

I was stunned in that instant. Did he just call me a little miss? I wanted to retort, but wait a sec. If I look carefully, I was indeed short. But, it turned out that I was too short. I estimated that my height was around 120 cm. It was no wonder that he considered me a little girl. And I didn't have a gender anyway. So, it doesn't matter whether people would call me a boy or girl.

"I usually hunt some animals in the forest to eat." I didn't lie. I really hunted some animals to gain their intrinsic skills. Though, I only keep a few useful ones.

"And, who are you guys?" I knew who they were, but I still pretended to ask.

The young leader didn't answer my question. Instead, he reprimanded me.

"Listen, young miss. It's dangerous to run around at night, especially in the forest like that. Where are your parents?"

Well, aren't you a nice guy? But, when he asked like that, I couldn't help but want to joke around.

"Parents? I already forgot about that thing."

In that instant, the young leader twitched his cheek and asked me again.

"Then, where's your home?"

"I think above the earth and under the blue sky is my home. After all, I'm just a wandering little samurai. So my home is everywhere."

I could see veins popping up on his head after I said that. But he retorted.

"A samurai didn't use a bat as a weapon."

"Eh?" Then, I look at my metal bat in my hand. I shouldn't call myself a samurai if I didn't use a katana. Then, I raised my head.

"In that case, I'm not a samurai, but a galactic baseballer."

"Sigh. Forget it. I just warn you. Please don't play around at night since monsters are pretty active at such a time."

"Yeah, that's me." I admitted monotonously.

"Yes, yes, little monster. Let us take you home."

He didn't believe my words. But, why should I explain? There's no need, right?

"I already told you, everywhere is my home. And for now, I want to go to that village." I said while pointing at the nearby village lit by dim lights. To fulfill Sayu's final wish, I had to go to that village.

That young leader furrowed his brow. Then his eyes lit up and said to me, "I see. No wonder you said everywhere is your home. Please forgive my rudeness."

'I think he misunderstood something here. But, I can't tell him that I'm from another world, can I? There's no way I'd tell something like that.'

"I can go there by myself. I don't need to trouble you." I immediately walked away from them.

But they followed me after. And the young leader said,

"No, no. It's not trouble at all. We just want to ensure your safety. Moreover, we also wanted to go there."

"Suit yourself."

With that, we went to the village together. Those demon slayers' purpose was actually in that village. But, due to my appearance, they stopped their track. It seemed the Oni I absorbed already preyed on some humans but met its end because of me. But, what if there was another Oni in the nearby village? Well, since those demon slayers were already here, that was not my concern anymore. Unless, I moved impulsively just like before to save people.

Ah, I'm such a good guy. If you say I'm so narcissistic, then so be it. I just used to save people in danger. Moreover, I was a guild leader in my past life, in which I had to take care of my members almost every day. So, something like "saving people in danger" was already engraved in my head long ago. Though, there was another thing that was engraved in my head, but the exact opposite.

Anyway, those demon slayers started their work after bringing me to the village safely. Some of them immediately patrolled the village, while a few of them, along with the leader, looked for people to ask about the situation.

I didn't want to bother them, so I immediately looked for Sayu's house.

I didn't know what Sayu was thinking after seeing her family. I stood while looking at her family for an hour. Seeing how worried her family was, she asked me to tell her family something. Of course, I refused. There was no way I told them, 'your daughter was killed, here's a 50% funeral discount' or something along those lines. That wasn't funny, okay. 

Even if Sayu asked me to write something, that was no use since I didn't understand kanji at all. And if I did that, I would be the suspect of killing her. I didn't want that to happen. In the end, I only let her watch her family through my eyes until she was satisfied.

I thought she still wanted to live inside my stomach after seeing her family. But, it didn't seem to be the case. So, I released her soul from my stomach. The moment I released her, her spiritual body gradually faded away. She said thanks to me while showing her smile. It seemed she was sent to the afterlife. Or perhaps she was reincarnated just like my case. 

Goodbye, little girl. Rest in peace! I could only pray for her.

The next day, I planned to look for more prey. The Oni might be good for my prey as they could increase my strength. However, when I thought about it, wouldn't becoming a demon slayer be the better option?

Since they were still around, I decided to use my [Ultrasonic Wave] skill to listen to their conversation from afar. After listening for a while, they talked about the final selection next week. It seemed that the final selection was a selective process for individuals who seek to become recognized demon slayers of the demon slayer corps.

'Mount Fujikasane? Where is that?' I asked myself. If I asked those demon slayers, they might prevent me from going due to my appearance as a little girl. Besides, I was considered pretty weak, I knew that. So, it might be better if I asked some villagers.

But then again, perhaps the reason I didn't ask those demon slayers was that I didn't want to reveal my weird skills just yet, which are impossible for humans to do.

I decided to go after asking the village about the direction of Mount Fujikasane. While on my way, I planned to devour as many Onis as I could find. Of course, I had to be careful not to meet powerful Onis I couldn't kill or devour.

Time flew.

When the sky started to get dark, I wandered outside the village I came across. I was sure that the Oni would get close to human settlements when they wanted to eat. Well, that was if the Oni were the same as in the anime I watched long ago. So, if I wanted to find those creatures, I had to wait for them near the village.

And I was right. After 2 hours of waiting, I finally saw the Oni getting close to the village. In that instant, I used my [Camouflage] to get closer. I didn't know if that skill had any effect since the Oni could smell humans from afar. At least, my movement wouldn't be seen by it.

I knew that most Onis were stronger than me. But, it wasn't like I had to use my raw strength, was it? I had a lot of skills, so it was kinda wasted if I didn't utilize them properly.

As I used my [Camouflage] skill, I dashed at the Oni's direction. Different from what I expected, it didn't notice me getting closer to it, it made things easier.

I held my metal bat tightly. I kinda recalled a sensation when I was still a Hunter. The moment I swung my bat, a faint energy was imbued into it. The Oni seemed to react to my attack, but it didn't see it coming.

Bonk

Strike!

My metal bat hit the target. It was thrown backward due to my attack, and its head deformed because of the impact. There was a slight burn as well, probably because my weapon contained sunlight energy, and Onis were weak to such a thing.

"Agghhh. Hurt…it hurt…! Bastard! Who the hell attacked me? Where are you?"

Unbeknownst to it, I was surprised at the popped-up notification as I got an [Infusion]. But, I had to throw that thought away for now.

Without answering the Oni, I launched several attacks over and over. It tried to fight back but couldn't see my attack at all, while I saw all of its movements. As I did that, I gained another ability, [Illusion Strike]. However, I didn't pay attention at all as I focused on the enemy in front of me.

After I tortu—beating it to the point it didn't have the strength to fight back again, I decided to use my [Predator].

✁✁✁✁✁✁✁✁✁✁✁✁✁

Six days later, I almost arrived at my destination. While waiting for the final selection the next day, I checked my status.

★☆★☆★☆

Name: Mahavira Arjun

Alias: Aruna

Race: Slime

Tier: 8-C, Building Level

Abilities:

Ultimate Skills

▶ Blessing of Azathoth▼

▷▷▷ Condition Infinitum 

▷▷▷ Predator

▷▷▷ World Travel

▶ Blessing of Nyarlathotep▼

▷▷▷ Spiritual Attack Resistance 

▷▷▷ Abnormal Condition Resistance 

▷▷▷ Pain Resistance 

▷▷▷ All of Creation

Intrinsic Skills

▶ Absorb

▶ Dissolve

Unique Skills

▶ Condition Infinitum 

▶ Predator▼

▷▷▷ Predation

▷▷▷ Analysis

▷▷▷ Stomach

▷▷▷ Mimicry

▷▷▷ Isolation

▶ World Travel▼

▶ Shapeshifter▼

▷▷▷ Synthesis 

▷▷▷ Separation 

Extra Skills

▶ All of Creation

▶ Camouflage

▶ Magic Manipulation

Common Skills

▶ Area Perception

▶ Ground Digger

▶ Exoskeleton Armour

▶ Vibration Sense

▶ Sticky Thread

▶ Danger Sense 

▶ Water Jet

▶ Water Current Control

▶ Ultrasonic Wave

▶ High-Speed Regeneration 

▶ Apply Poison

▶ Strengthen

▶ Electric Conductivity

Tolerance

▶ Spiritual Attack Resistance 

▶ Abnormal Condition Resistance 

▶ Pain Resistance 

▶ Water Pressure Resistance 

▶ Air Pressure Resistance 

▶ Heat Resistance 

▶ Electricity Resistance

▶ Geokinetic Resistance

Arts

▶ Illusion Strike

▶ Infusion

Magic

★☆★☆★☆

There was something that appeared below my name in my status, presumably because I introduced myself as Aruna. My strength had been raised to a whole tier, from 9-C to 8-C, thanks to my everyday exp farming.

This week, I gained some useful abilities. Firstly, the [High-Speed Regeneration] skill, acquired after killing the first oni. I initially thought it might evolve as I killed more onis, but I suppose evolving my regeneration that easily would be too convenient.

Next, the [Apply Poison] skill, obtained after killing some venomous snakes and scorpions. It wasn't an instant-kill poison but a slow-acting one, effective only on humans and animals.

The [Strengthen] skill was acquired through the [Infusion] art. I was quite familiar with the [Infusion] art from my days as a Hunter, where I consistently infused my weapon with something like energy from within my body. Being a magical creature, I naturally possessed a kind of intrinsic energy within me, the magical power. Infusing my bat with this magical power throughout the past week, I attempted to strengthen my body, resulting in acquiring two skills at once: [Magic Manipulation] and [Strengthen].

It's worth noting that having [Magic Manipulation] didn't immediately grant me the ability to learn magic spells. While the skill made it easier to learn any magic, I lacked even the basics. As a former swordsman in my Hunter days, I never delved into the intricacies of magic spells.

Despite that, [Magic Manipulation] remained useful for me as I could direct my magical power within my body to reinforce both my weapon and physique.

Regarding [Illusion Strike], I acquired it when using [Camouflage]. The skill allowed me to deceive opponents with visual illusions during combat. If an opponent perceived my attack on their left, I could actually be attacking from the right, above, below, or center. A highly valuable ability, indeed.

The last three abilities gained were two resistances and a common skill. [Geokinetic Resistance] was acquired due to frequent use of [Ground Digger] for surprise attacks or hiding underground when facing enemies. On the other hand, [Electricity Resistance] and [Electric Conductivity] resulted from a rather foolish act: cutting down a power cable in a certain village and making contact with it using my body. Although admittedly foolish, it turned out to be worthwhile.

Upon reviewing my resistances, I noticed that I possessed resistances to five basic elements. Or did I? Could heat resistance be considered fire element resistance? I was certain it wasn't, so I needed to take action to acquire fire element resistance. Perhaps something like starting a fire somewhere and immersing myself in the midst of it could grant me [Fire Resistance], similar to what I did to obtain [Electricity Resistance].

"That's it!" I exclaimed.

That night, in a particular spot in the heart of the forest, flames engulfed the surroundings for a while before a colossal wave of water surged, extinguishing the flames.