14 First Main Quest
As the sun rose in the distant sky, sunlight shone on earth… it was as if the earth was shrouded by a veil of gold.
At daybreak, it is cool and invigorating, full of songbirds, walkers and joggers.
In Kamado residence…
The first rays of sunlight lit up one of the rooms where two people were present. The dawn chorus of melodic birdsong drifted in.
Tanjiro looked at Katakiri Juki who was in bed, unconscious. A white glowing stone was placed near the bed. Threads of mana was being connected to Katakiri Juki from the white glowing stone.
The white glowing stone is a magic item that can sustain another person's life, if they are in coma, with mana.
It's been almost an year since he started training his Dragon's Healing skill.
It began since the time Tanjiro had started using his 'Dragon's Healing' skill to alleviate the worsening health of Juki.
Katakiri Juki's health started to worsen to the point, his lower half of the body was practically paralysed. The cause was, of course, Tanjiro's use of Dragon's Healing. Right now, Juki was in a vegetative state, where even his mind has fallen. His life is maintained by mana alone.
Tanjiro understood that he was being impatient, blinded by immediate imperfect results, instead of going for a perfect solution.
Instead of waiting for his Dragon's Healing skill to reach level 65 like the system had suggested and completely heal Katakiri Juki, Tanjiro used his low levelled Dragon's Healing on Juki, thinking that Juki will healed overtime with constant use of the skill.
The strange unknown nature of Juki's injury and Tanjiro's impatience had led to this unforseen outcome.
"Damn it…! Why?! Why is it like this?! To begin with, is this really an injury?! While the scent of death on Juki-jiisan is getting denser, I'm picking off the scent of life from this injury… Just what is going on…"
Tanjiro had a look of frustration on his face.
Suddenly, the robotic voice of the system resounded in his mind.
[It is suggested that you calm down. As long as you don't use your skill, your caretaker can still maintain his life for half an year.]
"Say, system… will this skill really be able to help Juki-jiisan? I've trained in it so much that I've been going around the town healing people, animals, plants and sometimes even the supernaturals on a daily basis for almost an year now… The skill itself is now level 37. Theoretically, shouldn't it be possible to heal Juki-jiisan if I use my skill repeatedly? Then why are the results the exact opposite of my intentions?"
[Your assumption is quite wrong, Tanjiro.]
"… Wrong? W-what do you mean wrong?"
[The level of a skill represents it's effectiveness, your familiarity with using it, and the various possible applications of the said skill. When the system suggested you to try using the Dragon's Healing on your caretaker after it was level 65… it meant that, only at level 65 can the skill Dragon's Healing have the capability to heal and get rid off the anomaly in your caretaker. But, because you kept using the Dragon's Healing which did not reach the sufficient level, it has caused the problem on your caretaker to act up.]
"I-its my fault then…" Tanjiro muttered under his breath with a heavy frown on his face.
Tanjiro was feeling utterly helpless, leaden, dull, unable to move. His body and mind felt heavy at his lack of capability to save Katakiri Juki.
But…
*Slap!*
Tanjiro slapped himself in both of his cheeks, the look in his eyes changed, looking focused.
"Blaming my self won't do any good now! What's done is done… I should focus on what I must do for now!"
Tanjiro walked out of the room, immersed in his thoughts.
"Just Kuoh Town alone won't do. I kept training my healing around the town for almost an year. Even if I searched through the entire town, I probably won't find much people with health issues or injuries. I won't get any skill experience points if I use the skill on a healthy target…. I have barely half a year of time to get the skill to level 65. I will have to leave the town and cover other areas to level up the skill as fast as possible."
Skill experience points…
This is a unique aspect of the system, which allows it's host/Tanjiro to level up any skill through the use of experience points, which can be gained by using the skill repeatedly. This is something only a system possessor like Tanjiro is capable of.
Tanjiro had been using his Dragon's Healing skill all around the Kuoh Town, in order to increase the level of this skill. Because of this, the town itself has become abnormal. All the residents, animals and plants have become as healthy as possible, without anyone knowing the reason to it. Though, thanks to him, the hospitals in Kuoh Town aren't having a good time, since he mostly targeted the hospitals for training his healing skill.
This has, of course, caught the attention of some supernatural factions, but even they are unable to link any of the abnormal happenings to Tanjiro. Because…
Tanjiro took out an evil warding mask, which was the exact copy of what Urokodaki Sakonji had given him before his demon Slayer Corp's Test, in his past life. Only… the mask he had right now was a magic item he had gotten from Katakiri Juki. Out of the many masks available, Tanjiro chose this one specifically due to nostalgia.
[Evil Warding Mask (Item)
-Class: Support
-Type: Presence Concealment
-Grade: Uncommon
-Description: A common magic item of the Evil Slayers that helps them conceal their presence and slightly increase their luck.
-Item Effects: +2 Luck Stat when equipped. 50% decrease in individual presence when equipped. Magic power concealment.]
This was a handy item, despite its low grade. Because of this item, he is easily able to bypass the sensory ranges of the supernatural factions and keep training his Dragon's Healing skill without any reservations.
Tanjiro put on the warding mask and went out of the house. As soon as he was outside, Tanjiro started floating in air via his Flight skill.
"It would have been nice if I knew Teleportation magic. Unfortunately… I don't seem to have any talent in Space-type skills, even with my talents boosted by system.."
The Evil Slayers didn't have any teleportation type skills under their record. But they still had two space-time Divine Spells. Hidden Door and Spatial Lock.
'Hidden Door' being a bloodline limited skill that only those of the Kamado clan could learn it. It is a spell that one could use to go and forth between the hidden dimension created by Kamado Yosuke. Tanjiro couldn't learn it, even with the advantage of his bloodline. It seemed that, despite being born with unparalleled talent in this world, Tanjiro didn't have any talent in regards to space-time skills.
Without any talent in space-time aspect, learning the other spell: Spatial Lock, was out of question.
Both were very convenient abilities, especially 'Spatial Lock'. But unfortunately…
"Sigh.." Tanjiro heaved a stressed sigh.
He adjusted the warding mask on his face, then..
"Time to get busy!"
With that, Tanjiro flew off into the distant sky in blinding speed.
…..
The evening sun cast long shadows on the ground. The slanting rays of the setting sun gave a warm orange tinge to the sky.
As the sun was setting, darkness started to embrace the world. Tanjiro looked up at the blanket of stars in the night sky that stretched to infinity.
Today was a fruitful day for him. He had went to a nearby neighborhood town and kept using his healing skill as much as he can. He gained another level for his Dragon's Healing skill. As long as he managed to get the skill to level 55, he can use the Skill Advancement Card to increase the level by 10, making it level 65.
But this won't be an easy task.
With each level up, the amount of experience points required to level up the skill to the next stage is exponentially greater.
With a blue light, a pocket watch appeared in his hand. Tanjiro looked at the time, then levitated to mid air.
"Better return home. There's only three more hours before it is time to refill magic stone with mana." Tanjiro thought to himself as he flew off into the skies.
"!!"
As he was on his way back to home while flying, Tanjiro suddenly came to a stop.
*Ding!*
[You have received a quest.]
"Quest? Well, this is a first.."
[Quest : Main Quest line, Fate Breaker (1/5)
>> Objective 1: Prevent the fated death of Yaegaki Masaomi.
Reward: Language (Skill), +50% Charm, +100 Reputation with Heaven Faction.
Penalty: None.
>> Objective 2: Prevent the fated death of Cleria Bellial.
Reward: Space-Time Perception (Skill), Past Life Relic (Item), +100 Reputation with Devil Faction.
Penalty: None.
Penalty for failing both objectives: 60% decrease in mana stat.
Time Limit: 5 minutes.]
