10 Meeting The First Devil.
Tanjiro was walking along with an old lady, carrying a bag of oranges.
After they reached a two-storey house…
"We are here. Thank you very much for your help, Tanjiro-chan." The old lady smiled and thanked the 7-year old boy.
"Sorry to trouble you again."
"It's no problem. This is the least I could do." Tanjiro just smiled gently in response.
"I'll be going now, ma'am." Tanjiro said, as he still had to go to school.
But…
"Wait a minute." The old lady stopped him from leaving.
Then, she took out two oranges from the bag and handed it to Tanjiro.
Tanjiro looked at the old lady in surprise.
"These are fresh oranges. Eat them at your break time in school." The old lady said with a smile.
Tanjiro looked at the old lady blankly for a moment, before saying with a smile, "Thank you, ma'am. I'll be leaving now."
"Be careful on your way." The old lady said.
"I will." With that, Tanjiro went away from the old lady's place.
….
On the way to school, Tanjiro met up with three kids, the same age as him.
Two of them were the Hyoudou siblings, Hyoudou Issei and Hyoudou Shinobu. The other one was a girl dressed in a boy's clothes. Her name is Shido Irina. Tanjiro had gotten to know her through the Hyoudou siblings, and now, they are close enough to be called friends.
"Hurry up, Tanjiro. We're going to be late because of you." The young Issei complained as he walked hurriedly. The two girls also followed suit.
"Sorry." Tanjiro, too, joined them as they made their way to school quickly.
…
In the class, Tanjiro was absent minded, as he stared at the school ground through the window.
"I have been training for more than two years now, and I have definitely gotten stronger. But why am I unable to awaken my Sacred Gear? Do I need even more strength?" Thought Tanjiro, as he stared at the blue status panel that appeared before him.
[Status
Human Name: Kamado Tanjiro
Dragon Name: Rayquaza
Race: Dragon/Human
Tier: Tier 2
Titles: Demon Slayer, Alficius's Chosen One
Parameters:
Strength: 20 >> 125
Agility: 20 >> 140
Endurance: 20 >> 580
Mana: 50 >> 3450
Luck: 80
Dragon Evolution Energy: 96% ]
He had certainly gotten stronger over the past two years. Though, the reason for his abnormal rise in physical stats, despite being a child, is due to a racial skill he awakened a year after he got his Dragon legacy.
The skill was…
Adaptability.
[Adaptability (Racial Skill)
-Class: Support
-Type: Passive
-Grade: Divine
-Description: You can adapt to drastic changes that occur to yourself or your environment quickly, and your body will dynamically learn from experience. Depending on what you are adapting to, you may experience increase in your abilities, temporary or permanent depending on situation.]
Truly an absurd ability.
The system informed Tanjiro that he was able to get this ability because his Dragon powers were adapting to the laws of this world (DxD world). According to the system, his Dragon powers have also undergone many changes compared to what it should have been, or at the very least, it has gained most of the traits of the dragons in this world.
Regardless, because of the 'Adaptability' skill, his body had gotten strong enough to utilise the modified magic version of breathing technique.
Right now, he is more than capable of fighting against most of the mid-class devils. With his skills and past life experience, he is unrivalled in his own tier.
In his growth in strength, two factors helped him, other than training.
The Skill 'Mana Blood Method' and Dragon Evolution Energy.
The Skill 'Mana Blood Method' was what resulted in him to possess mana, many times higher than his own tier. As well as, what helped him master the Divine Spells so easily.
[Mana Blood Method (Skill)
-Class: Support
-Type: Passive
-Grade: Divine
-Description: You have affinity towards all aspects of mana, and is capable of having mana, many times your own level. Your mana perception is greatly enhanced, allowing you to learn most of the mana/magic related skills easily. The effects increase with the skill level.]
In many ways, this skill was more absurd than 'Adaptability'.
In any case, this skill has allowed him to grow stronger at an unprecedented speed, and will probably continue to do so.
Then comes Dragon Evolution Energy.
The most important aspect of the Dragon Evolution System.
The function of it was quite simple.
As long as the Dragon Evolution Energy option reaches 100%, Tanjiro can advance to the next tier, as well as enhance his potential even further.
Unlike most of the other supernatural beings, who stops growing after they reach certain tiers, which signify their potential limit. Tanjiro does not face such a problem. With each use of the Dragon Evolution Energy advancement, his potential is further enhanced.
Dragon Evolution Energy can be gained from training, mostly leveling up skills. But according to system, he can gain the energy by defeating or killing other powerful supernatural beings. Though, Tanjiro has never confirmed this himself.
Other than tier advancement, Dragon Evolution Energy can also be used to increase the level of skill. Tanjiro has only tried this method on some of his passive skills, which he had a hard time training them. The results were surprising to him. It was as if he had trained in those skills, instead of raising the level with Dragon Evolution Energy.
….
"Tanjiro, run faster! Hurry, hurry! Go past them!"
Shinobu urged Tanjiro while having him carry her on his back.
"Haha.. you can't catch us!"
In front of them, Issei and Irina were running.
Hearing Shinobu's words, Tanjiro helplessly smiled. In this group, he has become something akin to a big brother figure.
In this way, the group of four kids made their way to homes after school.
After Tanjiro made sure the kids reached their home, he went to his own home.
When he entered the house, he saw a letter on the table, which said…
"Young master, I'm going out for an important matter. So, I'll be a bit late. There is dinner in the refrigerator. Just heat it up before you eat it. And, don't stay up late, waiting for me."
"…."
"Hmm… Juki-jiisan is out, huh? He's been going out a lot recently. And something about him is odd as well. The gloomy unpleasant scent on him has also gotten stronger than before. Unfortunately, I'm unable to identify that scent." Tanjiro pondered.
"No use pondering over things I have no clue about. I'll do some training."
….
In the training room.
"982… 983… 984…"
Tanjiro was swinging his wooden sword, training his swordsmanship skills.
With training, his precision and skill in using the sword was improving steadily. He was focused on his sword forms, his movements, his stance… everything he learned in his past life… He was making sure to engrave all of his past skills into this new body of his, so that he can further improve those skills.
After practicing with his sword, Tanjiro took a deep breath…
His breathing was very orderly and controlled, the surrounding natural energy started to get absorbed by Tanjiro. The absorbed energy started to circulate throughout his body along with his own mana, resulting in a drastic temporary increase in his physical stats. His wooden sword shone with a blue light, which soon turned into water that was swirling around the sword.
The water was unnaturally blue in colour and gave off a surreal feeling.
In front of him was a wooden plank, which Juki made specifically for Tanjiro's sword training. According to Juki, this wooden plank was enchanted by him, to make it many times sturdier than it should be.
Tanjiro has been training to achieve feats, which he could normally achieve with a good Katana, with a wooden sword. He felt that, if he was able to cut this wooden plank in half with a wooden sword which had a very blunt edge, his swordsmanship would increase drastically.
Tanjiro tightened his grip on the sword hilt, and held his sword in a horizontal position.
"Water breathing, First form…"
The blue water around the wooden sword became very concentrated, as Tanjiro swung his sword horizontally with great momentum to unleash a powerful single concentrated slash.
"Water surface slash!"
With a flash of blue light…
The wooden target that was enchanted multiple times by Juki, was cut in half by Tanjiro's wooden sword.
The wooden plank, which was cut in half, was the proof of Tanjiro's improvement in the way of sword.
*Crack!*
The wooden sword in his hand started have cracks appear on it. The wooden sword has reached its limits.
*Clap* *Clap*
Before he could tend to the wooden sword, Tanjiro was startled by the sudden sound of someone clapping their hands.
Turning towards the door of the training room, Tanjiro saw a beautiful girl, looking in her late teens with black hair, tied into twin tails and blue eyes. She also has a child-like body, albeit a certain part of her body, which was quite adult-like.
There was also something off about this girl, which Tanjiro noted in first glance.
She was wearing a pink dress, which seemed to be a 'magical girl' clothes.
But, Tanjiro instantly tensed up as his instincts kicked in. With his mana sense skill, which has advanced a lot during the years, he was able to get a glimpse at her absurd amount of energy, which made his supposedly abnormal amount of mana look like a joke.
"Since when was she here? I couldn't even sense her!" Tanjiro thought, feeling alarmed.
Tanjiro was sure that even Katakiri Juki, the strongest person he knows so far, is not comparable to the strength of the mysterious girl.
At the same time, a 'Ding' sound resounded in his mind. But he paid no attention to it. For now, all of his focus was on the beautiful black haired girl who appeared out of nowhere.
"That was wonderful swordsmanship☆. By the way, I came here for Juki-chan☆. Do you happen to know where he is?" asked the beautiful black haired girl in a cheerful tone.
"…."
Tanjiro wasn't sure whether he was imagining it, but he could see twinkling stars around the beautiful girl.
"… Um, who are you? How did you enter this place? And, why are you looking for Juki-jiisan?" Tanjiro calmed his breathing, and inquired about the girl's presence here. He couldn't feel any danger from her, or that she is extremely good at hiding her intentions. Either way, Tanjiro couldn't do anything about this girl. He could easily tell that she was way out of his league.
"Ah, I didn't introduce myself, did I? Sorry about that, teehee☆." The girl said cutely.
"…."
"Ahem…" The girl coughed once, then she swirled around and a magic girl stick appeared in her hand. She looked at Tanjiro with a cute wink, with her fingers in front of one of her eyes in a victory pose.
"Nice to meet you☆. I am the Maou Serafall Leviathan☆. Call me Levia-tan☆."
"… Sigh.." The young Tanjiro huffed a stressed sigh, at the sight of the winking girl who referred to herself as a Maou(Satan).
