Chap 5
A/N: Sorry about not posting, at all, but I was in the hospital because my life is big dumb sometimes.
As Nick looked at the setting sun he reminisced on the time that he had just spent obtaining his 'starting gear'. it was almost useless and demon slayers around the world would look at him in disdain for even thinking that what he was using was 'gear'. At best it was a good outfit for wandering around your house with no guests over to witness the cursed attire as it might make their eyes bleed. Nick not only did not care but he would never care as he was blind, if anything he would say it was a good deterrent for demons. Not bothering with such trivial details plaguing his mind he focused on the very, very long walk up the steep sets of stairs.
It was a fun experience as Nick was well versed in the art of talking with trees from his time in his cave townhome. As he walked up the stairs he started talking with the different trees that made themselves at home on the mountain. Wisteria trees were the main inhabitants of the mountain as it was the most suitable environment for them aside from caves. Spotting a good chance for reconnaissance he started asking about the different kinds of demons that they had kept within them so he knew what he was going up against. Nick was very prideful but also was not stupid. Yes, he knew he wanted to be one of those characters that would just win every situation with no planning, but he was not one of those kinds of people that could just improvise everything on the spot.
He learned about the different kinds of creatures that made themselves at home on the mountain top including the minimal spots for drinking water that demons would use as ambush points. While the trees talked about the wildlife Nick was also thinking about the way that he could avoid these locations while still getting the water that he needed. Nick, seeing this as more important than the wildlife which he could find out anyway by asking the trees in the forest, decided to ask about the tools that he would get before he entered. After a little discussion, he found that each contestant would get, drum roll please, absolutely nothing. They needed to either bring everything themselves or get those resources, like gourds and meat, during the 7-day testing period.
Lucky for him and the rest of the smart demon slayers, the resources that they would need like containers for water, sharpeners for swords, and even salt and pepper to make food taste good could be found around the meeting area. All you had to do was think a little outside the box and find the natural resources that could be used to your advantage by yourself. Finishing that thought he saw the last bit of stone clear out of the way to reveal a giant open space filled with wistaria on every side.
Funny enough there were no demon slayers as far as his eyes could see, it was completely barren except for the two ladies that were sitting at a table in the back of the clearing. Not knowing how they were going to respond he just gave them a 90-degree bow and started looking around the clearing. Looking away from the two ladies he decided to not procrastinate as his life was on the line, so he started looking around for the natural resources the trees mentioned earlier. First, he found the gourds hanging from vines circling the trees around the west section of the tree, unfortunately, they were covered by wisteria so he needed to look for a little but found them nonetheless. To make the gourd he broke off the top of the stem and stuck a strong but lean wooden stick to break up the 'meat'. After dumping out the crushed guts, he chucked some small but sharp stones before covering the open hole with his hand and shaking the gourd. Then turning it upside down to let the final residue of toxic skin and rocks fall out, thus making the gourd now a safe and nontoxic water storage container. Finally, he made a makeshift cap by finding a rock that would sit comfortably while not falling out easily while he was running around.
Next, he started experimenting with his AM systems and what exactly they could achieve on something that was magically conductive. When he first tried making an AM system he only had an area of 7 to work with. After looking at the magic yoyo he found that while it only had 5 spaces to work with, it had a device that could connect it to the AM in the string. The AM on the line already had a pre-placed Element to create space for mana and a slot for any element, however, the conversion ratio was 1:½ so, for every 1 unit of mana, he would get 1 free unit of mana in the AM. Similarly, now fire glyphs cost 2 mana per element, the modification came from the level up which decreased it by 1 making the cost 5 to 4 then the ½ ratio which made 4 to 2. This was extraordinarily convenient because it not only meant that he could send mana through the string to affect the AM in the yoyo in mid-swing, but also he could use the AM more frequently.
Putting this into practice he made the first AM now codenamed firebolt to make it much easier to understand. In the end, after crafting the AM, he found that each firebolt would now take 61/2 mana instead of the usual 10 if he just fired it out of his hand. On top of that because it was now being used on the yoyo instead of his hand when he used the skill and launched the yoyo at a tree (Turns out only wisteria trees are truly sentient) it felt the force of the yoyo, then not even a second letter a small explosion blew up a chunk of the tree sending bark and some wood fly with a little force from the point of impact. When Nick saw what he had caused he felt a small amount of euphoria travel through his body and smiled as he felt the power behind his swing. After the rush, he tried pulling the yoyo back to his hand using the string all while telling himself not to freeze up like that in the middle of battling a demon.
Just like that, he spent the next 4 hours practicing until more and more demon slayers showed up and even managed to create a new unique skill called yoyo-manship, swordsmanship for yoyos apparently actually exists. He even managed to get it to level 1 [Yoyo-manship LV 1 (increases skill with yoyo and damage by 20% each LV after LV 0)]. Now he could actually deal around 21 damage per swing with the yoyo, and while this might not seem like a lot it was actually fairly incredible because his range was 20ft if he wanted his APS(Attacks per second) to be unaffected. However, he could go even farther if he wanted to a range of 60 ft but at the expense of his APS which diminished significantly. However unfortunately his fire glyph didn't level up because even though he was practicing with a yoyo after the demon slayers appeared he could not use his alchemy for the fact that they would think he was a demon.
As soon as it had hit 10'o clock he started looking around as the last of the last demon slayers were arriving. Unfortunately, he did not see any of the canon characters although it makes sense because none of the Pillars took the Selection 2 years before the canon timeline. However, despite that, he saw an approximate count of 55 different demon slayers all just as bland as the other ones. Coming back to himself Nick actually realized that he was the only one that looked different and that most of them were looking at him weirdly. Disregarding this he took one more survey before eventually concluding this selection would have no special characters. Whether that was for the best or going to be a problem he would not know but at least he thought nothing special would happen without them.
Nick felt a sense of disappointment, knowing that without any recognizable characters, the Selection would be a mundane affair. He had been hoping to see some exceptional talent or at least a unique personality however, it seemed that he would have to settle for the mediocre group of demon slayers that had gathered for the selection. Despite the lack of special characters, Nick was still excited to witness the selection process.
Lady 1: "Welcome to the demon slayer selection"
As she started talking Nick started zoning out and instead of focusing on the very important conversation, started checking his system and looking at things that would actually help. The first thing that he saw was actually extremely helpful as it was a map function that he could use, of course, it was not filled in like most system maps but it was still a map nonetheless. It also had some marking functions as in 5 gray markers 2 blue markers and 2 red markers but for some reason, he could only control the gray and blue, the red would just shoot back to the selection area that he pulled the markers from.
Second was the very important shop function, but he had no money in the system so all the beautiful swords, yoyos, and magic items that were in the shop were so far unobtainable. However that did not stop him from doing some pursuing in the shop and in the store's page he found some powerful items that, while not great, were good for the price. This included an oracle deck that could give EXTREMELY Vague information such as the century someone's luck would be at its highest. not useful for most people however for Nick it would be great in planning for the future as he could live for an extremely long time.
As he was looking through the shop he also found something MUCH more important, ways to purchase temporary AMs. These AMs had a misleading name but were extremely useful when it came to creating powerful runes and alchemical processes. He could create 7 on his own but if he purchased the temporary ones, he could add them to the total giving him more space and in turn more powerful spells.
As he finished reading he realized that it was fairly quiet for being in the middle of 50-plus people so he looked around to see the problem. He realized that they were already walking to the entrance of the wisteria wall of flowers and logically he followed the crowd. As he walked he could see literal elements of suspicion flowing between the crowd and it was extremely nauseating. As if it was on queue as soon as Nick started walking to the back of the crowd two demon slayers accidentally bumped into each other. Nick rolled his eyes and started making his way away from the argument so as to not involve himself but was blocked.
Dude 1: "Why did you touch me?!"
Dude 2: "Me? It was you who ran into me first!"
Nick: 0_0
The only thing Nick hated more than people were inefficient people, he silently vowed to never get involved with people that would waste precious time alive by insulting people that were just living their lives. Shaking his head he made his way into the forest as the rest of the demon slayers split up if it was because of pride or something else he did not care but it happened nonetheless. At this point, Nick was genuinely pissed as he found the root cause of why demon slayers died so often and it was an easy fix. JUST SEND MORE PEOPLE ON MISSIONS.
As Nick was arguing with himself something was smiling in the darkness following him with, not so good stealth, alas Nick was too involved in his thoughts to notice the noises. Unfortunately, this is what led to the demon doing, well, what was expected and jumping at Nick from behind with claws extended. However they did not know that Nick was blind and was actually using elements to see, he saw the air shifting around him and dogged to the side and out of the way.
The demon was a not-so-terrifying sight to behold mostly thanks to the elemental vision, with fire element eyes that glowed in the darkness, razor-sharp claws, and a wicked grin that spoke of evil intent. However, even Nick knew he had to act fast before the demon could catch him off guard. He drew his weapon, the magic yoyo that shimmered in the darkness despite the lack of light. The yoyo was no ordinary weapon, for it had been imbued with the firebolt AM that allowed it to explode upon impact.
The demon bared its teeth and lunged forward, its claws slashing through the air. Nick deftly dodged the attack and spun his yoyo in a wide arc. The demon noticed the incoming projectile and snarled as the yoyo connected with its arm, exploding in a shower of sparks. Nick took advantage of the demon's momentary distraction to dive towards its feet and sweep it off balance. The demon crashed to the ground with a resounding thud, but quickly regained its footing and lifted itself off the ground with extraordinary force. Nick braced himself for the next attack, his heart pounding with adrenaline as he faced down the otherworldly monster. Even though he was lazy as fuck he knew he couldn't let his guard down for even a second, or it would be his last seconds on earth. But he was determined to see this through to the end, no matter what it took.
The demon was not so easily defeated. It roared in anger and unleashed a powerful blast of energy from its mouth. The blast filled with fire elements sent Nick tumbling backward, his yoyo knocked from his grasp and his skin slightly burnt. As he recovered, he spotted his yoyo lying in the underbrush. He darted over to it and snatched it up, whirling around just in time to face the demon once more. This time, he was ready. He let the yoyo fly, sending it spinning toward the demon's chest. The demon raised its arms to defend itself, but it was too late. The yoyo struck true, exploding upon impact and sending the demon flying backward. As it was flying Nick deactivated the AM system and let out a fury of blows to hopefully finish the creature off for good.
As he landed the forest turned silent for a moment, as Nick caught his breath and waited to see if the demon would rise again, but the demon lay still. Nick walked closer and closer just to make sure that it was in fact dead but unfortunately was in for a rude awakening as he got closer. Well not so rude as more so annoying, he realized that the demon was actually not human and was a cat after touching its ears. Letting out a sigh he thought about killing the beast like a normal person, but alas Nick was a cat lover through and through using his healing AM on the monster that he created at his time in the village. The demon stared at him ready to accept its demise as Nick looked at his status to make sure he could actually heal the creature.
—----------------------
[Status]
Name: Nick
Level: 1(0%)
Race: Void kin (weakest level)
Health[26/100]
Stamina[100/100]
Mana[7/20]
Strength: 1
Dexterity: 1
Constitution: 1
Intelligence: 2
Wisdom: 1
Charisma: 3
Skills:
Common: Fire glyph LV: 1, Magic glyph LV: 1, English LV: 3, Air glyph LV: 0
Uncommon: Element sight LV: 2
Rare: Infuse with element LV: 0
Epic: None
Legendary: Immortality (age) LV: Max
Mythic: None
????: None
????: None
????: Alchemic pocket dimension
—----------------------
Nick felt his jaw drop as he looked at his health and stamina, he realized that he needed to keep an eye on all of his important stats during a fight or he could die and not know why. For some reason, the system did not give any pop-ups during the fight, a blessing or a curse he could not say for sure, but it was inconvenient to look at it during fights. He would need to find a way around this short sight later but for the moment he focused on the mana that he used.
His usual healing AM was around 18 Mana for a 10HP heal but with only 7 Mana left he could only stop the interior bleeding. Nick thought it was strange but as he looked closer he realized why the demon was not healing because it was dealt magic damage. Theoretically one could kill a demon with a high stream of consistent damage from basic physical attacks but because he used magic, the thing these demons are naturally vulnerable to, he could just deal flat damage without them healing.
However, karma was a thing and as Nick finished healing the cat demon it leaped up and scratched his face causing him to bleed. As Nick cursed, the cat demon's stomach growled as it looked at Nick in a very ravenous manner. Despite the very obvious choice of finishing the human off the cat demon seemed to contemplate for a moment, instead of killing Nick it fled leaving him to his own devices. With now 11 HP left and 1 Mana he knew he needed to find a safe place to rest and recuperate before he could continue his journey. Nick stumbled forward, his vision blurred from the wound on his face, his thoughts clouded with exhaustion and pain.
[level 1(25%)]
[Fire element LV up]
[Healing element LV up]
[Mana element LV up]
[Host missed his chance to level up by killing the demon that was 2 levels higher than him.]
He laughed as he searched for a place to rest, stumbling across a small cave hidden behind a waterfall. Nick crawled into the cave, collapsing on the ground as he tried to catch his breath. As he lay there, he realized that the cat demon had spared his life for a reason, but the exhaustion overtook his sense of proactiveness. He thought back on the day as he asked the system if saving that cat demon was stupid, unfortunately, it gave a vague response and Nick fell asleep soundly as the sun's light shined through the cave.