1 Year later - V1.End

Unknowingly a year has passed; Lorien could even clearly recall the battle at the demon slayer headquarters as if it was yesterday

This year, a lot happened; Starting with the thing that Lorien was most focused on which is the Dream Tree

Thanks to the efforts made by the Kagaya family, not only did the Dream Tree finally cover all of Japan, but it also began spreading to all corners of the world

The Tree of Dreams covering the entire country and collecting the Dream Energy of all of its population allowed Lorien's strength to increase tremendously

Even though he only got about 40% of the Dream Energy it was still a huge amount

Absorbing it; Aside from his physical strength and soul improvement, his energy reserve also increased about 5 or 6 times over

The increase in physical strength and soul power is hard to measure as Lorien doesn't have anything to compare it with

But this is not the case for his Dream Perception Range which increased from a 180 meters radius to a whopping 916 meters radius; Close to a kilometer

Frankly, Lorien expected more, after all the population of Japan in this period is about 50 million give or take

But it seems that he underestimated how much dream energy he has to consume to grow stronger

Before reaching the 500 meters mark, even though it consumed a lot of energy it was still manageable; But after bypassing it, the energy required became too much

This requirement kept on increasing as he grew stronger; The issue was no longer just about quantity, there was also a huge lack in quality

But nonetheless, the energy he absorbed still allowed him to improve so much

To be honest, he could just stay in this world, wait until the whole world is covered by the dream tree, and then push himself into an unknown level of strength with the energy collected

That is the smartest course of action, but Lorien wasn't about to do that

Staying in this world started suffocating him, all he does every day is just laze around and then absorb the newly collected dream energy at night; There was nothing fun or exciting to do

Lorien felt fatigued after repeating this for a year; He couldn't imagine doing the same thing for 20 or 30 years straight; Not to mention that his growth has currently slowed down significantly, and all he could do now is just be patient and accumulate power with time

When he first traveled to this world, he was seeking an adventure; By adventure he doesn't mean finding new people, fighting them, and walking on the edge between life and death

By that he means, traveling to new places, discovering new mysteries, analyzing them, and growing stronger in the process

So after some thought, he decided to finally leave this world and seek a new 'adventure'

But he wasn't going to leave alone, there was also Saigai who was going to leave with him

Speaking of her; She also had a good increase in strength this year; Her physical power, soul, and energy reserves improved greatly

As for her Perception Range, it has reached 184 meters, this is good considering that she doesn't possess a way to mass-collect energy like Lorien

But she wasn't satisfied with this as when she looked at how fast Lorien was advancing, she felt like she was getting left behind and that she might become a burden

This made her focus her efforts on searching for a solution to collect energy; But still, to no avail

Lorien really wanted to help her with this but he can't do anything about it, so he just observed from the side

But thankfully not all things went bad for her; This year she also mastered her [Calamity Lighting]

This happened when Lorien took her with him to a Dream when he went to practice the use of his [Clairvoyance] and to better control 'Limit Burst'

Actually, Lorien didn't want to only leave with her, he also wanted to take Shinobu with him

In the past year, after Shinobu moved here with Kanao, their relationship quickly improved as Saigai kept pushing things from the side

And recently, about a month ago, he even gave her the 2 'seeds' of [Immortality] and [Physical Ability Awakening]

The ability she awakened was actually [Poison] which may have something to do with her previously filling her body with poison as a trap for Doma

She wasn't the only one Lorien gave those 2 'seeds'; He also gave a pair to Kanao after Shinobu asked him for them

This is understandable, after all, she doesn't want to see her sister age and die slowly in front of her

But contrary to expectations, Shinobu didn't give them to her after she took them; It appears that she is waiting for her to reach adulthood and make a decision of her own

A couple of days ago, Lorien asked Shinobu for her opinion about traveling with him, but surprisingly she refused

She said that she wants to stay here and live calmly for a while, she was tired of fighting and just wanted to rest

But the actual main reason wasn't that, it was to make sure the tree of dreams is spread worldwide

Shinobu became obsessed with this after she accidentally learned that Lorien may be able to revive her sister after they cover the whole world

Knowing this, she decided to stay and oversee the situation, it appears that her obsession with her sister is still very deep

Respecting her choice, Lorien didn't try to force things; Everyone has a life of their own and is free to choose how they live it

Moreover, Lorien isn't a control freak, not to mention that he'll be back

-

Standing under the Dream Tree with Saigai next to him, Lorien looked at the 3 people in front of him; They are Shinobu, Nezuko, and Kanao

As he was leaving, he didn't forget to call them, even Nezuko who was with Tanjiro came back to see them off

Looking at them, Lorien had nothing more to say, he had already spoke to them previously; Moreover, he was very bad at goodbyes

"We're leaving"

As he said this, Lorien raised his head and looked at the star-filled sky; Feeling emotional, he couldn't help but think back to his journey in this world

When he came here he was a weakling, he hadn't even awakened his ability yet

He also felt very afraid but hid it well; This made him very cautious in everything he did

From directly practicing martial arts and swordsmanship the moment he was able to, to mostly focusing on improving his ability and staying out of trouble

Looking back at it now, he may have chosen the most 'optimal and safe' path for growth, but he also lost a lot of fun in the process

But even if he were to go back in time, he wouldn't change anything; After all, his cautiousness allowed him to survive his weakest period

'Sigh...'

'Now, I can fully protect myself!'

Thinking of this, a small smile silently appeared on his face

'Hahaha! It seems that I can be a bit more playful in the next world, I just hope it's a world that I know and a helpful one'

Resolving this, Lorien felt as if a burden was lifted; His mind has never been this clear

Smiling happily, he held Saigai's hand and raised his right hand waving goodbye to the girls in front of him

"See you later! Take care!"

"Goodbye!"

"Come back safely!!"

Then, just as he was still waving, Lorien and Saigai abruptly disappeared from their place, blipping out of existence

[VOLUME 1-END]