"Are you okay?"
Luke looked at the sailor-uniform girl in front of him.
She had originally been a vibrant, pretty girl overflowing with energy. Now, though, her hair was a mess, dark circles ringed her eyes, and she looked like she had pulled far too many all-nighters.
"I’m fine. Hurry up and see whether it has the effect you wanted."
The sailor-uniform girl waved him off and pushed over the wooden tray in front of her. Folded black clothing rested atop it.
Luke took it and unfolded it. It was a long coat. Of course, the appearance of clothing equipment in Endspace was not particularly important. Upon entering a mission world, it would be disguised anyway, and its appearance and color could be adjusted to a certain extent.
This pitch-black coat had a classic cut. It felt light in his hands, while its color and texture gave off a deep, premium feel.
[Pure Black Nightmare]
Origin: Endspace
Quality: Purple
Equipment Type: Outerwear
Requirements: 29 Constitution, 27 Mental
Description: Outerwear crafted by Supporter No. █████ using Darknight Slime and Romeng Silk. Possesses excellent physical and magical defense. Charm +1 while worn.
Equipment Skill 1: [Fluid] (Passive)
Skill Effect: Due to the characteristics of its materials, this equipment possesses exceptional flexibility and elasticity. Its form and appearance can be changed at will. If damaged by an attack, it can slowly repair itself.
Equipment Skill 2: [Nightmare Barrier] (Passive/Active)
Skill Effect: While wearing [Pure Black Nightmare], the Explorer gains a maximum Life Source bonus of 10% to 30%, depending on their Constitution. Activating this skill grants a protective barrier lasting 3 seconds. The barrier can absorb damage equal to twice the wearer’s Soul Source.
Cooldown: One natural day
Rating: 200+
Evaluation: Excellent works are forced out under pressure.
Looking at Endspace’s evaluation, Luke could not help but feel a little moved. It was true—so she could do it after all. She had basically met every one of his requirements.
"Honestly, this equipment is even better than I imagined."
Luke praised her sincerely. For 15,000 Endspace Coins, he probably could not buy equipment this good anywhere else.
"Naturally. My craftsmanship isn’t just for show. After all, my family is..."
The sailor-uniform girl paused there. "All right, no more talking. I need to go back and sleep. If you’re satisfied, come buy another bed from me next time."
Luke watched the sailor-uniform girl leave with a yawn, his expression turning strange. Why did she say to buy a bed rather than come back to commission more equipment?
What a strange Supporter...
Luke put away [Pure Black Nightmare], preparing to test its abilities.
Since he had already reached first place in the Arena, it was difficult for him to find an opponent. If he wanted to test it, he could only fight mirrors in the Training Hall.
This time, however, he did not go to the free basic Training Hall. Instead, he chose the intermediate Training Hall, which cost 500 Endspace Coins per day.
The paid Training Halls offered far more functions. Rather than merely setting up some training dummies, mechanisms, and worthless mirrors, they allowed him to freely select opponents he had encountered before and even adjust their attributes.
Just like in the Arena, dying while training would not mean real death. That was the wondrous part of Endspace.
"Endspace, help me select Shen Wulong’s mirror."
Luke submitted the request. This was one of the benefits of entering the Kengan world.
Although Shen Wulong had been killed by him, his combat mastery had been the real deal. The intermediate Training Hall allowed Luke to select enemies he had fought as mirrors. In other words, he could use Shen Wulong as a sparring partner indefinitely.
Ordinarily, a Rank One Explorer could not possibly encounter an opponent with master-level, or even higher, specialized abilities. Shen Wulong was an exception in a Rank One world—no, he was an absurd bug.
Limited by the world itself, his attributes had not been ridiculously high. Yet his specialized abilities clearly far exceeded the Rank One realm. Luke even suspected that, in Rank Two or Rank Three worlds, few people possessed combat techniques superior to his.
Having cleared Kengan, Luke had essentially gained a coach with high-level specialized abilities. With his talent and comprehension, continuously trading blows with Shen Wulong would allow him to improve his own combat mastery.
This method of improvement was far more cost-effective than using Inheritance Crystals.
………………
"Haa—"
Luke slowly exhaled a foul breath, ending the day’s physical training.
Today was Luke’s final day in Endspace. At first, when he still had money left, he had spent several days training in the intermediate Training Hall, gaining considerable improvements in all his specialized abilities. Once he ran out of money, though, he could only train on his own.
He had set aside an area in his room for exercise, training his Constitution, Strength, and Agility separately. Combined with the Spiritual Pressure cultivation method he had learned in Bleach, his strength had changed noticeably over the past month.
His Constitution, Strength, and Agility had each risen by 1 point, while his Mental attribute had risen by 2. With the bonuses from two titles that remained effective at every stage, his Constitution had already surpassed the limit for a Rank One Explorer, reaching 31 points.
He had tested it in both the Arena and the Training Hall. If he used Secret Technique: Demon God at full power, his Strength and Agility could also forcefully break past the Rank One Explorer limit and rise above 30.
He did not know whether that counted as being overtuned, but after reaching the top of the Rank One Arena, he had not encountered another Explorer whose peak stats exceeded his Demon God state.
Luke felt that, with his current strength, he should be able to steamroll any Rank One world with ease. He just did not know what the next world would be like.
He glanced at his Spirit Seed panel. The Origin Seed had currently been ‘watered’ by the skills he possessed and was growing. Its current growth progress stood at 38%. He did not know whether the skills he currently possessed would be enough to let it grow to the sprouting stage.
The Armament Haki loaded in his Origin slot had already reached Level 10. That was the result of his hard training over the past month.
Other Explorers might consider raising Haki through personal insight and training absurdly difficult, but Luke was not very satisfied with his results.
When he had read the manga, he had always felt that Haki training did not seem too difficult. Luffy had already achieved impressive results after two years of training, and after only a few days with "Teacher Kaido," he had jumped straight to a high level, hadn’t he?
So Luke had always thought he should be able to cultivate high-level Haki quickly as well. After all, he had a fair amount of confidence in his own talent.
But the truth was that his Haki cultivation was not progressing quickly. He did not know whether that was because of the world’s environment or because he lacked guidance from a famed teacher like Kaido.
For now, all he could do was take things one step at a time and slowly temper his Haki.
After showering and finishing lunch, Luke lay down on his bed to rest, nourish his mind, and await the arrival of a new world.
[The mission world will open in one hour. Pioneer, please make your preparations.]
[Target World: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Derivative World)]
Luke was not particularly stirred by the announcement. He simply continued sitting with his eyes closed, regulating his breathing so he could enter the mission world at his peak.
He had not watched the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba anime before coming to Endspace. His master was not omnipotent, and his collection of books had been limited. Manga from the old era had been rare in their time.
Fortunately, after coming to Endspace, he had been catching up on anime whenever he rested. He had watched this series not long ago, so he had an information advantage.
Time passed quietly until he heard the prompt.
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