Based on Luke’s knowledge of the original manga, the Hashira relied on three great weapons when fighting powerful Demons: the Transparent World, the Demon Slayer Mark, and the Red Blade.
Luke understood the Transparent World as a special state that allowed one to see through an enemy’s inner workings—the rhythm of their muscles exerting force, the frequency of their breathing—and thereby determine the trajectory of their attacks. It was essentially an immensely powerful ability for seeing through one’s opponent.
The Demon Slayer Mark was a release of the human body’s latent potential. But because it overtaxed that potential and shortened one’s lifespan, those who awakened a Mark later in life generally did not live past twenty-five.
As for the Red Blade, it was originally created when users of Sun Breathing infused their strength into their blades, raising them to intense temperatures and thus increasing their lethality against Demons.
Later in the manga, the Hashira could also turn their swords into Red Blades through overwhelming grip strength or by making their weapons collide, raising the blades’ temperature.
Honestly, Luke was not particularly interested in any of these techniques.
He already had a skill that unleashed his potential to boost his strength. Skills like that, burst-state abilities, clearly could not be stacked without limit. Otherwise, every Explorer would just learn those skills instead of raising their base attributes. Besides, the Demon Slayer Mark’s side effects were far worse than his [Secret Technique: Demon God].
As for the Transparent World, its principles for concealing one’s presence did have some value. But observing an opponent, predicting their moves, and grasping the flow of their power were all things Luke could already do. He had no need for that x-ray-like perception.
And in life-or-death combat, Luke relied more on his battle instincts anyway.
As for the last one, the Red Blade... Luke found it even more questionable. To him, it was a rather mediocre ability.
When all was said and done, he believed he had already obtained the most useful thing this world had to offer: Breathing Styles.
He had been interested in internal cultivation and breathing techniques since childhood. Those were the things with genuine potential. Put simply, Breathing Styles could raise a person’s stats.
Without high base stats, the Transparent World, Demon Slayer Mark, and Red Blade were all useless. A slash delivered by the Mist Hashira after awakening his Mark could not compare to one from Yoriichi Tsugikuni.
It was not that his ancestor from the same clan was vastly more talented than the Mist Hashira. Their stats simply were not on the same level.
But during the battle against Upper Rank One in the original story, the Stone Hashira was different after awakening his Mark. Every strike was practically a critical hit, putting even the First Upper Rank under tremendous pressure.
That was why Luke saw no need to study all sorts of flashy abilities in this world. Thoroughly mastering Breathing Styles would be enough.
In the state of Total Concentration Breathing: Constant, Breathing Styles could gradually improve a person’s physique over the long term. That was why Luke classified them as internal cultivation.
And when used at full power in battle, Breathing Styles could further enhance the body’s attributes. They offered both lasting improvements and explosive combat power.
Among cultivation systems, they counted as a solid system Explorers could obtain early on. Luke estimated that Breathing Styles would remain useful throughout the first and second tiers.
If he could fully comprehend the principles behind Breathing Styles and improve them, he might gain even greater attribute benefits from them and use them for longer.
For now, though, Luke felt that Breathing Styles were easy to learn but still required time to truly master. At the very least, his attributes had not yet improved. Only when he used Thunder Breathing combat techniques could he temporarily burst them up by a point or two.
Of course, Thunder Breathing offered more than just the numbers on his status panel. Its defining trait was godlike speed.
When he used Thunder Breathing at full power, it granted him a considerable speed boost and made his Flash Step even faster.
Greater speed meant greater damage from Prison Demon. So, the benefits of Breathing Styles could not be judged by stats alone. The mechanics unique to each Breathing Style also mattered greatly.
From that perspective, Luke had considered studying under the Stone Hashira. He felt that Stone Breathing had some promising mechanics as well.
"Thank you all for coming to the Demon Slayer Corps’ Final Selection tonight."
A crisp female voice interrupted Luke’s review of the world’s information. He raised his head toward the two figures emerging from the wisteria forest.
They were a pair of young twin girls with shoulder-length hair, dressed in kimono embroidered with wisteria patterns. Their onion-like purple eyes gave them a somewhat eerie impression at first glance.
At the sight of the two girls, Zenitsu instinctively moved closer to Luke, trembling as he stood behind him.
"This Mount Fujikasane holds Demons captured alive by Demon Slayers. However, the Demons cannot leave..."
The white-haired girl began explaining the rules of the selection. "That is because wisteria flowers, which Demons hate, bloom all year round from here up to the mountainside. But beyond that point, there are no more wisteria flowers—and that is where the Demons roam."
Zenitsu shuddered upon hearing that and nearly pressed himself against Luke’s back. Though he had long known what Final Selection entailed, he could not help being afraid.
"Survive in there for seven days. That is the condition for passing Final Selection."
The black-haired girl continued.
Quite a few Demon Slayer Corps candidates exchanged uneasy looks, though some remained calm. Luke swept his gaze over the crowd. Aside from the members of the main cast from the original story, there were two older-looking people as well. They were probably Explorers.
Those two also noticed Luke. When they saw Zenitsu following him, surprise flickered in their eyes before it turned into gloom.
The two Explorers were in an absolutely terrible mood. Only after arriving at the selection grounds had they grasped the reality of the situation: almost no one had chosen the Demon Slayer Corps faction.
Once the initial excitement wore off, they began questioning their original choice.
A total of thirty-six Explorers had entered this world. If the Explorers at the selection grounds were the entire Demon Slayer Corps faction, then did that not mean it was three against thirty-three?
And Muzan Kibutsuji’s faction already held the advantage in combat power. How the hell were they supposed to play this?
For a time, the two Explorers were utterly despondent. They were already thinking about how to hide away and coast through this world.
So long as no mission came with a death penalty for failure, they had no intention of completing it. Staying alive was what mattered.
"Then, we wish you a safe journey."
The two kimono-clad girls bowed and offered their auspicious farewell.
That only made the two Explorers more irritated. They were not afraid of Final Selection itself, but hearing that phrase made it sound exactly like their future in this world.
"Senior Brother Luke, I’m scared, but I’ll do my best. I won’t hold you back."
Zenitsu forcibly suppressed the fear in his heart and spoke with difficulty. He knew his senior brother would take care of him, but since he had come this far, he did not want to be useless baggage hiding behind Luke’s back. That would be too great a betrayal of his grandfather’s teachings.
Luke smiled at that. He had thought Zenitsu would cling to him the whole way, but Zenitsu was doing fairly well. "I’ll give you a test. As long as you kill one Demon, I’ll guarantee that you pass the selection safely."
"Just one Demon?"
Zenitsu froze. "But Demons are so terrifying..."
As he spoke, he lowered his head. He recognized his own cowardice. There was no telling how many Demons were on this mountain. His senior brother had merely given him the simplest possible trial.
"Don’t worry, Senior Brother Luke. I’ll do my best and kill a Demon!"
Zenitsu said, summoning his courage. He understood what his senior brother meant. If he did not even possess the ability to kill a single Demon, then he had no business joining the Demon Slayer Corps.
Even if Senior Brother Luke protected him through the selection, it would only be sending him into a bottomless pit of danger. After all, Senior Brother Luke could not remain at his side forever.
But was he really willing to be nothing more than the worthless coward everyone called him? He did not want Senior Brother Luke to worry about him, nor did he want to disappoint his grandfather. So he would do his best, kill a Demon, and strive to become a qualified Demon Slayer.
Luke watched as the participants in Final Selection entered the mountain one after another, then stepped forward as well. "Come on. Let’s begin our selection."
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