The Pursuit Of Power

A week had passed since Sakonji had taken Hana and Yuuki under his wing. True to his estimates, Yuuki required a couple more days until his fracture was completely repaired.

Even though he already knew that Yuuki was unique in that regard, he could see the changes that would occur during the day to Yuuki's wounds. It was as though he passively regenerated constantly as his injuries would look different at the end of the day compared to the start of it when Yuuki woke up.

So far Sakonji had not done anything physical with them as they needed to learn some theoretical knowledge first. After some basic testing, he found that Yuuki and Hana possessed bodies far greater than many, their aptitude for becoming a Demon Slayer was very great.

Slowly, he built up a small amount of knowledge within them regarding the Breath of Water, which was the simplest and most basic Breath style for beginners to master. He had not yet taught them how to use the Breathing Method yet he already found Yuuki's breath resembling his somehow.

Using his [ Perception ] Skill allowed Yuuki to analyze Sakonji's breathing and he was able to somewhat copy it by listening to it when he was nearby and when he used the skill from his Job, the [ Vision of Power ] it showed the weaknesses in the Breathing Method, the way it did so was by making Yuuki's vision turn to those spots where the Breathing Method was flawed. It was a different Skill from when it used Mana.

Working upon these weaknesses, Yuuki was able to change the Method to suit himself better and even increased the efficacy of it. Nonetheless, Sakonji could only tell through his smell that Yuuki was breathing similarly to him.

At the start, Yuuki was barely able to perform the technique as it required him to consciously control his breathing and that was a weird feeling that he never felt before.

Over and over, he kept doing the Breathing Method while his leg healed and he found that he could accelerate his healing by making his blood flow with more Oxygen towards his broken tibia. Without a doubt, in normal conditions mastering the Breathing Method was a matter of time and effort. For Yuuki, it was purely time, and not a lot of it either.

Whenever anyone learned a Breathing Method, they would use it for a long time and build up their stamina. Yuuki did not need to and even though he did not do the Daily Mission, he never received a punishment as that had disappeared. Hina told him that was because he was not a slave to the System and that it only needed to quickly have Yuuki grow in strength to ensure his survival. The first world would be his 'trial period' if he was not good enough, the System would detach and go into hibernation until it found another possible candidate for attaching to. Nothing was enforced upon him now.

Once his leg had healed, he was able to properly use the Breathing Method.

Sakonji could not believe his eyes when Yuuki was able to use the Breathing Method as he ran using a movement technique so amazing that he disappeared for moments at a time. Even more unbelievable was that Yuuki was constantly breathing using the Method. This was a big thing because to be able to use the Breathing Method constantly required the user of the breath to repeatedly make efforts to keep breathing over and over until they would not stop.

Stamina would build up in the user of the Breath and they would normally take a while to be able to able to become proficient in the technique. Not only was Yuuki's recovery speed insane and inhumane, but his learning speed was also even more terrifying. Sakonji's memory was as clear as ever and he could remember the disciple still trying to slice the rock at the top of the mountain it had been nearly two years after this month. The Kamado siblings were the first people he had interacted with for a long while.

---

Yuuki was doing his Breathing Method while he used the footwork for [ Blink ] it was weird when he found the exact way of doing it inside of his mind along with familiarity with the movements. There was something behind the Innate Skills. A legendary person would only have one if they were exceptionally lucky. Yuuki had 4 and they were all acquired within the span of weeks from one another, they were all very versatile also.

When he focused on the way the Breathing Method was working within him, he found a certain amount was not being used. As though it was to reduce the effects of the Breathing Method, he was able to correct this, and thus when he used [ Blink ] he focused that excess energy onto his legs which provided a boost of speed so great that he felt his position change instantly. The sound of lightning striking resounded in the nearby area. Sakonji came out of a hut and behind the Tengu Mask was disbelief as he could clearly tell that Yuuki was not a user of the Breath of Lightning.

That sound which was produced sounded exactly like that of the Breath of Lightning: First Form. The smell coming from Yuuki which only Sakonji was able to smell was exactly that of the previous Thunder Hashira. The Hashira were the 9 strongest Demon Slayers in the entire Demon Slayer Corps.

Yuuki then had an epiphany as he moved once again this time producing both an explosively loud sound of thunder while also making after-images. [ Blink ] and [ Flash Step ] complement one another. When he used them, he subconsciously altered the Breathing Method to boost the effectiveness of the techniques further.

However, this time was different.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

9 times, Yuuki burst in speed before he stopped due to almost losing control.

"Oh, Sakonji. Are we going to learn how to use a sword?" Yuuki turned to Sakonji as he had not noticed him until this moment. He made a gesture of performing a vertical slice with a sword as he inquired not realizing why Sakonji was not replying.

He was in shock.