"Are you okay?"
Gusion asked the sailor-uniformed girl before him.
She used to be a lively, energetic girl, but now her hair was messy, her eyes ringed with dark circles, looking like she had overdone her office overtime.
"I'm fine. Hurry, check if it's what you wanted."
She waved her hand and pushed a wooden tray forward, with neatly folded black clothing on it.
Gusion took it and unfolded it—a long coat. But appearance didn't matter much for clothing in the Endspace, since task worlds would provide a disguise function. The look and color of the clothes could be adjusted to a certain extent.
This pitch-black coat was a classic style, felt very light to the touch, and had a deep, high-class look.
[Black Nightmare]
Origin: Endspace
Quality: Purple
Equipment Type: Outerwear
Requirements: 29 Constitution, 27 Spirit
Details: Outerwear made by Supporter █████# from Night Slime and Romons, with excellent physical and magical defense. Wearing it increases Charm by 1.
Skill 1. Fluid (Passive)
Effect: Due to material properties, this equipment is extremely flexible and stretchable, able to change appearance at will. When damaged, it can slowly self-repair.
Skill 2. Nightmare Barrier (Passive/Active)
Effect: While wearing Black Nightmare, the explorer gets a 10–30% life source max bonus based on constitution. Activating the skill grants a 3-second shield, blocking damage equal to twice the wearer's soul source.
Cooldown: One natural day
Rating: 200+
Evaluation: An excellent piece, created under pressure.
[]
Gusion looked at Endspace's evaluation and was quite moved. It really was as good as he hoped; all his requirements were basically met.
"To be honest, this equipment is better than I imagined."
Gusion praised, sincerely. Fifteen thousand Endspace coins probably couldn't buy something this good.
"Of course! My craftsmanship is no joke. After all, my family is..."
The sailor-uniformed girl paused. "Alright, no more chat, I need some sleep. If you're satisfied, come to me for another bed next time."
Gusion watched her leave yawning, a strange expression on his face. Why a bed? Why not more custom equipment?
What a weird supporter...
Gusion put away the Black Nightmare, ready to test its abilities.
Since he was now ranked No.1 in the arena, it was hard to find a match, so he could only test it in the training ground against a mirror image.
This time, he didn't go to the free beginner's training ground but chose the intermediate training ground for 500 Endspace coins a day.
Paid training grounds offered more features—not just simple dummies and basic mirrors, but the ability to choose opponents he'd faced before and adjust their attributes.
As in the arena, dying in the training ground didn't mean real death—the magic of Endspace.
"Endspace, select the mirror image of Shen Wulong."
Gusion made the request. That was the benefit of visiting the Kengan world.
Although Shen Wulong had been killed by him, his combat mastery was real. The intermediate training ground allowed him to use anyone he'd fought as a sparring partner, meaning he could fight Shen Wulong as much as he wanted.
Normally, Tier 1 explorers wouldn't face opponents with master-level or higher expertise. Shen Wulong was a true outlier in a Tier 1 world—a real bug.
He was limited by the world's rules and didn't have crazy stats, but his expertise was far above Tier 1, and even in higher tiers, few matched his combat skills.
After finishing the Kengan world, Gusion basically gained a highly skilled sparring partner. With his own talent and understanding, constant sparring would greatly increase his combat mastery.
This method of improvement was far more cost-effective than using inheritance crystals.
…
"Whew—"
Gusion exhaled, ending his daily physical training.
Today was his last day in the Endspace. When he still had spare money, he'd trained several days in the intermediate training ground, improving his expertise, but after running out of funds, he could only train himself.
He set aside a training area in his room for constitution, strength, and agility training, combined with spiritual pressure techniques learned in Bleach. Over the past month, his strength had visibly changed.
Constitution, strength, and agility all increased by 1; spirit rose by 2. Plus, with two titles that worked at all stages, his constitution attribute broke the Tier 1 explorer record, reaching 31.
He'd tested in the arena and training ground—with full use of Demon God, his strength and agility could break past the Tier 1 limit to more than 30.
He wasn't sure if this was considered overpowered, but after topping the Tier 1 arena rankings, he hadn't seen any other explorers with higher peak stats.
With his current strength, Gusion felt he could easily clear any Tier 1 world. He just didn't know what the next world would be.
He checked his spirit origin tab; the Origin Seed was being nourished by his mastered skills and growing, currently at 38% progress. He wasn't sure if his current skills would let it reach the growth stage.
His Armament Haki in the Origin tab was already at level 10—a result of his month of hard training.
Improving Haki through training was considered extremely difficult by other explorers, but Gusion wasn't satisfied with his progress.
He remembered in the manga, Haki training didn't seem so hard—didn't Luffy make great progress in two years, and with fight with Katakuri and Kaido, level up in just a few days?
So Gusion felt he should be able to train Haki quickly too, since he was pretty confident in his talent.
But in reality, his Haki training was not quick. He didn't know if it was the world environment or because he didn't have an opponent like Kaido.
For now, he could only take it step by step, slowly grinding out his Haki level.
After showering and lunch, Gusion lay down to rest, recuperating for the new world.
…
…
…
[Task world will open in one hour. Pioneer, please prepare.]
[Target world: Demon Slayer (derivative world)]
Gusion wasn't fazed; he continued to meditate, determined to enter the new world at his peak.
He hadn't read Demon Slayer before coming to the Endspace. His master's library was limited and old manga were rare in his era.
Luckily, during his time in the Endspace, he'd watched the anime and gained some intelligence advantage.
Time passed quietly until he heard the notification.