[Teleportation commencing…]
Along with the prompt from the Terminus Space, Kurosaki Rei felt himself once again entering that hazy tunnel of white light. Everything around him was blurred; only the notification chime of the Terminus Space rang clearly in his ears.
[Locating world…]
[Location confirmed. Target derivative world: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba]
[Number of Explorers deployed to this world: 36]
[Detected that the Pioneer has already mastered this world's common language. Learning phase will be skipped]
[This world is a faction-based confrontation world. Please choose your initial faction identity]
A menu appeared before Kurosaki Rei's eyes. At the top were two major factions:
— Demon Slayer Corps Faction
— Muzan Faction
Below the major factions was a list of selectable identities.
[Note: All selectable identities are calculated by the Space as suitable for the Pioneer. Different Explorers will have different available identities]
Kurosaki Rei understood this explanation easily. Simply put, the Space would judge based on each person's strength, personality, and other factors—it wouldn't assign an identity that was too prone to OOC behavior.
"Faction selection, huh…"
Kurosaki Rei pondered. If you asked an ordinary, morally normal person which faction they preferred in this manga, the answer would be obvious. Almost no one liked Kibutsuji Muzan; most people would stand with the Demon Slayer Corps.
But unfortunately, the Space wasn't a place for ordinary people, and moral values couldn't dictate an Explorer's choices. The first rule of surviving in the Space was survival itself. Explorers would choose whichever faction made it easier to live.
So which faction was easier to survive in?
The answer was self-evident—the Muzan faction.
Although Kibutsuji Muzan was an idiotic boss, Explorers themselves were strong. Combined with their foreknowledge of the plot, they could navigate the mission world with ease.
Moreover, joining Muzan's faction guaranteed obtaining the Demon bloodline. Although this bloodline had the weakness of fearing sunlight, the boosts it gave to physical attributes and its high-speed regeneration were extremely powerful. It was considered an excellent bloodline and very popular among low-tier Explorers.
And demons didn't necessarily have to fear the sun. In the original story, both the protagonist Kamado Tanjiro and his sister Nezuko overcame this weakness after becoming demons. Tanjiro even nearly turned into a "Jo-level ultimate lifeform." Such flaws in the bloodline were easy to fix after returning to the Space.
At that point, the demon bloodline became a high-attribute, high-regeneration premium bloodline—naturally beloved by low-tier Explorers.
Previously, when Kurosaki Rei was out walking, he had overheard several Explorers chatting about the Demon Slayer world. They were extremely eager to enter it, calling it a "welfare world."
As long as you were willing to kneel to Muzan, you could get a premium bloodline. Where else could you find such a deal?
As for danger? What danger? The Demon Slayer Corps?
Explorers already had relatively high base attributes. After becoming demons, they would be even more overpowered. With knowledge of the plot, as long as they played cautiously, surviving in the world wasn't difficult.
As long as they weren't erased for mission failure, even if they took a small penalty for incomplete objectives, returning with the demon bloodline would already be a profit.
Even for more capable Explorers—especially the strong ones—the Muzan faction was often the preferred choice. Not only was the demon bloodline excellent, but Muzan's faction actually had a huge advantage.
Yes, in the original story Muzan was ultimately killed, but the Demon Slayer Corps only achieved a pyrrhic victory. Muzan's faction lost mainly because of Muzan's own incompetence and cowardice, as well as being crippled by intelligence disadvantages and heavy nerfs.
If Explorers intervened, Muzan wouldn't fall into traps, wouldn't be poisoned, and the Upper Rank demons—who were picked off one by one in the original story—might actually fight as a team.
In terms of frontal combat power alone, the Demon Slayer Corps definitely couldn't compare to Muzan's faction.
As for growth potential, there was even less to discuss. That famous manga quote wasn't nonsense—demons possessed higher numerical stats and a naturally higher ceiling than humans in the Demon Slayer world.
Figures like Tsugikuni Yoriichi were exceptions. In reality, even after becoming demons, one could continue to refine combat techniques and even use Breathing Styles.
So no matter how you looked at it, joining Muzan's faction was the more rational choice.
But Kurosaki Rei wasn't a rational person.
He acted according to his conscience; clarity of mind was what mattered most to him.
Besides, he thought demon bloodlines tended to make people ugly.
So he chose the Demon Slayer Corps faction.
In truth, Muzan's faction wasn't always at an advantage. During the Sengoku era, Muzan had once been hunted so relentlessly by Yoriichi Tsugikuni and the Demon Slayers that he didn't dare show his face. If they were being sent to that period, joining Muzan's faction would be a terrible idea.
But Kurosaki Rei was certain that their landing point was during the main storyline.
Because he had seen the selectable identities under the Demon Slayer Corps faction.
Selectable Identity 1: Water Inheritance
Identity Details: You are a disciple of the former Water Hashira, now the cultivator Urokodaki Sakonji. This identity allows you to learn Water Breathing.
Identity Difficulty: A+
Minimum Comprehensive Evaluation Required: S-
After reading the notes on difficulty and comprehensive evaluation, Kurosaki Rei understood them clearly. Difficulty represented the risks he might face with that identity, while the minimum evaluation was the goal he had to surpass by the end of the world—failure would result in penalties.
Just from the first identity, Kurosaki Rei could roughly pinpoint the timeline. The subsequent identities would narrow it down even further.
Selectable Identity 2: Flower Inheritance
Identity Details: You are a disciple of the current Insect Hashira, Kocho Shinobu. This identity allows you to learn Insect Breathing or Flower Breathing.
Identity Difficulty: B
Minimum Comprehensive Evaluation Required: A-
Kurosaki Rei passed on this option immediately. He felt unsuited for Flower Breathing, and the lower difficulty suggested he'd likely be stuck doing logistics at the Butterfly Mansion most of the time.
What puzzled him most was this—weren't all the people at the Butterfly Mansion girls? Terminus, what are you implying? Why am I even allowed to choose this identity?
Skipping that, he continued browsing the other options. He soon realized that there were far more Breathing Styles in this world than he had expected. The original work mentioned many minor styles only in passing—variants evolved from the original Breathing Styles.
The Demon Slayer Corps' swordsmen practiced all kinds of strange and diverse Breathing Styles. Not everyone was lucky enough to have a former Hashira as their cultivator.
"Great teachers produce great students" wasn't an empty saying. Talent and effort mattered, but a good teacher could double one's growth efficiency.
After scanning all the identities, Kurosaki Rei made his decision.
Selectable Identity 7: Thunder Inheritance
Identity Details: You are a disciple of the former Thunder Hashira, now the cultivator Kuwajima Jigoro. This identity allows you to learn Thunder Breathing.
Identity Difficulty: A+
Minimum Comprehensive Evaluation Required: S-
The difficulty was roughly the same as the Water Inheritance. Kurosaki Rei guessed this was because both identities would result in frequent interactions with the protagonist's group—meaning a higher chance of encountering powerful demons.
Kurosaki Rei was quite interested in the Breathing Styles of this world. Not only did they enhance physical attributes, but they also unlocked powerful combat techniques, further enriching his skill set.
If possible, he actually wanted to learn Sun Breathing. Unfortunately, in the current Demon Slayer world, there seemed to be no legitimate inheritance of Sun Breathing—no cultivator of that style. The Terminus Space couldn't exactly set him up as a relative of Kamado Tanjiro.
And even Tanjiro himself only had a vague grasp of Sun Breathing before the finale. Asking him to teach others would be a stretch.
After weighing everything, Kurosaki Rei felt that Thunder Breathing—with its extreme speed and brutal style—suited his tastes better.
Thus, he confirmed this initial identity.
Once the choice was made, the Space's prompt rang out again.
[Deployment commencing…]
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