"Draw sword count +1"
"Draw sword count +1"
"Draw sword count +1"
...
"Heave Ho"
"Heave Ho"
...
In front of a simple wooden house from ancient Japan, an eleven-year-old boy was diligently practicing drawing a wooden sword...
"Brother Akito, what are you doing?"
A soft voice came from behind Akito, causing him to stop his practice and turn around.
"Hmm? Little Haruno, why are you here?" Akito walked over and patted the little girl on the head.
Haruno's eyes widened as she shyly said, "It's... it's Mother who asked me to bring you food..."
Akito looked and saw that there was indeed a small wooden bucket with food behind the little girl.
Akito smiled slightly and said softly, "Thank you, Haruno, for working so hard to bring me food."
"Brother, actually, both Father and Mother hope you can come to our house for dinner..."
Haruno said, blushing.
Children in this era were precocious and had their own consciousness; everyone in the village was aware of Akito's family situation.
Not long ago, Akito's parents had both gone missing, rumored to have been attacked by beasts while chopping wood in the mountains, leaving Akito to live alone.
Because Akito's parents had a very harmonious relationship with the villagers before their passing, people would occasionally offer Akito some help in his daily life.
"Um... I understand. Haruno, you can go back now. I'll return the lunchbox later."
Akito paused for a moment; he actually had a secret. He was not the original owner of this body but an outsider, and he had not inherited the original's memories. Most of his information was learned from system prompts about his current situation.
In his previous life, Akito was just a freshly graduated college student who had not yet experienced the harshness of society before arriving in this anime world, which was known for its high mortality rates.
He didn't have the powerful system rewards that other novels depicted, nor did he have a special background. Worse still, his "golden finger" was not yet activated, and he needed to draw his sword a million times to unlock it.
Given that he was a novel enthusiast and an optimist in his previous life, he felt no sadness about the original's orphaned status. Now, he only wanted to quickly activate the system so he could establish himself in this world.
Akito knew that this world was referred to as "Demon Slayer" in his previous life...
Moreover, a certain boss who loved to wear women's clothing left descendants everywhere, and his terrifying subordinates were such that even an ordinary demon would be impossible for his small body to withstand...
Only by activating the system, only by getting stronger...
And to get stronger, he could only complete a million sword draws...
Haruno did not know what Akito was thinking at this moment; she only saw him standing there in a daze, his face shifting between sadness and determination.
"Brother, don't think too much; I'm here with you..."
As she spoke, she blushed and took Akito's hands, whispering.
Akito looked at the little girl suddenly blushing and holding his hands, saying some nonsensical things, feeling a bit speechless.
"What is this little kid thinking? I'm not a lolicon, and women will only slow down my sword-drawing speed..."
"No, I need to quickly gather the draw count to activate the system and then leave here to find an opportunity to join the Demon Slayer Corps and learn the breathing techniques to slay demons..."
Akito's gaze began to firm up, only to be defeated by a growl from his stomach.
Akito opened the food that the little girl had brought and found it was just a simple rice ball, but he ate it with great enjoyment, perhaps truly hungry, or maybe it was the body's instinct to adapt.
He quickly finished the rice ball in a few bites and then picked up the wooden sword to practice drawing again.
"Brother is so cool, practicing sword techniques so hard. Is he going to take revenge for Uncle and Aunt...? I must take good care of Brother in the future..."
Haruno thought as she watched Akito practice drawing his sword.
As the sun set, the boy practicing drawing his sword and the girl sitting beside him.
Night fell, and without the electric lights of the previous life or extra entertainment, people finished dinner early and began to rest.
Akito lay on the wooden house's bed, the surroundings quiet, and it was now early summer, with the sound of insects chirping outside particularly loud.
After a day of practicing drawing his sword, he had only accumulated about two thousand draws. After all, this body was not yet an adult, and practicing drawing required breaks, which seriously hindered the draw count.
Lying in bed, feeling the soreness and weakness in his arms, he silently opened the system interface.
System: Drawing the sword to become stronger (not activated)
Activation condition: 1,000,000 sword draws (not reached)
Character: Akito
Sword draw count: 4,530
(Description: Keep it up, young man! Once you accumulate 1,000,000 sword draws, you'll become a god.)
A simple system interface; Akito sighed and silently calculated that it would take about another year to gather 1,000,000 sword draws.
"It's really damn hard..."
Moreover, thinking about the fact that his parents were both deceased and he had lost his source of income, he had to make money by himself, which made Akito feel overwhelmed...
Whenever he thought about how the protagonists in other novels started off so well, Akito couldn't help but curse his useless system in his heart.
The only function of the current system was that no matter how tired he was from practicing sword draws, his body would recover by the next morning.
Lost in thought, he unknowingly fell into a deep sleep...