Chapter 28: Stronger Than the Mountain
This time, it wasn't traditional Kendo training like with Kazami, nor was it high-altitude conditioning like with Urokodaki.
This time, Natsuya faced a simple forge and a heavy sledgehammer.
Just hammer the iron.
It sounded simple. But doing it was far harder than Natsuya expected.
Matsuyama's requirement was strict: every swing had to use full force, and he had to maintain the rhythm of Stone Breathing throughout the entire process.
Just imitating the breathing pattern was already straining his lungs. Then, the recoil from striking the iron would numb his arms, instantly breaking his breathing rhythm.
He looked over at Matsuyama.
The Cultivator working at the adjacent forge was in a completely different state.
Standing steadily on his one good leg, he gripped the hot iron with tongs in one hand and wielded a hammer much larger and more battered than Natsuya's in the other.
CLANG!
Heavy, condensed, sparks cascading like a waterfall.
CLANG!
His breathing, his heartbeat, and the force of the hammer seemed to form a subtle resonance.
CLANG!
Natsuya could almost hear the impurities being squeezed out of the iron, the metal becoming denser under the immense pressure.
"Your breathing is erratic again," Matsuyama said without looking up, his voice blending with the roar of the bellows.
"Grip the hammer like you grip your breath. Remember, you are not swinging the hammer. The breath swings it. The earth borrows your arm to swing it."
Sounds mystical.
Natsuya gritted his teeth and continued to swing alongside the retired swordsman.
Clang! Clang! Clang~
His strikes sounded crisper, but looser than Matsuyama's. Sure enough, after a few hits, his Stone Breathing rhythm collapsed again.
"Continue."
Matsuyama still didn't look at him. He remained focused on his own battle with the iron ingot, as if he were the one training, not Natsuya.
"To turn Iron into Steel requires more than brute force. It cannot be rushed."
"Calm your heart."
Natsuya nodded. Despite the exhaustion, he actually appreciated the game design here. Few action games forced players to genuinely understand the "internal logic" of a skill rather than just pressing buttons.
Of course, the main reason he appreciated it was that he couldn't trigger the [Fast-Forward] animation yet.
System assistance only kicked in for mastered, repetitive actions. For learning new skills or fighting demons, he had to experience every second in real-time.
Since the crow brought news of his promotion, the hammering had continued for days.
By the third day, Natsuya found the "feeling" Matsuyama talked about. The frequency of his breathing rhythm breaking dropped significantly.
By the fifth day, when his mind fully sank into the resonance between breath and strike...
The familiar System function finally unlocked. [Smithing Training] entered the "Fast-Forwardable" state.
Natsuya naturally chose to go all-in, converting every drop of sweat into maximum efficiency XP.
Time flowed like visible sand, slipping past his senses.
Heat, hammer, cool, heat again...
Sweat soaked his clothes and dried into salt crusts on his skin. His arms went from sore to numb, then to a strange state where they felt fused with the hammer handle.
The resistance and extension of the iron under the hammer.
The progress bar for [Stone Breathing], which hadn't even reached the halfway point, began to climb slowly and steadily like a heartbeat.
Beside him, Matsuyama Daimon silently watched Natsuya, who was now fully immersed in the "Flow State."
This child is more talented than I expected.
Dual-specing Breathing Styles wasn't easy. A human only had one pair of lungs and one brain. Mastering one style was already a severe test of body and will. Learning two or three meant memorizing multiple conflicting rhythms and forms.
It was a heavy burden. It wouldn't necessarily increase raw power, and switching modes mid-combat was harder than drawing a circle with one hand and a square with the other.
Water Breathing was flexible enough that a genius might be able to dual-class it.
But Stone Breathing?
It was heavy, difficult, and demanded the absolute peak of physical constitution and mental fortitude.
However... Matsuyama didn't doubt that Natsuya could master it. He was just curious about what the boy would learn from the stone.
And what new path he might forge by combining the wills of Rock, Water, and Wind.
The Will of Stone lies in bearing the weight.
Fudo Hino, the late Mountain Hashira, had learned "Hardness" and "Power" from him. Like his personality—a silent volcano with magma raging inside.
And then there was Gyomei.
When that child first arrived... he carried a sorrow heavier than any mountain.
He was compassionate, sensitive, and empathetic. He seemed soft, but deep inside lay a hardness and wariness far beyond ordinary people. It was as if Gyomei struggled to trust anyone deeply.
But that didn't mean his talent was lacking. In Matsuyama's humble opinion, Gyomei would become stronger than anyone—even surpassing Fudo.
He had hoped Fudo and Gyomei would support the future of the Corps together.
But...
Thinking of Fudo Hino's obituary, Matsuyama felt a pang of grief. The boy was only twenty-six. He had so much potential. And he died silently in the wilderness.
According to the Kakushi report, only half of his body was recovered. It was covered in combat wounds and traces of a potent poison.
Clearly, he had died fighting an Upper Moon. Even with his full strength, he couldn't win.
Matsuyama often wondered: If I had been there... could I have saved him?
Maybe he couldn't change the outcome. But if they fought together... maybe Fudo would have had a sliver of a chance to survive.
The Demon Slayer Corps needs more strong, unwavering swordsmen.
That was why he became a Cultivator. That was why he accepted Kazami's request.
And Natsuya... Natsuya showed a possibility completely different from Fudo or Gyomei.
The boy was undeniably a genius. But what intrigued Matsuyama was his [Unpredictability].
His obsession with slaying demons was pure to the point of confusion. It seemed to go beyond a blood feud.
To Natsuya, killing demons was as natural as breathing. As if he were born solely for that purpose.
His attitude toward training was equally puzzling. Sometimes he seemed impetuous, yet the next moment he could sink into a focus deeper than anyone Matsuyama had ever seen.
His physical stats were far beyond what a swordsman of his age should have—second only to Gyomei.
Most surprisingly, he intended to learn all five basic Breathing Styles. And unlike most arrogant youths who failed to master even one, Natsuya had already mastered Wind and Water.
And now, he was on the verge of grasping Stone.
Matsuyama exhaled softly, his eyes showing a mix of relief and faint worry.
Just as Matsuyama's mind was filling with thoughts, a change occurred at Natsuya's anvil.
The sound of the hammer striking the iron changed completely.
[Stone Breathing]
Activated.
[Stone Breathing]
LV.0 Unpolished Gem
Proficiency: 1/250
Forms Mastered: 0/10
☆☆☆
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