Breathing Techniques in SAO

Pushing open the door that looked ancient, Tomioka Akimi cautiously stepped inside.

Inside was a traditional Japanese wooden house, surrounded by wisteria flowers.

Akimi drew his weapon and looked around.

Finding no obvious danger, he walked toward the house.

As the door to the house was pushed open, the hinges creaked with a "creak creak" sound.

The room was very empty, the tightly closed windows blocking any light; the only illumination came from the newly opened door.

Akimi's footsteps stirred up dust from the floor, and the particles danced in the light, resembling a thin morning mist on a winter day.

This lifelike scene made Akimi once again marvel at Sword Art Online's impressive technology.

He surveyed the surroundings and saw that the large room contained only a single table, on which rested a notebook with a black cover.

Akimi tried to pick up the notebook.

The black cover was blank—no writing or design.

He gently opened it, revealing the yellowed pages inside.

The notebook, full of a historic atmosphere, was filled with deep brown letters that looked like dried blood.

"A long time ago, after the sun set over Aincrad, monsters called demons would appear..."

Akimi read aloud from the notebook, frowning slightly. "Ugh, why does this story feel so familiar?"

"Oh well, let's keep reading," he said, turning another page.

"Demons preyed on humans, they were powerful and possessed various strange spells."

"Hmm, this is getting even more familiar," Akimi scratched his head.

"Isn't this just Demon Slayer?"

He felt a bit flustered. "Why is there Demon Slayer stuff in Aincrad? Could there really be breathing techniques and Demon Slayer Corps here?"

Looking back at the notebook, he felt very puzzled. "Seeing Demon Slayer in SAO is just too weird."

"And all demons originate from the legendary Demon King. To fight against the demons, people united and formed the Demon Slayer Corps," the notebook read.

"Huh? It really is the Demon Slayer Corps?" Akimi was greatly shocked.

He stared at the notebook in a daze, then continued reading: "In the beginning, the Demon Slayer Corps could only restrain the demons and wait for the sun to rise—because demons would turn to ashes upon contact with sunlight."

"Even the setting is the same," Akimi said.

"I bet the next part will mention the breathing techniques."

Sure enough, the notebook said: Eventually, someone discovered a mineral containing solar energy.

Weapons forged from this mineral could kill demons by beheading them.

"Moreover, a swordsman from the Demon Slayer Corps invented a special breathing method by imitating the fluctuations of the sun. This breathing technique greatly enhances physical abilities and inflicts damage on demons."

"So it really is the breathing technique," Akimi smiled.

"Hmm, could it be that there are descendants of the Demon Slayer Corps among the Sword Art Online development team?"

Slowly, he flipped to the last page of the notebook: Through the breathing technique and a special weapon called the Nichirin Blade, the Demon Slayer Corps gained power nearly equal to that of the demons. But when facing the mighty Demon King, the Corps gave their all and only managed to severely wound him — the Demon King escaped.

At the end of the notes it read: To those who come later, if you wish to become a Demon Slayer swordsman and slay the Demon King, please go to the backyard to obtain the breathing technique and the Nichirin Blade.

As Akimi finished reading the notebook, a system panel appeared before him, displaying: "Accept Quest — The Thousand-Year-Old Demon King?"

Below the quest name was a line of red text: "Accepting the quest will grant the quest items."

Akimi pressed confirm to accept the quest, then strolled into the backyard.

Sure enough, beneath a cherry blossom tree, he found a sword sheathed in a black scabbard.

Next to the sword lay a scroll.

He picked up the sword and the scroll, and immediately the system displayed:

Received Nichirin Blade *1, Acquired passive skill Water Breathing.

Opening the detailed information, the Nichirin Blade was described as: a powerful weapon forged from a special mineral, capable of harming demons. However, it is currently sealed and requires completing a special task to unseal. Equipment level requirement is level 5 (must reach level 5 to equip).

Water Breathing: a special skill that upgrades differently from regular skills. It grants the character extra attribute points when leveling up. (Attributes are divided into Strength and Agility. Strength affects power, stamina, defense, and max HP; Agility affects speed, reaction, and attack speed.)

Akimi glanced at the base stats of the Nichirin Blade and was instantly shocked.

As a weapon equippable at level 5, its attack power was as high as 20 points — a figure that many level 10 weapons could only reach.

He noticed something very strange about this Nichirin Blade: its durability was infinite.

The description noted that while the blade could get damaged, it would never disappear, and even if only the hilt remained, it could be repaired.

After equipping Water Breathing in the skill slot, Akimi found that below the Water Breathing skill, there were ten smaller skill slots — these contained the ten sword techniques of Water Breathing.

"Really convenient, one skill slot directly includes offensive, defensive, and dash sword techniques," he admired.

Being someone who hated hassle, Akimi usually preferred to keep things simple, and he had often complained about the skill slot system in Sword Art Online.

Because in Sword Art Online, to use any skill, you had to equip it in a skill slot.

To switch to another skill, you first had to remove the skill currently in the slot before adding the new one.

Different types of weapons each occupy their own separate skill slot.

If you don't add the corresponding skill to the skill slot, even if you perform the correct sword technique motion, the skill activation won't trigger.

Forcing an attack will only count as a normal attack.

Another very important point is that life skills share the same skill slots with sword techniques—there's no separate life skill slot.

Also, you cannot switch skills while in combat.

Other skills, like enemy detection and stealth, also need to be equipped in skill slots to be usable.

A person's skill slots are limited—starting with only two slots, increasing to three at level 6, four at level 12, five at level 20, and then gaining one additional slot every 10 levels afterward.

Because of this, most players, wanting to fully learn their sword techniques quickly, basically don't equip life skills during the early stages.

With the Nichirin blade and Water Breathing, Akimi could already walk confidently through most areas on the first floor, which greatly boosted his confidence.

He looked at his quest log, ready to start the task, but when he read the quest description, he chose to abandon it.

The quest description stated: The Demon King who escaped from the Demon Slayer Corps is now on the 50th floor of Aincrad, hiding in a forest there. Before slaying the Demon King, a demon appears every 5 floors, and only after all demons before the 50th floor are killed will the Demon King appear.

On the other side of the quest prompt, it said: The first demon appears in the labyrinth area of Karruin on the 5th floor of Aincrad. In the labyrinth, a special messenger creature unique to the Demon Slayer Corps — the Kasugai Crow — will guide you to find the demon. Please hurry and eliminate the demon.

Looking at the quest, Akimi smirked and thought: It's going to take a while before I can reach the 5th floor.

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