Chapter 42: Leaving
Half a day later inside of Tanjiro's dream
By now Lorien had already finished learning the sun breathing technique and all of its forms
It wasnt the perfect version as Tanjiro himself didnt have it at the moment, but it was enough for now, as later on, he'll perfect it and then make a custom one for himself
And now, all he needs to do now is just practice it, and that's what he's been doing for the past couple of hours
As for Tanjiro, he is still currently using the Kagura Dance over and over again as this is also a rare opportunity for him which will help him greatly in the future when he tries using it in real life
And that wasnt all that Lorien was doing all this time
Besides training, he took some time to test this new ability to see what other benefits it may have and if there are any drawbacks
And he did indeed discover some flaws
If one were to train here, after waking up he'd only receive the memories and experience, but sadly he won't receive any of the physical gains that come from training
This includes the normal physical strengthening that accompanies the training and even muscle memories...
But thankfully this only applies to other people, as for Lorien, when he returns to reality he won't lose anything, even the physical improvement will be preserved
This is mainly because of the different ways Lorien and other people enter dreams
Lorien enters dreams in his entirety, body, and soul, that's also the reason why every time he enters dreams he disappears from reality
But other people aren't the same, when they enter a dream, only a projection appears there
This projection is very mysterious and causally related to his body and soul outside
Lorien could even kill people in reality by killing this 'projection' in dreams, that's how much this 'projection' is related to their real body
But even then, they can't receive the physical benefits gained by training in dreams, as they haven't truly 'entered' it
Unless of course, Lorien spends Source Energy to help them turn it into reality, doing so will make them gain everything they should have got while training without losing anything
But the more physical change there is, the more energy he has to spend
And in the case of their current training for example, the energy he has to spend to turn the physical 'experience' and muscle memories Tanjito got while practicing the sun breathing technique is minimal
But if he were to accelerate the time here and practice for years, the energy required to turn all of that physical growth and experience into reality would be huge
But it'll probably be worth it
Discovering this Lorien shook his head bitterly as he quickly crossed some ideas that had just appeared in his mind
'As usual ehh, no way to cheat....'
But Lorien wasnt truly bothered by this much as it was something he had already expected
Not to mention that this limit is only for other people, and it doesn't include himself
All in all, this newly discovered ability is infinitely very useful
-
And now it's been a couple of hours since Lorien began practicing the breathing technique, and only now did he finally stop as he had finally mastered it
Practicing in dreams is really much easier than in reality, even the learning acceleration is considerably better here
Finishing his practice Lorien turned his attention to Tanjiro who had already found a tree to rest under
Even though practicing here doesn't cost any physical energy, all this practice still consumes mental power
So after practicing for so long both of Tanjiro felt a bit tired mentally
Walking towards him, Lorien spoke
"So you are going to participate in the final selection?"
"Yes! I want to find the demon who killed my family"
Seeing his resolute and stubborn look Lorien knew that nothing could change his mind, but he still decided to give him some advice
"You are too weak now, with your current strength you'll die miserably if you meet even a lower moon, and even demons weaker that it may kill you"
Pausing for a moment he then continued
"The final selection shouldn't be much of an issue for you, but following that you should go to the demon slayer HQ to practice the sun breathing technique, or else you'll easily die somewhere"
After taking Nezuko with him Lorien really doubts whether Tanjiro could really survive on his own
In the original timeline she saved his life more than once, and now without her, he may die miserably
But Lorien had already warned him more than once
If he still keeps being stubborn and decides to still rush forward and dies somewhere, then its none of his business
After all he isnt his babysitter, the only reason he adviced him is because he had a good impression of him
So after saying this he didnt leave any time for Tanjiro to respond and he snapped his fingers while saying
"Let's go back to reality!"
*Snap*
Following the snap, the dream where they were practicing crashed and transformed into energy which was immediately absorbed by Lorien
'It's still food no matter how small it is!'
-
In the real world, Lorien started materializing slowly from nothingness in front of where Tanjiro was currently asleep
Even though they stayed for 12 hours or so in the dream, only a moment passed in reality
Following his materialization, Lorien used his ability to help turn all the physical experience Tanjiro got while in the dream into reality as it didn't cost him much energy anyways
"Ugghhh"
Just as he did this, Tanjiro who was asleep slowly woke up, feeling a bit disoriented
But this only lasted for a moment before he stood up and quickly said goodbye as he ran towards the house to inform Urokodaki of his participation in the final selection
He has to be quick if he wants to make it in time
Seeing this Lorien also walked slowly toward where Saigai is currently training to notify her about their departure
'Hmmmm, We should leave tomorrow... A lot of energy should have been accumulated'