Ch 31 – A Breather

Soft footsteps echoed throughout the quiet hallway, a man wearing a white robe walked slowly with soft but brisk steps, and he stopped in front of a certain room.

His hair was split into black and white; his eyes were heterochromatic and seemed to reflect the boundless universe within them. His skin was mostly covered, but if inspected carefully, one can find hints of splotches of black and white near his exposed neck.

Extending out his hand, he grabs the door's knob and twists it.

Crick, crack.

The sound of something metallic turning was heard, and the door opened.

Seeing the quiet room, his hand swerves towards the wall of the room and flicks on a switch. From the ceiling, lights suddenly exuded out as a part of the ceiling retracted to reveal the colorful gems hidden above.

What greeted him next was a simple room that can be described as minimalistic.

There was a bed next to the window and wall, a desk and a chair paired together adjected to the bed, and some books scattered nearby the desk.

Gazing at the familiar room, Kaleido lets out a subtle smile and enters.

With swift steps, he swings his body forward and plops head first directly on his fluffy white bed. His aching muscles seemed to relax at the exact same moment his body made contact with the bed, and he lets out an exhausted but muffled groan.

'It has already been a few days since the tournament.' Kaleido thought while breathing deeply.

As he rolls on his bed so that his face was facing the ceiling and not the bed itself, he closes his eyes and recalls vivid recollections of the previous fights he faced in the tournament.

'Fiery Fist, Fie Ree; Thorny Rose, Lo Ehuang; Fierce Drill, Ge Dao. All of them were experts in Rank 3, a force capable of being an elder in a clan and having enough strength to roam the wilderness without having too much problems in regards to their survival.' Kaleido grinned wryly as if knowing all too well why all of his opponents were Rank 3.

'Facing experts who have gone through a lot of hardship to reach where they are did give me the chance to rapidly improve my own combat experience.' Kaleido immersed himself in his vivid memories, replaying the memories he have of his previous fights and victories over and over again as if ingraining them into his bones.

'And thanks to having them as my reference, I can clearly see what my flaws are, even if I hid them through raw strength and sheer difference in terms of attainment.' Kaleido gave a self-deprecating chuckle, finding that his victories weren't that fair.

'But has the world ever been fair?'

'So what if I used a slight amplification to win those battles, they were still hard-fought. I'm facing a mysterious existence capable of influencing even beast emperors, so it's only fair that I cheat once in a while to win.'

Dismissing his own thoughts of self-justification, Kaleido instead went to inspect more of his memories and deepen his understanding of his flaws and mistakes.

One by one, he simulated fights and fixed his own mistakes, adjusting his fighting style to be more efficient and optimized for combat.

In his mind, he reduced his unnecessary actions, simplified his attacks and movements, developed measures against surprises, and many more.

His ability as a genius who was capable of entering Seoul High came into full bloom.

After living in the harsh world of Gu for months now, he has accustomed himself to its twisted nature and was rapidly advancing with every chance he gets.

After a short period of silence, Kaleido opens his eyes once again and rubs his forehead which ached with pain.

'Thinking at such extreme speeds is really hard, but I have to do it if I want to maximize the advantage of my incomprehensible perception of time during combat or strenuous situations. Practicing it in a safe environment while decreasing the time needed to resolve certain matters is the best way to double my progress with the same amount of time spent.'

Letting out a tired breath, he inhales deeply and exhales deeply in a continuous manner to help relieve the pain.

After a while, he opens his eyes again and plants his hands on the bed, pushing himself up into a sitting position.

Leaning his body against a wall, he crosses his two legs and got himself into a lotus position.

Next, he continued his breathing exercise and slowly emptied his brain, calming himself down into a trance-like state.

After doing so, he takes a deep breath, and his senses delve deep into his stomach where his aperture was located.

Swoosh.

The silent rumbling of the waves inside his primeval essence sea can be heard, and his red steel primeval essence rushes endlessly towards his aperture walls.

The walls absorb the endless tides of primeval essence like a ravenous sponge, intaking it all to nourish itself and become more solid compared to its current liquid-like state.

On the other hand, Kaleido slowly became more and more tranquil.

His control over his own primeval essence slowly became fleeting and ethereal, as if he was hypnotizing himself to do the actions autonomously.

His breathing became even and serene, while his mind turned blank and empty.

His primeval essence rapidly nourished his aperture walls, yet his control over them feels light and subtle.

Time passed and he entered deeper and deeper into this strange state of fleetingness, like a cloud floating away in the blue sky, guided along by the winds up high.

Breathe in, breathe out.

Finally, as if he has reached a breaking point, a scenery exploded deep in the recess of his mind.

It was an indescribable picture where colors mixed and matched, twisted and twirled, drooped high, and spun low.

Objects of numerous shapes moved in and out of reality from one scene to another, some were spherical, some were cubic, while others were trapezoidal or a shape with a million sides.

If anyone were to glance at it, then there are two outcomes that one can expect.

One either dies from just taking a peek at it, or…

Or they become enlightened and get to see the beauty of what space and time were.

Slowly, as if entranced by this indescribable sight that his mortal mind tried its hardest to understand and formulate into what is logical and understandable, the hints of chaos made Kaleido gain sparks of inspiration and understanding.

As he deludes himself deeper and deeper into the void of chaos, his understanding and attainment grew along with it.

He did this until finally…

"Gasp!" A sharp breath exploded into the silent room in the dark of the night, and Kaleido opened his eyes that were rapidly dilating.

His muscles trembled and he seemed to enter an epileptic state, a state of pure shock from trying to comprehend the vast mysteries that mysterious image held.

As he inhaled deeply, he exhaled his worries away and regained his calm shortly after.

Touching his chest and feeling his palpitating heart, Kaleido shook his head, and his head thuds at the wall he leaned on.

"That was dangerous…" Kaleido chuckled and raised his right hand.

Staring at it, he waved it, and out came a Gu from the invisible formless bubble that covered his entire body from head to toe.

From it, a blue worm seemingly made out of blue crystal appears. The worm stands still like a statue as if it was covered in thick glue that removes its ability to even move a single muscle.

Staring at it, Kaleido's eyes gleam and he mutters with a strange voice, "A 100-Years Lifespan Gu…"

What is a Lifespan Gu?

In a way, it's a Gu that is even more valuable compared to Rank 9 Gu!

A Gu that is capable of extending the lifespan of a being without any repercussion, a heaven-defying Gu that extends the lifespans of living organisms!

To live longer; a wish that many yearn for in any world out there where lifespan is limited.

In the world of Gu where the natural lifespan of humans is only a hundred years, a Lifespan Gu would allow them to live even longer!

And now in Kaleido's hand, that priceless Gu that allows one to live for a hundred more years is quietly standing still like a crystalline statue.

Raising his hands further up so that the Gu is at his eye level, he couldn't help but feel strange when staring at the Gu.

It feels so intimately close to him, a feeling he was so familiar with that made him shudder to hold the Gu.

But as he stared at the Gu longer, his eyes seemed to shine dimly with an ominous glow as if he was peering deeply into something strange.

A small smirk appears on his face, and he stands up to walk toward his desk.

Pulling back his chair, he sits down on it and placed the Gu beside him on the desk.

Next, he inspects his pocket space once again and takes out a clean piece of white paper along with a pen.

Placing the two objects down on the desk, he grabs the pen with one hand and presses it down lightly on the paper.

With swift movements, his hand dexterously wrote down words in the language the humans of the central continent use, and the page was hastily filled with words and sentences.

The sound of pen hitting paper and wood was heard in the silent room brightly lit by the light in the ceilings, and Kaleido wrote more and more onto the page without pause.

As the page was filled up with black ink, his hand stopped and he stares down at the multiple paragraphs he has written and reads the contents he wrote.

Finding that everything was written correctly, he nods his head and puts the paper, pen, and lifespan Gu back into his formless bubble.

Watching them disappear, he stands up without uttering a single word in the entire process.

Walking away from the desk, he pushes the chair back under the table and waves his hand to summon a black cloak.

Donning it on, black miasma spews out from under his cloak to cover his entire body in the shadows, a neat little ability he gained using his master attainment in space path to modify his usage of Formless Bubble Gu.

Finally, he waves his arm once again and a black iron mask appears in his hand. Putting it on, he stares at himself in the mirror and then moves his gaze toward the window where soft rays of sunlight pierced through the dark sky.

Finding that the time was ripe, he stretches out his hand and seems to push open an illusory door, and his body disappears from the room and into the unknown.

Opening his eyes, Kaleido finds himself back in the mysterious Space Cave and he could feel the piercing gazes of many dangerous beings in the dark void.

Without wasting a single moment, he quickly visualized a place in his mind and pushes open the illusory and invisible door once again.

Woosh!

As the sound of air being pushed entered his ears, Kaleido opens his eyes and sees the appearance of a small kitchen, with tables and knives placed everywhere.

After successfully arriving in the kitchen, he swipes his hand and a piece of paper appeared in his hand.

Placing it on a random table that was relatively clean, he stares at the paper once again before waving his arm once more.

In his hand, a blue snake appeared that was seemingly made out of crystal, and he slowly and carefully places it on top of the paper as a placeholder for the paper.

Nodding his head, Kaleido mutters with a warped voice and said, "Good luck, No Del."

Turning his body around, his body disappears as he opens an illusory door once more, disappearing into the unknown.

AN: This chapter has 2017 words.

Not gonna lie, I might be a chaser.

I know, I know, that sounds bad, but they're kinda hot.

(February 4, 2023 – 436th day of writing)