Ch 44 – Danger

"Rank 4 Future Sight Gu…"

Kaleido stared at the mysterious white butterfly held in his hand, smiling slightly as he watched it flutter its white wings with black outlines all around it, forming a pattern akin to a pair of mystical eyes. As if the butterfly was an extension of his body, Kaleido watched it enter his stomach as a ray of silver-white light.

'At this level, with the enhancement brought by my extreme physique alone, it can foresee futures that are more accurate and the limit has been extended to 15 seconds ahead, but there is one thing that's interesting about the sequence of this Gu…' Kaleido rubbed his chin as his eyes glowed dimly.

He took out a gold coin from his pocket and placed it on top of his thumb that was pressed against his index finger, and instantly, his vision changed. As if time came to a stop, he "saw" multiple possible scenarios that resulted from the flicked coin.

'Causality, I can already perceive slight traces of causality using this Gu. Cause and effect are intrinsically related to time, meaning, in theory, if I have a Gu that can allow me to raise this causality perception, I can construct a killer move that would elevate Future Sight Gu to perhaps see "absolute" futures.' Kaleido couldn't help but feel excited by this theory of his.

Reigning in his thoughts, he instead stared at the newly opened path ahead of him and walked forward with a straight back.

The ghastly old man beside him spoke up with a smile, praising him fully and sincerely, "You really are a genius among geniuses! Ha! Perhaps the legacy of this Undying Demon wouldn't go to waste."

Kaleido walked forward and stared at the new room. From the walls lined up multiple holes, with each hole being evenly spaced out from the other.

"In this room, you'll be given the Rank 1 Danger Sense Gu. You'll have to go through each round and survive until the 4th round. If you pass a new round, you'll be given the higher corresponding rank of Danger Sense Gu and its formula," the old man explained with a warm smile while the wall behind Kaleido retracted.

Seeing that there was no way back, Kaleido remained steady and calm. He approached a pedestal near the blocked entrance of the room and grabbed a bulbous yellow flower, opened it, and saw a rolled-up bug with a white carapace inside.

Finding that its will was weak and lacking, he calmly extended out his primeval essence and refined it in seconds. Then, he stored it in his aperture and identified its effects.

'Danger Sense Gu is similar to Uncertain Glimpse Gu, as it uses time to "sense" when I would I face danger. It would give an approximate point in time and where it would appear, but that's all. I wouldn't know if the attack is a punch, a bullet, a kick, or something else. I would just know where and when it would appear in a relatively small time frame.' Kaleido instantly understood the limits and functions of the Gu.

Even though the Gu was weak as it was only Rank 1, Kaleido's eyes were already gleaming as he realized one thing.

'So this is why that old man was considered an Undying Demon, just these two Rank 1 Gu alone can already be paired into a relatively strong killer move.' Kaleido smiled as his quasi-Grandmaster attainment immediately allowed him to conceptualize a new killer move.

Activating both Rank 1 Uncertain Glimpse Gu and Rank 1 Danger Sense Gu in his aperture, his pair of white eyes glowed while a strange nagging feeling appeared in the back of his head.

Seeing that nothing wrong has happened, Kaleido built up his confidence and took his first step.

Straightaway, an arrow popped out of one of the holes lining up the walls. It shot forward through the air at rapid speeds, and Kaleido foresaw filtered-out visions glimpses in his mind, leaving only one "absolute" glimpse where the arrow struck his head but then bounced against the invisible barrier surrounding his body.

In a split-second, his head swerved to the side and dodged the oncoming arrow by mere centimeters.

'Just as I expected! I can focus on certain futures, leaving only the "absolutes" for me to see! But this killer move is only focused on danger, if I were to create my own Gu that can focus more on causality, I can slowly develop a killer move that…' Kaleido's eyes flashed as he avoided another arrow.

"A killer move that can foresee the effect of a cause I constructed. A killer move that might allow me to see an absolute future," Kaleido muttered as his eyes flashed with brilliance.

'Causality and time, when controlled, would allow me to dictate what the future is! In the face of infinite futures that can be resulted from one action, only an "absolute" can counter it and even control it!' Kaleido chortled and avoided one arrow to another.

'Heh, that's just me daydreaming. If I want to even think about dictating an absolute future, an absolute effect from a predetermined cause, I'll have to at least be a Gu Immortal.' Kaleido smiled while freely dodging arrows like a butterfly flapping its wings and gliding through the air.

'But if I do gain that ability, then in theory, even a random act as shitting can allow a Rank 9 Gu to be formed by sheer coincidences—random causes that formulate a manipulated effect.' Kaleido laughed upon having that thought.

'That's even more ridiculous than having control over fate and is closer to omnipotence.' Kaleido shook his head at his fantasies and continued to dodge the continuous stream of arrows that struck at him.

As he took the final step, Kaleido looked back and saw the arrows stopped shooting, leaving behind a room darted with arrows.

"Good, good! As expected from my inheritor…"

…

Kaleido rapidly ran across the floor, his eyes gleaming brightly with milky white light as he avoided a barrage of water bullets that shot from the ceiling.

All of a sudden, his vision changed and he saw two horizontal and parallel streaks of sword qi burst from the two walls beside him, clashing against the invisible barrier around his body and tossing him forward to a barrage of fiery pillars, roasting him alive, only to then be met with loud rings that made his ears bleed, and ice spread from the floor to cover his entire body, encasing him in a frozen coffin.

When his vision returned to normal, Kaleido calmly stepped forcefully onto the ground and lunged forward. His body shot through the air and rotated in the next moment, spinning perfectly like a drill as he barely manage to dodge the two streaks of silver light.

His eyes glowed once again, and he saw a spike erupt from the ground, puncturing the invisible barrier around his body and sticking him to the ceiling. Next, he was roasted alive, faced with a barrage of water bullets, and more.

Finding himself back in the present, he used his developed bodily control to curl up into a ball, increasing his speed and allowing him to barely dodge the spike that was about to impale him.

But the danger wasn't over yet, how could it be over yet?

He was already in the final round of this challenge, and he was being pushed to his limits by the inheritance of the old demonic monster.

Unlike righteous path inheritances, demonic path inheritances would usually have their inheritors risk their life to successfully gain its contents. If it wasn't life-threatening, then why would it be called a demonic path inheritance in the first place?

Just as Kaleido manage to evade the spike and land on the ground with a roll, a hole suddenly appeared in the ground ahead of him, but as if he already expected this, he leaped up and avoided it by the nick of time.

Going over the hole in the ground, he planted his feet on the ground and regained his balance. Then out of nowhere, he bent his waist and widened his legs apart, and barely evaded two beams of crimson light that came from nowhere.

But it wasn't over yet as the two beams of crimson light converged with each other behind him, creating a ferocious explosion to explode behind him. And yet, he responded calmly as if he has already experienced the sudden attack.

Smashing his feet on the ground, a square stone slab pops up and he grabbed it without even turning back. As he felt the explosion push the stone slab forward and slam against his back, he remained unfazed and his body was carried forward by the strong explosion that was mostly blocked by the stone slab.

The remaining force was then scatted over the invisible barrier covering his body, providing him enough protection that any danger he can face in the inheritance wouldn't matter. But if he did so, he would waste this precious opportunity to increase his experience, so he did his best to avoid any danger as best as he could and not use any other Gu to provide himself an advantage.

When the explosion receded, he nimbly shot forward using the flying stone slab as a platform to avoid the wall of flames that appeared behind him. If he was one second too late, the stone slab's flying speed would be too slow and he would have to be faced with the burning wall of fire.

Landing on the ground once more to regain his bearing, he sprinted forward without activating Rank 3 Swift Movement Gu to inch closer to the finish line. Once he crossed it, he would have successfully finished this challenge and moved on to the next.

He rolled across the floor just as a wave of water shot through the air. He leaped from the ground as spikes protruded from nowhere. He stopped his movement in a split-second to barely avert disaster as wind formed piercing spears ahead of him.

One by one, he avoided and slid past danger after danger. By the side, the old man watched with shining eyes at his newfound successor and clicked his tongue, "What kind of monster is this."

"I already confirmed that he at least has master attainment in time path, but this is just on a whole other level. Reflexes and instinct that can keep up with the surge of information brought by his killer move, decisively taking action when needed and pausing when required." The illusory old grandpa smirked with a smile.

"Heh, I must have struck gold this time. To think my successor would be a monster!" The old man chuckled and watched Kaleido take the final step.

All of the traps in the room behind Kaleido instantaneously deactivated, stopping the barrage of attacks that swept across the area that brought chaos and madness. Even a Rank 4 Gu Master would suffer inside this room if they weren't careful enough and recklessly tanked through each attack with a defensive-type Gu Worm.

Upon succeeding, Kaleido instantly dropped to the ground as he gagged. He held back the urge to puke and patted his chest to calm himself down.

'Fuck.' Kaleido cursed and conjured a bottle of water from nowhere, drinking it hastily as he emptied it completely.

Feeling his exhaustion alleviate slightly, he breathed in deeply to help deal with his mental exhaustion.

After using his killer move for so long, not only where his Gu strained, but his mind and body were exhausted and tired beyond words. Kaleido felt like his mind was about to rupture at this point as he overexerted his ability to think at immense speeds.

'I really need a healing type time path Gu to deal with the mental exhaustion. Once I gain a corresponding Gu, I'll have less worries about straining my body and mind while using the killer move.' Kaleido sighed before finally standing up a few minutes later when the pain subsided.

Just as he did so, the room in front of him opened up, and he saw a beast the size of a small hill sleeping peacefully in the corner of a wide cavern.

AN: This chapter has 2052 words.

Owshi, did I miscalculate?!?!?

Nah, I know for a fact that that was just an outlier and wouldn't happen again. I've already wrote AOF's first chapter so there's no turning back now.

(February 18, 2023 – 450th day of writing)