Ch 8 – Treasure Trove

"Okay, so let's assess the situation I am in, shall we?" Kaleido muttered and stared at the clear lake in front of him. His body was naked and stripped, leaving not a shred of clothing on his physical vessel. As to how he appeared at the lake with a body aching and dripping with pain, it was of course by using his strange ability to teleport through that strange cave he has access to. In his right hand, the black knife carved from space started to disappear and fade from reality.

"Hup," he jumped forward onto the lake. Of course, Kaleido wasn't dumb. If he infects this precious water with his dirty body, he would lose all sources of his drinkable water. That's why he used his absurdly strong space knife to carve out a part of the lake and cut it off from the rest.

Feeling the refreshing cold water cover his body from head to toe, he pokes his head through the surface of the water and lets out a satisfied sigh. 'Okay, first of all, what are my advantages.'

Kaleido closed his eyes, and even if he did so, it felt like he could still 'see' the surrounding area without much problem. Of course, if he wasn't focused, the vision he would see would start to become vague and spread out. 'The first advantages I found myself having inside this strange world are my spatial and temporal awareness. And up next is the immensely helpful absurd thinking speed.'

'With my absurd thinking speed, in less than a second, it would feel like minutes have already passed for me. In a life or death situation, being able to think so quickly would prove to be immensely helpful as I can assess the situation more calmly compared to others.' Kaleido splashed water onto his face and removed all the dried blood from his body.

'The second strange thing is this.' Kaleido stared at his body through the dirty water, raising his arm out of the lake, and saw that it was all clean. But that's not the strange part: 'Just a few minutes ago, my entire body was aching like hell, all bruised and beat. But now, it feels like everything is fine!'

This was miraculous and surprising for Kaleido. Not only was he able to think fast, but his body healed up at speeds that shouldn't be possible. Even the small wound he intentionally created just a few minutes ago is already gone! If this was the case, then Kaleido assumes that he has some sort of regenerative capabilities far beyond the norm. Of course, he doesn't know how strong it is or how much he can heal, but it's still a joyful surprise.

'But those are the surface stuff, no, the true mystery lies at my aperture and when I use Space Knife Gu.' Kaleido's sense entered his aperture where green primeval essence filled it to the brim. As he poured primeval essence into Space Knife Gu, a space knife appeared in his grip that hummed with power.

'I just know that the rate my primeval essence is generated is way too abnormal. In less than a second, all of the primeval essence I used to activate Space Knife Gu is already back! While I can expect that beyond A Grade aptitude would have immense primeval essence regeneration, but this is really way too monstrous to be considered a genius. Maybe this is related to how I can think fast and heal my wounds faster, but how is this even possible?'

There were too many questions that Kaleido had no answer to, so he can't help but be annoyed by the situation. But there were still more things that were mysterious. 'The next thing is this space knife. Why is it so absurdly strong when it's only Rank 1, while all the other Gu I used were so weak'

Kaleido got out of the water, his body all naked and soaking wet. After being in the water for a relatively long time already, all of the dirt and stains on his body were already gone, and he was fully cleansed from the bottom up. Though the reason he got out of the water was for something else, in fact, he wanted to stay longer inside it. Unfortunately, time waits for no man, and he has to make use of every second he has.

He stared at the clear blue sky, and his grip on the space knife tightened. He carefully points it high above him, making sure to not accidentally cause it to lash out with strength. 'Calm the fuck down, Kaleido. Just swing lightly and see how strong it would be.'

Slash, and just like before, space seemed to crack and exploded, causing ripples to appear in the air above him. It was truly a beautiful sight, and he stared as the force of his attack even caused the trees around him to flutter and have their leaves rustle from how strong the wind pressure was. He also noticed the strange black markings all over his body seemed to resonate with the knife and even glow dimly.

'Yeap… that's not normal. Even if Gu Jesus tells me that this is normal, I won't believe him. Let's see what this means. I have black markings all over my body, I can enter a strange black cave, I have insane spatial awareness, and now this space path Gu is absurdly strong along with causing the black markings on my body to glow dimly and resonate with it… In conclusion, this means I have probably some attunement with space path.'

How was Kaleido so confident? It's because the facts and logics were already there. The space knife was void black, he has black markings, spatial awareness, and a weird black cave that allows him to teleport, only a fool wouldn't realize the pattern. It was all space themed, so of course, it would be something related to space path.

'So space path would be my go-to path from now on, huh? But of course, there's still this thing…' Kaleido hummed and stared at the other colored markings on his body. They were white markings, but up till now, they had done nothing but be decorations engraved and etched permanently on his skin. They ran all around his body from head to toe, and he can barely conceal them, luckily, none ran through his face.

'I already have an inkling of what this may be, but I still have zero proof, and it wouldn't do me good to assume things and be hopeful. But there is still a problem I have to deal with.' Kaleido inspected his aperture once again, staring at the Space Knife Gu Worm that is stored in it. 'My Gu is hungry!'

He already kind of knew that Gu Worms would require food to eat considering they were also living beings, but he has truly near-zero knowledge when it came to anything Gu-related. He doesn't know how to cultivate and improve his realm, he doesn't know what Gu needs to eat; he almost knows nothing except how to refine Gu and how to know the rank of a Gu by inspecting and observing the strength of their aura.

This was truly a dilemma he has no answer to. He doesn't even have any inkling of what to do. And how does a Gu Worm even eat? Does it eat like a normal insect? Does it have a mouth it can use to eat? What does it eat? Iron, rocks, or the fabrics of space? Heck, it can directly control the fabrics of space to create a fucking knife, maybe it needs to eat some sort of rare crystal like space crystals.

This was his only Gu, and it was strong as hell. If he loses it, then it would be akin to losing his only real viable way to survive and thrive in this world. Without it, then he would surely die if he were to face any sort of supernatural beasts in this world.

For him, the value of this Gu was immense. It was more valuable than even the food he managed to gather back from Jie Clan. With this Gu, he can hunt beasts, destroy forests with one fell swoop, and was essentially his trump card when facing danger.

Of course, Kaleido was smart. Why wouldn't he be? He was able to enter Seoul High, so of course, he was quite a talented individual. 'Using the black markings on my body, I gain the ability to enter that weird space that I can then use to teleport to any location I want as long as I have the spatial coordinates. So theoretically speaking, that cave should be abundant with something space-related, right?'

He had no time to waste. His Gu Worm was dying by the minute and by his estimates, it would starve from hunger in less than an hour. Without any care for his appearance, the black markings on his body shone and he disappeared with a pop.

Opening his eyes, he found himself once again in the strange cave. There, he even felt the Gu Worm inside his body getting excited, as if it was also a fish in water! That gave him some glimmer of hope that his speculation might be correct, and he hurriedly move.

'There are unknown figures in this cave with auras terrifyingly strong. I don't know what they are considering it's pitch black here, and I can only rely on my spatial awareness to pave a path for me- Huh?!' Kaleido halted his running steps. It was less than ten seconds, and without even having to look, he could sense the uncountable number of Gu in front of him!

They were immense in number, creating a sort of weird ecosystem as he can vaguely sense the outlines of plants and minerals scattered all around the area. It was like a cave filled with mystical bugs of all shapes and sizes wherever one looks. He 'looked' left, and Gu was there. He 'looked' right, and Gu was also there. Gu was actually everywhere, and he only noticed it now!

Of course, part of that reason was due to him expanding the domain of his spatial awareness by a ton to maximize his sensing range, but to think an unimaginable number of Gu were so close from his reach if he just moved from the place he appeared from!

"Are those Space Knife Gu? They are!" Kaleido shouted with joy. In the distance, he saw a pair of Space Knife Gu feeding on some strange metal ore on the ground using his spatial awareness domain. But that's not the shocking part, no, what made him jubilated was that the metal ore they were eating can be found nearly everywhere within the boundless cave.

In fact, even the very rock he was stepping on was the same metal ore they were eating!

He quickly grabbed a handful of rocks from the ground below him, and he quickly confirmed that they were the same metal ore the other Space Knife Gu were eating. Relief swept through his body as he lets out a sigh: "Whew, to think my assumption was correct. This place really is a treasure trove of Gu Worms for space path! But it would be hard to get more Gu because they are tightly packed, and I would probably get attacked if I even approach them."

Gu Worms were mystical, who knew what sort of retaliation they would do if Kaleido decided to capture one of them? He might even die if he were to do so. But as he was about to leave the place before he captures the attention of the strange unknown figures once again, his 'eyes' landed on the wall beside him, and he almost yelled out in joy.

There was actually a lone Gu there! By pure instinct alone, his arm swiftly grabbed the Gu Worm. The Gu Worm seemed to have noticed this, and let out an indistinct screech.

'Oh fuck!' all around Kaleido, Gu Worms of all shapes and sizes rush towards him. In their eyes, he now became someone they should eliminate. Kaleido assumed that it was because the Gu Worm screeched, and that caused them to be alerted of his existence.

With a pop, Kaleido disappeared from the cave full of Gu Worms, and he reappeared back in the lake.

"Ha… ha…," his heart thump rapidly as he couldn't help but feel fear. He was so close to dying back there, and his only saving grace was his immense thinking speed and ability to quickly leave the cave at a moment's notice.

Still, he not only achieved his goal and learned something joyful, but he also gained a new Gu Worm! 'With a cave in one hand and a Gu Worm in the other, nothing will stand in my way of reaching the peak of space path!'

AN: This chapter has 2169 words.

My bad guys, I totally forgor about this, but I decided to upload in saturday and sunday for the first few weeks. Anywho, you're welcome and please send power stones.

Side note, it isn't that bad having classes in Saturday considering we are currently doing nothing.

(December 21, 2022 – 391st day of writing)