77 Gu Marks?
⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻( Eastern Sea - Random Island )⸻⸻⸻⸻
Amidst the vast expanse of the Eastern Sea, on a random island were six rank-5 gu masters encircling one chef.
"I hear they call you Chef Pride, what kind of name is Chef Pride?" jeered the leader, his mocking tone echoed by the other gu masters.
Chef Pride, unfazed, stood there gnawing on the skull of a myriad beast king Silent Serpent. Behind him loomed his house, exuding the aura of numerous Gu, many of rank-5.
Observing Chef Pride's lack of reaction, the leader furrowed his brows. "No need for pleasantries, we all know you're not actually mortal. Let's get straight to the point. We outnumber you six to one, and I've brought a soul path gu master. You're clever, so I'm sure you can guess what comes next. He will read your soul, and if you resist, we end your life. Either way, we get what we want."
One of the gu masters, whose face seemed vaguely familiar to Chef Pride, interjected, "Hold on, that's not the deal..." He halted abruptly upon catching the glares exchanged among the others.
Chef Pride rolled his eyes at the cliché scene unfolding before him and decided not to waste any time. He shouted defiantly, "Well, come on then! Or are you all bark and no bite, you bunch of wankers!?"
They all frowned at his comment, though they didn't understand half of what he said, they understood his intent.
"Looks like you've chosen the hard way. Kill this bast***!" the leader commanded.
All of them activated their respective offensive Gu, and for a brief moment, one could see fire, water, gold, earth, wind, and wood all converging for Chef Pride.
Amused, Chef Pride smirked. His veins began to glow a deep, dark blue, with fins growing from the edges of his elbows to the backs of his hands. "Water Sphere!" he uttered, and in an instant, he found himself enveloped by a swirling torrent of water. Every attack that landed on the sphere deflected away, akin to bullets bouncing off a tank.
Gritting his teeth, the leader attempted to boost his comrades' morale. "It Must be a part of his inheritance, it won't last forever, keep attacking!"
Chuckling, Chef Pride retrieved a clump of 'Weeping Seaweed' and began to explain, "A bunch of pansies want to know how it works, eh? It's rather simple, no different from refining a Gu. Just refine yourself instead. Think of it like etching pseudo-Gu within yourself. I've even given it a name - Gu Marks, It's got a nice ring to it!" As he spoke, his hand absorbed the seaweed, and a new tattoo materialized on his arm—a sleeping serpent with the slit of one of its eyes open, ever-so-slightly.
Suddenly an eerie silence pervaded the area, before one of the heads of the six gu masters... disappeared.
"Damn it! How did he know which one was the soul path cultivator?" the leader bellowed in frustration.
Chef Pride scoffed. "Are you daft? I simply targeted the one who hadn't revealed his element yet!"
"He was using wood!" the leader replied, exasperated.
"Wood isn't an element, and everyone knows that! Unless you're one of those Pokémon weebs. In that case, my condolences and goodbye," Chef Pride retorted. The air grew heavy as the water sphere ceased its swirling, freezing in place.
Noticing the change, the leader's expression shifted to mockery, "Stop pretending, your defense is clearly running out. If you surrender the inheritance now, I might spare your life..." His taunting halted abruptly as the sky darkened and an immense ocean materialized above him. A mix of shock and despair overtook his face moments before he and his men were swallowed whole by the onrushing water.
Chef Pride dissipated his water sphere and revealed, "Until recently, the water produced by this technique could only bear enough weight to kill rank-3 and below gu masters. But with a few 'tweaks' of my own, it can now crush rank-5 gu masters. I've added the infamous Crushing Shrimp to my diet, renowned for their devastatingly 'weighty ' attacks." Pausing to survey the crumpled bodies strewn on the ground, he mused, "Seems like the weight of loneliness is starting to get to me. I've even begun monologuing to myself."
"Hmm... that's rather intriguing. You'll have to tell me more," a Gu Immortal descended from the sky, having watched the entire scene unfold from a floating cloud.
Jumping back in surprise Chef Pride thought to himself, "God is real!" However, he quickly dismissed such a thought and calmed himself, "Ahem! This lowly chef greets the master of wind and sky!"
The Gu Immortal burst into laughter, wiping away a tear from his eye. "You're quite the amusing human. When I discovered this island, my initial intention was to exterminate all its inhabitants. Since, as a beast man, it is my sworn duty to eradicate the human race!" He spoke his last words with much fervor.
"However, when I saw 6 rank-5 gu masters surrounding one mortal I thought to myself 'I must see this', and I was not disappointed." - He paused for a moment to rub his beard. - "I tell you what since you can eat better than most beastmen, how about you join us?"
"Beast-man?" Chef Pride questioningly muttered as he looked at the old Chinese man with a beard.
Then just as suddenly, the old man transformed into an anthropomorphic weasel, "Is that better?"
Arching an eyebrow, Chef Pride chuckled. "God damn! This world keeps getting stranger and stranger. First, bugs with superpowers, and now even Egyptian gods." Shaking his head, he continued, "Nevertheless, be it human, demon, machine, or god, I only serve those stronger than me!" The air around his hand began to distort.
"Oh?" mused the beastman as he raised an eyebrow. "Well, this should save me the trouble of seeing your full combat potential."
Wearing a grin, Chef Pride commented, "Oh you'll see something alright, but it'll only be for a split second."
Forming on his hand was a tiny droplet, no larger than the tip of his finger. Chef Pride raised his hand toward the Gu Immortal and fired it from his pointer finger. It nearly doubled the speed of a bullet from the average revolver.
Observing this, the Gu Immortal tilted his head to the side. Although it moved faster than most rank-5 gu masters' attacks, to him, it was akin to watching a child throw a baseball. He could activate his defenses, pen a poem, and still have time before the attack landed. However, just as he prepared to swat it away with the back of his hand, his vital Gu screamed, warning him.
Suddenly, an explosion erupted from the rear of the droplet, doubling its speed, followed by a cascade of subsequent detonations that propelled it forward with exponentially increasing speed.
Swiftly evading, the Gu Immortal moved aside, but to his astonishment, the tiny droplet detonated once again, altering its trajectory for his new position. "What the hell!?"
A massive explosion engulfed him.
"Hahahaha! I knew that one day someone faster than a bullet would try to attack me. So I prepared an attack capable of altering its own course, by using an explosion inside itself. This attack epitomizes my culinary arts—100 Contact Small Explosion Gu combined with Twisting Fish, Soft Heart Clams, and Ever... ves... cent... Pumping Jellyfish! Damn, that word is hard to pronounce."
As the smoke cleared, the Gu Immortal stood unscathed, leaving Chef Pride dumbfounded.
"Odd. My vital Gu warned me just a moment ago," the Gu Immortal contemplated, glancing at Chef Pride. With a confident tone, he declared, "I believe this should be sufficient to prove my superiority."
Chef Pride gritted his teeth, noticing a droplet of blood trickling from the weasel's nose. "Hehehe, I almost forgot about one last ingredient. Merely fifteen nanograms of this substance can kill a person. And you were struck with enough to kill sixty-six thousand! Maitotoxin is produced by the algae on a fish called 'maito' in Tahiti. I had to gather over ten tons of fish to procure a single gram of that stuff..."
Interrupting him with a swift blow to the back of his head, the Gu Immortal remarked, "Damn, he was a poison path gu master as well." Though it appeared he was infuriated, in reality, he was elated. After all, he'd just found a true diamond in the rough.
