Tide

"Ready your weapons!" - The sound of silenced shotguns getting loaded

[I may die today! But at least I did what had to be done! I took that officer down with me. I hope Felix is doing well up there]

"Aim!"

[I served for 35 years, and this is what I get. wait, did I just hear the sound of shotguns getting loaded? I know I took most of their weapons, but shotguns?]

"Shoot that man, I want him turned into dust"

It would be great if Jake made it out alive. They shouldn't know that he's part of the plan, I made sure of that.

. . .

Did they miss? Why is it so quiet? ah, I must be dead, I thought it would be more... actually I don't know what I thought it would be like, figured it would be more like ceasing to exist. It's not a bad feeling, kind of like taking a long nap. Yup I could get used to this.

. . . . . . . . . . .

(Yawn), "got to say this is much better than being alive, why do so many people want to go to heaven or reincarnate, sleeping is great(sarcasm)! Wait! Is that a light and why is it coming so quickly? Hey! get back! Stay away from me! I'm warning you, I've seen mortal kombat!"

coving his eyes from the blinding light, Tide waited for a bit, then he peeked, "nothing happened, odd? What in the world was that?"

Standing behind him, Paradise Earth immortal venerable's Will was looking down at the person in front of him.

"So this is one of my inheritors? (sigh) well not like I have much of a choice since heavens will is on its way here, I'm going to have to make this quick"

"Who said that?", Looking around Tide saw, "A monk?", [did he just say heavens will? (urgh), my head! Alright think, what do I need right now, more information!] "Ahem! ooh great monk might I know where I am?"

The will couldn't be bothered to answer the question. He just smiled and said in a caring and soothing voice, "You were brought to a different world and you're selected to help save it, here take these gu worms. . . oh and use your wits to survive the test. Good luck out there!"

The space around Tide started to twist and bend. His body and soul felt like they were being pulled from hundreds of different angles, but oddly enough it didn't hurt, it felt like a dream.

[so this is what reincarnation feels like], Thought it would be more. . . spontaneous.

After waiting for a few minutes, He saw a blinding light, opening his eyes, he noticed that he was lying down on water. Above him, was a large ocean.

Standing up, Tide noticed that the water was so pure and completely still that it looked like time had frozen, "it's Beautiful!"

As he was admiring the vast ocean that surrounded him, A large floating fish with deep red scales that looked like that of a dragons, and deep black eyes that looked like they knew everything. Started to approach him, staring at him in suspicion the Weightless Water Blessed Land Will thought it very odd how a mortal got into his home

"Where did you come from? How did you get in here? And who are you?" Then after a pause, the aura around the Will suddenly became dark and cold, and in a dark and menacing voice, "Are you from central continent?"

Did that fish just talk? Ok Tide, just Breathe in, and breathe out, relax and think, you can only survive if you relax and think! What do I currently know, first I died, second I was brought to another world by a monk, he said 'use your wits to survive the test', third the monk gave me some gu. . . wait! gu? This is bad! Very bad! That must mean I'm in the gu world, I need to think quickly.

First I must calm this floating fish, "Ahem my apologies for the late introduction, Hi I'm Tide, I was sent by an old acquittance, I believe he said there would be a test?", Tide was holding his breath waiting for the fish to reply

The Will relaxed a little but was clearly still on edge, "What's the name of this acquittance?"

I have to think fast, did the monk say he was fighting heaven's will, that would make him Star Constellation, no! Star Constellation is not male or bold, if I remember correctly Paradise Earth was researching heaven path before he died, is this fish friends with Paradise Earth? It would be best to play it safe and be ambiguous with my words, I don't know for certain if that was Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable that I saw earlier

In a deep voice Tide said, "The great monk who fights against heaven's will is the one who personally sent me here"

The Will went deep into thought, did he say, monk? but the only person I know that fits that description is Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable! But that was well over 100,000 years ago, when I was alive he helped me with my tribulations in exchange I would help and test someone he sends to me, wait could this be the one? let's not jump to conclusions here, "Did he give you anything?"

"Yes!". [This is good! They know each other], "He gave me some gu, but I don't know how to take them out of my aperture"

"Probably because you're a mortal, I'll have to check your body for them" The Will controlled the water around it, and submerged Tide in a bubble of clear dark water. He was using a water path method to search Tide's body for gu. [I've found nothing in the head, neck, upper torso, or arms... Wait is that a water path gu worm? And it's a weightless water gu worm no less!]. . . "Ahem! well you were sent by him no doubt"

Phew, it looks like I'm out of the woods, "umm, I believe there is a test for me?"

The Will became cheerful because this human was sent by Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable. Speaks in a more pleasant and relaxed tone, "First, you must be a rank 5 gu master in order to take the test... For now, come with me, let's awaken your aperture"

{water awakening cave}

In a cave made of water with orange glowing fish alternating between glowing and not glowing and in the center of the cave, there's a sparkling pool of water filled with hope gu, [Well it's going to be tuff if I want to survive in this world, but it looks like my chances of survival are at least high with what I think was Paradise Earth sponsoring me, and this large fish which is probably a land spirit.]

Will: [Why in the world did Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable send a mortal? (sigh) I will have to find out later. For now, I will help him cultivate], "This water is full of hope gu when they enter your stomach you'll get an aperture, all you have to do is walk into it. The deeper you go the higher rank your aperture will be."

Tide walks into the pool. As he goes deeper, more and more hope gu surrounds him. shaking his head, the Will see's that it doesn't look good. [Looks like he'll have a low C-grade aperture. Since I should help him get to rank 5, I'll throw in my paradise water gu to increase his talent, Paradise Earth said that it will increase apertures at the cost of every bottleneck being 150% harder to break, but an A grade is an A grade even if it is harder, it's still better then C grade]

Tide notices that a very small amount of hope gu worms are surrounding him, [please don't be D grade, even C grade would be fine. If I have to mess up this story to survive, I will!]

As time goes on, the amount of hope gu surrounding him decreases. Unexpectedly, the aperture starts to shine brighter and becomes more elastic, slowly it starts to expand, and then when it looks like it's about to stop expanding, it pops!

Tide and the Will: "0__0"

greatly shocked, the Will speaks out his thoughts, "hmm, that . . . I don't think that was supposed to happen"

The hope gu having nowhere to go now, try to find other places to stay inside his body till they eventually settle inside Tide's head, slowly taking shape and becoming bubbles inside his head

"Mr.fish what's going on right now?"

The Will with its face clearly confused was of no help to Tide's aching heart and confused mind

The will had a guess as to what was happening, "I don't know for sure as I've never used paradise water gu before, but it would seem that multiple small apertures are forming inside your head"

"That would be a good thing right?"

"Well since paradise made it. . . probably" - he says with a doubtful expression, with his eyes looking away to the side

"I can see the doubt on your face!" - Tide's heart was starting to get worried

"What's happening to you right now has never been heard of, and I've lived for a very long time" - shaking his head from side to side, showing his clear lack of knowledge in the paradise water gu.

With worry in his heart for his future, Tide gets understandably frustrated, "You're the one who threw that weird person-shaped gu into me" - Tide knew that he was in a dangerous world where most people would gladly betray you in a heartbeat for benefits, and this fish wasn't helping his worries one bit

"First let's calm down, Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable only told me it increases apertures, ooh apertures' I get it now. The point is, Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable wouldn't make a faulty gu"

"Why are they in my head?" - relaxing a bit from the Wills comment, [he has a point Paradise Earth is a venerable making a faulty gu worm would have to be either impossible or intentional]

"Maybe to make it easier to connect to multiple of them? Oh, look! The bubbles have stopped forming 1,10,100 . . . 1000! You have 1000 apertures!" - Shock was written all over the Wills face because of the sheer insanity of what was taking place. 1000 apertures for one person, would make anyone wonder if they had wasted their entire lives away. Only a venerable might not be shocked by such an event, but at minimum they would still be intrigued.

"umm . . . Mr.fish forgive me for my ignorance, but does this mean that I have the talent of a thousand A grade apertures?" - Tide was ecstatic now, [imagine the possibilities with this become a gu immortal is practically a guarantee]

Taking a deep breath the will calms himself, "They're about one-thousandth the size of a normal aperture, so I don't think so. But I don't know for sure" - The will thought to himself, [if this is part of helping him, and isn't even part of the inheritance, then how great will the inheritance be?]

"This is great! With this, I'll be rank 5 in no time. Umm, how do I use an aperture?" - Tide wanted to start cultivating immediately, with his newfound future prospects, rising in the world was no longer just a pipe dream. It was a solid possibility.

"These clearly aren't normal apertures, try focusing on it... them, then try to move the primeval essen. . . Wait are they turning into gas?" - The Will keeps getting more and more surprised by these apertures constantly changing. It was like a howl new world opened up to him.

Both Tide and the Will were paying close attention to everything that was happening with the gas balls.

The gas balls started to shrink and take the shape and form of a mini version of Tide. Both Tide and the will stare with eyes wide open, "It would appear your aperture. . . apertures are becoming multiple wills?", [Hmm, an aperture, but also a will.] The Will was very intrigued by this change of events, tells Tide to try cultivating.

Tide focuses intensely on the apertures, but after a while, nothing happens. The Will gets an idea: "Maybe it's because they are still young and don't understand. Try commanding them to cultivate", [I feel like a youth again, constantly discovering new and interesting things, it would appear Paradise Earth plans on fully supporting this human, I will have to study this human more and find out what's so special about him, for now I will support him, slowly but surely I will get the answers I seek]

"Cultivate?" - Tide says a bit confused, wondering if the apertures would even hear him

The apertures heard the command and started to take the lotus position, but after a while, they stop and then shake their heads.

"How about making them give some essence to the one closest to the center"

The apertures start converging to the one closest to the center of the brain and try to give energy to it, they then speak directly to Tide's mind, "How do we give energy?"

Tide also doesn't know how to give energy, so he looks to the will for help. "How does one give energy?"

"It's all about feeling for it and seeing it in your mind, try imagining that all of your body is connected at a single point then try pulling the rest of your body to that point then imagine pushing it out"

The apertures hearing this conversation try imagining their energy converging into their hand, but nothing happens

The Will gives Tide a Primeval stone, "Ahem. try to absorb the Primeval stone"

Tide brings the stone to his head, but nothing happens, he then starts chewing the stone, and swallows it. Pieces of the stone float around inside Tide's stomach, but after a while, nothing happened.

"Command them to fight, perhaps they work like humans, the more you hit them, the more refined they become"

Tide worried about losing them, "What if they die?", [what does he mean by humans?]

"You worry too much"

The apertures are hesitant to do so because they can sense Tide's emotions and decide to wait for Tide's orders. Tide reluctantly nods his head and commands them to fight each other. After about a minute one of them finally crumbles. All the apertures stop to look at the one that crumbled. A green cloud starts to form, from the broken pieces of the mini aperture.

After about 5 minutes it comes back together, but this time. . . darker and denser.

"It worked!!!" - Tide was elated at the improvement of the mini aperture

Tide's head suddenly feels a small amount of pricking pain in his head, as memories of the aperture that crumbled away start to fill his brain at a rapid pace

"You okay? For a second there..." - questions the Will, checking on the change Tide displayed

"I'm fine, It would appear that I have gained experience from the aperture that crumbled"

"Of the fight?"

"Not just the fight, but also all of its memories from before the fight"

"This could be a good method to gain fighting experience. Try to see if it can use weightless water gu"

Tide gives weightless water gu to the aperture. The aperture tries to give it energy, when it stretches out its hands, essence starts to leave the mini aperture and enter the gu, in a second the aperture shrinks by about 99% and then stops giving the gu more essence. The gu and a small amount of water around Tide starts to shine and a small amount of water around Tide stops holding Tide up

Will: "Hmm, well based on the amount of water that became weightless I'd say that mini aperture carries around about a quarter of a percent of middle green primeval aperture essence, out of 1000 apertures that would mean all your mini apertures combined would be 2 and a half Peak A grade apertures. . . try beating it up again!"

aperture1: ('__')

The other apertures start beating the living daylight out of aperture1 which was currently 1% of its original size, after about 10 seconds it crumbles away, and in about 5 minutes it comes back, but this time it has the same density, no improvement to be found in the mini aperture.

Tide receives the memories of the mini aperture, odd he thought, "maybe only at 100 percent does it increase its grade, but 5 minutes is a bit long for a quarter of a percent, maybe if all of them can rebuild at the same time. I also now understand how to use weightless water gu, it's just that. . . I can't use it, it's an odd feeling" - Tide can grasp how the mini aperture used the gu, but he himself can't give the gu any essence

"Do the other apertures know how to use the gu?", In response to the Will's question, the mini apertures nod their heads, "Hmm well for now keep them fighting, not much use in them standing around doing nothing", [if he keeps this pace he'll peak rank 1 in a day]

The mini apertures nod their head, and they proceed to all engage in combat

After a minute, more than half of them are broken, in 5 minutes they all break down, except one that was cracked all over like a broken antique vase poorly glued back together