Bab 21: Ch 21 – A Long Journey
As if drawn out by a mysterious power, Kaleido's body involuntarily moved forward toward the strange book.
He first walked slowly and calmly, but then hastened his pace the closer he got to the book. It felt as if something else was controlling his body, and he grabbed the book with a strange gleam in his eyes.
As he did so, a burst of brilliance appeared from his gaze and a strange vision appeared inside his mind. It was a strange space full of converging colors and incomprehensible shapes, warping and contorting with each passing second.
Kaleido stood still like a paralyzed statue, and after a short while… "Ugh, what happened?"
He grabbed his head and let out a slight groan, then felt the numbing headache that stemmed from seeing that strange vision once more. 'It's that "thing" again. Why did it come out of nowhere? At first, it only appeared in my dreams, but as time passed, it started to appear while I'm in a trance cultivating, and now this?'
Shaking his head and calming himself by inhaling deeply, he gazed at his hand and suddenly felt intrigued by something. 'Hmm? Did something change?'
Kaleido looked around him with a raised eyebrow, but couldn't pinpoint what was the strange feeling that gnawed at the back of his brain. As he was doing so, he suddenly saw a fellow customer in the far distance drop a book accidentally.
In that single instance, a surge of information from pure instinct flooded Kaleido's brain. The speed of the book's fall, the size of the book, how much time it would take for it to land on the ground, the distance between him and the book, the distance between the book and the ground, the distance between the book and the ceiling…
All sorts of random data popped into his mind at speeds far faster compared to what he was capable of doing before. It was as if he has "understood" something that he can't quite explain and unveiled a part of the universe.
When the book dropped and produced a loud thud, he broke out of his entranced state and widened his eyes in surprise. 'What was that? It felt like I entered and saw a whole new world just now…'
Kaleido looked all around him with shining eyes and couldn't help but feel elated at how "different" the world was. He felt as if he has understood a fundamental secret about space and time, giving him a deeper understanding of reality that he was ignorant of before.
'But why did this happen? If I retraced my steps, it was when I grabbed the book… No, it was when I saw that strange vision once again when I grabbed the book! But why did the book trigger that strange vision?' Kaleido sighed and stared at the cover of the book with a glint in his eyes.
'Does this book hold profound mysteries that caused that vision to appear? Or was it by pure coincidence? It was the same when I learned of the existence of "killer moves", does that mean that that vision would appear again when I come into contact with something important? Sigh, I'm still too weak to know the answer to that, so I'll just leave it for later.' Shaking his head, Kaleido grabbed the book and went on his way.
'First, I need books about cultivation and Gu.' Kaleido noted in his mind and walked all around the bookstore, grabbing books that piqued his interest and desires.
'Second, I need books about the general situation of the world of Gu. Third…' Kaleido listed his needs and wants one by one, grabbing all sorts of books to the point that he had a hard time carrying them all by hand.
"Sir, do you perhaps need a basket?" a man wearing the store's uniform asked.
"Mmm," Kaleido gave a perfunctory nod.
Seeing his confirmation, the man happily passed a brown basket to Kaleido, and helped him put all of the books inside the basket. Feeling relieved, Kaleido gave his thanks and went on his way, grabbing all sorts of books without stopping.
'So this is the pleasure of wealth, sigh, to think I can splurge so much money for knowledge, unlike my pirating days on Earth.' He smiled, feeling the hefty basket he held in his hand, and walked towards the cashier with a joyful smile.
Paying the appropriate price needed for the books he decided to buy, Kaleido walks out of the store with a large and heavy basket in hand. Bringing them close to his face, Kaleido sniffed the smell of paper and ink with a gratified grin, thinking, 'Ahhh, the smell of paper and ink, knowledge smells so good.'
Walking with a hop to his step, he hummed a tune and walked towards his hotel-like inn with clear delight plastered to his face.
After a while, Kaleido finds himself back at his hotel and watches the entrance automatically open just like the advanced technology back on Earth. Walking into it, he waved hello to the hotel clerk and went up the stairs until he arrived in front of his room.
As he opened his door, Kaleido lets out a breath of relief when he sees his dark room draped in shadows, and his joyful smile seemed to turn colder, 'I really thought another "coincidence" would happen. Luckily, it seems like its influence in this city full of humans seems diminished. Is it that "it" can only affect beast as much as it wants and humans are harder to influence?'
Countless thoughts flashed in his mind in a split second, but he dismissed them all as he knew all too well that thinking, while it does help, wouldn't bring any results regarding this mysterious entity that theoretically wants him dead.
'I wonder why "it" even wants me dead. I already have a lot of theories, but many of them are viable, so it's hard to pinpoint what the reason exactly is. Power, I need more power.' Kaleido shook his head and felt pumped up to work harder than ever before, especially with the plethora of knowledge waiting for him to be read.
Carefully placing the basket of books down on his table, he turns on the light in his room with the flick of a switch. Using the mystical materials found all over the world, creating a simple light that can be turned on and off was an inevitability.
Seeing the dark room be covered in light, Kaleido nods his head and plops himself face down on his bed, feeling his exhausted body be washed over with comfort. "Ugh, all this thinking and worrying is taking a toll on my mind."
His muffled voice resounded in the room, and he turned over to face the white ceiling with dazed eyes. "I wonder what my family is doing right now?"
"Are they worried about me? Is time stopped back in my home universe?" Kaleido questioned many things with a choked tone, before descending into silence as a possibility popped into his mind, "Maybe when I return to my home universe, I would have enough power to control at what time I would appear back there. If that's the case, then everything would be like nothing has happened."
Kaleido seemed invigorated by this idea as more and more ideas came into his mind, but there were also problems that came with his idea, 'How strong would I need to be to even do that? To escape this universe? And if I want to control the specific time I want to hop back in, I also need to master time path Gu!'
He felt a headache from these questions and sighed, falling once again back to step zero.
'Okay, let's just take one step at a time, shall we? A single step is better than no steps. I should continue as I do and worry about time path later on once I have enough power to ensure my safety.' Kaleido stood up with a push and went towards his table, grabbed a towel, and headed towards his bathroom.
Undressing, he placed his clothes on a clothes rack and entered the shower. Feeling the cold drizzle of water splashing onto his body, he felt his mind intuitively grasp many forms of information, deepening his understanding of his current realm that he gained out of nowhere through the "image."
Turning the shower off, he wipes himself clean and puts on his clothes once again, heading out of his bathroom and back into his bedroom, all refreshed and clean. With his mind now at ease, he suddenly felt his stomach grumble just as he was about to sit at his desk.
'Oh yes, dinner.' Kaleido chuckled and turned, heading towards the door and walking out into the hallway.
Descending down the stairs, he finds himself back on the first floor of the hotel and walked outside. There, he swiftly went in a certain direction and stopped at a certain stall.
"One bowl of porridge and some fried chicken," Kaleido ordered with a smile at the old man behind the stall and gave the exact amount of money to pay for his meal.
Grabbing the cheap but decent meal, he sat down on a wooden chair and placed his food on a wooden table. Feeling his stomach grumble, he ate the meal in peace and felt the cold breeze of the night swoosh against his body.
Looking around the area with vacant eyes, he saw other mortals in the area eat the same meal as his, blending into them as if he was a normal boy and not a Gu Master. 'Hehehe, it did work. It feels like I can blend into space and avoid the attention of nearby people. That breakthrough really is mystical.'
Feeling happy with his successful experiment, Kaleido ate the last bit of his food and stood up. He paused, stared at the starry night sky, and hurried on toward his room.
Kaleido walked at a speed not slow yet not fast. All around him, he saw other mortals happily talking with each other, eating food from street stalls, or playing in the streets. He even saw some Gu Masters blending amongst the mortals, wearing cloaks and dark clothing that blends them into the shadows of the night.
The abundance of human life gave Kaleido a safe feeling, but it also flared his paranoia, 'If "it" can influence this many people to attack me at once, then I don't know if I could even escape unscathed.'
Feeling the cold winds of the night become colder, he can't help but shiver at the thought and quickened his pace, avoiding all of the other humans from direct contact in fear of whatever may happen that would endanger his life.
With an unknown enemy that holds powerful yet strange abilities, Kaleido felt that his life was hanging on a thin rope wherever he goes. This is the fear of the unknown, the powerlessness of ignorance.
Arriving back inside his room, Kaleido locked the entrance to his room, walked to his windows, and closed the curtains, blocking the eyes of others from seeing him through normal means.
Pausing, he then activates Space Bubble Gu and pulled out a dagger from the void black bubble. Holding it in his hand, he nods his head and walks back to his desk, and sat down with a cold face.
Stretching his hand out, he grabs a certain book from the basket propped on his desk and gave a quick look at the table, reading it out with curiosity in his voice, "The Legends of Ren Zu."
Feeling the profound mysteries lying within the book, he takes a deep breath and a constant stream of thoughts flashed through his mind.
'Knowledge is power, and in this world, my biggest weakness is the lack of it. Perhaps, with enough knowledge about the mysteries of Gu, I would be able to devise a way to go back to my home universe!'
'That long journey already started the moment I appeared in this world. Now, I need to deepen my knowledge to increase my chances of returning!'
AN: This chapter has 2035 words.
Info-dump next chapter.
Anyways, if you don't have a date for a ball, you can buy- I mean gain your author's services and have me as your date for what is approximately 2 dollars an hour.
Remember to send some power stones, save the story to library, and comment your thoughts.
(January 7, 2023 – 408th day of writing)
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
NoNameDeity
NoNameDeity Creation is hard, cheer me up! VOTE for me!
Like it ? Add to library!
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone