24 Ch 24 – Ramen in Another World 

As strong gusts of wind filled the room, Kaleido saw a burst of radiant void black light appear from the sphere in the air in front of him, and he watched a Gu land on the open palm of his hand.

Feeling the cool sensation of touching the Gu, he stored it inside his aperture. Not wasting his time, he adeptly activated the Gu through the use of primeval essence, and watch as a blanket of void black light appear in the air in front of him.

Extending his hand out to touch it, he felt the ethereal blanket of void black light, along with the nigh-endless space within it. 'While the solidity and defense of Formless Bubble Gu's barrier aspect have remained the same, along with its space, it combined both of the two Gu's strengths and now has the ability to create a formless "bubble" that can defend and store oncoming attacks, and if I play it smart, I can even redirect their attacks towards them!'

Feeling a boost in his confidence, Kaleido used his master attainment and intuitively controlled the blanket of void black light to become transparent and let it cover his entire body in an invisible membrane just like before.

'The "bubble" that was created by the Gu can be maintained indefinitely and doesn't need to strain the Gu, and it would only reactivate the Gu when I need to heal the bubble if it receives any damage, so in theory, I can have this barrier on me 24/7 without pause!' Kaleido felt his body relax with the added layer of protection.

'I finally solved one of my biggest worries—having myself get assassinated in my sleep! Hehehe, while it's not a "one answer fix all" type of Gu, it is a one Gu fix many. With my own acute danger sense and passive spatial awareness, I can now safely sleep without having to be paranoid about dying!' Kaleido lets out a sigh of relief and stood up after a short while of relaxation.

Walking to his shower, he drops his clothes onto the ground and enters the bathroom. Moving the barrier away from his body and putting it right beside his pile of clothes, he lets the cold water drizzle on his body and cleanse away the dirt and sweat on his dirty body.

Feeling refreshed by the cooling sensation of water, he felt his mind surge with excitement and couldn't help but think of what his new Gu entails, 'More powerful, stronger Gu! A Rank 2 Gu Master would of course use Rank 2 Gu, and now, all of my Gu are Rank 2, including the ones I used for refinement!'

'This is a ginormous power boost now that I have Rank 2 Gu! If I have to estimate, then I would at least be twice as strong, and considering I have the Cosmic Great Evolution extreme physique, my Rank 2 Gu is as strong as a Rank 3 Gu! Amplified further by my newly gained master attainment in space path, and the amplification brought by the markings on my body, then I might very well be many folds strong compared to when I was Rank 1!' Kaleido felt his blood boil with excitement.

He was strong, so strong that he himself don't know how strong he truly was. If he was capable of killing Rank 5 beings as a Rank 1 Gu Master with a shallow foundation in Gu, then how strong would he be now that he has acquired deeper knowledge and foundation?

The higher one's realm, the greater the gap between realms would become. If he were to become a Rank 3 Gu Master, then Kaleido would surely be many magnitudes stronger compared to now!

Holding in his excitement, Kaleido turned off the water and wiped away his wet body.

As he nears his pile of clothes, he pauses in front of the mirror and couldn't help but admire his body packed with muscles. His toned abs, bulging biceps, veiny forearms, thick muscular thighs; sighing, he remembered all of the grueling moments in the gym and muttered, "Pain truly is the pathway to glory."

Walking back to his pile of clothes, he manipulated the invisible formless bubble floating right beside it and have it drape onto his body.

'Hehehe, my telekinesis is a lot better compared to before now that I have master attainment. It truly is an art, an art of laziness!' Kaleido smugly walk back to his bedroom and continued his stroll toward the entrance of his room.

Treading along the hallway, he descends back to the first floor and walks out of the hotel. Finding himself in the crowded street, he walks with a hop to his step and went on his way, feeling his grumbling stomach with a slight grin on his face.

'Hard work never goes unrewarded. It's time for a celebratory feast! I guess I also haven't had a proper "cheat day" since Earth, though I never really controlled my diet back then and only ate what mom gave me, but all of it was still traditional food, unlike WcDonalds. Huh, I guess I never really did have a cheat day considering my cheat day was basically buying ice cream or something like that.' Kaleido paused, chuckling at this slight nuance to his life, and continued.

Passing by the pedestrians, he arrives at a certain restaurant and he could already feel his stomach grumbling upon the scent alone.

'After wandering all around the city, to think I would find this stall one day! It's not even that popular, so I could hog its food without worrying about other customers. Hehehe, I truly am lucky!'

As he sits on one of the restaurant's chairs, he glances at the list of food written on the wall placed above him and saw many imageries of saliva-dripping food.

'Ramen, oh my dear ramen! To think I would find you in another world, is this the strings of fate tugging me directly towards you?'

Hearing his stomach grumble further, he heard a laugh behind the counter, and a middle-aged man with bronze, wrinkled skin appears. He wore a stained white apron over black baggy clothes. He has short black hair and squinted brown eyes, and he had a slightly protruding belly.

The middle-aged man's name was No Del, the relatively unknown owner of the ramen restaurant named No's Noodle Stall. From what Kaleido gathered, the restaurant and recipes were created by No Del's grandfather, No Dal, and were passed down to his father, No Dil, and eventually to him—No Del.

"Hungry again for some noodle soup, Kal Eido?" No Del asked with a smile, giving a sense of warmth to Kaleido who has built a decent relationship with the man.

"Yep! Your ra- noodle soup really is the best, No Del!" Kaleido praised with a smile, causing the man to chuckle.

"Well, I guess it's the best because I'm one of the very few who cooks them in the city. The usual?" No Del raised his eyebrow and turned around to the kitchen behind him.

"Of course," Kaleido grinned, puts his hand into his pouch and secretly connected to the pocket space his formless bubble was connected to, and fish out a couple of coins from it.

Placing the coins onto the table, No Del turned around and grabs them while saying, "Pork Noodle Soup coming right up!"

Lo Clan City was located near a forest brewing with wild animals, and one of the most popular food options in the city was wild boar meat. Due to that, pork was relatively cheap in the city, and meals using pork were a common delicacy in the city.

In a way, pork food science was quite deep in the city, which caused No Del's Pork Noodle Soup to be pretty delicious amongst his current assortment of meals.

As the mouthwatering scent of ramen wafted into his nose, he slowly started to contemplate about his future development while waiting for his food to be prepared, 'For now, my main goal is to reach Rank 3. I have no need for primeval stones considering my primeval essence production speed is fast enough, so all I need to do is diligently cultivate every day and I would eventually become Rank 3. The problem is time and my safety. If "It" is more powerful than I thought, then perhaps before I know it, I would be fighting against mysterious Gu Immortals!"

'Even if it sounds ridiculous, it's not an impossibility, in fact, t might very well happen in the near future. If It can control Beast Emperors to attack me at a terrifying rate, then It must already be in the realm of immortals! Perhaps It is already a Rank 8 expert!' Kaleido shuddered at the thought and struggled to keep his emotions in check.

Rank 8 was the peak of the Gu World! While there were indeed Rank 9 Gu recounted in the Legends of Ren Zu, there has never been a Rank 9 existence in the entire history of the world of Gu!

So if his enemy was a Rank 8 great expert, then he might as well say he was facing a being at the very peak of the world! A "god" if you will.

'A god, huh? It might indeed be a god depending on what It can show.' Kaleido's thoughts were soon captivated by another thing as a bowl of steam and ramen broth appeared in his view.

Discarding his previous worries, he calmed himself and went to eat his lunch.

…

A while later, Kaleido walked out of the ramen stall with a filled stomach and a contented smile. It was a delicious meal that he hasn't eaten for a long while ever since he was transmigrated into this world, so now that he has access to ramen, he felt like he returned to Earth for just a few minutes in his life.

'I wonder if the grandfather of No Del—No Dal, was also from Earth just like me?' Kaleido paused, feeling slight peculiarity that the ramen he ate was like the one from Earth, before dismissing that thought entirely.

'So what if No Dal was from Earth? He's already dead, so there's no use in thinking about his origin.' Kaleido instead had a new idea, 'What if I invest in No's Noodle Shop? Maybe I can even become business partners with No Del and expand his business so that I can earn a fortune. His food is unique and delicious, so perhaps this might actually work.'

As he was walking along the crowded street, he immersed himself in his mind, thinking about all kinds of things for his future, 'Hmm, now that I'm Rank 2, it means that my strength has drastically improved compared to before. Unfortunately, I have no real place to taste out my true strength without wreaking havoc and capturing the attention of It once more. Maybe I'll get bombarded by hundreds of Beast Emperors if that were to happen. '

Just as he was about to head back into his hotel, he saw a group of people huddling around a certain area, capturing his interest. 'I wonder what they are up to?'

Deciding to see what they were huddling around, he approach the crowd of people with brisk and light steps. As he arrives at their location, he pushed through the crowd towards the nearby wall, and finally saw what they were looking at.

'A tournament?' Kaleido paused, reading the piece of paper plastered onto the wall out loud, "Lo Clan Tournament, the winner gets to become an external member or clan elder depending on their rank, along with a variety of benefits."

'Hmm, a tournament?' Kaleido paused, his eyes gleaming with brilliance, and he continued, 'To think I'll find the opportunity to develop my foundational combat skills so soon!'

'There would surely be many Rank 3 experts participating in this tournament considering it's a chance to become an external elder of a super clan! Hehehe, even if I were to lose, I would still gain a lot of valuable experience! And even if It were to interfere and give me a ridiculously powerful old monster, then I'll just have to brute force my way to winning!'

AN: This chapter has 2055 words.

If you like the story so far, then why not save it to library, send some power stones, comment your thoughts, and bla bla bla.

(January 8, 2023 – 409th day of writing)