The afternoon sun hung low and pale over the Northern Plains, offering no warmth, only a stark, blinding light that illuminated the desperation of the Ju Tribe.
I walked through the tribal market, my boots crunching on snow that had been trampled into grey slush by thousands of frantic feet. The market, usually a place of bartering and gossip, had transformed into a manic pit of inflation.
"Fifty primeval stones! Take it or leave it!"
"That's robbery! It was twenty yesterday!"
I stopped by a stall selling Enslavement Path resources. A merchant with a gold-toothed grin was arguing with a young branch family master. The young master was red-faced, holding a bag of stones that looked far too light for what he needed.
"The price of Rank 2 Wolf Enslavement Gu too has doubled since dawn," I noted, my voice low. "Contoling Supply and cousing demand is the cruelest Killer Move of the Merchant Path if it ever existed. War breeds inflation like a festering wound breeds bacteria."
I watched the young master throw the bag down in defeat, taking only half the materials he needed.
"If I lose wolves in the coming battle," I murmured to myself, "replacing them at these prices will compeletly bankrupt me. The family Treasury is not a bottomless pit, and my father's generosity has limits."
I needed a solution. I needed to refine a Gu that could help me sustain my Enslavement Path consumption—a way to generate resources or minimize loss without relying on the clan's dwindling supply. Or enslave wolfes in another way.
My wandering thoughts—and my feet—led me toward the edge of the market, where a massive tent made of patch-worked leathers sat. Even from ten meters away, I could hear the roar of the crowd inside.
The Tribal Gambling House.
It was a place where fortunes were made in a heartbeat and lives were ruined in a breath. It was the only place in the tribe where the economy moved faster than the war.
Suddenly, the Dog Shit Luck Gu in my aperture buzzed.
It wasn't a warning vibration. It was a rhythmic thrumming, like a heartbeat detecting a vein of gold.
Intuition.
I signaled Yue Yin, who shadowed me in her unassuming maid disguise, and we stepped inside.
The heat hit me first—a wall of humid, stifling air reeking of unwashed bodies, cheap tobacco smoke, and the sour tang of desperate sweat. The noise was deafening. Men screamed at dice cups; women wept over lost heirlooms.
My internal compass pulled me to the center of the room.
A dense crowd had gathered around a high table. In the middle stood a man with wild hair and bloodshot eyes. He was trembling, his hand clutching a heavy bag of primeval stones as if it were his own beating heart.
"All in!" the gambler screamed, slamming the bag onto the felt table. dust flying up from the impact. "I bet my life's savings! My house, my wolves, everything! On this rock!"
The object of his obsession sat on a velvet cushion. It was a jagged, grey stone, unremarkable to the naked eye except for a faint, oily sheen.
The seller, a sly-looking mortal with a face like a weasel, was grinning. His smile didn't reach his eyes.
"Wise choice, brother!" the seller shouted to the crowd. "This rock was found near a dried-up Spirit Spring in the Southern Valleys! The residual energy is massive! It contains at least a Rank 3 Gu! Do I hear a bet?"
"I'll take it!" the gambler roared.
I narrowed my eyes.
"Activate Rank 1 Unlucky Eye Gu."
Primeval essence surged to my right eye. The smoky grey world of the tent shifted. The physical forms of men and tables faded, replaced by the luminous, flowing colors of their Aura.
I looked at the gambler.
He was glowing with a vibrant Green Light—the sign of significant current wealth. But the Green was trapped. Surrounding it, suffocating it, was a dense, swirling Black Cloud.
Diagnosis: Impending Ruin.
There was no buffer of Grey luck. There was no White safety. He was standing on the edge of a cliff, and gravity was already taking hold.
I looked at the rock.
Black.
It was a void. Empty. There was no Gu worm inside, not even a dead one. It was a hollow shell.
But then, I saw the mechanism.
Faint, ethereal Grey Lines of luck were streaming out of the gambler's aura. They were being sucked into the rock, swirling through its porous surface, and then connecting directly to the Seller's Aura.
The rock wasn't a treasure container. It was a conduit. It was a natural material that acted like a siphon, facilitating the transfer of fortune from the victim to the scammer.
My Dog Shit Luck Gu buzzed again, harder this time. It was hungry.
Material Found.
"That rock," I whispered to Yue Yin, keeping my lips barely moving. "It isn't just a gambling rock. It's a natural Karma Knot Stone. It connects different calibers of luck. It should be extremely rare."
"You want to buy it?" Yue Yin asked, her eyes tracking the seller's hands.
"No," I replied clinically. "The gambler is about to buy it. And the moment he smashes it open to find nothing, the karmic link will shatter. The material will be destroyed cousing the release of his bad luck."
I watched the seller reach for the bag of money. The transaction was seconds away.
I leaned closer to Yue Yin's ear, smelling the faint scent of jasmine beneath the smoke of the room.
"Can you steal it? Right now. Without anyone seeing?"
Yue Yin looked at the table. The crowd was pressing in tight. The seller was watching the money. The gambler was watching the rock.
She smirked. In that split second, the timid maid vanished. The posture of the Rank 4 Grandmaster Thief peaked through the disguise.
"I have a killer move for this," she whispered, her voice tinged with professional pride. "'If I'm not found out ,I'm Not The Thief'."
She didn't move her body. She simply slid her hand into her wide sleeve.
"It combines a Rank 3 Change Location Gu with my Theft Path Storage Gu. It swaps objects instantly through a spatial pocket. No trajectory. No shadow."
She flicked her wrist.
There was no sound. No flash of light. No fluctuation of essence that a Rank 2 or even Rank 3 Gu Master could detect in this chaotic environment.
On the table, the jagged grey rock shimmered imperceptibly for a microsecond—a glitch in reality.
"Done," she whispered, smoothing her sleeve.
"Move!" I hissed.
We turned and exited the tent immediately, leaving the shouting crowd behind.
The Alleyway Synthesis
We ducked into a secluded alleyway between two storehouses. The sounds of the gambling house were muffled here.
"Give it to me, quickly," I ordered.
Yue Yin produced the Karma Knot Stone. Through my Unlucky Eye, I could see it pulsating. The Grey Lines of luck were still attached to it, stretching back into the tent like ethereal umbilical cords. The gambler inside was still pouring his hope (and luck) into this object, unaware it was now in my hand.
"The conduit is live," I muttered. "Refine!"
I plucked the Rank 1 Unlucky Eye Gu from my socket. I held it against the stone.
Recipe: Rank 2 Unlucky Gambling Eye Gu.
Base: Rank 1 Unlucky Eye Gu.
Core: Active Karma Knot Stone.(should be diffrently ranked but here rank 2 gu material)
Fuel: Rank 2 Red Steel Essence.
Catalyst: The active theft of fortune.
I poured my red essence into the stone. It hissed, resisting refinement. The luck flowing through it was chaotic—the desperation of the gambler, the greed of the seller.
"Submit," I growled, my 50-man Soul clamping down on the chaotic will.
My Human Path attainment flared. Gambling is the hope of the desperate. Theft is the shortcut of the bold.
Fuse.
The Karma Stone didn't just break; it liquefied. It was sucked into the crystal structure of the Gu worm. The grey lines snapped one by one, absorbed into the new vessel.
From inside the tent, a scream erupted.
"NO! IT'S EMPTY! MY MONEY!"
The fake rock had been smashed. The connection was severed.
But it was too late. I held the new Gu in my palm. It had transformed from a smoky grey lens into a sharp, crystalline iris with a Black and White spiral in the center.
Back in the safety of my yurt, I wasted no time. I ordered the wolves to guard the perimeter and cleared a space on the floor.
"Let's see what's diffrent."
"The Rank 1 Eye can only see the target's immediate aura," I theorized aloud, reviewing the Human Path logic in my mind. "It diagnoses the symptom. But by adding the Karma Knot, I introduce the concept of Connection. I will be able to see the circulatory system of Fate through this a little—where the luck is going, and where it comes from. Increasing the versatility of this investigative gu."
It was no longer smoky grey. It was a sharp, crystalline iris. The pupil was a mesmerizing Black and White spiral, spinning slowly even when inactive.
Rank 2 Unlucky Gambling Eye Gu.
I picked it up. It was cold, buzzing with a strange energy. I placed it back into my right eye socket. It merged with my optic nerve instantly.
"Activate."
The world snapped into focus.
I looked at Yue Yin.
Before, I saw nothing. Now, the vision had depth.
I saw the diffrent lights surrounding her but not connecting. , I saw faint, ethereal lines.i think it means if she wants these lucks can be hers as she is a theft capable of robbing the opportunity representing the luck .
But I could only see luck till red iron luck level meaning it's rank two limited , I should solve this greate defect later if possible.
And there were other lines—faint, grey threads connecting her waist to the void of her storage Gu, linking her to the stolen items inside. That's amazing as it even shows luck inside others appreture.
"It works," I assessed, my voice thick with satisfaction. "I can see Rank 2 Luck clearly. I can see the flow of fortune partly. I can see the strings."
I squinted, trying to look deeper, at the general direction of the clan leader's tent. The lines there were messy, blurred.
"It's blurry around the edges," I noted. "It still cannot perceive Rank 3 or higher Luck clearly. It's a specialized tool, not an omniscient one."
I deactivated the eye, blinking away the strain.
"It's enough for war," Yue Yin noted, handing me a warm towel to wipe the sweat from my brow.
"No amount of preparationis ever enough but it suffices if we can't increase our strength," I agreed. "Now, we can see who is truly winning before the battle even starts."
"Their luck below us means defeat and their luck not showing means there is a chance for them to be victorious "