Cultivation Through Artifacts

Swallowing down the Essence Pill, Khal felt as a refreshing feeling swept through his whole body while the familiar voice appeared inside his head.

"Finally! My Heaven's Eyes broke into the Third Cultivation Stage!" Khal felt ecstasy as he watched the Power Core inside his bracelet became stronger once again.

"34 Beast Essence... Tsk, this is not my day at all!" said Marx with a sneer, however, Asur's and Merlyn's complexion held greater merry.

"I got 69 Beast Essence. Interesting," exclaimed Asur as he tilted his gaze at Merlyn.

"87! I got 87 Beast Essence! What a fortune! Haha, like this, it won't take me long to break into the Fifth Cultivation Stage!" Merlyn punched the air with her fist happily and stood up from the ground with a lively mood once again; the previous anxiety and exhaustion from several minutes ago could be no longer seen on her face, only sheer happiness.

Khal watched the three before him with an unnoticed smile on his face and glanced at Asur, "Umm... About the Mission Reward..."

Asur understood Khal's intention and he too was curious if the reward they just got from Elder Elex was a bonus or it was an improved version of their Mission rewards. Hence, took out his Cultivator's Badge and took a quick glance at it.

And a second later, a smile appeared on his face and turned his badge toward Khal, "Let's go. We still need to collect our rewards."

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After obtaining the Middle-Quality Essence Pill they earned through the Group Mission, Khal said his goodbye to the three and returned to Blade Mountain.

"Now that I have reached the Third Cultivation Stage I should focus on increasing my Body Essence. If I can reach 1000 units, not only can I use my Devil Fangs with better proficiency and more but I can also unlock that Power Core Holder ability too!"

As Khal reached this point he raised his hand and opened his palm. In the middle of his palm, an orange pill with a bit of a yellow hue was laid, giving out a bit of Beast Essence's aura.

"Let's try it right away," said Khal and put the pill into his mouth.

"Activate Transfiguration!"

[Understood!]

[Starting 'Transfiguration' process!]

In that very instant as the Essence Pill was swallowed, the refreshing feeling inside Khal's body appeared, but this time, instead of spreading throughout his whole body it began to flow toward his heart.

"Here it comes..." murmured Khal and just as he prepared himself, a sharp pain pierced into his chest, causing him to kneel onto the ground while his complexion paled in a flash.

[Notify! 23 'Beast Essence' counted!]

[You can increase your 'Body Essence' by 230 units!]

[Do you wish to 'Transfigure' all of them?]

As the voice sounded inside his head, Khal nodded and replied with clenched teeth, "Y-yes..."

[Understood!]

['Transfiguration' processing...]

Immediately after that, the yellow Beast Essence inside Khal's heart slowly began to turn blue, and gradually transform into Body Essence.

[Notify! 'Transfiguration process successful!]

[Notify! Your 'Body Essence' has grown from 150 units to 380 units!]

Khal listened to the voice inside his head and felt as the pain in his chest rapidly vanished and what replaced it was a pleasant, refreshing sensation throughout his entire body.

"So one Beast Essence equals with 10 Body Essence and vice-versa. Interesting..." pondered Khal and while sitting into a lotus position he thought, "Then reaching 1000 Beast Essence before the tournament shouldn't pose a problem, right?"

Closing his eyes and starting to consume the Essence Particles inside Blade Mountain's cave, Khal activated his Transfiguration ability and turned each Essence Particle into Body Essence.

Thanks to the amount always are one and not more, Khal this time only felt a tiny pain in his chest as though someone pierced him with a needle; but except that, it was quite bearable.

***

Khal's resting days have passed in a blink of an eye, and after 3 days of cultivating inside the cave, he was able to increase his Body Essence from 380 units all the way to 860 units!!

He was able to gain 48 Beast Essence under only 3 days without lifting a finger which was crazy! Others would need to kill Beasts with the possibility of dying to obtain even 20% of this amount, yet he simply consumed that much only sitting in one place! Blade Mountain was truly a treasure among treasures!

"Damn... I should have used this place way more in the past..." said Khal as he stood up and began to ponder, "860 units of Body Essence... One more day and I will be able to reach 1000 Beast Essence for sure! But unfortunately..."

As Khal realized it was time for him to go forging, an uncontrollable shiver swept through his body and groaned with discomfort.

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Buying some food and drink from his currency that he obtained from his first Mission, Khal went to the eastern part of Moon Academy and walked into the smithery where Bazz had already waited for him.

"Finally! Was waiting for ya! Let me see what you have learned from last time!"

*Thud!*

With a loud and heavy metallic sound, a thick and a feet long rod was placed before Khal, while on Bazz's face the same wide grin could be discerned as always.

Staring at the rod, Khal's complexion remained indifferent but deep inside he was mourning, "The time limit for the Creation Mode has already refreshed so I could easily use it again, but wasting that power for a piece of rod..."

A loud sigh escaped from Khal's mouth and without hesitation began to forge the piece of rod to the best of his knowledge.

-

A day passed without sleeping in the Blacksmith Department and several sized metals in the shape of cubes were thrown all around the place, while Khal's figure was still forging a chunk of metal in the middle of the room.

Clang!

Sharp metallic pitch with a mixture of softness sounded throughout the smithery, turning Bazz's eyes to brighten more and more with each hit that Khal did. 

Clang!

"Phew... Finished it without a mistake! This is the best performance I have ever done until now!" putting down the hammer and raising the perfectly shaped steel cube in his hand, Khal began to smile merrily.

"I don't know if there is a connection with the amount of Body Essence in my body, but ever since the amounts of units my physical strength improved by leaps and bounds too!" thought Khal merrily, as he looked at his arms; except feeling them a bit numb, they didn't tremble nor hurt at all!

"Haha, great job kid!" clapped his hands Bazz spiritedly and took the cube away to inspect it, "To tell you the truth, I didn't believe you will be able to improve this much in just three days. Tell me, did you work out during your day off? Your grip strength, your stamina, and the way you won't start to tremble like leaves on a cold day after 5 swing makes me curious."

Khal noticed Bazz's curious gaze on his skin and felt a bit strange, but just as he was about to deny it, Logan's figure appeared at the door.

"Oho? So this is how the Blacksmith Department looks from the inside. Truly unique."

"Master!" shouted Khal and bowed toward Logan without wasting a second.

"Why are you here?" asked Bazz, his face holding a questioning look.

Logan who inspected a hammer on the side that was way bigger than his frame tilted his gaze at Bazz and waved his hand, "Sorry that I walked inside without your permission, but Jas told me to come and get Khal."

"The principal? Why?" asked Bazz his eyes fixed on Khal suspiciously, thinking he has done something bad.

"Ah, no, don't misunderstand it." laughed Logan and continued, "Jas told me to get Khal because of the announcement. It will be today."

"What annou-, oh... So the time for that has already come? I completely forgot about the Moon Robe and the tournament." said Bazz as he finally realized why Khal had the Moon Robe all this time.

"Yes, so if you excuse me, I would like to take him with me. He needs to decide something quite important today."