Cultivation Through Artifacts

After calming himself down and making sure nothing followed him, Khal walked out of Shadow Woods and began to wander on its outer part hoping to find a few weak Beasts he could kill.

Cultivators were all over the place so his search was quite hard, but thanks to his reputation in Moon Academy those who saw him immediately decided to keep their distance from him and hunt somewhere else.

And naturally, Rubie helped him too to scare them away. Whenever they approached a group of Cultivators Rubie would stare at them with a piercing glare or simply shriek up in a threatening manner; which in fact was still a little 'chirp' sound, but because of her Cultivation Stage she was still able to scare all of them away.

And thanks to her, Khal was able to hunt a few First Stage Beasts and consume their Essence, but it seemed his fortune began to deplete after he visited the cave.

[Notify! Heaven's Eyes has consumed 1 'Beast Essence']

"This was my 7th creature yet all of them only gave me 1. Well, considering that I just consumed more than 200 Essence in that cave, it's not a surprise at all that my luck began to lessen." Khal stood up and raised his gaze toward the sky.

"It's still too early," mumbled Khal and glanced around, only to see the entire Shadow Woods be filled with Cultivators.

"This won't do it. I need to obtain Beast Essence faster than this. Except for Blade Mountain is there no other ways?" as Khal pondered suddenly his eyes brightened and took out his Cultivation Badge.

/Name: Khal Nevio/

• Currency: 9.243 Silver Coins

• Age: 17

• Cultivation Talent: Sight Enhancement

• Cultivation Stage: Vessel

• Rank: E

Looking at his currency that he only used to buy food and drinks Khal raised his face and a smile appeared on his face.

-

Inside Moon Academy close to the Blacksmithing Department, Khal walked into the Pharmacy Department and looked around.

The whole place was like a huge garden, filled with different herbs, flowers, leaves and so much more, each having a different shape, color, and size.

"Esteemed Guest, what can I do for you?" a woman in a green uniform and Moon Academy's emblem visibly on her chest walked next to Khal and smiled warmly.

"Can I buy Essence Pills here? The quality is not important," replied Khal, completely ignoring the woman's shocked gaze on Rubie.

The woman wasn't surprised by Khal's question because almost every Cultivator asked this same question and as a reply nodded immediately.

"Yes, we have, but because we are low on stock from them I can only give you Low-Quality ones."

"As I said, the quality does not matter for me," said Khal as he knew even a Low-Quality Essence Pill was able to give Cultivators 50 Beast Essence.

"I see, then how much Essence Pills do Esteemed Guest want to buy?" asked the woman, her warm smile never leaving her face.

"How much for one piece?"

"One piece of Low-Quality Essence Pill costs exactly 1000 Silver coins."

When Khal heard the answer he almost choked on his own saliva and couldn't utter a single word for quite a while.

"O-one thousand Silver coins? How much for a High-Quality Pill?" asked Khal, hardly believing it costs so much.

One thousand Silver coins equaled 1 gold coin! An entire month of living for a normal family with 2 children! Yet, here only a single Low-Quality Essence Pill's price was that much! Buying one here and whoosh, one month of your earning vanished into thin air just like that! Wasn't this daylight robbery under the clear sky?

"One piece of High-Quality Essence Pill costs 10 Gold coins."

'...'

The moment Khal heard this he stood there with a stupified expression, not knowing what he should think or say. This was simply madness on a whole other level!

Obviously, the woman instantly understood what Khal thought from his reaction and that's why she smiled and asked again, "How much Low-Quality Essence Pill does Esteemed Guest want to buy?"

The question pulled Khal back to reality right away and after pondering for a while he sighed and said, "Five pieces... Please."

The woman upon hearing this beamed like sun and after a polite bow talked warmly, "Understood. Please wait here, I will be right back."

Walking away and disappearing behind the corner which in fact was a tree, Khal waited for 2 minutes and the woman appeared once again.

"Here, five pieces of Low-Quality Essence Pills." said the woman and handed over a small box to Khal. In it, 5 small pills, almost as tiny as beans were placed, each shining with a gentle yellow shade.

"Together with the box, it will be 5 Gold coins and 100 Silver coins."

"!?" Khal instantly raised his head upon hearing the price and instantly shook his head and said, "I will only take the pills then."

"As you wish." said the woman calmly, but her eyes couldn't hide her disdain.

Handing his Cultivation Badge over, the woman took down 5000 Silver coins from his currency, leaving on it only 4.243 Silver coins.

"Thank you very much!" said the woman as she walked Khal out with a wave.

"Sigh... 100 Silver coins for a fucking box? That's an entire breakfast, lunch, and dinner altogether for fuck sake!" cursed Khal out loud as he glanced at the 5 pieces of Essence Pills in his hand.

"I paid 5 Gold coins for all of you so be good and give me a lot of Beast Essences! Please..." mumbled Khal and put the first pill into his mouth.

Immediately as he swallowed it down, a refreshing feeling passed through his body just like previously and soon a voice appeared inside his head.

[Notify! Heaven's Eyes has consumed 9 'Beast Essence'!]

Khal listened to the voice in his head and his face instantly turned sour.

"Next one!" said Khal and put the second pill into his mouth.

[Notify! Heaven's Eyes has consumed 6 'Beast Essence'!]

"Next!"

[Notify! Heaven's Eyes has consumed 8 'Beast Essence'!]

"Come on! I don't believe this! This is fucking scamming!"

[Notify! Heaven's Eyes has consumed 2 'Beast Essence'!]

'...'

Khal stared motionlessly at the final pill inside his hold with a darkened expression, his hand slightly trembling from anger.

"Five. Thousand. Gold. Coins... Five thousand Gold coins for 25 God damn Beast Essence! 25!" said Khal, feeling insanely angry he only got 25 from 4 Essence Pills that could have given him 100 at least!

He felt angry not because he was unlucky, but because he felt kind of scammed.

Five thousand Silver Coins for a mere 25 Beast Essence didn't worth it at all and Khal knew this clearly.

"Argh, please Gods! If you can hear me above there please help me get a decent amount this time!" said Khal loudly towards the skies, and threw the pill into his mouth.

However, just as it was about to fell into his mouth, a crimson color flashed before his eyes only to see Rubie swallowing the pill on his other shoulder.

And just as she gulped down the pill, her presence skyrocketed and in a flash, she reached the peak of the Second Cultivation Stage in one go!

Only one more push and she will be able to break successfully into the Third Cultivation Stage!

However, Khal couldn't feel happy about this at all because it was quite apparent that the amount of Beast Essence Rubie just got from that pill was quite a decent amount.

It was definitely above 30 and the one getting it was not him but her!

"I shouldn't have bought those pills and should have started to cultivate in Blade Mountain!" mumbled Khal in a low voice.

"?"

Turning her tiny eyes toward him upon hearing his voice, Rubie stepped closer to his face and in a loving manner began to stroke herself against his cheeks causing Khal to sigh and pat her on the head gently.