Cultivation Through Artifacts

Pain pierced inside Khal's heart, almost forcing him to scream up, but thanks to the fact he already anticipated what to feel he was able to remain silent while only letting low groans escape his mouth and nothing else.

After a while, the pain began to lessen and the familiar warm sensation swept through his body while the voice resounded inside his head once again.

[Notify! Your 'Body Essence' has increased from 1050 units to 3050 units!]

"Nice. Now increase the amount of Cores I can have by 1!"

[That will be 2000 'Body Essence. Do you wish to continue?]

"Yes."

[Understood!]

Swish!

Right after that, Khal felt the Body Essence inside him flowing into his bracelet, while the bracelet itself underwent another change like the previous time.

The bracelet became a bit wider and thicker, while another gap where Khal will be able to put his next Power Core appeared, just below the previous two.

Soon, after two-third of his Essence was sucked away, the process stopped and the voice began to talk once again.

[Third Power Core Holder obtained!]

Doesn't even wait for the voice to finish talking, Khal took out the Beast Core he obtained from his ring and began to consume it.

Instantly, the orb in his hand began to evaporate while red mist started to cover his body from every angle, gradually seeping into his body through the armor.

Once the orb and the small centipede-like creature inside it were fully consumed, Khal felt a sharp pain inside his body before the voice inside his head began to talk.

[Notify! 'Beast Core' detected!]

[Would you like to transform 'Beast Core' into 'Power Core'?]

"Yes."

[Understood!]

[Forming 'Beast Core' into 'Power Core'!]

This time, Khal could feel that the power he just consumed began to move and swirl toward his bracelet, and gradually form a pebble inside the empty slot he just acquired.

As the pain inside his body now has completely vanished, Khal could freely inspect the events without struggling to keep his eyes open and watch as his third Power Core began to form right before his very eyes.

And soon, a crimson red pebble with a shape and size just like the rest appeared in the third slot together with a notification in his head.

['Fusion' and 'Forming Process' completed!]

[Hidden potentials have been unlocked!]

['Fifth Stage: Blood Sensation' had been successfully transformed into 'Fifth Stage: Bloodshed Touch'!]

"Bloodshed Touch? How can I use it?" curious about his new power, Khal activated his Bloodshed Touch without a second thought, but right after he did, his eyes widened with shock.

The tip of his fingers turned slightly crimson while his sight changed completely. Everything around him turned black and white, including the shining crystals too, while in few places in the distance several red figures could be seen moving here and there with rapid pace.

The further the bloody figures were, the more their contours turned transparent while the closer they were the brighter they shone!

"Those are... People?" Khal immediately understood what or who those figures were as almost all of them had the shape of a human, while the rest had different silhouettes, meaning they were Beasts.

"It seems I can see their blood flow through the walls akin to a heat sensor, but in a more improved manner. This is cool!" exclaimed Khal, and shifted his gaze onto his body, curious what to expect to see.

But just as he had guessed beforehand, he was able to see through his skin and watch his blood flow inside his veins like a river inside a small passage.

"Originally, it would have been only Blood Sensation but after its hidden potentials had been unlocked, it turned into Bloodshed Touch. Maybe I should try it out..." as he thought about this, Khal began to walk toward the closest Beast he could see through the walls while also looking out for enemies that tried to find him.

Soon after, he reached his first target which was a small Beast with an appearance to that of a rat, but with a bigger body and sharper teeth and claws that seemed to be able to slice through solid rock if it wanted to!

"Third Cultivation Stage... Perfect target to test out my new power." thought Khal and moved.

With a strong push against the ground with his feet, he appeared next to the Beast and touched its body even before it could have reacted.

And exactly as his finger came into contact with the creature's body, Khal was able to feel and see as the Beast's blood seeped out of its vein through its pores and accumulated around his fingers, causing the Beast to shriek up and jump away with terror in its eyes.

"So I can suck anyone's blood out, but only if I seem to be in contact with my prey?" asked Khal as he watched that except for looking a bit dizzy, the Beast he touched was doing perfectly fine.

'...' glancing at the floating blood around his fingers, Khal tried to manipulate it, seeing if he could shape it, but his wish was shattered.

Except for floating around his fingers, he could do nothing about them, only let them fall onto the ground, painting the earth red.

"Wait, now that my Beast Core became a Power Core, it can be improved too, right?" asked Khal, trying not to lose his hope to manipulate the blood he stole.

[Any 'Beast Core' that had been turned into a 'Power Core' can be indeed strengthened further.]

The voice inside his head replied his hunch and his mood immediately skyrocketed. It seems, his Bloodshed Touch will be able to steal and shape other's blood, or even better; manipulate other's blood!

Just the thought alone made Khal unable to wait anymore, wanting to reach the higher Stages as fast as possible.

"Out of all of my powers, this one seems the most promising so far." thought Khal, but he knew his strength will only get stronger as time goes on.

"Well, now that I have this ability, getting out of this place without getting caught shouldn't pose a problem," said Khal and after watching the moving figure through the wall he began to move.

As far he could know, Moon Mountain had several cave entrances, each connecting somewhere in the interior, thus the only thing Khal had to do was to find a connection, and leave it in an entrance where no one was.

The plan was simple and easy, but in reality, it was quite a hard task to accomplish. Without any map and any knowledge about the cave system that Moon Mountain had, Khal's only support was his ability to see people through the walls, and go on a route that didn't go toward them.

Hours have passed like this, changing directions to avoid humans and killing Beasts that he met on his way, but after more than 6 hours of straight running without rest or trouble, Khal finally reached another cave's entrance somewhere on the completely opposite side of the mountain.

"Perfect, no one is here." without hesitating even for a second more, Khal burst out of the cave, right into the distance as if his life was on the line, which in truth this time was!

Using his First Form to its fullest, Khal ran like a madman on a chase, and traveled a mile almost in a blink!

Without stopping or even slowing down, Khal ran all the way back to Moon City, and once inside the Academy, he hid in a dark corner and vanished into a white crack.

Only then, when he was safe and sound and before Blade Mountain did he dare to take off his armor and took a deep breath, attempting to calm his ragged breathing as fast as he could.