Cultivation Through Artifacts

"Welcome back, again. How can I help you?" asked Noelle as a smile blossomed on her face?

"I'm looking for a Secret Art called Jade Tombstone. Can you help find it?" Khal asked from her, this time confident he won't ask about a Forbidden Art like the previous time.

"Oh? That one?" Noelle seemed surprised by Khal's choice as that was not a Secret Art everyone would like to learn. It could be even said it was an extremely unique Art thanks to its level of complexity.

"Yeah, I can definitely help you with it. Please give me a second." with that, Noelle walked into the room where Khal once was in the back, and it wasn't long before she came back with a big black scroll in her hand.

"Here you go. Jade Tombstone, a Cultivator Level Secret Art that can survey and detect anything in its area once used. Take your time to look at it." Noelle handed the Secret Art over to Khal, who gladly accepted it.

/Jade Tombstone/ 

• Level: Cultivator

• Description: An Art created to oversee everything in its territory, even from hundreds of thousands of miles far!

• Price: 500 Golden Coins

"!?"

Khal almost coughed up blood the moment he saw the prize as it was ridiculously expensive.

"F-five hundred Golden Coins!? That's expensive!" Khal looked at Noelle with shock.

"Five hundred Golden Coins are indeed a lot, but considering the potential and the Level of this Art, it should be said it's quite cheap. In fact, Any other Secret Art on the Cultivator Level starts from 500 Golden Coins, so it has quite a decent price."

When Khal listened to this he closed his mouth tightly shut, unknown what he should say. 

'Five hundred Golden Coins... Luckily I can afford it, but still...' Khal felt his heart ache when he glanced at his currency that will soon change drastically, unknown whether he should laugh or cry.

'If it weren't for him, I wouldn't even buy such an Art, but alas...' with a helpless sigh, Khal handed his badge over to Noelle and said, "I will buy it."

"Eh? What? You will?" Noelle asked from him, seemingly surprised by his decision.

"Um... Yeah? Why, shouldn't I?" Khal asked her with a raised brow, not understanding why Noelle seemed so surprised this time.

However, Noelle stared at Khal with shock not because she thought he should not buy it, but because it was useless to him to do so. Or at least if he didn't reach the Sixth Cultivation Stage already as that is one of the requirements to use this Secret Art!

"I-If you don't mind me asking... What Cultivation Stage are you currently on?"

"Sixth," answered Khal with a straight face without hesitation.

"WHAT?" now it was Noelle's turn to yell and attract other's attention just like how Khal did previous before calming down.

"You... Did you reach the Sixth Stage already? You really became a Cultivator?" Noelle's gaze this time changed, now her eyes holding deeper respect toward Khal than ever before.

As everyone knew, breaking through the bottleneck on the Fifth Stage and successfully opening one of the sealed Essence Paths was no small feat to do at all. There were even thousands, if not millions of people out there that still struggled to unseal at least one, yet Khal, who was still so young, succeeded with it!

'But then this means... He must have to graduate from Moon Academy.' sighed Noelle inwardly, but she knew this would come sooner or later.

Anyone that has the talent to reach the Sixth Cultivation Stage occasionally reached it in under a few months or a year as they only have to consume Beast Essence, but reaching the Sixth Stage under 2 months... It was the first or at least for her to hear.

"Then I can only wish you the best of my luck." smiled Noelle and after taking off 500 Golden Coins from Khal's badge, she handed it back to him together with the Secret Art.

"Thank you very much!" Khal also smiled and after a quick bow, he left the building.

Sometime later, once he got back to Blade Mountain, he opened the scroll with a determined expression.

'The sooner I can learn this Art the faster I can get rid of that bastard.' thought Khal and like a maniac, he began to read the context like crazy.

However, the more he deepened himself into the Secret Art, the more his complexion turned confused while his brows gradually lowered into a frown.

'This Secret Art is way better than it seems, but at the same time way more complex too.'

As far as he could understand, Jade Tombstone was a Secret Art that used the Essence in the body to mark any object one wished to mark and create something similar to a formation.

Furthermore, the size of this formation can be unlimited, but the bigger one plans to make it, the more of these markings one needs to create too.

"I kind of understand it now, but what makes me a bit worried are the requirements," mumbled Khal as he shifted his gaze at the requirements.

"First I need to reach the Sixth Cultivation Stage which I have already accomplished so I am okay. After that, I need to unlock all the sealed Essence Paths in one of my arms, which I think will be the hardest one, and lastly, have a large amount of Essence in my body."

Scratching his head gently, Khal closed his eyes and could do nothing but sigh helplessly.

"It seems my plan will last longer than I have previously thought..." Khal mumbled in a dejected voice as he knew unsealing the remaining 3 Essence Paths in his body will take more time and effort than the first one.

"Well, let's try opening the next path, maybe it is not even that hard as they say," said Khal, and after taking up the lotus position he began to control his Essence into the first Essence Path that he already unlocked.

Like pouring water into a pipe, the Essence flowed through the first path and approached the next gate that was tightly shut like a locked door.

"Here we go..." Khal took a deep breath and pushed his Body Essence against the gate.

BAM!

In a wink, a powerful aura similar to wind blades broke forth from his body, or to be more precise from his biceps, and surrounded him at once from all directions!

Compared to the first gate he attempted to open, this time felt no suffocating pressure on his body, but for some reason, he felt terrified almost as if thousands of swords were pointing at him!

'What are these? Why do I feel imminent death?' asked Khal, but even though he seemed calm, he could feel cold sweat flowing down on his back.

After examining the wind blades for a while without any results, Khal tried to push his Essence into the great, forcing himself through.

However, not even as he pushed 1% of his Body Essence against the gate, the wind blades around him began to turn chaotic, a few even cutting his skin causing blood to flow out slowly!

"The hell?" Khal halted his attempt and didn't hesitate to withdrew his Body Essence as fast as possible.

After all wind blades vanished from his surroundings as he was no longer forced to open the second gate, Khal frowned and shook his head.

"This is not right. How am I supposed to open the gate like this? If I try to force my way through I will definitely die without a joke!" Khal pondered deeply, but soon Nova's voice sounded in his head.

[Try to understand the phenomenon you just saw. If you succeed to comprehend its meaning, the seal will be unlocked automatically!]

"Understand it? What should I understand from numerous floating wind blades around him that can kill me?" Khal asked Noha, but not to his surprise, no answer came from her this time.

"Well, if I don't try, I won't know, right?" sighed Khal helplessly and proceeded on with another attempt.

Meanwhile, inside Jas's room, Logan was sitting on a sofa in a relaxed manner, while Jas looked at him with a serious complexion from his desk.

"You say he reached the Sixth Stage already?" after a moment of silence later, Jas finally decided to talk and ask Logan.

"Yeah, I am positive." nodded Logan with a bored face, almost as if he couldn't care less about the situation.

"Hmm..." Jas began to ponder and after another lengthy silence, he closed his eyes and sighed, "Even though every Cultivator can reach the Fifth Stage under a few months, it doesn't mean they can progress forward. Some will be stuck on that level for the rest of their lives and some will have to struggle for several months or even years to reach the next stage."

"But to think he reached the Sixth Stage so soon... It is truly unknown what the future holds for him."

After Jas finished talking, Logan shifted his gaze at him and asked, "So? What do you plan to do now?"

Jas, however, just waved his hand and said, "Exactly what you think. He must follow the rules and fight you. Once you reach the Sixth Stage, you must fight your Master. If you lose, you will be expelled from the Academy, but if you win, you will be allowed to join 'that' without question."