Cultivation Through Artifacts

A bit less than 800 units if Essence just to use a Secret Art... Not even Khal was stupid enough to use such an ability that cost that much.

'No, I must have done something wrong. Logan told me this Art will be tricky to use, but he never mentioned it will have a huge Essence consumption.' Khal suddenly realized a problem and began to use his brain to come up with a solution.

And soon, he indeed found an issue. It was about the number of jade markings he placed around the City. It seemed every carving was fueled from his Essence, and the more there were the more of his Essence was needed.

However, he couldn't decrease the number of his markings, as one jade mark had a hundred-meter radius and had to be inside another carving's radius to work. Thus, if he wanted to inspect everything inside Moon City, this 100 was a must and he couldn't decree the amount.

'It seems I can only go and increase my Body Essence.' thought Khal to himself and looked at his Character Status.

• Beast Essence: 1327

Khal pondered deeply as he stared at the units of Beast Essence he possessed before he closed his eyes and sighed.

'Hey, Nova. If I decide to turn 327 Beast Essence into 6540 units of Body Essence, will I die?'

[No, you will not. You will only feel pain that will make you wish if you were dead instead.]

'...'

Khal remained indifferent as the answer didn't surprise him at all as this is what he guessed to hear. He only asked Nova to see if his guess was wrong, but unfortunately, it wasn't.

After thinking over the pros and cons, Khal gritted his teeth and nodded, "Then it is decided."

Taking out the key he got from Jas, Khal quickly went back to Moon Academy and searched for his room.

And to his surprise, it wasn't long before he found it, as it was inside one of the buildings close to Moon Academy's main gates.

Entering the building, Khal quickly ascended the stairs and once he reached the third floor, he opened the door that opened into his new room with no extra thoughts.

The room was neither small nor big, it had a perfect size for everyday uses, but because he was now in a bit of a hurry, Khal decided to ignore the appearance of his temporary new home and sat down on the floor, in the middle of the room.

"I am ready. Transform 327 units of Beast Essence into Body Essence." Khal talked to Nova, who immediately responded.

[Okay, starting the Transformation process in three... Two... One... Now!]

BAM!

Right as Nova's voice fell, Khal was able to feel an immense pain pierce his chest, or more specifically his heart, while the yellow is Best Essence from his bracelet began to flow toward his heart like a raging river, rapidly changing into a bluish color, into units of Body Essence.

However, Khal couldn't examine this miraculous change as suddenly his face paled and his sitting silhouette suddenly fell onto the floor with both of his hands firmly grabbing his robe around his chest part.

"ARRRGGGHHHH!!" with a painful cry that was as loud as thunder, Khal struggled on the floor, kicking and pushing objects away from his way, smashing and breaking some that were fragile.

The yell resounded in the entirety of his room, and if it weren't for the soundproof arrays on the walls, floor, and ceiling that sealed every sound inside, Khal's scream would have definitely attracted others' attention, maybe even some experts for sure.

Khal struggled on the ground like a fish that was thrown onto the solid ground from the ocean, trying to surpass the otherworldly pain he was currently feeling.

And just as Nova said, he truly wished to die at the moment. The piercing pain was similar to thousands of needles goring his heart non-stop, making death extremely alluring for real!

After one minute that felt like an eternity for Khal, the pain slowly started to lessen, but not vanish. At that time, Khal no longer had any color on his face but only whiteness, almost as though his face was made out of sheets of paper!

His whole body was trembling and shaking, while his entire figure was covered in thick, bean-sized sweat drops as of he just came out of a nice shower.

Rubie, who was sitting atop a chair on the side seemed calm, but even though she saw this sight several times before, her eyes couldn't hide the worry in them. 

Another minute went away, and neither Khal's scream nor the pain in his chest vanished. Only the units of his Body Essence seemed to undergo great change, as his 1050 units of Body Essence was rapidly growing, currently at 5342 units!

After another minute, luckily the pain began to get weaker, but it was still so great that it made Khal continue his struggle and yells almost like he was tortured to death.

And only after a bit more than 4 minutes later did the pain go away completely, silencing Khal's deafening screams at once, but not because he could finally shut his mouth after a long time, but because he fell unconscious.

[Successful Transformation!]

[Your 1050 units of Body Essence has been increased to 7590 units!]

However, because Khal had long ago fallen unconscious, he couldn't hear what Nova said and only stare at Neo before him, as he was transported into the Soul Prison until his body won't recover at least to a degree.

"Welcome back to my humble home," Neo said to Khal, feeling indifferent by his sudden appearance.

As Khal's arrival into the Soul Prison was extremely unpredictable, he felt no surprise when he saw Khal's figure popping out of fairly nowhere as it now became the norm.

Thus, instead, he just crossed his arms before his chest and asked, "So? How did it go? Did you find that rat's whereabouts or hideout? I hope you did because I want to see him dead as soon as possible!"