Cultivation Through Artifacts

'Shit! There she comes!' Khal swore in his heart, noticing as Darla was approaching him once again, and tried to make the spear vanish, but only to no avail.

'Can't I undo this or what?' Khal jerked his hand gently, but unfortunately, the spear still remained in his hand. It was like his fingers had been glued to the handle of the weapon, making him unable to let it go.

Khal tried several times, but shortly after his second attempt, he watched as Darla arrived before him, her cold and indifferent gaze staring deeply at the ice spear in his hand.

Feeling a little bit uncomfortable and embarrassed, Khal coughed awkwardly before showing a bright smile and asked, "How can I help you this time?"

Darla remained silent, seemingly in deep thoughts as her eyes gazed at the spear in his hand. Only after minutes later did she avert her gaze and look at Khal, her whole face just as unreadable as ever.

"Where did you get your hands on a Frozen Mist?" Darla asked coldly.

"Frozen Mist? What is that?" Khal tilted his head mildly as he has never heard about a thing called the Frozen Mist. Not even in his book even though he was reading it almost daily.

This question made Darla raise one of her delicate brows but quickly pointed at the spear in Khal's hand and said, "That, in your hand, is a Frozen Mist, a blessing you can only acquire if you get a gift from an Ice Spirit. Where did you get it?"

'Oh, now I get it.' Khal's eyes lit up as he understood now what a Frozen Mist was.

Spirits or on their other name Elemental Spirits are rare creatures that are greatly intelligent, but very weak while their numbers are extremely rare. However, no matter if they are weak or awfully rare, everyone wishes to find one as their Blessings allow them to boost one's strength by a huge margin with their Gift.

If one was lucky enough and gets one Elemental Spirit's approval, they will be gifted a Spirit Core which will melt with their soul upon consumption, giving them an ability similar to a powerful Martial Technique or a weaker second Blessing.

And it seems, the power he just imitated with his Talent was exactly that, a Spirit's Gift!

'So I can even mimic such powers as the Spirit's Gift? This is becoming better and better by the second!' Khal couldn't help but feel joy run through his body and accidentally show an excited grin.

"Why are you smiling?" Darla frowned as she asked coldly.

"Huh? Why? I can't?" Khal raised a brow before touching his chin and said with a pondering expression, "You know, you should try smiling too. I bet you would look even more lovely with one."

'...'

Darla frowned even deeper, which made Khal sigh helplessly.

Darla watched Khal in silence before spinning her spear before herself and asked, "I want to fight you. Will you accept my challenge?"

Khal acted surprised when he heard Darla, but quickly smiled and asked, "Oh? Where is the previous threatening behavior?"

"That time I thought you were gone from the Nether Race, but as you said, you are not, so there is no reason for me to act currently as I did previously," Darla replied nonchalantly.

"So? Will you accept my challenge or not?"

Khal was silent for a second before raising the ice spear in his hand and placing its end next to his feet while its edge pointed toward the sky.

"What is the reason you wish to fight me? I mean, there are way too many individuals here you can choose from, so why me?" Khal asked calmly.

"Because you are the only one here who got one of the Ice Spirit's approval except myself. What is more, it seems your Spirit Core was from the same Spirit, which makes me wonder which one of our Frozen Mist is the strongest."

Listening to Darla's reason, Khal glanced at his spear before shifting his gaze back at Darla and nodded.

"Sure, I will accept your challenge."

"Perfect. Then foll-"

"However, only if you wish to make a deal with me." Khal quickly continued, interrupting Darla just before she could have spoken her third word.

Although Darla didn't like the way Khal acted and interrupted her, she still asked, "And what would this deal be?"

"How about this? If I win, you will help me slay some beasts. As in case if you win... What do you want?"

Looking at Khal without any change of facial expression, Darla closed her eyes before opening them once again.

"If I win, you will have to tell me where you have acquired that fire ability of yours."

'She still thinks I am related to the Nether Race?' Khal wondered but still nodded, "Sure, I'm in."

"Perfect, then follow me." 

Watching as Darla turned around and began to walk away, Khal instantly knew where she planned to go, thus quickly followed after her from behind.

Out of the four sections in the Practice Ground, three are filled with tools and targets which anyone can use freely to practice their techniques and skills.

On the other hand, the fourth section was a fighting ground, a huge and open space split into different platforms where individuals could fight against each other, let it be a simple friendly exchange or vent out one's frustration on others.

As Khal followed Darla to one of the free platforms among somewhere in the central, he noticed as more and more people started to notice their arrival and stopped whatever they were doing.

Of course, this was only understandable as Darla's beauty was something that was hard to ignore, even if one was a completely ignorant individual.

"We are here. Do you wish to rest for a while?" Darla turned to face Khal once they were on top of the platform.

Khal however just shook his head and said, "I am perfectly fine. But I saw that you have practiced rather intensely, so I should be the one asking this."

"I can fight right away. Although it is not obvious, but I have a tremendous amount of stamina. I will be fine." Darla said as she took on a firm stance and pointed her weapon at Khal.

"If you say so..." Khal nodded and raised his ice spear too while he lowered his posture.