Cultivation Through Artifacts

After seeing as Astro vanished from his spot like a ghost, Khal and the rest waited patiently while chatting casually.

And soon, about a minute or so later Khal watched as Astro and several other guards appeared from the entrance on the side, carrying a huge metallic box as though it weighs nothing.

"My Lord, here is what you requested." Astro bowed gently toward his master once the metal box was lifted to stand high, showing a single keyhole in the middle, seemingly being a lock.

Roice nodded and thanked Astro for his help and without hesitation waved his hand, summoning a black key into his grasp before placing it into the hole and turning it toward the left several times.

Click!

With a metallic sound which was akin to breaking a metal pipe into two, the key turned a complete 360 degrees, causing the door to open from the right, revealing what was inside.

Or at least, would have revealed the item inside, if there were any as of right at the moment Khal saw nothing, but an empty box with a single-pole placed in the middle.

"What is the meaning of this? Where is the armor?" Khal knitted his brows together, shifting his gaze at Roice who stood next to the box with a relaxed smile on his face.

"Please, don't act so rash. Take a closer look instead and you will get your answer." Roice pointed toward the interior of the metal box calmly, his intention clear.

At first, Khal felt confused as to what he should see if the box was empty, but after thinking for a while he realized there was no reason for Roice to behave so mysteriously if there truly was nothing, hence he did just as he was told and stepped closer to the box to get a better look.

[Oh? Who would have guessed such an item will be crafted from that ore? I am amazed.]

Listening to Nova's voice, Khal narrowed his eyes only to widen them the next second and extend his hand out with a startled expression.

"T-This... How can this be?" Khal muttered under his breath, his voice filled with shock.

Right as he extended his arm, Khal believed he will be able to reach his hand out completely, but alas, that's not what happened and instead, his fingers met with an invisible surface, akin to a barrier!

However, when Khal placed the entirety of his palm against the surface of this 'barrier', he had to realize quickly that the thing he was feeling at the moment was the front of something he was quite familiar with; the chest plate of armor!

The hard surface was cold to the touch... There was no mistake about it, it was truly an armor he was feeling!

"But... How? It's completely invisible?" Khal extended his other hand to get a better feel and image about the appearance of the armament.

"Haha, the reaction I have waited for." Roice laughed out with joy and step next to Khal while explaining.

"This armor is quite special as it was not only found inside a Hidden Shrine, but was also crafted out of a material called the Soulsilver, an extremely rare material that is not only simply imperceptible because of its see-through appearance, but extremely durable too!"

"Soulsilver? Never heard of it before." Khal shook his head, but he didn't really care to be honest.

As a fact, he felt excited as this armor was much better than he first believed it to be. An armor that was basically invisible? Are you kidding?

Not only does he have no reason to fear getting killed by an ambush or an attack he didn't anticipate, but he could also make his enemies believe he was completely unguarded and vulnerable!

That was the best thing he could wish for!

However, this was only if the armor was strong enough to protect him from such attacks, or else it was completely useless.

This is why Khal quickly placed a palm atop the invisible armor and asked, "And how durable it is?"

Roice at this question just smiled and instead of answering he asked, "Do you know why it is called Soulsilver?"

"..No..." Khal answered, but deep inside felt slightly confused by such a question. Didn't he just tell him a few seconds ago that he didn't know what a Soulsilver was? Then how should he know why it was called in such a way? 

Roice obviously read Khal's mind from his face, but ignoring it he just smiled calmly as he did until all this time and said, "It was called Soulsilver because its weight and durability depends completely on one's soul."

"You mean..." Khal widened his eyes upon realization and looked at his hand which was in contact with the armor.

"Yes." Roice nodded and said, "If you have a strong soul, you can make it so hard that it would be on par with that of an Abyss Crystal's, but if not, it can break as easily as a piece of glass."

When Khal heard this he fell into deep silence, obviously contemplating if he should trade his Space Orb for the armor. 

Roice seemed to notice his hesitation and proposed an idea several minutes later.

"How about you try it on and see just how durable it becomes when you wear it and only then decide?"

"Really? I can?" Khal asked with joy, but soon turned solemn and asked, "But what if my soul turns out to be weak? What if it's gonna break like glass as you have said? Wouldn't that be a problem?"

"Not at all." Roice shook his head and showed a smile, "Although I have indeed said such a thing, it is simply impossible for it to break."

"What do you mean under that?" Khal asked, feeling this material called Soulsilver was much weirder than he initially believed.

"What I mean, while Soulsilver can indeed be destroyed, it can only be done when someone exerts a force several times greater and faster than it can withstand and react to."

"React to?" Khal now totally lost the string which he followed until now and couldn't help but feel deeply confused.

However, Roice didn't get angry at all, but instead stepped next to Khal and placed his hand atop the invisible armor too.

"Let me show you instead," Roice said calmly and used a little bit of his strength in his arms to push on the armor.

And just as he did and Khal expected to see the armor together with the box move backward, something so unexpected happened that Khal felt his eyes widen like saucers, threatening his eyeballs to fall out of their sockets!

"Y-Your arm! It went through! Your arm went right through the armor!" Khal felt perplexed as he watched Roice's fingers clenching the pole in the middle while his own palm was still resting on the armor's chest plate on the outside.