Cultivation Through Artifacts

The boy's smile and respected attitude made Khal to smile too and raised his hand.

"Nice to meet you too Nathan. My name is Khal and she is Liza."

"Hi.", said Liza from behind Khal's back with an expressionless face.

Nathan after noticing Liza's cold act could do nothing but simply laugh and glance at Khal.

"Please just call me Nate. Calling me Nathan feels a bit strange to me, even though that is my full name. Only my mother would call me like that, and only when I'm in trouble. Haha...", said Nate with a wry grin as he shook Khal's hand.

"I see, then I will. Hence, I guess you are also here for the Ceremony, yes?", asked Khal after letting go of Nate's hand.

"Exactly. I have the envelope too.", said Nate with a small smile as he waved it before Khal.

Discerning the white envelope with the colorful stamp on it, Khal wanted to say something, but he couldn't, because suddenly a loud voice sounded from the entrance.

"Woah... Look at that! The Altar truly looks the way you have described Alde!", said a girl excitedly as she clinched onto a guy's arm like crazy.

The guy was just the same height as Khal, however, the most eye-catching factor about him was his noble aura around him.

His clothes, his hairstyle, and even his smooth skin which was visibly taken care of carefully were just perfect. It was not a huge surprise that the girl on his side was so clingy with him.

"Eliss, please behave. We are currently inside the Realm Pilla-, oh my!"

The guy named Alde wanted to correct the girl's impolite behavior, when suddenly he noticed Khal, Liza, and Nate standing on the side not far away from him.

However, his sentence didn't halted because of Khal or Nate or because of any other unknown reasons. No, it was because he noticed Liza.

The moment he saw her figure behind Khal's back, he didn't hesitate even a bit and with steady, he walked toward her.

After arriving before her, the guy named Alde bowed down gracefully and put his hand out.

"Young Lady, my name is Alde Ourvi from the Ourvi Family. Can I know the name of the gracious?"

Liza saw Alde's sudden noble behavior and didn't know how to react, so as a result, she scarcely looked at Khal in front of her, looking for his help.

Seeing her pleading look, Khal could just smile slightly and after stepping forward, he put his hand out for a shake.

"Hello. My name is Khal Nev-."

"I don't remember asking your name commoner, or am I wrong?", said Alde with an ice-cold expression, cutting into the middle of Khal's sentence.

"!"

On the side, Nate and Liza looked shocked by what they just heard from Alde and wanted to step forward, but suddenly Khal stopped them.

For some reason, he didn't look fazed at all by the intimidating look from Alde, and just simply smiled at him.

"I don't really need your permis-."

However yet again, Khal couldn't finish his sentence, but this time it wasn't because Alde has cut into his sentence, but because a fist flew toward his face like a flash.

Eliss on the side seeing as Alde attacked Khal like that, sighed and with a slight frown, she just shook her head.

"Agh... Now he has done i-, huh?"

However, merely before she could have finished her sentence, a shocking sight happened.

Just before Alde's fist could have hit Khal right in the face, suddenly Khal stepped slightly to the side and with a smooth move, he grabbed Alde's arm and shoulder with both hands.

One palm on the top of the wrist, while the other one below the shoulder. It was a tight and stable grip.

"!"

Alde saw as this happened and wanted to do something, but unfortunately, it was too late.

Like swinging an ax from over the shoulder, Khal swung Alde's body through the air, and with a powerful move, he slammed Alde right into the ground.

*Bam!*

"Argh!!"

"A-Alde?! Are you alright?"

Surprised by the sudden changes that happened, Eliss instantly run next to Alde, while Liza and Nate looked at Alde's lying body on the ground with shock.

"This body is not as weak at all as I have thought it would be. I swung him over quite easily.", thought Khal with surprise as he made a few circles in the air with his arms.

As he thought about this, Khal glanced at Alde's figure on the ground and thought, "I'm quite lucky I learned some basic self-defense. If not, I would have been hit in the face quite easily."

Thinking about this, Khal walked next to Liza and without giving a second glance at Alde, he said, "Let's go."

"S-sure.", said Liza as she came back to her senses, however just as she was about to step forward, Alde's voice sounded from behind.

"H-hey! What was your name again?"

Knowing that Alde was talking to him, Khal stopped moving and turned around. Looking at Alde's darkened expression, Khal raised his eyebrow slightly and asked coldly, "Will you give me permission to talk now or not?"

Hearing this, Alde could just look to the side in silence, knowing he had no right to talk at all right now.

Khal saw his expression and sighed, but after turning back, he waved his hand and said, "It's Khal Nevio. I was pleased to meet you."

After saying that, Khal didn't say anything else and walked away with Liza and Nate on his side, leaving Alde and Eliss behind on the ground.

As Alde watched Khal's departing figure from the floor, he clenched his teeth, and murmured with anger, "So it's Khal Nevio... I see... You will regret what you have done today, I promise!"

While walking to the other side of the Realm Pillar in silence, Nate looked back at Alde's figure and said quietly.

"You are nuts. Do you have any idea just what you have done? That was the Ourvi Family's leader's first son! They are one of the tyrants in the northern part of the Federation! And you just causally threw him over and slammed him right into the ground! I fear there will be huge and dire consequences because of that."

Khal however just simply glanced at Nate and with a shrug, said, "Maybe that was truly a mistake, but I won't let myself getting humiliated once again. I lived just enough to get tired of that, you can believe me."

Both Nate and Liza became stunned by Khal's reply, and looked at each other in silence.

Especially Liza. Because she was the one who knew him the best, she exactly understood just what kind of personality Khal had. 

However, after watching the way he acted in the past few minutes, she kind of felt like she totally misknew him. It was a total surprise for her.

Looking at Khal's confident expression, Nate suddenly smiled too and with a chuckle, he said, "Haha! Such confidence... You are truly interesting! It was really the right call to talk with you."

Khal heard Nate's sentence and could do nothing but just simply shrug.

What could have he done? Let Alde hit him and show his superiority before hundreds of people? Maybe he chose the wrong decision and fought back, but he won't regret it.

He already promised himself, that no matter what happens in this world, he won't be the same as he was in his past life.

And just like that, after finding a quiet spot far away from Alde and Eliss, Khal sat down and waited patiently for the Ceremony to start.