Cultivation Through Artifacts

"..."

The voice inside his head made Khal feel more and more that his belief was right.

What was a Power Core? The very first time Khal saw the pebble inside his bracelet, he thought Power Cores had a mysterious and complicated origin, but with time, he realized he was wrong. Power Core in truth had quite a simple background; they were the cores or with another name the jewelry place inside the Artifacts.

To put it simply, Power Cores were simple pebbles just like this purple stone at the end of the flute; nothing special at all, but just a plain crystal that can be found everywhere in this world.

A jewel.

However, the biggest question here was how did these pebbles, this jewelry get the power in them, obtaining the title of 'Power Cores'? As Khal thought about this question, it finally seems he found the answer.

It turns out, once he forged, refined, and tempered metal to the point where its so-called Soul Essence appeared, he could make this jewelry to consume the Soul Essence from the metal and form a Power Core!

To see if his theory was truly right, Khal grabbed the purple stone from the end of the flute and pulled it out from its place gently.

[Warning! Forming 'Power Core' is improbable!]

[Please insert a 'Core' into the 'Galaxy Steel' first!]

Khal listened to the voice inside his head that appeared exactly every 5 minutes and tilted his gaze at the Galaxy Steel in his hold, "It says to insert the Core into it... But how should I insert it if it's a massive chunk of metal?"

The question was really troubling. Because he hurried away from Bazz, he didn't think about asking for any kinds of tools that would help him cut a hole into this massive piece of junk.

However, who would have thought he didn't need to; the very moment the purple pebble touched the Galaxy Stone's surface his bracelet suddenly lit up with dim white light, and like affected by some kind of strange power, the stone melted deep inside the steel and vanished from his sight.

"What?" Khal was surprised to see this and didn't know what to do. 

[Notify! 'Core' detected!]

[Forming 'Power Core'!]

In a flash, Khal's right hand that held the Galaxy Steel all this time was suddenly sucked onto the metal's surface completely, while the Essence inside his body like obtaining its very own consciousness started to flow through his fingers right into the Galaxy Steel.

"Huh?" Khal watched with widened eyes as this happened and tried to pull his hand away but found out he was incapable; his palm was completely glued onto the Galaxy Steel's side and he could do nothing about it!

"Just what is happening here? Isn't the only thing that was needed to form a Power Core was the Soul Essence? Then why does my Essence flow outside me now?" thought Khal with a perplexed look and activated his Heaven's Eyes. However, except for watching as his Essence flowed away from his body right into the Galaxy Steel, Khal was unable to see anything else; unfortunately, his Heaven's Eyes had no such ability to see through things as he did in his Creation Mode.

"Could it be that not only Soul Essence but even my Body Essence is needed to form a Power Core?" pondered Khal and the more he thought about it the more it seemed and felt reasonable. If the pebble was the vessel and the Soul Essence the power, then what would prevent the power from escaping the vessel?

Naturally, it would be his Body Essence.

While the bracelet used its special power to make the material's Soul Essence seep right into the pebble, his Body Essence would form a thin layer around the Core, creating the so-called Power Core.

Or at least, that was the only explanation Khal could currently think of.

Khal waited in silence and watched as the Galaxy Steel in his hand slowly but surely started to lose its galaxy-like texture altogether with its majestic presence; gradually, it turned back into a piece of metal, a junk.

[Notify! 'Soul Essence' depleted!]

[Notify! Enough 'Body Essence' used!]

[Creation process succeeded!]

Immediately after that voice sounded in his head, Khal felt as the Essence inside his body finally stopped flowing out, while his hand stopped being stuck onto the Galaxy Stone's side.

[Notify! 'Power Core' Stellar Domain created!]

*Clack!*

With a gentle sound, the little pebble fell out onto the ground from the Galaxy Steel making Khal turn delighted quickly, "It worked! I did it!"

Picking up the tiny pebble from the ground, Khal raised it before his eyes and inspected it. Just like before, it had a purple shade akin to a purple crystal, but with a slight difference; this time, gentle purple light was shining from it while a white glint was surrounding it so smoothly that it made the strangely shaped pebble look almost perfectly circular, almost like an orb!

However, Khal's expression didn't remain so happy for too long, because suddenly he realized something that made his complexion turn sour; he realized he couldn't use this Power Core until the very moment he didn't make his Body Essence to raise 1000 units!

"Well... At least I have this and now also know how to make Power Cores! Haha! Oh, right... I have a new status to see too." said Khal and raised his wrist, "Open Statuses!"

As his voice fell, Khal watched as the same process of white light appearing, forming and shaping into words arose around his bracelet and smiled.

<<Personal Status>>

<<Essence Status>>

<<Power Core Status>>

<<Obrainer Status>>

<<Artifact Creation Status>>

Khal watched the moving words around his wrist in silence and glanced at the new Status he obtained not long ago.

<<Artifact Creation Status>>

"Let's see what it holds." grinned Khal and said, "Open Artifact Creation Status!"

*Swish!*

The five Statuses immediately vanished and what emerged before Khal's line of sight was tons of words below each other one by one.

{Artifact Creation}

• Analyzer: An automatic function, able to analyze any material. (Time depends on the material's quality!)

• Creation Mode: A half-automatic function, able to help the 'Owner' forge, refine and temper any kind of material after analysis. (Only usable every 168 hours!) (Remaining time: 167h, 21m, 31s)

• Spirit Creation Mode: (Not yet obtained! Need 2000 'Body Essence' to activate!)

• Life Creation Mode: (Not yet obtained! Need 5000 'Body Essence' to activate!)

• God Creation Mode: (Not yet obtained! Need 10000 'Body Essence' to activate!)

[Notify! You can use 'Body Essence' in exchange to improve some of the abilities proficiency!]

"..."

Khal read the rows of sentences in the air one after another, but he was unable to utter a single sound even after he finished reading. He quite simply understood the first two abilities, the Analyzer and the Creation Mode with its time limit, but the following 3... What the actual fuck was that? Spirit? Life? GOD? What the hell could all of those mean?!

And what was even worse was the amount of Body Essence he needed to unlock them! Let alone the fact that the Spirit Creation Mode required 2000 Body Essence even though right now he only had 150, but the God Creation Mode asked for 10000!!! 

Ten. Thousand. Body. Essence!!

That was almost 100% more than he currently had!

Khal could only sigh and hold his forehead in pain, "Well... I can only increase my Body Essence through Beast Essence and also need to make my current Power Core stronger... So if I do it right... Then..." Khal started to calculate, "Then... I don't know how long it will take me...", sighed Khal helplessly, lowering his hand weakly.

Just the fact alone that he didn't know what will happen once he unlocks an ability made Khal feel powerless. If he didn't need to restart after he unlocks one ability, then he only needed 10000 Body Essence, but if he does need to restart every single time he unlocks a new power, then that meant he needed to collect 18000 Body Essence in total; almost twice as much!

"Well... Let's be optimistic! At least I will be able to become stronger. Especially if I successfully unlock all of these abilities." thought Khal, making his mood to rise instantly.

"And talking about getting stronger," said Khal as he sat into a lotus position, "Let's start consuming the Essence Particles in this place! I am almost here a week and only used this place once! Such a waste!"

"..."

[Notify! 'Power Core' Heaven's Eyes has consumed 1 Essence!]

***

An entire day has passed, and Khal was still sitting in his lotus position in one place, while his eyes were tightly shut.

[Notify! 'Power Core' Heaven's Eyes has consumed 1 Essence!]

As the voice sounded in his head, Khal slowly opened his eyes, revealing his clear sky blue eyes with the domination crimson red slit in their middle, and stood up.

"Mgh... I feel refreshed once again!" thought Khal as he stretched his limbs and deactivated his Heaven's Eyes.

"My luck was not so bad. I was able to consume 43 Essence under a single day, pushing the amount of Essence I have consumed from 33 to 76! If I have the same amount of luck then one more day and I will be able to break into the Third Cultivation Stage with ease!" said Khal with a wide and pleasant grin on his face, but suddenly something started to vibrate in his pocket.

"Huh?" putting his hand into his right pocket and pulling the V.I.P key out from there, Khal glanced at it and knitted his brows tightly.

"What the hell is this?"