Cultivation Through Artifacts

*Gulp!*

With one single sip, the whole amount of drink slipped down Khal’s throat, making him feel a kind of refreshing feeling to pass throughout his whole body in an instant.

“What a great feeling!”, thought Khal with a satisfied smile etched on his face as he waited for the so-called Cultivation Tattoo to appear somewhere on his body.

However…

1 second, 2 seconds, 10 seconds…

Even after 10 seconds, Khal didn’t feel anything change on him at all.

With a deep frown, Khal opened his eyes slowly, only to see that no difference could be noticed neither on his body nor inside it.

No light, no Cultivation Tattoo, and not even a sign that he obtained his Cultivation Talent. Except for the refreshing feeling inside his body because of the liquid, he felt no changes at all.

“Huh? Did I make a mistake?”, asked himself Khal with a frown and looked up at Famir, just only to see his shocked expression.

“What? Did something happen with my body?”, asked quietly Khal and looked at his body here and there, but still, he didn’t notice a single change at all.

While he did that, suddenly from the outside, Alde’s disdainful voice sounded.

“Pff… No wonder at all. A miserable bastard without a Talent. Trash that will remain as one for the rest of his life.”

“Take that back in this instant!”

“!”

Hearing Liza’s angry yet cold voice from the side, Alde’s body flinched and froze up in an instant.

Turning his gaze toward her direction, he wanted to say something, however just as he was about to do so, suddenly Famir’s angry voice sounded in the whole Realm Pillar.

“EACH OF YOU, QUIET! NOW!”

The moment the furious voice sounded throughout the hall, every person inside the Realm Pillar stopped moving and talking immediately.

Seeing that everyone finally stayed quiet, Famir turned his glare back at Khal and crossed his arms before his chest.

“What is your name?”

“Umm… It’s Khal Nevio, Sir!”, said Khal with a confused expression, not quite understanding what was currently happening.

“So it’s Khal, I see…”, murmured Famir quietly and after a while, he cleared his throat and continued, “I’m sorry, Khal, but it seems you are Cultivation Talentless, meaning you are unable to obtain a Cultivation Talent.”

“Huh?”

The moment Khal heard this, it was like something inside him was destroyed.

He could clearly remember reading it in the diary that in this world every person is able to obtain their Talent until they drank the fluid given by the Saint.

There was no one alive who drank the liquid and failed to obtain one, or at least that was how it was until currently.

After a small while, he looked at Famir, and with a serious expression, he said, “Sir… There must be a huge misunderstanding here. There must b-.”

“Look, kid. I know how you are feeling right now, but there is no misunderstanding. That liquid you just drank has 100% success to bring out the Cultivation Talent from those who have. However, there is that extremely rare possibility when people without Talent appear. It’s not because there was an error in the fluid or the process, but because the individual’s body doesn’t have what it takes to obtain a Cultivation Talent.”

After blowing out a deep sigh, Famir looked at Khal and continued, “There were similar cases in the past like this, but the number of occasions could easily be counted on one’s hand. But if you don’t believe me, here. Drink one more time.”

As Famir said this, he threw another bottle full of that strange liquid at Khal.

Catching the bottle, Khal looked at the bottle and after thinking for a while he thought angrily, “I don’t believe that I can’t obtain a talent!”

Instantly as he said this, he opened the lid and gulped down the liquid with one huge swallow.

*Gulp!*

Just like before, the refreshing feeling swept through his whole body, however, just like before, after waiting for several seconds nothing happened.

“This… How…”, murmured Khal with disbelief dropping the bottle in his hand to the ground.

*Thud!*

Watching Khal’s hollowed expression, Famir sighed and said, “I’m sorry kid, I do. This is why I hope you wi…”

However, Khal didn’t hear what Famir said, because in the middle of the sentence the voice around his surrounding slowly started to turn quieter and quieter until the point, where there could be heard nothing more but sheer silence.

“This… This can’t be true…”

Before Khal, everything that happened with him until this moment started to reappear one by one.

From his past life where he was only used as a tool by everyone, through his girlfriend’s death that he couldn’t hinder to the point where he was unable to obtain his Cultivation Talent.

Among the past moments that appeared in his head, there was not a single one that could be called positive or happy.

Even those memories that he enjoyed to the utmost in his past life, which was with her girlfriend, Nancy, were taken away from him and turned into a complete nightmare.

All of this resulted in him being transmigrated into this world, where he thought he could start a fresh new life without those shackles that he had in his past.

However, this was only a false fantasy. Not only did he got a body that was in a much worse situation than he was in the past, but it also turned out that he couldn’t cultivate at all.

In a world where cultivation was everything and meant survival, Khal’s situation meant only one thing.

Death.

He failed extremely at the very first step to start his new life and as a result, he fell right back being a sore loser, just as he was in his previous life.

This was a total nightmare for him.

“No, this is not right. I promised myself that I will become stronger, no matter what! This is not the right time to lose all hope! There must be a solution for sure!”

With that thought, Khal’s hollow expression turned to that of a determined one instantly and after standing up he bowed at the still taking Famir.

“Respected Elder! I appreciated your help. Now that you excuse me, I shall leave.”

With that, Khal turned around and started to walk toward the exit, leaving behind the Altar without saying anything else.

“!”

Famir, Alde, Eliss, Nate, and Liza seeing Khal’s determined yet calm expression didn’t know how to react.

If it was any other person who found out that they were unable to cultivate, then they would have been engulfed with pure despair and misery that was for sure.

There was also the small possibility of them turning crazy and attacking the Saint, just only to let them drink a few more of that liquid, believing if they drank a few more, they would be able to obtain a Talent.

However, Khal didn’t act like that at all. He only looked hollow for a few moments, but after a small, while he acted like nothing happened at all.

Famir watched Khal’s back from the Altar and sighed slightly.

“That kid… His attitude and will are remarkably strong, yet he got such a ridiculous fate. Life is truly unfair.”

However, life went on no matter what, and Famir knew this too. So after watching Khal’s departing figure for a bit more in silence, he clapped his hand and shouted.

“Okay, next one! Now!”