Cultivation Through Artifacts

Khal glanced at Bazz in complete silence, trying to figure out why his Master seemed so serious.

“Did I do something wrong? I am pretty sure I did everything perfectly well…” mumbled Khal, even patting the piece of metal on his side with a gentle motion.

However, when Bazz saw this, his mouth twitched slightly but still decided to remain silent as he didn’t want to curse out loud.

‘This brat… Is he not knowing no 17 years old exists on this planet that can do Soul Thread Tempering?! And he did it not once but twice and still pretends he can’t forge metal?! I will think I will go fucking insane!’

Bazz felt the urge to jump and skin Khal alive as he still tried to pretend about his forging skills. This was similar to thinking he was a clown he can fool and the thought of it only made him even angrier! 

This was pure disrespect in its full glory and if it would have been anyone else, he sure would have kicked their asses blue a very long time ago!

“You… Why are you acting like you can’t forge?” asked Bazz, his gaze full of suspicion as his gaze was firmly fixed on Khal.

“Eh?” Khal seemed to realize why Bazz was so silent so far thus smiled and said, “What do you mean pretending? I still can’t forge, I just learned a few tricks while I was inside the capital.”

“What do you mean by that?” asked Bazz, his brows lowering into a deep frown.

Khal however just smiled even more and even patted the Oak Iron on his side while explaining, “I told Master before right? That I learned how to forge Star Steel in the past… Or at least watched how to do it.”

Realizing what Khal meant, Bazz’s eyes widened in surprise, and asked, “Don’t tell me you…”

“Yep,” nodded Khal and grinned, “Streets can truly teach you how to do a few things even if you just watch from the sides.”

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After his complete bullshit lie, Khal was told to come back tomorrow and they will continue forging, but as for the rest of the day, he could do whatever he wanted.

He even asked Bazz if he can take his forged Dark Oak Iron away as he wanted to keep it as a ‘souvenir’ and even though Bazz seemed confused about it, he agreed.

“It seems I have my third Core, but I won’t turn it into a Power Core right away. I’m curious what kind of Talent I will get once I unlock the Spirit Creation Mode and forge this further.” thought Khal merrily as he glanced at his Spatial Ring that held the piece of iron in it.

Walking on the streets to figure out what he should do, Khal was about to go into the Pharmacy Department and buy a few Essence Pills to save time for himself in his cultivation as he now had money to do so, but before he could have had the chance, an unexpected figure appeared before him- Alde.

“How come you are here?” asked Khal, forcing a smile on his face as now he was ‘friends’ with Alde.

Alde appeared to be just as happy as Khal only if his eyes wouldn’t have betrayed his real emotions, but unfortunately, he couldn’t do anything about it.

Instead, he just smiled widely and asked in a friendly manner, “Finally found you! I have searched the entire Academy just to find you! Where have you been?”

“I just came from the Blacksmith Department,” replied Khal as it was no secret that he was a disciple of Bazz.

“I see,” nodded Alde and asked, “So it seems you are free then… I was thinking about doing a Group Mission that needs only 2 people. Do you want to help me? It’s quite an easy one to be honest.”

Alde even took out his Cultivator’s Badge from his pocket, showing Khal the Mission, however, he didn’t notice that as he did, Khal’s gaze suddenly turned slightly cold then turned back normal once again.

It happened so fast, that not even an onlooker would have noticed the changes in his eyes, not if it didn’t know him well.

/Group Mission: Slay 50 Crystal Bats/

• Slayed Crystal Bat: 0/50

~Requirements~

– At least 2 Cultivators on or above the Fourth Cultivation Stage: 1/2+

~Rewards~

– Healing Potion (Each Cultivator Receives 1 piece)

“Crystal Bats? The ones that reside inside Moon Mountain caves around the middle parts?” asked Khal, shifting his gaze from the card onto Alde.

“Yes,” nodded Alde and asked, “So? Do want to join? I know the rewards are not so alluring, but if you decide to join you can have all the Essence we collect.”

‘?’ Khal seemingly confused and even feeling a bit of suspicion frowned and asked, “Then how will you profit out of this? I mean, if you invite me, we should at least share the Essence, right?”

“Oh, come on. If I want I can get thousands of Essence Pills, thus those few are nothing for me. Instead, I want to help you, and also as I have said, I want to form a great friendship with you, hence this is a perfect chance!”

‘…’ Khal watched Alde put his palm on his shoulder while smiled at him widely, making him feel that something smelled extremely suspicious here.

One needed to be a complete retard not to see the signs, but Khal still decided to act like a retard and nod firmly, “Sure, let’s go.”

The grin on Alde’s face grew wide upon hearing this, and nodded, “Perfect, absolutely fantastic! Then let’s get going now, shall we?”

“Yeah, let’s go.” nodded Khal, but inside he was laughing.

‘I don’t know what this idiot is planning to do, but I am more than willing to accept his offer. Maybe I don’t even need to follow my original plan and if I have the chance, I can kill him now.’ thought Khal, but soon threw the idea away as it was a bad one.

If he does decide to kill Alde there, he can easily get under suspicion as he was the one with him before he died, hence, that choice was out of the question.

“It seems I will stay with plan A then.” thought Khal, and without a second thought followed Alde closely toward Moon Mountain.

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While Khal seemed to be going with Alde on a ‘hunt’, in Heaven Academy, an old man was sitting behind a desk, before her a young woman in a white robe and an emotionless face.

Both of them stared at the recording of the Thousand Life Tournament, the part where the young woman was fighting with Khal, and using her finishing move to kill him.

Obviously, the old man was Elder Caz whilst the young lady was Seila, who watched back the recording seemingly the 5th time already.

Once the replay came to an end, Elder Caz leaned back into his chair, his face seemingly forgotten all human emotions.

Right now, he was like an ice sculpture, ice-cold and stiff to the point where any weak-willed individual would be scared into oblivion just by a single glance!

“Any words?” asked Elder Caz after a moment of silence, his gaze still firmly fixed on Seila’s figure.

On the other hand, Seila seemed not angry at all as her complexion was amazingly calm even though she just watched back her failure for the 6th time so far.

“I have nothing to say. I was reckless and arrogant, I deserved to be killed,” said Seila, her voice holding not a bit of arrogance or sarcasm.

If Khal, Raven, or Theon would have been there, they would be shocked speechless for sure how well-behaved she was at the moment.

Elder Caz hearing her answer crossed his arms and gestured toward Seila to continue talking, almost like a teacher would toward a student who was in the middle of o presentation but abruptly stuck.

“I should have concentrated on saving my energy on the end game instead of letting my emotions go wild. Even though that girl was on the Sixth Stage, if I have enough energy and my mind would have been clear, I could have won.”

“Exactly.” nodded Elder Caz finally, and leaned forward, “Can you remember your words after you killed that bird?”

Seila pondered for a while and after a moment of silence later nodded, “Yes, I do.”

“Well, if you ask me, between the two of you, you seemed no different than her. You appeared like some kind of crazed Beast that was cornered and wanted to get out of the tight situation as fast as possible. Both when you have fought with the boy from the Skywave Academy or the one from Moon Academy; both times, you let them get into your head, thus leading yourself into your own demise.”

‘…’

Seila listened to her Master in silence, and could do nothing but nod. In fact, what he just said was true; he let her enemies get inside her head even though she shouldn’t have done that!

No matter what others say or think, this was the harsh truth.

“I regret my actions and I deserve any type of punishment…” said Seila, bowing deeply toward Elder Caz who just hummed and waved his hand.

“There is no need for that. You already learned your lesson, so instead go and cultivate. Reach the Sixth Stage as fast as possible so you can start your real cultivation!”

“Yes, Master!” 

Without anything else, Seila walked out of the room, however, when she closed the door, Elder Caz stood up and waved his hand, causing the scenery around him to change in a wink.

“Hmm… It’s quite a long time since I was in Moon City. I feel kind of nostalgic…” murmured Elder Caz and began to walk slowly toward the gates with his hand behind his back.