Cultivation Through Artifacts

Time passed by relatively quickly and even before Khal could have realized the entire night went away in a blink.

During that time, Khal was able to hunt quite a lot of Beasts, but because he turned all of their Essence into Body Essence, his units underwent a shocking... growth, if one can even call that like that.

Just under a single night, his mere 1786 units skyrocketed to 15,543 units which were simply... ridiculous! These many units of Body Essence were simply so much that the God Creation Mode which he believed will be extremely had to obtain now could be acquired as easily as taking a deep breath!

And thus, he didn't hesitate at all and unlocked it!

[Ability God Creation Mode successfully acquired!]

Khal immediately opened the upgrading section to see just how many units of Body Essence were needed for it to get improved.

• Upgraded God Creation Mode: Reduced time limit after usage! (8760 hours -> 6570 hours)

[Notify! Can be further strengthened with 7500 Body Essence!]

'...'

Khal smiled bitterly once he noticed the amount of Essence he needed, but what tightened his heart the most was the number of hours he had to wait to use his God Creation Mode once again.

'A year just to forge a metal? It's quite absurd, isn't it?' Khal thought, but soon a voice he was familiar with but at the same time not resounded in his mind, shocking him quite deeply.

[You are pretty naive to think that a Power Core created from a Spirit or Life Essence can be compared to one that was created from God Essence!]

[The differences are as vast as the Realms that exist in this dimension!]

"N-Nova? It's you?" Khal couldn't help but ask out loud, surprised by the strong and firm feminine voice in his head that was completely distinct from the previous Nova from the past!

[Of course, it is me! Just who else would be talking in your head if not me?] 

'...'

Khal stayed silent for quite a while, not knowing what to say. 

Just about a day ago, Nova was like a monotone voice with almost no emotion in her tone, yet now, she talked to him like a fully grown adult or at least a young adult for sure!

'Well, judging by the amount of Body Essence I gave her in the past few days, she indeed has evolved quite a lot.' Khal thought to himself calmly.

[Yes, I have evolved further thanks to you, but I am still far away from regaining my real self, so hurry up and feed me with more Essence!]

'Eh? Regaining your real self? What do you mean by that?' Khal halted in his steps when he heard what Nova just said and furrowed his brows in puzzlement.

[What do you think the word 'regaining' means? It is exactly what it means!]

'You were once a living being?' Khal asked Nova, feeling stupefied.

[Living Being? Your choice of words is pretty inadequate and rather bold to say, Khal.]

'In what way?'

[In a way where you should never call a God as a mortal if you still want to continue to live! We are all Celestial Existences, way above the definition of living beings!]

'But you still breathed, moved, and lived a life like any other 'living being', right? So you should be considered as a living being!' said Khal, which only resulted in a cold snort from Nova that was also the first for Khal to hear.

[Living beings are indeed individuals that can breathe, move, and live like any other. However, that isn't the case for us Celestial Existences as we can remain alive without filling our lungs with air, move with our bodies crippled, and live as long as no one else could!]

'So basically you are Immortals?' Khal asked.

[You can say that, yes. Though, even that would be an underestimation to say, but whatever...]

'I see... ' said Khal after pondering for a while and decided to ask, "Then if you are a Celestial Existence, how did you get like... this?"

[For that answer, I don't know the answer yet, as a huge portion of my memories is still sealed away.]

'Then what can you remember? I mean, what will you do once you regain your real self?' Khal asked Nova as this question mattered a lot right now.

As a matter of fact, now that things have changed so drastically and came to this, Khal started to feel an indescribable feeling in his heart he has never felt before. Who was Nova in the past and how did she become a part of the bracelet? What is her origin and what are her real intentions? Or more importantly, what will happen once she regains her real self? Will he lose all of his hard obtained abilities or can he keep them?

Right now, Khal had so many questions he would like to ask but as Nova's memories were still sealed away, he could do nothing but wait patiently.

[My intentions? I don't really have any except getting back my real body which is somewhere in the Sixth Realm.]

'T-The Sixth Realm?! So you have once lived in the Sixth Realm?' Khal looked stupefied as the highest Realm humans have reached was the Third Realm, yet Nova was in the Sixth Realm! Just what kind of individual was she back in the past? Now Khal's interest really got piqued and couldn't wait to know more.

[Anyways, just make sure you feed me with a lot of Body Essence and you won't regret it, I promise.]

'...' 

Khal turned silent, not sure what to say. In fact, because he found out that Nova was a being that could slay millions of lives by a single flick of her sleeve while not knowing if she was a friend or foe, he felt quite hesitant.

What if Nova just decided to kill him or cause calamity not only on his loved ones but everyone else, including all the races that existed in the Second Realm and above, if he helped her regain her past strength and self? It was an extremely huge gamble he couldn't afford to risk.

[You don't need to fear, I won't kill you nor anyone else from your race as that would be a waste of my time. In truth, if you help me, I will make sure to remember what you have done for me and be in your debt forever!]