Cultivation Through Artifacts

Elder Elex stared at everyone one by one with a strict complexion before shifting his gaze at Lyron's lying figure on the ground.

"I see, so that is what happened." Elder Elex nodded as he put the pieces together in his head.

Walking next to Lyron, he took out a piece of small red paper from his spatial ring before placing it atop Lyron's head, causing it to melt away and form a red symbol in the middle of his forehead.

"You will come with me, but before that...." Elder Elex glanced back at Jas and asked in a now much calmer tone of voice, "Can you explain to me how did all of this happen?"

Jas nodded and quickly proceeded to explain everything that occurred to Elder Elex, not daring to miss out on a single detail or part.

Once he reached the end of his story, Jas remained silent with a nonchalant look. However, this couldn't be told about Elder Elex as his eyes at the moment were wide open as though he just heard something impossible to believe.

And after a while, he glanced at Khal on the side and said, "Show me the iron."

'...'

Khal however didn't move and stood motionlessly as though he just didn't hear what Elder Elex just said.

This surprised many, and thought this disrespectful behavior of his will anger Elder Elex, but surprisingly it didn't. Instead, it made him sigh and wave his hand calmly.

"Don't worry, I won't take it away from you. I just simply want to take a look at it."

However, even after that, Khal remained in one place, his face void of any emotions. It seemed like he wasn't affected by Elder Elex presence at all which was startling.

But in truth, the reason why he was acting like this was not that he wished to be disrespectful or tried to act arrogant, but because he couldn't show the God Iron to Elder Elex. Since he used the God Iron to create his Power Core, meaning he diminished its God Essence, turning it into an ordinary piece of iron, he couldn't show it to him.

Furthermore, the iron cube which previously was the legendary God Iron was destroyed by one of the cultivators that tried to obtain it, thus it was simply impossible for him to do what Elder Elex wished for.

Staring at Khal in silence for several seconds, Elder Elex sighed and shook his head helplessly, "So that's how it is... What a pity."

After saying that, he didn't care about the matter any longer and after exchanging a few more words with Jas and the others he grabbed Lyron and vanished from his spot.

"You don't have the God Iron, do you?" Logan asked immediately after Elder Elex vanished, surprising everyone else, including Jas around him in a flash.

And their shock and confusion only grew bigger when Khal nodded calmly, revealing that Logan's question was right. 

"What? Then where is it? Did someone take it away from you? If yes, then let's go after him, I will help you get the God Iron back no matter what!" said Bazz and Chief Rou from the side, ready to run at any given moment.

Khal looked at the two and everyone else who waited for him to talk in silence, seemingly in a deep dilemma about what he should say. He couldn't just say he used the God Essence from the God Iron to create a Power Core, right?

Logan instantly realized Khal's problem thus glanced at the rest and said, "There is no need to worry, no one stole the God Iron."

"Then where is it? I can't feel that rich and dense aura around him like the moment he held the God Iron previously." Connor said, causing the rest to nod in agreement and look at Logan with suspicion.

Logan, however, just smiled and said, "It's because Khal consumed its Essence, turning it into his own power."

"What!?" both Bazz and Chief Rou cried out with shock, hardly believing what Logan just said.

A few even laughed at what they just heard, but Logan simply glanced at Khal and said calmly, "Show them your cultivation base."

Khal first looked surprised because of what Logan just said, but as he thought about it a bit more, he seemed to realize what he was thinking thus quickly nodded and activated his Heaven's Eyes.

"S-Seventh Cultivation Stage? But how? Wasn't he only at the bottom of Sixth Cultivation Stage during his fight with Logan?" Connor expressed his and everyone else's shock aloud. They just couldn't believe to their eyes.

"Yes, he was." Logan nodded and proceeded to continue speaking, "However, after he consumed the God Iron's Essence his cultivation base underwent huge growth as you can see. Now he is at the Seventh Cultivation Stage!"

When he said those words, everyone remained silent, their faces holding deep and utter disbelief that Khal just consumed a God Iron's Essence to increase his cultivation base by one.

Especially Bazz and Chief Rou. In their eyes, what Khal just did was unacceptable and foolish as who in their right mind would choose to consume such a priceless treasure's Essence, instead of turning it into a heaven-defying weapon or armor?

No one!

Thus, they couldn't help but feel the urge to go and slap Khal near close to his death, but as Jas and the rest were present, they resisted this urge with a great deal.

Once everyone calmed down and now finally believed that Khal has indeed consumed the God Iron's Essence, everyone glanced around the chaotic surroundings with complicated expressions.

Jas seemed to know what they were thinking thus glanced at Connor on his side and asked, "Any casualties?"

"Luckily there were none, but there are more than a handful of wounded that are still waiting for treatment," Connor explained the situation to Jas.

"I see, that is good to hear. Make sure they are treated well." Jas nodded before glancing at Khal and sighing, "As for you... Maybe you didn't mean to cause this chaos on purpose, it would still be unfair if you didn't get punished. Also, the amount of damage you have caused is more than I can overlook without a word. I hope you can understand this."

Khal heard this and swallowed hard, but as he knew Jas was right he could only sigh and nod, willingly accepting the punishment that will fall on him soon.