Cultivation Through Artifacts

Tremble!!!

The entire floor shook with great tremor once the World Devourer's body collapsed, creating deep and wide cracks all over the place in a flash.

[Lifeforce has been successfully stolen. Your lifespan has increased by 231 years!]

Khal hearing this felt joy rush through his body and quickly jumped atop the beast's dead body. Though, the very moment his feet touched the hard skin, his face suddenly paled and stiffened before his body weakened and dropped onto his knee.

"Bleargh!" 

[Your Body Essence has dropped below 5%!]

"Cough... Cough... That was a close one..." Khal mumbled quietly while he wiped the blood away from the corner of his mouth.

It seemed that using his Secret Art's most powerful form which require a huge amount of his Essence while also utilizing several techniques and abilities at the same time pushed him to his very limit.

'Even though I have become much stronger, against such a creature I could barely keep up.' Khal sighed inwardly as he knew that he must become much stronger or else he will quickly find himself dead.

Luckily, creatures that reached the Tenth Stage in the First Realm were few, so at least that made him feel at ease.

"Y-Young Master! Let me help you heal quickly!" Deva, who already jumped atop the beast's corpse ran directly next to Khal and placed her palms atop his back.

'So her Talent can heal others too? Interesting...' Khal thought to himself as he watched Deva use her purple flames to heal his body.

Time passed quickly and after several hours later Deva pulled her hand away and stepped back.

"We are done for now, but although I have healed the major injuries inside your body, including the splits around your Essence Paths, the Young Master should rest for a while more," Deva said as she watched Khal stand up with admiration in her eyes.

"Damn... I still can't believe this beast had been killed by the Young Master. It's just simply unbelievable!" Baylie exclaimed with shock, his eyes gazing at the bottom below.

Now that almost all the water had been evaporated thanks to Khal's and Deva's fire, the bottom was finally visible, but it was still engulfed in darkness showing just how humongous the beast really was that Khal just slew.

"Let's rest a bit more before and once all of us have replenished our energy we will descend onto the next floor."

Hearing what Khal said, the two next to him nodded and sat down.

However, Khal remained standing and looked down at his feet or to be more precise onto the corpse he was standing on.

'So it's actually true. Beasts on the legendary Tenth Stage really do not turn into Essence until I find its Beast Core and consume it.' thought Khal and pondered where the core could possibly be.

The creature's body was way too large for him to search the entire corpse, thus he was thinking where the Beast Core could hide.

[It's inside its fang.]

Suddenly, Nova's voice resounded in his head, making Khal surprised but at the same time happy.

'How did you know that it's there?'

[I can sense its presence. I will show you where it is.]

Khal felt even happier and without hesitation walked to the edge of the beast's nose where he began to climb down into the beast's mouth using the beast's scales as his help.

Seeing that Khal descended into the corpse's mouth, both Deva and Baylie looked at each other in confusion before they walked over to get a better view of what he was trying to do.

"Young Master, what are you doing?" Deva couldn't help but ask loudly as she watched Khal reach the lower jaw and climb into the beast's mouth.

"I am just looking for something. You guys don't have to worry about me, I will be fine," replied Khal and vanished into the creature's mouth the next second.

Once inside the huge mouth that was insanely huge, filled with thousands of razor-sharp fangs as big as houses, Khal walked before one specific fang and placed his hand onto its surface.

BOOOM!

Using his Secret art, Khal made the fang explode into bits and watched as a white orb the size of a human fell from the sky and crashed before his feet a few seconds later.

"T-this is a Beast Core? Isn't this a little bit... Too big?" Khal asked himself, touching the orb's smooth surface with his hand.

Compared to the previous two he has consumed before this was ridiculously huge, making him question how he will be able to absorb it. 

"Well... Let's give it a try."

Khal quickly sat down into his lotus position and closed his eyes while he placed his palm atop the orb. Once he was ready, he used his Essence and imagined as the orb began to melt into his body, becoming one with his body.

And to his great shock, it worked!

The orb began to decrease in size, while the white mist it released began to melt into Khal's body bit by bit, filling his entire being up with an insane amount of energy!

Even his Body Essence got replenished by it, which made him particularly delighted.

Time passed slowly, and half an hour later the orb became half of its original size while its circular shape formed into that of the World Devourer.

After another half an hour later, the solid World Devourer was consumed by Khal too, and soon a great power exploded forth from his body while Nova's voice resounded inside his head.

[Do you wish to transform the Beast Core into Power Core?]

"Yes," Khal replied without hesitation.

[Then I will strengthen your Power Core Holder right away.]

In an instant, Khal felt as a huge portion of his restored Body Essence was sucked away, while an extra empty slot on his bracelet formed.

[Starting Forming Process!]

Swish!

In a blink of an eye, the power that Khal just consumed began to move toward the bracelet and form a white pebble inside the empty slot, creating his new Power Core.

[Fusion and Forming Process completed!]

[Hidden potentials have been unlocked!]

['Tenth Stage: Serpent Scale' had been successfully transformed into 'Tenth Stage: World Devourer Physique'!]

"World Devourer Physique?" Khal frowned slightly in confusion and without hesitation activated his newfound ability.

BAM!

"Huh?" Khal watched with shock as his body became longer and bigger with each passing second while his appearance changed into the image of the World Devourer he killed!

Within a span of a few seconds, Khal's entire being, including his presence and appearance, became the miniature version of the World Devourer!

"This.... A Transfiguration ability?" Khal felt pleasantly surprised as he watched his tail several hundred meters away in the distance move to his command.