Cultivation Through Artifacts

While Jole ran into the room on the side with excitement, Khal decided to look around in the meantime as the interior of the Thousand Ore Cave was by no means small.

There were hundreds of small desks, shelves, and tiny pillars each holding different ores, crystals, and metals with various colors, shapes, and sizes. Furthermore, there were even a few that were contained behind special glasses as the ores either emitted a heavy and unique aura or it was surrounded by an elemental haze that could easily cause damage in the shop if left in the open.

[I have to admit, although the human race is weak and once even I did look down on them, they still have their own ways to collect rarities.]

'You talk about these here?' Khal asked Nova as he stood before a table that was covered in curved glass and contained three pieces of ores.

[Yes. These three are incredibly rare ores that are only could be found in extreme environments.]

'But from the looks of them, they are only Middle-Quality ores.' Khal exclaimed his doubts as he examined the ores and watched how each shone with a sharp silver color.

[Unfortunetly, yes. But they still are rarities for which many merchants would go mad just to hold much less obtain!]

'Is that so?' Khal didn't feel convinced and proceeded to look around with Darla quietly following him from behind.

The two walked and inspected many ores and crystals, but after 5 minutes they had to stop as Jole finally appeared from the room with several boxes in hand; 4 to be exact.

"There... We go!" Jole put the four boxes onto the desk next to each other and showed a small grin, "These are all the Supreme-Quality ores I have. Feel free to check them, but with caution of course. Safety first, haha!"

Khal nodded and without saying a word opened the box on the very left. Once the lid was opened, a small ore with a gentle but shiny brown hue was revealed while a heavy aura escaped from the box, filling the whole shop in mere seconds!

"This one is called Gravity Ore, a very rare and abnormal ore which through the decades was able to consume enough Realm Essence to form its own law around itself," Jole explained calmly.

[Woah, that is a baby right there. It is very likely if you can forge it to perfection you will be able to obtain a power associated with gravity!]

Khal remained silent as he examined the ore before he nodded and after closing the lid he opened the second box next to it.

This time, a crystal with the size of a human fist appeared before his sight. However, in contrast to the Gravity Ore, this one had no color as it was like a mirror, allowing him to see his own reflection on its surface with ease! 

"This one is called Mirror Crystal. However, don't get tricked by its name and appearance, although it looks like a mirror that can be broken with a single slam, this one here is extremely durable. So enduring that not even a peak Ascender Stage existence with its strongest attack would be able to break it!"

"Interesting." was the only thing Khal said and proceeded to open the third then the fourth box.

The third box contained brick-shaped steel with the color of deep crimson which caused the temperature in the whole shop to increase rapidly; according to Jole's explanation it was a Dwarf Star Steel, rare steel only found in planets where the temperature could easily exceed 300 degrees in celsius!

As for the fourth ore, it was the complete opposite of the Dwarf Star Steel. The moment Khal opened the last box's lid, the previously hot temperature that filled the air in the shop plummeted in an instant, dropping way below zero degrees!

Furthermore, the small azure ore in the box emitted white mist which covered the entire floor in the shop, freezing the blood in Khal's legs faster than anywhere else on his body!

"It has quite the powerful freezing power," Khal exclaimed out loud as he felt his body getting enveloped with frost just after a few seconds while he watched that a pleasant smile emerged on Darla's usually indifferent face, seemingly enjoying the coldness.

'Well, she is a Fairy after all.' Khal thought in his heart as he quickly closed the lid, earning a cold stare from Darla as a result.

Of course, he completely ignored her icky gaze and instead touched his chin, pondering which one out of the four he should choose.

'I already have a core associated with fire, so the third box is out of the question. The second Mirror Crystal although seems promising, I feel it is not to my liking so that is out too.' Khal thought to himself as his gaze went back and forth between the first and fourth box.

After thinking for a while, he glanced at Jole and asked, "The Gravity Ore and the Icemist Mithril, how many Contribution Points for each?"

Jole took a quick glance at both boxes and after calculating briefly in his head he replied, "The Gravity Ore is one hundred one thousand CP while the Icemist Mithril is a bit more expensive, one hundred five thousand."

"Th-That much?" Darla's jaws loosened slightly as she was perfectly aware of just how much Golden Coins one needed to spend to gain that many Contribution Points.

"Do you even have that much?" Darla asked, looking at Khal with doubt.

Although she knew that Khal was strong and was surprisingly an Elder, she highly doubted that Khal possessed enough wealth yet to buy any of the Supreme-Quality ores here.

Khal, however, showed an excited smile and asked, "So a little over two hundred thousand, right?"

"Yes." Jole nodded and quickly added, "Though, because you are an elder, I can give you a 10% discount."

"Perfect. Then I will buy both!" Khal said with glee and without hesitation took out his Moon Token, handing it toward Jole casually as if he was handing a piece of paper over to him.

"....Pardon?"