Cultivation Through Artifacts

Blinding colorful light filled the entireness of the stall, making Nate, Khal, and the onlookers close their eyes instantly. 

Everybody was stunned by this sudden change of events and there were even a few who accidentally fell over because of the surprise. Except for Bazz, he looked right into the light with enlarged eyes ignoring the fact he could easily lose his vision.

“This… Haha… He truly did it! And what’s more, the Star Steel he tempered had five Soul Thread in it! FIVE!” Bazz felt like he was on cloud nine as he watched the light dissipate from before him, revealing a completely new chunk of metal on the anvil.

Tempering Soul Threads and making them connecting was extremely hard; not only did it needed insane concentration and years of blood-given experience, but it required extreme precision too. When one succeeded in reaching the final step of the Soul Thread Tempering process and needed to connect the Soul Threads, they had to pinpoint the exact location where two Soul Threads were located and hit that spot with such accuracy that even a millimeter difference could cause the whole process to end up in failure.

That is why, the more Soul Threads were in one material the harder it was to connect the Soul Threads. Connecting 2 was considered easy, 3 and 4 were hard, but as to 5… That was an extremely challenging feat that even Bazz would fail for the first few times!

However, if one somehow accomplished to connect all 5 Soul Threads in the piece of metal they forged, the end result will be just as greater!

And that was exactly what happened with the Star Steel that Khal tempered! The changes that transpired with it were like heaven and earth! It look almost like a completely new material!

The previous Star Steel had a width of a human adult chest while its length reached a foot, but this time it shrunk to half of its actual size! But the most obvious change wasn’t its size but its appearance instead; the original Star Steel had a silvery shade with colorful dots all over its surface akin to small stars on the night sky. However, right now, the Star Steel not only had those ‘stars’ on it but even colorful clouds formed on its texture that moved and rotated ever slowly.

From a boundless starry sky, it changed into a complete and infinite galaxy!

“Woah… So pretty!”

“Just what is that chunk of metal? It’s almost like a whole universe…”

“I don’t know, but I’m sure it can be sold at a good price! Just look at its exterior! It’s moving! A piece of steel’s surface is rotating like a galaxy!”

People whispered among each other with awe and curiosity, but Bazz simply ignored them and walked next to Khal. Placing his huge palm onto his small shoulder, Bazz grinned and said, “Kid… Ya did something I wouldn’t have believed ya would! Haha! Ya not only refined a high-quality material such as the Star Steel, but even tempered its Soul Threads and pulled its Soul Essence out! And what’s more, ya connected five Soul Threads! Haha! That is no small feat at such a young age! What is ya name again?”

Khal who stood still all this time mesmerized by the piece he made, felt the touch on his shoulder so tilted his gaze at Bazz, “Umm… It’s Khal… Khal Nevio.”

“I see, I see… So it’s Khal Nevio! Haha!” laughed loudly Bazz as he patted Khal on the shoulder quite hardly, “So Khal, I have a question I want ya to answer. Do ya want to become my student?”

“!?”

Nate and everyone else on the side hearing this turned silent while all of their eyes widened in shock. 

The difference between being a disciple of one of Moon Academy’s teachers and getting the opportunity to be a student of someone in the Job Department was as vast and wide as the ocean between two continents. One was a must if you wanted to remain in Moon Academy and get stronger while the other one was not. In fact, the latter one was so much not a thing in Moon Academy that it could be said non-existent!

However if one got the chance, the offer from an expert from a certain Job then it was similar to winning the lottery itself! Until this very moment, out of the thousands of cultivators in Moon Academy, only 4 students got such an invitation and all 4 of them became experts in their respective professions!

So this, that Bazz himself pursued Khal to be his student was a Godsend a gift from the gods above! Refusing such an offer could be considered a fools choice and one will definitely regret not accepting it!

And naturally, Khal knew this too. He understood the benefits that came if he accepts such an offer and would gladly do it but even before he could have open his mouth to answer, suddenly a voice appeared inside his head.

[Notify! ‘Soul Essence’ successfully created!]

[Forming ‘Power Core’!]

[Warning! Forming ‘Power Core’ is improbable!]

[Please place a ‘Core’ into the ‘Galaxy Steel’ first!]

“…”

“The… What?”

***

At the bottom of an eternal mountain which peak vanished in the creamy white clouds above, suddenly white light started to form slowly, splitting the space into two. As the crack widened more and more with each passing second, suddenly a figure emerged through the space crack, revealing a young man with an elegant face holding two items in his hand.

It was no other than Khal, who decided to come back to Blade Mountain right after telling Bazz he accepted his offer. And who would have thought that Bazz would be so happy that not only did he let Khal keep the Galaxy Steel as a reward but even let him chose a gift from the things he promised!

However, Khal couldn’t be happy with Bazz’s kindness, because at that moment the voice inside his head was always repeating itself inside his head from time to time.

[Warning! Forming ‘Power Core’ is improbable!]

[Please insert a ‘Core’ into the ‘Galaxy Steel’ first!]

That was why he decided to come back to Blade Mountain instantly after getting his reward; he wanted silence and time to figure out what these words meant.

Khal walked inside the cave and after placing the Galaxy Steel he made and a small iron flute he chose as his reward down to the ground, he sat down and leaned against the rigid wall on the side.

[Warning! Forming ‘Power Core’ is improbable!]

[Please insert a ‘Core’ into the ‘Galaxy Steel’ first!]

“Insert a Core? What kind of Core? What is a Core in the first place?” pondered Khal as he picked up the Galaxy Steel from his side and inspected it.

He knew that Power Cores were those small and shiny pebbles embed inside the Artifacts, but he didn’t have a single clue if they were special in some ways or they were just simple jewelry stones.

As he reached that point of thought, Khal’s gaze tilted at the flute on his side and grabbed it. Raising it before his eyes, Khal examined the silver flute; it was almost a foot long with six holes on its top, while at the very end of it, a small pebble with a purple shade was placed.

As Khal watched that pebble with an indifferent expression, he activated his bracelet’s Detection ability and decided to use it manually.

[Notify! No ‘Power Core’ had been detected in close proximity!]