Cultivation Through Artifacts

Chapter 66: Diamond Skin

“…”

No matter how Khal tried to think about it he couldn’t feel happiness nor satisfaction by the fact he consumed the Beast Core. Not only did he fail to turn the Beast Core into a powerful Power Core with its unlocked hidden capabilities but he even lost the chance to do turn it into one in the future.

He obtained a new power but without its full potential! The thought alone made Khal feel angry but at the same time powerless too.

“It said I need to unlock the ability of ‘Power Core Holder’ if I want to use or hold more than one Power Core. If I can remember right it was mentioned in my Status how I can get that ability.” as Khal thought about this he raised his hand and opened his Statuses.

Instantly, gentle white light in the form of words materialized around his wrist and started to slowly move around the bracelet.

“Open Obtainer Status!”

{‘Obtainer’ Status}

• Magnetism: Able to obtain ‘Power Cores’, which are out of the ‘Obtainer’s’ radius in exchange for ‘Body’ Essence.

• Detector: An automatic function, able to detect ‘Power Cores’ in the close vicinity. (Can be used manually also and able to detect further ‘Power Cores’.)

• Power Core Holder: (Not yet obtained. Need 1000 ‘Body Essence’ to activate!)

[Notify! Each ability’s effectiveness can be strengthened in exchange for ‘Body Essence’!]

“…”

As Khal read the information in the air he stayed silent for quite a while unknown what to say.

1000 Body Essence? He didn’t know it at first but know he knew; that was simply too much!

As far he could understand it, he was able to transform Beast Essence into Body Essence and it worked backward too. However, the process was complete torture and so far he only obtained 50 Body Essence from a single creature; meaning he needed to kill at least 20 creatures and go through the hell-like torment to reach 1000 Body Essence 20 times!

“20 creatures… The number is huge but not impossible. But still… With so many beasts I would easily surpass the Third Cultivation Stage. Argh…” Khal felt like crying but he could only sigh helplessly in the end.

“Well, if I want to avoid situations like this in the future I need to obtain this ability as soon as possible. Also…” as Khal reached that point he glanced at the pebble in his bracelet and said, “I need the power to hold more than this single one.”

***

Hours passed slowly and the moon was still high up on the starry sky above Moon Mountain, shining its whole peak with its white light.

“I still have a lot of time. If I’m lucky I can kill all 5 Gold Hawks before the sun rises.”

Khal was currently walking toward the west searching for Gold Hawks that he could kill. He chose the west because he was still scared to cross paths with that crimson creature that flew away toward the east, but the biggest reason was because Gold Hawks loved to inhabit the western parts of Moon Mountain more than anything; so finding them there should give him a higher chance for sure.

Khal walked for minutes straight without stopping but made sure to scan his surroundings without lowering his guard. The several accidents that happened with him today taught him a very dire lesson so he won’t do the same mistakes twice.

As he took each step like they decided his life, Khal arrived before a tree that was relatively bigger than the others. Though, he stopped not because he was captivated by it’s size but because of the creature that resided on it’s top among its leaves.

“A Gold Hawk!” Khal instantly lowered his body behind a boulder and glanced at the beast with wary.

The creature looked exactly like the books described. It had a body similar to a hawk with the only difference that its feathers were not brownish but had a shade of gold giving it an elegant color. Even among the dark leaves, the creature looked exceptionally eye-catching.

“Is it sleeping?” frowned Khal narrowly as he watched the beast.

From distance, it seemed as the creature was in a deep slumber, but Khal knew it was only a facade. Moon Mountain was famous because of it’s unique reputation that beasts became active only when the Moon was high up in the sky. There was not a single creature on this Mountain that would sleep during this time so Khal was pretty sure it tried to act like it was napping.

“Should I kill it then? Maybe it didn’t notice me yet so my chance now is higher,” ask Khal wondered if he should use his fan or not to kill it, unexpectedly the creature moved.

*Swish!*

“!”

With a gold flash, the Gold Hawk vanished from sight and appeared at the distance on the ground while a small beast struggled below its claws from time to time.

“A Grass Lizard?!” Khal was surprised because even though Grass Lizards were First Stage Beasts they were able to blend into their surroundings so it was extremely hard to notice them even for higher Stage Beasts. They had the ability to grow tiny grass pieces on their body and use it as a disguise one the ground. Yet, the Gold Hawk not only noticed it but swooped down on the poor creature in a single instant! It was crazy!

“This can be a perfect chance!” grinned Khal and without a second thought, he channeled a tiny portion of his Body Essence into the fan in his hold.

The instant as the fan lit up with a gentle silver light Khal raised it and swung it toward the beast.

*Swish!*

*BAM!*

Khal watched as several tiny Essence projectiles flew and exploded into the Gold Hawk’ body, giving the Grass Lizard the chance to escape from the deadly claws and run away for it’s dear life.

“Yes! I got him!” cheered Khal loudly but the next second his expression froze up like he was suddenly showered with ice filled water.

After he hit the beast he thought he killed it in one shot but it turned out he was wrong. His attack did reach the creature, but he was still unable to kill it; he could only put a deep wound on its skin causing shining gold blood to flow out slowly but nothing more.

“…”

As Khal stood in one place in silence, the Gold Hawk turned its head and shot dagger-like stares at him like he just killed its parents.

“…”

“…”

After the two glanced at each other in silence for quite a while, finally the Gold Hawk moved and with a loud deafening cry flew toward Khal drawing a gold flash in it’s wake.

In a split second, the beast appeared before Khal and swung its claws at him. Watching the nails that could tear even thick trees apart and make low Stage Cultivators tremble with fear, Khal just simply smiled and raised his hand.

“Let’s see what my new ability is capable of.”

And just as he said that…

*Clang!*