Cultivation Through Artifacts

[Notify! High-quality material detected!]

[Notify! Scanning high-quality material!]

Khal watched as the power inside his body slowly began to swirl and sweep through his fingers into the piece of steel before flowing back into his body.

[New material, 'Oak Iron' recorded!]

Swish!

Right as the voice appeared inside his head, Khal watched as several holograms arose in different places of the smithery, but a bit differently than the first time.

"Hm? I need to cut it?" wondered Khal as the closest hologram to him was before a table, where several huge blades could be seen, the hologram using one to cut the Oak Iron into two.

"Well, let's do as it wants me to do it," exclaimed Khal inwardly and picked up the Oak Iron, "Ugh... It's kinda heavy..."

Meanwhile, Bazz on the side watched Khal carry the metal toward the side, his eyes flashing with profound light.

"Not bad, he realized the iron is too big to forge so he decides to cut it in half."

However, how surprised he would be if he finds out that Khal didn't realize this at all, but was the help of his system; his face would be phenomenal!

"I should use this?" asked Khal as he picked up a blade from the wall that looked more like a chainsaw than an iron cutter.

Shrugging as the hologram was the one indicating him using this, Khal put above the metal, exactly onto the position where the hologram did and pushed it.

Though, no matter how hard he tried, the blade didn't cut the iron, not even scratching it.

"How does this work?" asked Khal, but when he poured a bit of his Essence inside the tool a shocking sight happened.

BAM!

"!?"

As he continued to push the blade onto the metal, the moment he poured his Essence into the blade, the spikes on it began to move exactly the same way as a chainsaw would, even giving out a sharp 'zziii' sound.

The whole process happened too fast for Khal to stop his pushing motion in time and as a result, the Oak Iron together with the table below it was cut in half as easily as a hot knife would slice tofu in two!

'...' slowly turning around to glance at Bazz, Khal smiled wryly but upon seeing Bazz's ice-cold gaze on him, he stiffened up and decided to pick up one half of the Oak Iron and bring it to the fireplace.

Arriving before the fireplace with quick strides, Khal placed the piece of metal in exactly the 75-degree position as the hologram and walked behind the bellows.

"Oh?" Bazz seemed surprised that Khal once again succeeded to put the metal into the fireplace perfectly, thus began to scan Khal's every move with caution.

Shhh!

Shhh!

Shhh!

Letting the power inside his body to use the pedals that controlled the bellows with his feet, Khal pretended to look serious but inside he felt bored.

"This Creation Mode is too great. It's like sitting in a car that was on autopilot, the feeling is simply amazing!" Khal wanted to smile, but because he felt Bazz watching him he didn't.

Shh!

After half an hour of silence heating, suddenly Khal watched as his body moved, picked up the scissor-like object with the hooked end from the side, and pulled out the iron from the fireplace that shone with a yellowish-white hue.

"Perfect timing," exclaimed Bazz inside, feeling kind of surprised how precise Khal worked so far.

Picking up the hammer from the side he was so used to, Khal subconsciously tightened his grip around the handle once he raised it above his head and swung it powerfully.

CLANG!

A sound akin to a sharp but melodic pitch celebrated throughout the smithery, making Bazz's face change slightly.

"Perfect use of strength, perfect striking force, and perfect spot! He did his first strike perfectly!" screamed Bazz inwardly, his previous suspicion about Khal that was about to vanish slowly emerging onto the surface once again.

"He is definitely a genius, but why can't he forge other irons like this too? Is he just pretending not to?"

Clang!

Khal's hand moved with lightning speed, each of his strikes hitting the perfect spot on the metal, shrinking its size with every piece of his assault.

The Oak Iron gradually became smaller and smaller, and once it was no bigger than a two feet wide piece of metal, Khal watched as several Soul Threads began to appear in his line of sight, exactly 4 in number!

Together with the four Soul Threads, Khal watched as several red dots formed on the Oak Iron's surface, making him know it was time for him to do Soul Thread Refining!

CLANG!

A higher pitch that was shaper and was way more deafening than the previous one broke out the moment Khal's hammer hit the iron, turning Bazz's complexion even more serious than before.

"Soul Thread Refining? Don't tell me he tries to do what he did previously again? He couldn't even forge a piece of rod normally so how?"

CLANG!

Khal's hand moved without stopping, and under a mere 5 minutes, he hit about 300+ spots on the Oak Iron with ease.

Whenever the pain appeared in his hand, Khal felt as the familiar warm sensation from the first time appeared and washed the sour feeling away from his arm, helping in his forging process a ton.

[Notify! 'Soul Essence' detected!]

[Final strikes for success: 4]

Soon, a waited notification appeared inside his head, making Khal tighten his grip even more and strike the first place where one of the four red dots remained.

BAM!

Though, when his hammer slammed into the spot, what appeared was not the previous sharp noise, but a sound as though someone slammed their first into a huge and thick tree, hoping to break it by a single punch!!

'Soul Thread Tempering!' exclaimed Bazz inwardly, his face stiffening up from the shock.

He couldn't believe that a boy that couldn't even forge a simple iron nod now once again attempted the Soul Thread Refining process!

'If he pulls this off, I swear...'

BAM!

"Two more to go!" thought Khal and swung his hammer, striking the third red dot with perfect strength and force!

BAM!

"And the last one!" thought Khal as he raised his arm before slamming it back down as if he wanted to crack it into two.

BAM!

In that instant, Khal watched as a black light broke out while the Oak Iron's surface began to crack and reveal a new look.

[Notify! 'Soul Essence' successfully created!]

[Forming 'Power Core'!]

[Warning! Forming 'Power Core' is improbable!]

[Please place a 'Core' into the 'Dark Oak Iron' first!]

Ignoring the voice inside his head as he knew what they meant, Khal put the hammer in his hand down to the side and glanced at the new iron which now was called Dark Oak Iron.

Now the brownish color could no longer be seen, but a full black hue with a rigid surface akin to the crust. Its appearance was exactly like a tree's trunk, while the light that flowed through the windows on the sides made it sparkle a bit.

"I did it. Is this good enough?" asked Khal as he shifted his gaze from the piece of steel at Bazz, but when he did see his face he froze up.

Only after a momentary silence later did he frown and ask as he glanced at the Dark Oak Iron, "Is there a problem? Did I do something wrong?"