Cultivation Through Artifacts

Chapter 79: Soul Essence

*CLANG!*

Khal swung his hand, striking the red dots on the translucid Star Steel with such precision that even himself was shocked beyond belief. He moved the hammer in his right hold and hit each mark like he was doing this kind of job for several years; it felt almost akin to breathing the air in or how to walk!

But in truth, he knew that it was not his instinct nor was he that great, but it was the help of his bracelet. This strange ‘Creation Mode’ not only let him learn how to forge, temper, and refine or see the spots he needed to hit, but even helped him… move!

Yes, move! It was almost like his body had been possessed by someone and controlled his body, but at the same time not. He could control his body movements just as perfectly as before, meaning he could stop the hammering process whenever he wanted, but he could also let his body move on its own, controlled by a strange force, and hit the marks perfectly; the feeling was just as wholly wonderful as bizarre!

But the greatest thing in this mysterious ‘Creation Mode’ was not that he was able to forge without any kind of experience like a professional blacksmith, but he was able to inspect the changes inside the Star Steel.

Every time he hit a mark on the steel, the Soul Threads below the surface would lit up with a yellow color and turn back to normal in the next second.

*CLANG!*

“Now that I watch it in greater detail, each mark is placed around a thread. Could it be that the aim here is not to refine this chunk of Star Steel but those veins inside?” as Khal thought about this better, he subconsciously accelerated his movements trying to find out if he was right or not.

However, when Bazz saw this his excitement instantly vanished from his face, and what appeared on it was great worry; he was concerned because what Khal started to do was something he neither would do!

Once one started the Soul Thread Refining process one could stop whenever they wanted and small mistakes were even acceptable. However, things were entirely different when one reached the level where one could use Soul Thread Tempering! When one began to temper Soul Threads inside a material, one needed to continue and do it till the very end without a mistake! Even the slightest mistake could cause the material to become a piece of junk that’s why!

And what Khal was doing right now was what he must not do… He started to rush the process!

It was common knowledge that the faster one did something for the first few times the greater the possibility was to end up in failure. And what Khal did was exactly this! Because he started to hasten his swinging movements, the chance he will miss a Soul Thread grew drastically, meaning his likelihood to fail rose similarly!

Not even him, a person considered as a great blacksmith with his 24 years of experience, would start rushing his movements when he began Soul Thread Tempering! No, he would instead calm himself and slow his movements down just to avoid accidental mistakes!

Or at least that was what he wanted to think, but suddenly he remembered how Khal placed the Star Steel in the fireplace, started to heat it, how he hit every single Soul Thread inside the Star Steel and reach this very point where he began the Soul Thread Tempering process.

And because of these things, a thought, a string of hope arose inside Bazz’s head that he would have never belived it would appear in his entire life… Maybe, and just maybe, this kid before him, who looked younger than the age of 18, could achive and do something that was considered almost an impossible feat at such an age…

Maybe he could accomplish something that only a genius who appeared once in every hundred… No, born only once in every thousand years could achieve!

With the age below 18, tempering a material to perfection and pull out its Soul Essence!

If he could truly pull this off and make the Soul Threads connect, meaning he shapes the Star Steels Soul Essence, then it will be considered nothing more but as a huge miracle!

A complete miracle that never occurred ever since that powerful expert who reached the mysterious Third Realm with nothing more but his knowledge of smithing! He was a legendary figure who was able to succeed with the Soul Thread Tempering process without a mistake and bring out the Soul Essence from his forged metal at the age of 16!

He was a pure genius, a prodigy that everyone thought would never appear again! But it seems, maybe this ‘prodigy’ appeared once again and was tempering a Star Steel right before his very eyes!

“…” as Bazz thought about this, his hand subconsciously tightened into a fist on his side while small drops of sweat began to form on his face one by one; now he truly felt anxious and excited!

Let it be failure or success, he will definitely persuade Khal to become his disciple no matter what; such a hidden unpolished gem… He can’t let it go!

Just th sole thought as Khal shocked the world in the near future as his student made Bazz’s entire body tremble deep down to his very core!

*CLANG!*

Unknown what Bazz was thinking, Khal hit the Star Steel mercilessly while his swinging motion accelerated with each strike, yet all of his slam was as precise as a needle. No matter how fast he moved or how bad his trajectory was, the power that controlled him always corrected his movements and in the end, he always hit the mark perfectly.

“The threads… Are connecting?” wondered Khal with surprise as he watched that with each hit the vein-like threads inside the Star Steel lit up and moved closer to each other.

And what was even more that not only they started to move closer to each other but a strange power started to swirl inside them gently. It was akin to… Essence?

And this was the very moment as a voice inside his head appeared once again.

[Notify! ‘Soul Essence’ detected!]

[Final strikes for success: 5]

Instantly as that appeared inside his head, Khal watched as 90% of the dots vanished from before his eyes while only 5 remained, each placed between exactly two threads!

“So I truly need to make the threads connect.” thought Khal and as his eyes turned determined he swung his hammer and hit the first mark powerfully.

*CLANG!*

As the buzzing sound whistled through the entirety of the hall with a soft, but at the same time sharp tone, Bazz closed his mouth tightly and started to count, “One.”

*CLANG!*

“Two.”

*CLANG!*

“Three… So it’s three..” said quietly Bazz as he closed his eyes and sighed, but suddenly Khal moved again.

“!?”

*CLANG!*

“This…” started to mutter Bazz, but even before he began to talk, Khal raised his hand once again.

*CLANG!*

*BAM!*

Instantly as the fifth strike fell, filling the whole surroundings with a melodic sound, the Star Steel before Khal suddenly lit up and exploded with a strange power.