Cultivation Through Artifacts

Chapter 21: A Quick Test

“So, which one of you want to go in first?”, asked Noelle calmly as she looked at the two with a patient smile.

Khal looked at Liza on his side and said calmly, “You go in first. I will wait for you here.”

“Okay.”, said Liza with a nod, and without saying anything else she opened the door and walked inside.

When the gate closed behind her back, Noelle glanced at Khal and started to talk.

“If I may ask, what is the reason the two of you came after such a long time? Generally, people come to get their badge the next day of the Ceremony, so to tell the truth I was quite surprised to hear you wanted to take the test now. Naturally, if it’s something personal and you don’t want to tell me, I can completely understand it and I apologize for my rudeness.”

Khal looked at Noelle with a wry smile, and after thinking for a while he answered, “Well, to tell the truth, we got into a very complicated situation, so we didn’t have the time to do so. I-.”

The moment Khal said that suddenly Miss Mary’s death appeared in his head, so he stopped in mid-sentence and thought, “After finishing here, I need to visit her grave. It would be quite rude not to pray at least for her soul for what she did for me, even though it was just for a few days.”

While Khal thought about his future plan, Noelle thought he stopped because of her, so as a result she bowed instantly and said hurriedly, “I deeply apologize for my misbehavior. I didn’t mean to.”

When Khal heard Noelle apologize like that, he looked surprised, but in the end, he just waved his arm around and said, “No, not at all. I have just remembered something, that was why I stopped talking.”

Just as Noelle wanted to say an apology once again, suddenly the door behind her back opened and Liza walked out slowly.

In her hand, she was holding a small silvery card, with several shiny and tiny letters on it. It looked quite eye-catching even from such a distance.

Seeing that Liza succeeded with her test, Noelle straightened her back and with a wide smile, she said, “Looks like everything went perfectly smooth. Then it seems it is now your turn, so please go inside.”

Knowing that it was him who Noelle talked to, Khal nodded and without any hesitation, he opened the door and walked inside too.

However, the moment he did and the door closed behind his back, what he could see was only pure darkness.

And what was even more surprising that including vision, there was neither sound, sight, and smell. Even the feeling under his feet vanished which was quite confusing.

It was like was inside a strange dream, where his body was floating in the middle of nothingness.

But even though he felt somewhat uncomfortable, Khal waited patiently and started to relax his body.

And just as he thought, after a few seconds of waiting, everything around him changed and a whole new sight appeared before his eyes.

The ground, the ceiling, and the walls have vanished, while in their place what Khal could see was only a vast and endless cosmos with thousands of planets, stars, and solar systems in the distance.

“Woah! I didn’t expect to see something like this. It’s gorgeous!”

While he was mesmerized by the breathtaking sight around his body, suddenly a bright sphere appeared out of nowhere and started to hover before his body.

“Huh? What could this be?”, murmured Khal with curiosity and started to examine the mass of light, when suddenly a voice sounded around him.

“Please touch the Sky Orb with your palm and hold it.”

Hearing the robotic yet somewhat human voice in his environment, Khal was a bit surprised but still acted as he was told.

However just as he was about to put his hand above the mass of light, suddenly he glanced at the bracelet on his wrist and frowned.

Seeing the sky blue pebble in the middle of the iron bracelet, Khal realized something which never appeared in his head until this moment.

“What if I’m still Cultivation Talentless, and I only have Talent because of this thing? Will I get busted if I don’t use it?”

Pulling his hand back, Khal started to think.

Thinking back to the moment before he used his Heaven’s Eyes, he could remember that he was able to obtain that power just because of the stone that had been placing inside his bracelet.

He could clearly recall the feeling when the power from the stone was pushed and fused into his body, making him able to obtain and use Heaven’s Eyes.

However, after the incident, he didn’t have the time at all to use his eyes again. As a result, he didn’t know if he was still Cultivation Talentless and borrowed the power or truly obtained a complete Talent thanks to the bracelet and stone.

This question was important because if it was the formal then on the Badge his Talent would show up as Talentless or something like Unknown, which could put him under huge suspicion quite easily.

Especially if the time came when he needed to enroll into Moon Academy as Liza said. If they saw him use a Talent while he was recorded as Talentless, things could become dire for him quite easily for sure.

Though, if it was the latter one, then there was no problem at all. Because the Talent he obtained became completely his by unknown means, that meant he was no longer Cultivation Talentless.

Thinking about these things, Khal didn’t hesitate and activated his power, but this time he made sure to observe the bracelet on his wrist.

Instantly, his eyes turned sky blue with a crimson slit in their middle, while his sight expanded and turned extremely clear, to the point where it made him almost dizzy.

However, when this happened, Khal instantly could see and feel the changes that took place inside and around his body. He could easily notice that the stone in his bracelet was slightly lit with dim blue color, while power was flowing inside his body from the stone right through the bracelet from time to time.

“This is not great at all.”, thought Khal with a somewhat nervous expression and looked at the floating mass of light before him.

Knowing what he should do now that he found out the truth, Khal sighed and after a small while thought, “Then I will touch that thing with my power still active and I will pray for the Gods above to make it work.”

As he said that, Khal walked closer, and with his Heaven’s Eyes still active he put his palm above the Sky Orb without hesitation.

Instantly as he did that, Khal could feel a foreign power sweeping through his while body deep inside, while slowly, a silvery card started to form before his face in the air.

While it was gently floating before him, Khal could clearly see that the light below it started to extend lights toward the card and form small letters on it one by one.

While letters and sentences were shaped on it slowly, small drops of sweat started to appear on Khal’s forehead, making him to pray for the best outcome.

After waiting for several minutes in silence, suddenly the light vanished from below Khal’s palm and the voice sounded in his ear again.

“Test has been successfully completed and Cultivator’s data has been saved. You may now leave.”