Cultivation Through Artifacts

Chapter 188 - Free Choice

Once Elder Sige stopped speaking, a hologram appeared before everybody, several lines of text visible on them.

"As you can see, the rules are quite simple and easy to understand. You will have 24 hours to forge any material you wish to the best of your ability, using only the tools available to you in your section. Any type of item or object that was not the section's part originally will mean disqualification immediately."

After explaining the rules briefly, Elder Sige waved his hand once again, and another hologram appeared before everyone, this time with several materials visible on them from Low-Quality ones to High-quality ones.

There were even a few Supreme-Quality ones, but as they were extremely hard to forge it was hardly possible anyone will choose them.

"Your time will start once you have chosen your metal, but until then, you will have 15 minutes to prepare. Any questions?"

As soon as Elder Sige asked that, a hand was raised high into the air.

"Yes? What do you want to know?" asked Elder Sige as he glanced at the owner of the hand, who appeared to be a handsome young man with a red bird similar to a hawk on his shoulder.

"If I choose a material but I find it too hard to forge, can I replace it with another metal?" Khal asked the question, seemingly not worried by the hundreds of gazes on his skin.

"What? Is he a fool or what?! What does he think, where is he?" sneered Seila inwardly, finding Khal's question incredibly stupid and naive.

Elder Sige too raised his brow upon that question but surprisingly, after touching his chin and pondering for a while he nodded, stunning many in the hall.

"Your question is indeed a good one." exclaimed Elder Sige with a calm voice and then said, "Yes, you can change your material as much as you wish under the 24 hours, but if you do, your final score will change drastically at the end of the competition, so if I were you, I would choose wisely."

"I see. Thank you Respected Elder!" bowed Khal, showing his respect without any hint of arrogance.

Although Elder Sige seemed stunned by Khal's polite behavior he just waved his hand and said, "Any more questions?"

However, except Khal, no one else had a question thus Elder Sige nodded and crossed his arms behind his back.

"Therefore, the Beginners Event right at this moment shall begin!"

Swish!

Right as his voice fell, every Cultivator started to look through the list of materials, including Khal too.

"Hmm... Which one should I choose? I am quite familiar with all of them, but without my Creation Mode, I can't forge them no matter what. Maybe I can struggle and temper a few Low-Quality ones, but I'm pretty sure they won't be enough for me to pass."

Khal seemed to be in trouble but soon just shrugged and thought, "Well, whatever... I will just use my Creation Mode as that is why I have it in the first place, right? To use it in these types of situations!"

With that, Khal wanted to choose a High-Quality material and start forging, but alas, a better idea appeared inside his head, freezing his fingers right above the hologram.

"Wait a minute... With my Creation Mode, I can pull out any material's Soul Essence, then why don't I try and forge a Supreme-Quality material? I should get more scores with that, right?" said Khal to himself and soon choose the 'only Supreme-Quality materials' option.

Swish!

In a blink, several materials appeared on the hologram, each having an amazing appearance that he never saw among High-Quality materials!

"Toxic Mist, Storm steel of Death, Succubis Steel... What the hell are this stuff? Even though their appearance seems harmless their names tell otherwise!" mumbled Khal with shock, but who would have thought that this statement of his would be heard by Elder Sige, who stood several sections away from him!

"What did that boy just say? Is he trying to forge a Supreme-Quality metal? For real?" asked himself Elder Sige as he shifted his gaze at Khal in the distance.

While oblivious that he was being watched, Khal glanced at metal and his eyes immediately lit up, "This one will be it then!"

Swish!

"Huh? That one? Is he for real!?" screamed Elder Sige inwardly, hardly believing what Khal just chose to forge.

"That's one of the most difficult metals to forge, Flaming Sun Steel! Not only is it exceptionally tough, but it glows with an almost blinding light while also emitting intense heat that could melt hammers in seconds during the forging process! Not even a blacksmith with 5 stars would dare to forge that piece of metal!"

Seila and several others seemed to notice Elder Sige's change of behavior thus turned around to see what he was watching so intently, but when they did, all of their jaws came loose!

"Is he for real? Forging a Supreme-Quality metal? Just who is he?"

"He must have gone insane. Didn't he listen when Elder Sige said choose wisely? Yet this fool went and chose a High-Quality material..."

"He dug his own hole! Haha, what a clown! Don't bite off more than you can chew, fool! "

Several Cultivators appeared to enjoy Khal's 'stupid' choice, including Seila too.

"Hmph! He truly has no brain at all!" sneered Seila coldly in her heart, and without caring about Khal any further, proceeded on minding her own business.

Khal on the other hand just simply ignored the shocked and ridiculed gazes on his body and activated his Creation Mode.

Swish!

Right after, several holograms that only he was capable of seeing appeared in his sight, helping him start forging.

However, when he saw this piece of metal did not need to be brought to the fireplace but had to be forged right from the start, Khal seemed confused but still picked the hammer up and started forging.

"Wait... What?" when Elder Sige noticed this he turned speechless as it seemed Khal knew exactly how to forge the Flaming Sun Steel!

'Did he forge that material before?' thought Elder Sige himself, but soon shook his head, 'No, that can't be. He is still 17 years old, he must have only forged High-Quality metals at most. There is no way he worked with Supreme-Quality materials before!'

But no matter how he looked at it, Khal truly seemed to be familiar with the Flaming Sun Steel as he forged in an extremely professional manner.

'Just where did he learn to forge such a hard metal?' thought Elder Sige, trying to figure out Khal's origin.