Cultivation Through Artifacts

Chapter 209 - River Shifter

BAM!

The flames on Khal's body exploded with great power, surprising everyone around him as finally after so many hours later, something started to happen!

??

Slowly, the chaotic crimson blaze began to shrink and gradually become a small ball of fire before Khal's chest before entering his body.

'...'

Those that stayed there even after several hours watched with their breaths held back, curious and nervous to see what will happen.

But to their great amazement, Khal just simply opened his eyes, revealing a pair of gazes that carried never seen before firmness.

"You... Feeling okay? Any discomfort or internal injuries? If you feel even the slightest pain tell me immediately or-"

"I feel perfectly fine, but thank you for your concern." Khal interrupted Jane kind of rudely before ignoring her completely and shifting his gaze at Liza.

Right now, in his eyes, Liza changed completely, almost as if she became an entirely different existance. Her beautiful amber-brown eyes now seemed way more alluring while her figure, the curves he didn't give attention to before now became clearer in his mind. Even her milk-white skin now appeared to him like porcelain that made him think that could break any given moment if he averted his gaze even for a split second.

And exactly these changes in his mind and eyes, Khal felt as something inside him broke to the surface, something that he only felt once in his past life...

A reason to live for, a reason that told him life wasn't as a horrible place as he previously thought.

And these impressions and feelings were clearly visible in his eyes, that someone, such as Jane, with several years of experience, couldn't miss no matter what.

'Oh?' Jane raised one of her brows, her eyes flickering with profound light while her thoughts remained unknown.

"Khal? Are you sure you are okay?" suddenly Liza walked before Khal, examining his body while she remained oblivious to the changes inside Khal.

"Yeah, now I feel much better." smiled Khal, feeling as his heart beating slowed down significantly while his mind became clearer too.

Rubie flew down from the tree and once she landed on his shoulder she began to stare at Khal with eyes filled with slight jealousy as she also noticed the changes in Khal's gaze.

After making sure he was doing fine, Jane and the rest of the onlookers walked away as there was no longer need to linger there, while Khal went toward Moon Mountain as his eyes were fixed on the text before him.

{Cultivation Quests}

/Run 5 kilometers without any Secret Arts and stopping/

? Done kilometers: 0/5

~Contribution~

? +1 Agility

? +1 Speed

---

/Defend against 10 attacks with only your body/

? Defended attacks: 0/10

~Contribution~

? +1 Physical Resistance

? +1 Mental Strength

---

/Kill 1 Beast on the Sixth Cultivation Stage/

? Killed Beasts: 0/1

~Contribution~

? +1 to every Cultivation Trait

As the 24 hours limit for the previous quests has long ago expired, Khal watched as three new tasks appeared, each a bit harder than the previous ones.

'Even though the second and third quest is kind of hard, they are far from impossible to do. But first, let's complete the first one.' sighed Khal inwardly, as he knew clear well it will be hell to run 5 kilometers.

If 100 push-ups were real torture, then what will happen now? He didn't want to think about it, but as he knew there was no gain without pain, he just clenched his teeth and began to run while Rubie watched all this from above the sky.

However, not even 500 meters later, Khal noticed as his pace became slower while weight akin to a boulder started to take down on him.

His forehead held several, bean-sized sweatdrops began to form, while his breathing turned ragged and quick.

'This is not normal at all. Even though Nova told me the reason already, there must be something else too she didn't tell me. There is no way in hell a mere 500 meters could cause such exhaustion.' Khal thought to himself, but persisted in running without stop.

Once he reached the 1-kilometer mark, Khal felt exhausted but not to the point where he wished to stop.

After the second kilometer, his legs ached from pain, but that too was bearable with simply gritting his teeth and continuing running.

Real hell only came when he reached 3 kilometers as his whole body was soaked in sweat, while his legs felt like jelly. Though, as the challenge told him he had to run 5 kilometers in one go without resting, Khal had no choice but to curse out loud and proceed on running.

After the fourth kilometer, Khal really wished to stop, lie down and rest. At the moment, the green grass below his feet for some reason seemed to appear alluringly soft and comfortable, but as he had already come this far, there was no reason for him to give up.

'Just 1 kilometer... One more thousand meters and you can rest, come on!' gritting his teeth and commanding his legs to move, Khal quickened his pace, now only his sheer willpower as his source of fuel.

However, even though he accelerated his speed, he looked like he was jogging, and an extremely slow tempo to say the least. Though, considering that Khal felt like he was pulling several cars behind him and his body felt rather weak, on the verge of collapsing, it was understandable.

Luckily, no wild Beasts appeared in his close proximity, thus he was not disturbed at all, but even if a few appeared, they were slain by Rubie without a second thought.

And precisely 45 minutes later, which was considered trash in his old world, Khal finally took his final step, reaching 5000 metes, and immediately collapsed onto the ground.

"Haa... Haa... Haa..." breathing heavily, almost as if he just ran a marathon, Khal spread his arms and legs wide as he tried to calm and refresh himself.

[Congratulations! Cultivation Quest 'Run 5 kilometers without any Secret Arts and stopping' was successfully completed!]

[+1 Agility acquired!]

[+1 Speed acquired!]

Once Nova's voice fell, Khal felt as the muscles in his legs began to move and twitch slightly and after a few seconds later stopped.

Even his exhaustion got slightly better, but he still needed at least 15 minutes to recover completely.

Just only then did he stand up onto his still weak felt feet, and sigh deeply.

"I would lie if I say it felt great, but at least I was able to obtain more strength." Khal immediately moved his feet and was pleasantly surprised to watch as they not only felt a bit lighter than previously, but he could run faster too.

'Only 3 points on Agility and Speed... What will happen if I reach 50 or even 100? Will I be able to move as quickly as with my Secret Art? I can't wait to find out!'

After waiting for a bit and making sure he was fresh and ready, Khal activated his Crimson Snake Dance and like lightning burst away.

And because his basic speed was already 3 times faster than before, together with his Secret Art he reached Moon Mountain in less than 3 minutes!

But because he had a plan how to complete the second Cultivation Quest, Khal didn't slow down at all once he reached the mountain foot, and moved toward a river fall that was visible even from far away.

Whoosh!

Bam!

With a powerful stomp in the ground to get his insanely fast speed to a complete halt, Khal looked around and examined the surroundings.

On the right side, beautiful and crystal clear water crashed into a huge lake from above, while on the other side the lake gradually continued to flow, changing into a wide and long river that vanished among the woods in the distance, leading into the unknown.

However, even though the sight seemed extremely peaceful and gorgeous, Khal knew this was not a place to feel at ease at all.

His eyes were already fixed on the lake about five meters before him, his gaze slowly following a shadow that moved here and there with an ordinary speed.

And just a second later...

Splash!

A creature representing a redfish with a huge, blade-like nose jumped out from the water high into the air and shot a ball of water at Khal.

"Come!" Khal remained calm, and raised his hands before his face, protecting his face from the water attack with only his bare skin!

BAM!

The moment the waterball came into contact with his arm, it suddenly exploded, pushing Khal one step behind even though he made sure to resist with all his might.

'A River Shifter on the Fourth Cultivation Stage is not a big deal to deal with, but because their attacks are quite powerful, especially if you try to defend against it with your bare hands, they can cause quite a problem.' thought Khal to himself and lowered his hands to see the damage that was caused by the River Shifter.

But luckily, except for a small circular wound that was slightly bleeding, he sustained no serious damage at all.