The Exalt Cultivation Fantasy

Act 2: World Beyond - Chapter 350: Return To Tectusen

Act 2: World Beyond - Chapter 350: Return To Tectusen

"Prepared? What's there to prepare for? This realm has taken away all the options. What can be worse than living the rest of my life stuck here?" Oscar asked rhetorically, moistening his mouth with fresh fruit juice. He exhaled in relief from the sweetness.

Dangers and risks were always beside him from the moment he became an Exalt. Whether it was training in Reis, Awaken, Prinstyct, or in general, everything had inherent consequences. Even after hearing the gravity in Gol-4's words, Oscar didn't care and was resigned to his fate.

What would be the point if he didn't struggle for the last chance until the end?

"The pain will be unimaginable, and the time will go by slowly. It will be a tortuous procedure with an iota of a chance. But if it works, you'll become a Knight Exalt." Gol-4 said, gazing into Oscar's eyes. "I see you are resolved. Then let's head to Tectusen."

"You didn't tell me what you're planning." Oscar liberated himself from the bed and put on his makeshift fur coat. Carefully, he placed Calvin's journal into his space pocket. It offered nothing else in knowledge, but Oscar wanted to return at least one memory of Calvin. If a chance existed to return home, then a part of Calvin should be returned to his family.

Meanwhile, Gol-4 woke Erden up from its deep slumber. For an Exalt Beast, Erden was unlike other living creatures of Ashen Grove, preferring to sleep most of its time away. Erden sneezed and stood on all fours, stomping out of the tent.

Oscar mounted his fellow beast companion and tapped on its antlers, hearing the slight ringing from the crystal structures. After tying Gol-4 to his shoulder, Oscar patted Erden to begin a slow walk out of the encampment. He wished to take in this view before leaving. Confused, Oscar's eyes trembled at the sight of heaping piles of rotten vegetation.

"These are Grovekeepers' remains. When did they enter the encampment?" Oscar said. He noticed the marks of battle spread all over the entrance. Gol-4 was a powerless head, and Erden lacked the strength for this much havoc and destruction. Only one suspect popped into Oscar's thoughts.

'Will you stop taking over my body at night? No wonder I had a headache and felt even more tired.' Oscar sent a thought to Demon.

'Only your mind needed the rest. Our bodies can carry on for a while. I only cleaned up the trash.' Demon's icy voice pierced through Oscar's innermost thoughts, ringing loud and clear in his head. 'Thanks to me, you continued to improve quickly.'

'...Thank you, I suppose.' Oscar felt his headache growing and rubbed the bridge of his nose with a pained expression.

"Already talked with Demon, huh? Yes, he went out and slaughtered the Grovekeepers. I am also pondering a solution for you. Be patient, and I might have an idea." Gol-4 bobbed his head around at the surrounding trees as they exited the encampment.

"Never mind him. Tell me about your plan. How can I enter the Knight Exalt in this realm? Restrictions force everyone never to advance. Only the red root could advance because of the Divine–" Oscar cut his words short, and slowly his eyes rose in the realization of Gol-4's plan. The prior claims weren't false; it truly was a maddened plan.

"Realize it now?" Gol-4 chuckled for a while; his mechanical teeth chattered in Oscar's ears.

"That small petal I snatched from the Divine Essence....Hold on. I didn't feel anything around it. Once detached, it no longer held the same divine aura as the main plant." Oscar was still doubtful about the validity of this petal and its means.

"Eat it."

"Eat it?"

"Eat it raw. The power is contained within it. The small petal won't grant you the same area to weaken the restrictions. But ingest it, and the power will flow within you and should lift the shackles of this realm. That's the gambit."

"One golddew fig was painful enough, but now you suggest eating an entire petal of the Divine Essence." Oscar became silent, frozen on Erden's back. After a short while, Oscar sighed and nodded, resigning himself to his madness. "There must be ways to withstand parts of it, right? A great Primaere like you won't skimp on the details of such an important task."

"The foundry district. We have made it at last. Now, forge your weapon. I can't wait to see the Reis-forging you mentioned before." Gol-4 was practically tugging Oscar forward, still attached to his shoulder. The excitement of new techniques excited the Primaere fabricator.

"Ok, ok." Oscar yawned, expelling the cold underground air. The dry heat filled his lungs, feeling comfortable and relaxed.

Oscar barged into the workshop, glancing at the workstation in the corner. He remembered his contest with Orden and his loss against the prodigal fabricator. The anvil, previously clean, was covered in dust and soot. From a single swipe of his hammer, the anvil released a high-pitched sound, vibrating to knock off all the excess.

With a clean anvil ready, Oscar changed into his torn fabricator uniform and fanned the flames for the kiln and furnace. Everything was now set up, and Oscar sat on the chair to look through his space pockets. He took out a hard armored plate of the Great Sharaka he killed in the Desert Realm and its core.

"Good choice. A very sturdy creature, and its armored plates are perfect." Gol-4 nodded, staying afloat while Erden rested by the entrance to keep watch.

Oscar got straight to work. He heated the Great Sharaka plate, unraveled its formation, and overwhelmed the beast's resistance to reduce the material into a fine powder. Tossing the powder into the kiln, Oscar also placed some grade-two ores in the furnace, waiting for the two components to finish.

He didn't have quenching oil, so he used lots of water. The higher the grade, the more water he needed to quench it. Oscar had an absurd amount of water in his space pocket and used it to douse the kiln. He retrieved the pellets of Great Sharaka, setting them aside.

His hammer bashed against the grade-two ore, releasing sparks like fireworks onto the floor. His refinement had increased significantly from five years of training thanks to completing his Adamasreis and growing in control of his strength. Oscar smiled with pride at the 100 percent pure grade-two ore, melting it with the pellets in the crucible.

"Gol-4, watch carefully. Reis-forging."

Oscar followed the methods, creating thin plates sandwiched between layers of his Ein. Many times he failed, only succeeding after a long while. After a trip to the furnace, Oscar started the next step and twisted the stacked plates like a coil. Again, failure after failure, retry after retry, Oscar carried on until he finally held a completely coiled bar.

The beast's will was nothing to Oscar. He cut out the part linked to its defense and placed it upon the heated coil. He closed his eyes and thought of the stars, recalling the lessons Gol-4 had taught him about creating a formation. He thought of the Aegis constellation with an array of stars that resembled a shield and pictured himself in it.

The image of stars shifted to fit himself as part of the constellation, and Oscar thought this was good. Eagerly, Oscar smiled, pounding away at the metal and placing nodes that shone brightly. With a final strike of his hammer, the shield was complete and pulsed with Ein.

After a heaping dousing of water, which all evaporated into hot steam like a sauna, Oscar pulled out the shield, a clean copper shine reflecting the fires and his face. It could pass as a mirror if he needed it to be. To test it, Oscar punched as a thundering quake of a Shattering Wave expelled from its surface.

"Good shield. Only took the whole day." Oscar took off his helmet, wiping the sweat to no avail. "How was it?"

Gol-4 remained silent.

"Gol-4? What's wrong?" Oscar tapped Gol-4's head. Did something go wrong?

"I never thought of such a technique, but even now, I can think of so many new golems and applications of that Reis-forging. Oscar, I know you don't wish to spend too long here, but may I teach you how to craft golems?"

"What?"

Gol-4's sudden request caught Oscar by surprise. He put down his hammer and shield to stare at Gol-4. He wanted him to inherit his golem crafting?