Cultivation Through Artifacts

After the unexpected encounter with Madam Rose, Khal decided to follow her and see what that surprise she was talking about really was.

Also, because she mentioned that someone was watching him from the shadows without him knowing it, which was quite a scary revelation, he was curious to see just who the individual was.

Thus, Khal decided to follow Madam Rose while her guards surrounded them from all directions, akin to what bodyguards would do with famous people.

Khal watched as they left the city and traveled several miles before arriving before this huge and open field which had a huge mansion in its very center and a dense forest that surrounded it from all directions.

"Madam Rose, it's a pleasure to see you back again." an old man wearing a butler uniform welcomed Madam Rose with a respected bow before his eyes, which looked surprisingly sharp and profound, glanced at Khal.

"He is our guest tonight. Please prepare a room for him." Madam Rose asked the butler calmly.

.

"Yes, as you wish." the butler bowed slightly and turned around to do what he was just told.

As for Madam Rose, she looked at the guards and said, "You can go and leave us alone now."

"Yes, Ma'am!" the guards saluted before they too turned around and walked away with hurried steps.

"As for you. Follow me. She is waiting for you, let's not make her wait any longer." Madam Rose said to Khal with a mysterious smile before turning back around and continuing to walk toward the entrance of the mansion.

Khal followed Madam Rose into the mansion, and to his no surprise, the interior was just as luxurious as its exterior. A spacious hall with expensive-looking paintings on the white jade walls, while crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling that was filled with different ores such as gold, silver, bronze, emerald, and diamond, which represented different images.

Khal was left speechless upon seeing the breathtaking sight as this was his very first time seeing such a luxurious mansion in his entire life. There were even statues on the sides that were made out of jade and gold, each of them wearing different armors or dresses that looked nothing but unimaginably costly!

Madam Rose seeing Khal's reaction just smiled calmly and said, "Follow me. The fun only begins now."

Then she led Khal into a huge living room which was as big as one's garden, and stepped to the side.

"I have brought him as you have asked."

When Khal walked into the room, the very first thing he noticed was not the surrounding scenery but the individual that sat on a long and comfy-looking sofa that was seated not far away from the fireplace.

Because the individual was sitting with her back toward them, it was hard to figure out who the person was, but for some strange reason, Khal felt this uneasiness in his heart when he looked at the woman.

And this nervousness only became stronger when the woman put down the teacup from her hand onto the glass table and stood up, letting some of her long brown hair fall over her shoulder akin to a waterfall.

"So we finally meet again... Khal." the woman began to talk and turned around slowly.

"You!" Khal's pupils immediately shrunk to that of the size of a needle, his body starting to tremble uncontrollably from the shock.

The one before him was no one else, but the one he thought he could never see ever again, Miss Mary, who should be dead and not alive!

Miss Mary smiled when she saw Khal's reaction and walked before him, standing exactly a meter away from him and looking at him with a calm smile on her still beautiful face.

"You have indeed grown so much. I can't tell you just how proud I am of you two."

Khal however didn't hear what she just said as he was still under shock.

"B-But how? I saw you getting killed with my two eyes! Your head was cut off and you died!" he tried to find an explanation for all the current happenings, but no matter how hard he tried to think, he couldn't come up with any.

Miss Mary however just smiled and said, "That was merely my puppet. The one that you saw getting killed was only my Talent, a hologram."

"A hologram?" Khal asked with a deep frown.

Miss Mary nodded and waved her hand, immediately summoning a figure before herself, that looked just like her!

"My Talent is called Holograph Creation. With my Talent, I can create and duplicate anyone or anything which later on I can control freely until it's either destroyed or got unsummoned by me."

She then waved her hand gently, causing the hologram to transfer into a second Khal that looked exactly as the original!

"Hologram Creation?" Khal was shocked beyond belief as he watched his second self before him that looked nothing like a hologram but a real, living being!

He even touched it and to his surprise, it felt perfectly real, almost as though he was touching not a lifeless puppet but himself instead!

"But... Why?" Khal asked Miss Mary while watching her unsummoning her hologram.

"Why?" Miss Mary smiled and pointed at Khal's wrist before saying, "Because of that."

"Because of... This?" Khal raised his brow and glanced at the bracelet on his wrist.

"Yes, because of that artifact. Or to be more specific, because of the person that gave you that artifact." Miss Mary said as she walked back to the sofa and motioned for the two behind her to follow her.

Khal did just like that, and with Madam Rose, he sat down before Miss Mary who raised her cup and sipped from it.

After drinking from the warm tea, she lowered her hands and gently leaned back into the sofa while crossing her slender legs that could easily attract any men's attention.

Not even Khal was able to resist stealing a few glances at Miss Mary and admire her figure before looking at her in the eyes and waiting for her to start speaking.

And just as he thought, Miss Mary indeed began to speak.

"So Khal... Do you wish to learn more about that artifact that altered your entire life?"