Chapter 406: Path to The Soul World
Once Khal used a little bit of his strength on the gate which until now didn’t even budge when Neo tried to push it open, unclogged with relative ease, revealing a scenery that was completely different from the scenery inside the Soul Prison.
"W-What is this place?" walking through the now opened gate with cautious steps, Neo looked left end right with widened eyes which flickered with disbelief.
Emerald green grass, towering trees with different colored leaves, dense bushes, azure blue sky, and milk-white clouds that from below looked rather fluffy, almost as if they were wool of sheep.
Compared to the world back in the Soul Prison where everything was gray and single-colored and where there existed nothing, not even a small rock or a strand of grass, this was such a huge change that Neo’s complexion brimmed with delight and eagerness.
"Am I... finally free?" Neo asked excitedly, tears ready to flow out of his eyes from joy.
"No, you are not. You are still sealed away, but this time you have access to my Soul World."
’...’
Neo’s smile froze on his face as if time had been stopped while his hands that were slightly raised from the previous excitement now dropped next to his body without any strength in them. His eyes even went hollow for a few seconds before they regained their light again, but this time their earlier enthusiasm was nowhere to be seen.
As a fact, right now his complexion looked scarily indifferent almost as if he was someone without any emotions!
Walking next to Neo, Khal looked at his surroundings with a calm gaze, and after placing his hand on Neo’s shoulder, he smiled and said, "But look, at least this is way better than the Soul Prison, right? You can even build your own house if you want or create other thi-"
"Do you want to die?" Neo asked with a deep and cold tone of voice, his eyes staring holes into Khal’s face with a hint of killing intent.
"Not really." Khal showed an awkward smile before he pulled his hand back from Neo’s shoulder and took a step to the side.
"Hmph!" Neo just sneered before crouching down to feel the grass.
"Interesting... This grass, this whole place feels way too real. What did you say, what is this place called?"
"Soul World," Khal replied as he walked before a tree in the distance and placed his palm atop its surface, only to feel the crusty exterior of it.
[Your Soul World expanded and developed together with your consciousness and soul. The stronger you become, the more things will appear here and the more things you will be able to do.]
’Yeah, kind of realized that already.’ Khal thought and looked at Neo, "This place was formed before the moment I have ascended to the Second Realm. According to my knowledge, this is a separate world inside my consciousness where I can do as I wish."
With those words, Khal waved his hand and in a flash, a luxurious and comfy-looking sofa appeared before Neo out of thin air.
"What? How?" Neo quickly jumped onto his feet because of the surprise, but once he saw it was a sofa his brows raised, and touched the couch which looked pretty expensive by a glance!
"As I said, I can do whatever I want here. In exchange for a huge amount of essence, with my imagination, I can create anything. Though I cannot summon massive houses or create planets as that would result in my soul collapsing thus bringing me to my death."
"I-I see..." Neo mumbled and after thinking for a while he asked, "And what else can you summon? I mean, what is your current limit?"
This time it was Khal’s time to remain silent and fell into deep thoughts with his eyes closed. However, after a few seconds he opened his eyes and said, "Well, I should be able to summon a few smaller items or a single bigger object. Just that sofa alone makes my soul trembling though."
"And how about living beings? Like animals or individuals?"
"Do you really think I am God or what? Just because I can create things with my essence, it does not mean it is easy. As a fact, despite the process being a few seconds, in reality, it makes me insanely exhausted while it requires a huge amount of essence! And all of this only after a small object! As for a living being? Nah, that would literally drain me dry while also allowing me to meet with death himself!"
Neo was silent when he heard the words of Khal and it was visible he was disappointed, but alas, as he could do nothing he nodded and sat down on the sofa.
"Then I will stick with this for the time being."
Khal upon seeing how Neo sat down on the safe he created and how satisfied he was looking after sitting down on a soft surface after who knows how long, Khal shook his head and sat down with his back against the tree’s trunk.
Time passed quickly and several hours flew by without notice as Khal and Neo were talking with each other, telling each other different stories that happened in the past.
At first, Neo was rather indifferent and didn’t really wish to talk, but as he was alone for far too long without anyone to talk to, Khal forced him to talk and tell him stories to make him know better, the words that left Neo’s mouth were like water flowing out of a broken tap; they didn’t stop flooding out not even after 6 whole hours later!
Though, it was not like Khal was bothered by it or anything. In the contrast, he really enjoyed listening to Neo for some strange reason and it was not rare when he asked different questions just to get more knowledge about the given topic they were at that moment talking.
And just like that, even before Khal could have realized it, his time to leave the Grotto Lake finally came hence forcing him to stand up and bid his temporary farewell to Neo.
"I wonder what kind of trouble you will get yourself into before you come back again," Neo said with a smile which previously never showed itself on his face while he lay on the sofa in a relaxed manner, his legs which were hanging down on the sofa’s side swinging up and down continuously.
"Probably going to offend someone for a bullshit reason or destroy something accidentally which will result in a pointless battle. Who knows." Khal shrugged once he patted the dust off from his robe and added, "Well, not like either will change the outcome as both ends will be the same."
"Confident, are we?"
"At least you didn’t say I was cocky or arrogant." Khal sighed with relief and waving his hand as a gesture of farewell he vanished into thin air.
Once Neo remained alone in the middle of the Soul World with his sofa, he gazed at the spot where Khal was a few seconds ago for several minutes before he closed his eyes and sighed, unknown what he was currently thinking.
