Feeling a deep connection to his puppet, Morgan immediately wanted to summon it into battle mode.
But he suddenly froze, his eyes scanning around the room before letting out a sigh. "My room's spacious, but probably not enough to keep the puppet from wrecking everything. Guess I'll wait until I'm outside."
Right now, there was something more important he needed to verify. The moment he successfully linked with the puppet, he had felt his own physical strength surge to an entirely new level.
His eyes swept around before finally stopping at the mop. Its handle was made of metal—hollow, yet sturdy enough.
He stepped closer, opened his right hand, and gripped the metal pole. A few drops of sweat slid down his forehead as the muscles in his arm tightened. The mop, which had been advertised as extremely durable, bent out of shape with just a single squeeze from his hand.
Crack!
When he released his grip, the mop fell to one side under its own weight, not completely broken but held together by a few strands of metal.
Morgan stared wide-eyed at the mop, then at his own palm. Aside from a bit of sweat, it was only slightly red—and even that faded within seconds.
"Tsk, who would've thought just one E-rank puppet could boost my strength this much? What if I had eight of them? No... I should dream bigger. What if I had eight SSS-rank puppets?"
As he spoke, his breathing grew heavier. Anyone who pursued art always longed for perfection.
But dreams were dreams. For now, he had to focus on reality. He shook his head and muttered, "Forget it, that can wait. The world's about to turn chaotic. I should try controlling the puppet first."
…
Out in the yard, Morgan stood before a massive, ancient tree. From there, he could clearly see the full view of his house.
It was a large villa, and it even had separate rooms prepared for the other two. But since those two were rarely home, the rooms often sat empty.
John had said he was barely ever around, so there was no point wasting a room on him. As for Luna, she was constantly traveling for martial arts exchanges, staying in hotels most of the time and only occasionally coming back here.
"Ho, let's begin." Morgan took a deep breath, then summoned the puppet with his mind.
From the center of his forehead, a faint silhouette began to emerge. Blurry at first, then slowly expanding until it reached nearly two meters tall.
No longer a tiny toy-like robot, the puppet now stood before him like a true steel warrior.
Curious, Morgan tapped his finger against the puppet's armor to test if it was real metal, then frowned.
'Seems like it's not as hard as steel. Must be because this is the lowest rank,' he thought, coming to that conclusion.
Curiosity satisfied, he turned to the main task. From each of Morgan's ten fingertips extended invisible energy threads, directly linking to the puppet.
The puppet lifted its leg and took a step forward. But as its foot touched the ground, its body tilted to one side, almost toppling over from imbalance.
Morgan quickly pulled on the threads to steady it but used too much force, causing it to sway the other way. After wobbling back and forth several times, he finally managed to make it walk properly.
"Phew, damn, that was exhausting. Controlling a puppet really drains stamina," he exhaled deeply, though the corners of his mouth curled into a faint smile.
It was far more tiring than ordinary puppeteering, yet undeniably, the thrill scaled with the puppet's size. Controlling a massive warrior capable of combat—it was exhilarating.
'This one's a warrior-class puppet, ice element, weapon—a scythe. Maybe I should test its offensive capability.' Morgan thought as his gaze landed on the tree trunk.
His hands moved and the puppet mirrored him, raising the scythe high before swinging it down with force. The trunk split open with a deep slash, and everything around the cut instantly froze solid.
It had to be said—his talent was extraordinary. Just a brief try and he already grasped the basics of puppet control.
Morgan stepped closer, touching the frozen cut with his fingertip, and immediately felt a bone-chilling cold surge through him.
"Tch, incredible. Feels like I just learned magic or something. Well… I guess it's not that different after all." He sighed in awe, eyes burning with excitement as he stared at the puppet.
The more he looked, the more he liked it—and the stronger his desire grew to reach higher-ranked puppets.
'My current control's still clumsy. Movements are too slow. I should call Luna and John, discuss things first, then train inside that space,' he thought.
Even though Kevin was gone, that consciousness space still hadn't disappeared. There was nothing inside it now, but the time acceleration remained.
In the group chat of the three:
[Morgan: The world's ending soon. Get to my place now. We need to plan.]
[Luna: ???]
[John: ???]
[Morgan: It's urgent! I'm dead serious about this.]
[Luna: Did your brain short-circuit or something? What apocalypse?]
[John: Whatever it is, calm down first.]
[Morgan:
[Morgan: Believe me now? The world's not what you think it is. Get over here fast, it's about survival. I wouldn't joke about that.]
At that moment, two pairs of eyes turned toward Morgan's direction. Neither of them said anything, but their expressions grew increasingly serious.
…
Not long after, John arrived with Luna in his car and stopped in front of Morgan's house. The two of them naturally pulled out their spare keys and went inside. As soon as they entered, they rushed straight toward him.
Morgan was in the middle of practicing puppet control when he stopped and turned around to look at them, his eyes filled with emotion.
Before Luna and John could even ask what was going on, Morgan suddenly moved with unstoppable speed and pulled both of them into a tight hug.
"I missed you two so damn much."
???
The two froze, exchanging puzzled looks—Morgan was acting weird.
Luna placed a hand on his forehead, frowned, then pushed his head away. "No fever. Then why the hell are you talking like a lunatic? We literally saw you yesterday."
"I don't know what's gotten into you, but you'd better explain clearly before we can understand anything," John said calmly.
Realizing how odd he must have looked, Morgan scratched the back of his head with an awkward laugh. "Haha, my bad. Thing is... I just came back in time—from eleven days in the future."
The two went silent for a moment, then glanced past him at the two-meter-tall puppet standing in the room. For now, they decided to believe him.
"I get it now. You saw us die in that timeline, didn't you?" Luna said, her expression one of sudden understanding.