Book1, Volume 6
Chapter 53
Ah, it's so majestic! Wylla's eyes shined as she stood on the sandy shore for a moment, admiring her Trinity Syldrake Pagoda from top to bottom. And those big arched evergreen doors look so warm and welcoming with their golden and silvery flowery sigils softly glowing... Simply beautiful. I must see what's inside!
With a bounce in her steps, Wylla stepped onto the wonderful arched redwood bridge. She lightly touched the left railing, enjoying the cool silky feel of the evergreen serpenvines which perfumed the air with their colorful flowers.
Every 5 to 6 steps a Lampryn flower sitting atop the railings would warm her with a gentle lantern-like light. From time to time, the beautiful crystal blue water below would glisten, catching her eye. The water looks so inviting. I wonder if I can go swimming here?
I'll probably need a swimming skill though... then again, maybe I can quickly acquire the skill in here since I already know how to swim back on Earth? Wylla paused in thought for a short moment, before shaking her head. I'll definitely try doing so another day... as for today, let's see what's in my new pagoda.
She reached the end of the bridge and stepped onto a grayish-blue stone pathway which led her to the pagoda's oversized doors. Reaching out, she grasped both vertical golden serpenvine door handles with her hands and pulled. Her eyes widened as the doors swung open giving her an awe-inspiring look inside for the first time.
“How can this be? It so much BIGGER on the inside than it is on the outside!” Wylla just shook her head in disbelief for a moment or two as she stood in the open doorway. “I guess I shouldn't be surprised... this is just a game after all. No matter how real this feels... it's not like this could possibly happen in real life...”
Wylla stepped into the pagoda as the doors closed behind her. She paused, her mouth upturned and eyes sparkling, taking in the sights; “Yes! I have my own personal dojo! Ahaha. I bet sensei would be so jealous if she could see this.”
The room was huge and round, taking up the whole first floor; It was at least three times wider on the inside than the outside. The very high ceiling above was well over 20 feet in height with redwood beams running across. Ceiling fans made up of large Lampryn flowers with large petals hung from above. Thick lush evergreen foliage with soft white starlyng flowers covered the ceiling between the beams.
To her right, sprouting out of the light sepia-toned wall were a series of redwood planks forming stairs leading up to the second floor. She took three steps across the hard redwood floor before her fourth step landed on the edge of the round, nearly room-sized, cushioned flooring that matched the color of the wall.
In the center of the room, inked into the matt, was a mural of a large evergreen serpenvine circle; Within the serpenvine circle was the outline of a large Syldrake Tree.
There were four smaller serpenvine circles within. The circle to her right at the 3 o'clock position held an outline image of an orchid winged butterfly. The circle to her left at the 9 o'clock position held an outline image of a serpentine dragon. The circle to the top was blurry and unidentifiable. And the circle at the bottom, near her feet, that was larger than the others held an outline image of a lotus flower.
Wylla stood there for a while with her hand on her chin, brows furrowed, looking down at the mural before her eyes brightened. “Ah, I see... so that represents my Way of the Orchid Butterfly and that one is my Way of the Spirin Syldrake. The top is too blurry to make out... so maybe that means I still have one more form to discover and unlock? And this bottom one that's larger than the others... this must be where I'm supposed to sit in my lotus position to meditate. So this means this is the heart of my Syldrake pagoda... aka my mind core.”
She then clapped her hands and nodded, “Yup... I think that's right which means I still have one more form to look forward too!” She said with a smile before a certain thought struck her mind, erasing her smile. Well, I guess that all depends on how things turn out in the end.
She looked one more time around the huge matt noticing faint golden and silvery sigils, “Well, not sure what those are for but looks like they're also on the walls.” If she could see it all from the top down she would have been able to make out a pattern but even so, she still wouldn't have known at the time what they did since she didn't know much about arrays.
The last sights to see were all along the light sepia-toned walls with the redwood posts. All around the huge dojo were inky drawings on ancient-looking scrolls hanging like paintings. Each scroll painting held the image of a beastie or mortal she'd seen before. The images of the ones she fought or appraised with her Oryn Spirin Eyes held lively auras; While the images of the beasties and mortals she saw but didn't fight nor appraise were dim and faded.
Here and there along the walls were redwood benches and waist tall cabinets. And directly ahead of her was a beautiful ornate Syldrake weapon stand which stood out like some sort of shrine. To the right of the weapons stand on the wall were scroll paintings of the Bloodrose Witch in both her forms and of Kavi and spidolls.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
To the left were scroll paintings of herself in regular form, orchid butterfly form, and Syldrake form. And right next to her Syldrake form painting was Syl's Sylvern painting.
Her eyes went from the paintings (stopping on the Bloodrose Witch in her ganglyrot form for a bit longer than the rest) to the empty wooden weapons stand. She walked right up to it, reaching out with her right hand to touch it while thoughts of her staff and rod sprung to mind.
“Ah, wouldn't it be great if I could summon bloodrose staff and put...” Wylla stopped speaking as the oryn energy flowed within her, streaming out her right hand as her Bloodrose Staff materialized. “Huh... how? Isn't this place inside my Trinity Core? Hmm... maybe this isn't my real staff. Just something that looks like my staff created by my core? Strange though because I swear I can feel a connection to it... like it's the real deal.”
Wylla sent her Oryn energy into the staff, getting a feel for its energy signature and structure, feeling it resonant with her... soul. No doubt about it... this is my real Bloodrose Staff so does that mean I can summon whatever I want into this space... into my core?... “Ah! Is this the so-called secret space that just about every reincarnator and transmigrator receive in all those Wuxia novels? Sweet!” She said while bouncing up and down on the heels of her feet and grasping her staff with both hands.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa... I need to calm down... that might not be the case at all. I might just be jumping the gun,” Wylla settled down, breathing in and out, pondering for a while before deciding; “Let's try experimenting first... see if I can summon other things I have into here.”
She then looked at the staff in her hands, “Hmm, I wonder if I can put it in there... I mean that is what a weapon stand is for... right.” She reached out and set her staff within the tall dark redwood Syldrake weapons stand; The golden-green serpenvines adorning the stand came alive, wrapping around the shaft of the staff, holding it in place as the silvery flower sigils glowed. “Yosh! It worked," Wylla said happily. "Now that my hands are free, let's see what else I can summon.”
Wylla tried summoning her pouches next but that didn't work. She followed that up by trying to summon her Traveler's Bag and Carrying Bag but both of those attempts were failures as well. She then tried summoning her wand... and felt the Oryn energy flow within her body and out her right hand materializing into her beloved wand.
“Yes! It worked again! But why? Is it because they're both weapons? That can't be it... could it? Think... what else do they have in common?” ... Think... they're both made of wood with flowers but what else? They can both change shape into another weapon so both are magical... and both are...
“That must be it! After all, this place is my Trinity Core which is like my spirit... or rather soul realm. And both of those weapons are Soulbound to me!” Wylla reasoned, walking back and forth, her lips upturned, hands lightly twiddling her wand, and eyes shining. “So if I can summon them in and out of here... then this must have been what Anari was talking about when she said something would pop up when I was complaining about carrying my staff. This is... awesome! Hahahaha...”
Happy with the results, Wylla stepped up to the weapons stand and placed her wand on the chest-high shelf that was built into the right side. “Sweet, now let's explore a little more down here before going up those stairs.”
She then walked up to the scroll painting of the Ganglyrot Witch and stood there recalling her battle with her earlier this night; Reminding her of the missed opportunities she had of attacking with her Earth Flora Spike magic and Syldrake Tail strikes. The aura coming from the painting seemed to call out to her.
Wylla found herself touching the Ganglyrot Witch painting as an infobox popped up:
[ Do you wish to start a sparring session? Y/N ]
“Eh! Is this for real?... Yes!” Wylla said pumping her fist in front of her.
[ Answer received and approved. You have currently selected the Ganglyrot Witch as your sparring partner. Please select Rank, Tier, Level, and Stars of your sparring partner. ]
“Hmm... Rank 1, Tier 0, Level 0, and let's make her elite so Stars 4!”
[ Answer received and approved. Please select the number of Ganglyrot Witch sparring opponents. ]
“Whoa... Hold on, I'm not some kind of masochist so let's just stick with 1.”
[ Answer received and approved. Please select sparring partner's weapon/s. Unarmed, Bloodrose Staff, Bloodrose Spear, Bloodrose Grimoire, Bloodrose Cauldron ]
“Bloodrose Spear.”
[ Answer received and approved. Would you like to add any more sparring opponents to the Ganglyrot Witch's side? Y/N ]
“NO!” Wylla quickly replied. I sure as heck don't want her teaming up with a Kraken again. I don't have Syl here to help me this time.
[ Answer received and approved. Would you like to select another sparring partner/s to join your side? Y/N ]
“Or maybe I do,” Wylla said, remembering Syl's painting. “But for now let's just stick with 1 vs 1. Either way, I'm happy to know that I can form teams later. This will help me in getting used to teaming up with others... so Awesome!”
[ Answer received and approved. Please choose Battlefield type: Grassy Meadow, Garden Forest, Swamp Forest, Syldrake Dojo ]
“Hmm... let's just keep it as is for this session; I choose Syldrake Dojo.”
[ Answer received and approved. Activating battlefield array. ] The golden and silvery sigils on the ground and walls lit up as two circles appeared 20 yards apart from one another in the middle of the room on the matt. [ Please step into one of the rings. ]
Wylla made her way to the ring on the right and stepped inside as the ring lit up forming a transparent wall around her, keeping her caged within. A bit surprised by the shining walls, she turned to face the other circle and watched as the Ganglyrot Witch painting turned into a dark liquid stream of energy, flowing out of the scroll like a serpent; The inky serpent slithered through the air into the other ring, landing in a puddle. The puddle then bubbled and grew, transforming into a shadowy Ganglyrot Witch holding a Bloodrose Spear facing her with angry blood-red eyes.
[ Would you like to remove the cooldown on Way of the Spirin Syldrake for this match? Y/N ]
Wylla's eyes widened and a smile sprouted on her lips, “Yes please!” This is great! Now I can use my Syldrake form for as long as I like allowing me to get use its combat abilities.
[Answer received and approved. The match will begin in 10, 9, 8... ]
Wylla stood there for a moment staring at her opponent before calling out “Way of the Spirin Syldrake!” Her body grew much taller, her skin turned green, and a powerful bladed tipped tail sprouted from her backside as she shifted into her armored Syldrake form.
[ Begin! ]