The other collection room wasn't far away in the game.
And now in reality, they were also adjacent chambers.
So Sylvia didn't spend much time before she found the Wind Glider she'd been longing for.
"...I really wanna steal it."
Even though it was just the plainest black Wind Glider.
Even though before coming here, Sylvia held plenty of grievances about many aspects of that game.
But when she reached out and touched this exquisitely crafted Wind Glider…
She couldn't help but be moved.
If there really was a day she could go to Teyvat, would she still have a chance to see those familiar faces?
Or, for the Sylvia of now, was the Teyvat in her memory already a thing of the past?
She held the Wind Glider and looked at it for a long while.
These wings seemed still entwined with a lingering breeze, as if just by closing her eyes, she could see that city on the lake, the birds, the dragon, the nuns, and the knights.
This wind was full of fantasy and romance.
She placed the Wind Glider back, even though she'd said she wanted to steal it.
But Sylvia didn't do anything more.
Besides, she felt she'd been a bit overly sentimental just then.
Silver Wolf beside her couldn't figure out why Sylvia cared so much about such a low-tech glider.
If she wanted, she could turn this pair of gliders into a spiraling ascension vehicle in minutes.
But seeing Sylvia like this, Silver Wolf didn't say anything.
She followed along as they searched a bit more.
This time, Sylvia stopped before a weathered broken sword.
"..."
"Huh? This broken sword... does it look a bit like the greatsword you use, Sylvia?"
Only a tip of the blade and a few shards remained, so Silver Wolf wasn't sure.
But the red blade and the patterns on it looked like they were cast from the same mold as the greatsword Sylvia used.
At the very least, they had to be from the same series.
"Well... maybe."
Sylvia didn't elaborate.
One reason was that she only looked like Kiana, she wasn't really her.
The other was that her coming to see this broken sword was more out of nostalgia for her past experiences playing the game.
But to truly introduce it from the perspective of someone who lived through it... that was still a bit hard to voice.
Sylvia raised her hand and reached out to touch the now-cold blade.
Her fingertip met the uneven metal, slowly sensing all it had been through.
The story she had witnessed wasn't false.
It truly existed in some time and space, and those fascinating people were still living their lives there, striving on.
When Sylvia touched the Wind Glider with her hand, and then felt this broken sword…
This indescribable emotion gradually spread through her heart.
Sylvia closed her eyes and took a deep breath, willing her racing heart to calm down.
But she didn't linger too long. Sylvia pulled herself free from this mood, turned, and left without looking back.
The Silver Wolf figurine followed beside her, unable to hold back a complaint:
"I really don't get why you came here. Just to look?"
"Yeah, looking is enough."
Sylvia smiled as she walked out of the collection room, offering no further explanation.
Silver Wolf, speechless, still followed.
"Do you know which way to go next?"
Silver Wolf remembered Sylvia had said she was going to find someone.
"Nope. Asta didn't send me a location. Probably a comms malfunction, couldn't get a lock."
Sylvia shrugged. She really didn't remember which room Arlan was hiding in, only that it had the elevator control system.
That was probably something like a control center in the Storage Zone.
"So how do you plan to find it? I'm not hacking the space station for you."
"The monitoring room. On the map Asta gave, the Storage Zone monitoring room is on our same floor. Find the person, and on the way look for Herta's puppet."
As Sylvia said this, she turned her head to look at the Silver Wolf figurine and poked its round, chibi-style cheek.
"By the way, can't you change the image of me in your mind?"
Then she saw Silver Wolf raise a hand to swat away Sylvia's finger, immediately replying:
"Can't change it. No saving you."
Continuing to chatter with the Silver Wolf figurine, Sylvia had now arrived at the circular passageway of the Storage Zone.
The circular passage ran along the walls, with several walkways connecting to the central elevator.
Herta's collection rooms were distributed all around the passage, built throughout this entire section.
The Silver Wolf figurine fiddled with Sylvia's phone, opening the map Asta had sent.
Looking at all the chambers in the Storage Zone, she couldn't help but complain:
"Does that Herta have some kind of collecting obsession? She stuffs all sorts of messy things in here. Not a shortage of dangerous stuff either."
"Well, that's why they're called Herta's toys."
Right at that moment—
Suddenly, a massive arrow descended from above, carrying a fierce gale as it plummeted straight toward Sylvia's head!
Sylvia's muscle memory made her flip and draw her sword before her mind even caught up. Surging flames accompanied the greatsword as she slashed out forcefully.
A sharp screech erupted from the clash of arrow and sword.
The violent collision stirred up flames, only to be devoured by the fire.
In the end, the arrow turned to ash and dissipated, while a Trampler that had appeared from nowhere, its four hooves treading on air, charged at Sylvia!
"Seriously... where are all these elite units coming from."
Sylvia immediately pulled back, dodging the Trampler's stomping attack.
Just as Sylvia planned to finish it with a punch, she suddenly blinked.
Then, right in front of the Silver Wolf figurine, she raised her left hand and gave it a light flick!
Vrrrm—
With a high-frequency hum, threads from all directions suddenly bound the Trampler's four hooves and both hands. Even its neck and waist were entangled by slender threads.
Turquoise-blue flames, liquid-like in appearance, flickered with a faint, intermittent glow.
"Roar—!!"
The Trampler, burned by the flames, immediately felt itself grow weak.
No matter how hard it struggled, it was futile.
The Silver Wolf figurine, who had been rushing up with its weapon to whack away, stared wide-eyed in surprise at the threads Sylvia held in her hand.
"How do you know Kafka's... Oh, I get it. No wonder Kafka just gave you a ring. She foresaw this."
Silver Wolf adopted a tone of 'seeing through everything', putting away her weapon and crossing her arms.
Sylvia couldn't quite say if Kafka giving her the ring was due to the Script or just a spontaneous whim.
But she personally felt it was probably the latter.
Still, Sylvia didn't dwell on it. Pulling on the Trampler, she lightly tapped her toes, flipped, and landed sitting right on its back.
Using the threads as reins, she easily suppressed the struggling Trampler.
And as Sylvia attempted to tame this monster...
[Riding EX] had already taken effect.
Turquoise-blue flames began to spread over the Trampler's body. Sylvia's power started madly eroding and assimilating the creature.
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.