CHAPTER 70: MEETING THE MASTER

~Lilliana POV~

When I recovered from the teleportation I found myself in a bedroom of some sorts. It was simply but elegantly decorated. In the centre of the back wall stood a large 4 poster bed, the wooden posts at each edge extended up to the tall ceiling almost 8ft high. Each one was decorated with fine depictions of flowering plants, vines and trees.

The plant moteif was carried through to the bed itself with emerald green pillows and a dark green duvet with embroidered flowers over them both. In each side was a simple wooden side table with a singular draw at the top. The only odd thing about the bed was the 4 lengths of fine rope tied to each of the 4 posts.

To the right of the bed stood a tall wardrobe with a double door and besides that sat a large oak desk and comfortable desk chair with plush leather upholstery.

On the opposite side of the room a low table with two couches on either side of the long low table with a hearth on the wall which was lit and kept the room at a nice warm temperature. The feel of the room was cosy yet elegant and I truly had no idea what was going on. That was until I noticed the last object in the room. By a window along the same wall as the hearth and low table sat a singular chair, but calling it a chair seemed to be a disservice as this looked like one of the most comfortable chairs you could imagine, with a deep enough back to easily tuck your legs up and still have extra space. But what made this stand out the most was the woman that sat on said chair.

She was tall, probabally around 6 and a half feet. She had pink skin and a full figure. Stop her head sat two elegant horns capped in gold with a ring pierced to the top that has a delicate silver chain that ran down to the woman’s pointed heads and attached to a ring dangling from a matching golden ring through the lobe. Her face was a work of art, perfectly symmetric with soft arcing eyebrows of a deep purple that matched her hair which she had in a loose brain that hung over her left shoulder. Her eyes were a deep violet that reminded me slightly of Kanas except for the flecks of pink that made them pop. Full lips sat in a small smirk and were a deeper pink than her skin.

She wore a black dress with a deep plunging v that reached her navel and fine black lace that edged the plunge. A corset was included within the dress that accentuated her hourglass frame and ensured her full bust stood proud and her hips flared out. Ending in a angle length skirt with a single slit up her right leg which went from the top of her thighs all the way to her ankle.

I stood stunned for a moment not quite sure how to respond to this stunning beauty that was before me. That was until a system screen popped up before me.

[You are challenged with ¥#%€]*+!~]

Objective -????

-????

]

I blinked in confusion at the nonsensical notification that hurt to look at for some reason, as if the knowlage that it hid was harmful to even know and I instinctively dismissed the screen not wanting to see it any more. I then looked back up at the vision of beauty before me and I felt my throat go dry and all thoughts leave my head.

A soft musical laugh echoed out from the woman which made my knees feel weak. "Come now my dear Lilliana no need to be afraid, I only bite when I know they like it." I gulped at that knowing that I would definitely like it if this woman were to bite me. "Oh I know you would darling, but not just yet. First we need to have a little talk I think. So come sit with me." Saying so she stood and walked over to the sofas and sat in the centre of one and gestured me to sit in the other across from her.

Without me even noticing I found my legs moving by themselves as I made my way over to the other sofa and found myself sat down facing her before I could process what just happened. "Good, good. Now I’d imagine you are quite confused as to why I brought you hear now aren’t you?" She asked in a tone that seemed like she already knew the answer but was simply asking to be polite. Unable to trust my voice at the moment I simply nodded.

"Well that is quite simple really. You see iv been watching all challengers that have entered my trial ground for a very long time. But you are the first person that I have seen come here with a boon from my very own patron." My mind blanked for a moment at the overload of information that was so casually mentioned. First this is her trial ground? So wouldn’t that make her Lillith, the Emerald ranked being. Then the fact that she knows of my boons and has the same patron as me?

"You know who my patron is? But I don’t even know what they are, c-can you tell me?" I managed to blurt that out as it seemed like the reasonable way to go.

"Oh I could tell you sure... but I don’t think I will she likes to be all mysterious, took me quite a long time to figure out who they were myself so it would feel cheap to rob you of the experience of figuring it out for yourself!" She sounded amused with herself at that and let out a soft laugh that sent tingles down my spine at the sound.

"O-okay so, this if your trial so does that make you Lillith? How are you hear?" I ask instead not wanting to let the conversation die.

"Well that’s quite simple really, when you create a trial ground you can choose to leave behind a.. imprint of yourself within that will manage the space and ensure that everything runs properly. And can also step in when things either go wrong or like now when I simply want to."

I take a moment to process what she said before replying. "Well that sounds slightly terrifying. Umm but why exactly did you want to speak to me. I don’t think I’m exactly that special, I know you mentioned our shared patron but was that all?" I was worried that what I said might come across as rude by my ability to think clearly has been dramatically reduced since I first met this woman and I kept finding myself getting lost in her enchanting eyes.

"Well your not wrong there is another reason I wanted to bring you here. You see iv heard of a few outworlders but iv never actually met one before now. So I wanted to speak with one. And well you have passed the first section of the trial so you do need a further test before you can get your reward. I have a few ideas on how we can go about testing you." A hungry glint entered her eyes when she mentioned testing me and a could feel my cheeks warm and I was now very glad I was sitting or else I fear I may have collapsed.

"Oh?" I squeaked out. "What do you want to know?"

"Well several things, but let’s start with how you ended up in this world.." and so I told my story. Seeing as this being in front of me could probably destroy me with a casual wave of her hand and already seemed to know so much about me I didn’t really hold anything back. We talked for quite a while with her wanting to know details of earth and my life that I held there. She seemed fascinated by the most random parts of my life and I began to relax and enjoy the conversation quite a lot.

Before I knew it we had been speaking for almost 2 hours and I was now much more relaxed and she had even brought out some snacks for us to share. It had turned out into quite the lovely conversation.

When my story came to an end and she no longer had any questions a natural pause entered our conversation whilst she digested all I had told her about, whilst I enjoyed the berry tart that she had produced. Eventually thought she did speak up again.

"Well Lilly I must thank you for indulging my curiosity, I haven’t had a chance for a good chat in quite some time." I had learnt some things about her and one such nugget of info was that this ’imprint’ of the real Lillith was completely disconnected from the real person and unless the real Lillith showed up she would remain locked away and unknowing of what was happening outside.

"But I suppose that we now must move in the the trial portion of this. Before we do however I will offer you a choice. You can either take a more traditional trial for a more traditional reward. Or you can take my personal trial and receive a personalised reward. And just to sweeten the pot I’ll let you know that I intend to have 2 rewards, the first will be to alter that book of yours to expand the number of items you may equip. And the second will be a boon of my very own. So what say you Lilly, which trial will you take?"