Li Wei wasn't sure whether it was because of the trauma he had suffered on the Riverbank battlefield, but after a long period of deep sleep to let himself recover, he finally began to slowly "wake" from his dream.
Li Wei cautiously cracked open one eye. Seeing that his Inheritance Dreamscape was still as shattered as a garbage dump, he gave up in disappointment on the absurd idea of "trying to restart the dream by opening his eyes a different way."
Other people get up to go to work. I have to get up and pick through garbage even when I'm asleep. Ah, being a dragon is hard!
Reluctantly, Li Wei began to move his consciousness core.
Yes, over the past three years, he had gradually figured out how to move around in the Inheritance Dreamscape. It wasn't actually very difficult; it was much like how a dragon manipulated magic to fly through the air.
He finally no longer had to travel around the Soul Space by "farting."
If this dark chapter of his past ever got out, who knew whether the Platinum Dragon God would be so furious on hearing it that he'd suffer a heart attack. But the Mother of Silver Dragons, whom Li Wei privately called the Silver Mother of Bitches, would probably bestow a +5 Strength blessing on him under the pretext of caring for a mentally challenged dragon hatchling.
As for why she'd boost his Strength instead of his Intelligence, that old Silver Dragon auntie probably figured the poor kid's IQ was beyond saving.
And for desecrating the sacred place where dragons passed down their souls, he'd likely be mobbed and beaten by his Metal Dragon buddies. Even if he only boosted his Constitution, they might still turn him into a punching bag, so he might as well add some Strength and at least have a chance to fight back when they picked on him~
Well, that was how the Mother of Silver Dragons showed her kindness: chaotic, and always eager to stir up trouble.
But this time, Li Wei had made thorough preparations for his trip into the Soul Space, and he had a clear objective.
Thanks to his experience in the temporary nest by the riverbank, he'd accidentally discovered that even while asleep, he could instinctively eat when he got hungry.
So Li Wei had his retainers, Huozi and the others, dig a huge pit in his nest right where his head lay. When he went to sleep, he simply pointed his dragon muzzle into it. Every day, his hardworking Gnoll guards filled the pit with all sorts of ores and food.
Whenever Li Wei got hungry, all he had to do was instinctively flick his tongue, and he could keep stuffing the ores and food from the pit into the bottomless hole inside him, like an endless furnace, while still fast asleep.
Li Wei might not have realized it, but with this automatic feeding trick, he had set a record of sorts.
He had far surpassed the maximum hibernation time of a young dragon, by who knew how many times.
He was truly the ultimate nest-dweller.
And now, this nest-dweller, who had earned the right to stay asleep for a long time, was going to test a theory he'd held for ages:
Why did the Inheritance Dreamscape and that artificial idiot both explode, yet only the remnants of the Technology Side remained? It makes no sense!
In theory, when two objects collided, even if they shattered at the same time, their fragments should still be mixed together.
The reason Li Wei hadn't found a single remnant that originally belonged to the Dragon Inheritance Dreamscape in three years—
Li Wei was certain that, aside from his terrible luck, the main problem was the disparity in scale between the two.
The first time he had entered the Inheritance Dreamscape and encountered that unknown entity from the Technology Side, he'd been grazed by just a tiny bit of its dispersed data. Even he, someone who had lived through the information explosion of his previous life, had nearly fallen apart on the spot.
That alone showed how terrifyingly vast its information was. While it still had a will of its own, Li Wei wouldn't have dared touch even a speck of it.
But now, picking through the remains in his own territory was another matter. When he was in a good mood, he could even hum a horribly off-key execution-song soundtrack and dance on the grave.
"This time, I should have enough time. Let's get started. God of Luck, be with me!" Li Wei gazed at the seemingly endless sea of trash filling his field of vision and sighed deeply.
Other people had a mountain of books to climb and an ocean of learning to cross. He, meanwhile, was wading through a sea of garbage. But considering that he could occasionally wring some useful knowledge out of it, he supposed he could console himself with that.
And wade through it he did.
By the reckoning of time in the outside world, nearly five years had passed.
Li Wei was almost numb to it by then.
He had kept track of time in the Inheritance Space, too. He didn't know how it compared to the outside world, but he knew a very, very long time had passed.
Fortunately, he was good at keeping his spirits up. He could barely understand this alien technology, but its bizarre lines of thought had opened up a whole new world for him. He treated the dry documents and research materials as science fiction novels and read them purely to broaden his horizons.
Whenever he felt mentally exhausted, he would sink into a deeper sleep and have ordinary dreams. Then he'd "wake" from the shallow dream and get back to hauling garbage.
"Let's see what we've got. Hmm, a DR1013 Edition VIII Phototropic Warship Design Blueprint. Another useless piece of junk. Damn it, the universal constants might not even be the same. What use is this? Toss it!"
"Hmm, this one's kind of interesting: Imperium DR3036 Edition Kraken Bolter Blueprint, Version III. But I can't make it anyway. Still, I can use it for reference."
After Arcanist Igg had explained things to him a while back, Li Wei had concluded that these bizarre-looking things definitely weren't from the Netheril era. They had most likely drifted in from another plane or Crystal Sphere.
That sort of thing wasn't uncommon, either. Most of it was junk, though it could still offer plenty of inspiration in terms of its Knowledge System and academic approach.
Li Wei would often toss the rubbish he deemed "useless" into the deepest part of his Soul Space. Leaving it in the Inheritance Space would only make him repeat useless work later.
During his previous period of sleep, he had divided his Soul Space into several large sections, like a computer hard drive, then subdivided each section into smaller areas like folders.
So the task at hand was a bit like the "waste sorting" movement that had been in full swing in his previous life.
Anything almost impossible to use went straight into the deepest "recycle bin." This category made up about ninety-five percent of the junk, including useless things like the DR1013 Edition VIII Phototropic Warship Design Blueprint.
Things that had some reference value but weren't much use went into "To Review." These included the Brain Turing Artificial Intelligence Evolution, the Rift Crossing Technology Manual, Atomic Cataclysm, and Spacetime Echo.
These products, which seemed almost magical from the perspective of the Technology Side, might one day inspire his Arcanist squad in their research into the arcane arts in Coriel, a truly fantastical world.
Only things like the Chainsword blueprint, which might be possible to reproduce in Coriel, went into "Future Manufacturing Plans." At the moment, only a few items lay quietly inside.
The one Li Wei valued most was called The Imperium's 20 Primarchs and 19 Augmentation Surgeries for the Ultramarines.
When he'd first seen the familiar-looking item, Li Wei had been stunned. Weren't the Ultramarines the users of the standard weapon mentioned in the Imperium DR3029 Edition Chainsword Manufacturing Blueprint?
As he read on, the shock and excitement in his eyes were almost impossible to describe. He couldn't get his hands on the Ultramarines' gene-seed, but he could use his own dragon blood to make the modifications!
As for the nineteen augmentation surgeries, they were: Second Heart, Bone Augmentation Organ, Muscle Augmentation Organ, Blood Reconstitution Organ, Reconstituted Blood Organ, Lariman Organ, Nerve Ganglion, Pre-gastric Stomach, Gene-Detection Nerve, Multi-Lung, Visual Control Organ, Leman's Ear, Meninges, Pigment Control Sphere, Pebble Kidney, Taste-Monitoring Nerve, Sweat Gland Improvement Organ, Beetle Gland, Gene Storage Gland, and Black Carapace.
Some of them might be impossible to implement, but things like a Second Heart, Muscle Augmentation Organ, and Multi-Lung would be a piece of cake in a fantasy world like Coriel, supported by all sorts of spells.
Just imagining his Gnoll Retainers, modified with the Ultramarines' augmentation surgeries and charging into battle with knockoff Chainswords, was almost too blood-soaked and violent to bear.
It's a shame I never found a second remnant of the Inheritance Dreamscape. Li Wei sighed.
Yes, around the third year of sorting through the garbage, he had unexpectedly found a fragment of the Dragon Inheritance Mark. Unfortunately, it was only the most basic 1st Ring Spell, Healing Spell. It could probably do no more than ease an injury.
It was still useless, but Li Wei had been tremendously encouraged.
It proved that his theory was correct.
But in the two years since, he hadn't found a second fragment.
Now, he could vaguely feel that this period of sleep was nearing its limit.
Looks like I'll have to try again next time. Li Wei looked around the Soul Space, where he had cleared a small patch of open ground, and sighed.
Dragons were greedy. Even though he'd found The Imperium's 20 Primarchs and 19 Augmentation Surgeries for the Ultramarines, which would surely greatly improve his retainers' strength, his own power probably wouldn't increase much.
Just as he was about to end this period of sleep, a spherical fragment in the distance caught his attention.
Thump.
Thump.
He could even faintly sense the echo of his own heartbeat in the real world.
It has to be! Li Wei's spirits soared. He raced over as fast as he could and picked it up.
Faint images flowed across the dim spherical fragment. To his astonishment, Li Wei saw the face he had been longing for.
"Sylvie! It really is your new movie! What a twist of fate! I, Li Mou Long, have missed you so much all these years! Hahahahahaha—cough! Here we go!"
Without the slightest hesitation, Li Wei plunged his consciousness into the Inheritance Orb.
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