What Have I Turned Into...

What Have I Turned Into

It felt as though he'd been asleep for a very, very long time. As his consciousness stirred, Li Wei's first sensation was heaviness.

It was a little like waking up in the dead of winter beneath two thick quilts. He was awake, but groggy, and somehow couldn't push the covers off.

As he lifted his neck, a piercing metallic groan rang out from all over his body. It was like a muscle car that had sat untouched in a garage for years suddenly roaring to life. Even after the dust had been cleared away, everything still felt stiff and unfamiliar.

Instinctively, Li Wei rose onto his hind legs.

BOOM! The deafening crash sent the cave ceiling's upper rock layer bursting open beneath his head. Countless fragments and clouds of dust showered down, getting in the dragon's eyes.

"Awoo! Get into the lair! Protect Master!" The Gnolls guarding the cave rushed inside at the terrifying sound. The scene before them left them stunned.

The enormous beast they had been feeding for the past five years had grown larger and larger. Now it stood upright, its head disappearing through the ceiling.

The Gnolls were terrified. They ran back and forth with their tails tucked between their legs, whining in panic like dogs, but had no idea how they could help.

Dragons generally didn't like making their lairs too large. They preferred them just big enough, because if the lair was too spacious, their hoard would look relatively small.

This was a simple dialectical philosophy that had emerged among the Dragon clans in ancient times.

After all, few dragons woke up from a nap only to find themselves stuck in their lair.

Having inherited the Dragon Inheritance, Li Wei had built his lair according to this custom. Before he went to sleep, even standing up had left him just enough room. He hadn't expected to wake up at least twice as big, his body now over thirty feet long. The result was that he'd punched a hole through the ceiling the moment he stood.

Fortunately, after this long sleep, he seemed to have developed a rather hard head. Apart from a little dizziness, he was fine.

Carefully, Li Wei pulled his head free of the ceiling. His milky-white second eyelids blinked, clearing away the dust, and he finally got a good look at himself.

To prevent anyone from discovering his Silver Dragon true form in the Underdark, he had simply transformed into a Red Dragon before going to sleep. As a result, his current appearance was exceptionally imposing.

His head was clearly a size larger than those of his kin, allowing more jaw muscles to fit between his jaws. At least, in Huozi and the others' eyes, one bite from Master would be enough to twist a young dragon's head clean off.

Another obvious change was that the scales he had lost when his breath had blasted them away during the Riverbank Battle had all grown back.

Thanks to his unceasing, instinctive consumption of various ores over the past five years, his new scales had a metallic sheen. Each one could probably be used as heavy tank armor.

Another thing worth mentioning was that, perhaps because the Gnolls had kept ambushing him during the Riverbank Battle, leaving his belly and lower body relatively poorly defended, the experience had left him with a bit of a psychological scar. During this sleep, layers of overlapping plate armor had grown across his entire abdomen.

Even the outside of his once-vulnerable cloaca was now covered by two retractable plates, much like the airtight hatches of a landing craft.

And around the reverse scales on his neck—once a dragon's most vulnerable spot—a ring of intricate, mechanical-looking metal structures had grown.

Li Wei found them rather ugly and bulky, and they made it harder for him to turn his neck. But they ensured that no one could ambush him and blow up his ammunition chamber while he was charging his breath.

After carefully inspecting his new appearance, Li Wei could only shake his head in disbelief.

He had eaten metal ores for years, and the accumulation of trace heavy metals had somehow caused him to grow, without realizing it, into something like a dragon-shaped Gundam.

Li Wei even wondered if the string of dangerous experiences he'd faced since coming to this world had left him subconsciously feeling unsafe. Had he been so cautious that he'd put all his points into defense and strength while he slept?

Li Wei might have found his new look awkward and uncomfortable, but to the Gnoll feeders who had provided him with food and ore day after day, his awakening looked like the arrival of a god!

Look at Master's mighty, towering form! He had to be stronger than an ordinary young Red Dragon by now, and he even looked a size larger than a weaker adult White Dragon!

Heaven knew that, by the natural growth rate of dragons, Li Wei was still only a Wyrmling.

A Wyrmling who had somehow grown completely crooked in a way no one could have predicted.

The scales on his body looked like the material used for Gershon City's gates. The Gnolls didn't dare test how strong they were now, but if he'd had scales like these on the Riverbank battlefield, even more than two hundred Gnolls, over twenty Ogres, and the Dilo Dwarf Chapter that arrived later probably couldn't have pierced them.

But the Gnolls who had watched Li Wei become this way didn't find it strange.

After all, over the past five years, just to provide the enormous quantity of metal ore Li Wei consumed each day, the Didi miners across Zelandia had been working 996 shifts all year round. They had even dug through the entire West Mining Area and reached the 13th Layer Cavity Dome Region of the Underdark.

There had been no shortage of accidents along the way. Fortunately, the armed forces of Zelandia were nothing like what they used to be, and they had managed to avert disaster every time.

"Mm-ee!"

Li Wei looked up. Sure enough, Remlu, in her original Slime form, bounced in through the cave entrance. In just a few hops, she landed on Li Wei's outstretched claw. He lifted her up to his head, and she eagerly rubbed her face against his cheek, murmuring "Mm-ee, mm-ee" as though scolding him for sleeping so long.

"All right, all right. Remlu's the goodest girl." Li Wei affectionately scratched her smooth, glistening, transparent little head with the tip of a claw.

Then Remlu suddenly transformed into a Cavens Rat and squeaked twice. She went on to cycle through several other forms, including a Myconid, a Kobold, a Lizardfolk, and an Elemental Stone Golem, before changing back into a Slime. It seemed she was showing off the progress she'd made over the years.

"Not bad, not bad. You've gained so many forms, and more importantly, you no longer need to fuse with your companions." Li Wei lavished praise on little Remlu, who had grown cleverer and more capable. Yet he couldn't help wondering. Zelandia had been peaceful, and before going to sleep he'd told Remlu not to eat his miners. In theory, she would never disobey him. There was only one possibility—

During the five years he'd been asleep, Zelandia had been at war with someone. And the threat must have been serious enough that the Slime army had to be deployed.

Still, even if there had been a crisis, it couldn't have threatened Zelandia's very survival. Otherwise, Old Dwarf Tiger and Huozi would have ignored his wishes and woken him.

Well, he could just summon Huozi and ask.

And speak of Huozi, there he was.

"Awoo! Congratulations on awakening from your long slumber! Long may you live, My Lord, Lord Tibilus!" The Gnoll Great Chieftain Huozi had rushed over as soon as he heard the news. He dropped to one knee and gazed up at Li Wei with fervent devotion, offering his most heartfelt congratulations.

"Long may you live, My Lord, Lord Tibilus!" The other Gnolls knelt in unison.

Li Wei nodded to them. "You've all worked hard during this time."

"Guarding Master's lair is the lifelong glory of the Crimson Fang Gnoll clan!" Huozi declared proudly.

Li Wei didn't bother with small talk with his only trusted lackey. He asked directly, "I'm sure a lot has happened in Zelandia over the past few years. Just tell me the important things."

"Yes!" Huozi's expression turned serious. He thought for a moment, then began, "Actually, when the five-year mark passed, we were planning to wake you according to your wishes. Zelandia has developed rapidly and changed enormously. In terms of scale, it's only a little smaller than Gershon City, but some matters have become quite urgent. There are two major issues that require you to make a decision as soon as possible. Here's what happened..."

Thank you to Muye Canglan for the Hundred Rewards.