Chapter 5: Starry Sky

“Distance has decreased again!”

Emperor Riel, who could feel his dragon body in a state of slumber and growth, silently regained consciousness.

After the initial awe and shock of the starry sky before him, as well as the pyramid standing in its center, his emotions had now returned to calmness.

What interested him now was the purpose of this pyramid and its impact on him. Would this impact be good or bad?

With these thoughts in mind, Emperor Riel compares each instance of glimpsing the starry sky floating land during his dragon slumber.

Whether the starry sky or the floating land, there isn’t much change, except for his consciousness, which gets closer to the void floating land with each instance.

Although he can control his consciousness each time, traversing the starry sky, approaching the floating land, and gazing upon the pyramid, shortly after reaching the floating land, he awakens from his dragon slumber.

Therefore, Emperor Riel has a premonition that when he enters the dragon slumber state and no longer needs to traverse the starry sky but instead appears directly on the floating land, unprecedented changes may occur.

Emperor Riel feels a slight anticipation but also some apprehension about such changes because he doesn’t know whether these changes will be good or bad for him.

Although rebirth feels rather abrupt, causing him some minor dissatisfaction, in the context of his long life spanning thousands of years, such dissatisfaction amounts to very little.

“About to awaken!”

This time, as he entered the dream, appearing in the position of the stars, very close to the floating land, with just a slight thought, Emperor Riel’s consciousness landed on the floating land.

Then, he knew he was not far from awakening. He had figured out some patterns, but he also knew that this was it. The next time he entered the dragon slumber state, his consciousness would likely appear directly on the floating land.

“What is there?”

Emperor Riel gazed at the pyramid in the center of the floating land, where a magnificent square temple stood atop it. He faintly sensed that something within was calling out to him.

Suddenly, a sensation of falling came over him, his consciousness merging with his body. After a long slumber, his dragon form, now depleted of all the food in his belly, began to revive.

Roar~

Before even opening his eyelids, more than hunger, he felt a discomfort in his body. Emperor Riel sensed the heavy weight pressing down on his dragon form and instinctively let out a low growl.

Crackle~

Tiny and sparkling arcs of electricity burst from Emperor Riel’s slightly open dragon mouth, striking the hard rocky ground, exploding some stones and leaving shallow blackened marks of lightning.

“Roar~ Big brother’s awake!”

“It’s all your fault! We told you not to disturb him, but you had to go and bother him!”

“Hurry up and apologize.”

Thus, when Emperor Riel’s consciousness fully awakened, he saw three little dragons lined up obediently, bowing their heads and apologizing to him.

“… “

However, whether there was any connection to the Black Dragon or not, it had nothing to do with these little dragonlings. Right now, what he needed to do was eat, sleep, quietly await the passage of time, grow stronger, and develop self-defense capabilities.

“Emperor Riel, is this enough?”

Before long, his older sister Elena tore off a piece of flesh from a dragon whale that was larger than all of them combined. Perhaps due to the influence of the Black Dragon bloodline, this piece of flesh was still quite fresh.

“It’s enough.”

Emperor Riel nodded repeatedly. Then he saw the three little ones still sitting in front of him, waiting for his forgiveness.

“Go play, I forgive you!”

“Ahwoo~”

“Roar~”

Upon hearing their elder brother Emperor Riel’s words, the three young dragons cheered and immediately rushed to another corner of the dragon’s lair, not disturbing him while he ate.

Elena also stopped watching him and joined the other young dragons in play. Despite being the older sister, they were all born from the same batch of dragon eggs and were close in age, easily enjoying their time together.

Emperor Riel buried himself in the flesh, but even as he ate heartily, his attention remained focused on the things that had distracted him upon waking up.

At this moment, even though he was fully awake, Emperor Riel could sense a vast floating landmass spanning the starry sky. Most closely connected to him was the majestic pyramid standing at the center of the landmass.

Emperor Riel had a faint feeling that he could simply think of it and enter the void floating land, arriving beneath the pyramid.