NOVEL NEXT Chapter 7
Chapter 7. In the Blink of an Eye (1)
Nibble nibble.
Lois stuffed his cheeks with snacks like a little squirrel.
Genelocer watched him with fondness.
Crunch.
Biting into a blue ice crystal, a coolness that felt like frozen fruit juice filled his mouth.
“What’s this?”
“It’s a Ramus, a fruit that grows in the cold Northern Seas. Especially delicious during the hot summer. We have plenty, so eat as much as you like!”
It was a moment when Ramus berries, considered the elixir of life for those who practiced water attributes, became a mere snack for a young dragon.
And it wasn’t just the Ramus.
‘Chewy, isn’t it?’
From the stem of Hetrogen, which greatly enhances wood attributes.
‘Is this cotton candy?’
The Sky Jellyfish that holds the attribute of wind within.
‘And this one’s a bit tangy.’
Even the heart of Neojos, which was said to accumulate thunder energy just by being nearby.
Lois was nonchalantly snacking on elixirs that most beings would not even witness in their lifetime.
However, not just anyone could consume these elixirs haphazardly like Lois did.
Without preparation, consuming these elixirs indiscriminately would result in their energy overwhelming the body, causing it to burst.
But Lois’s heart allowed him to partake in such a feast.
The Dragon Heart.
The supreme organ that converts the mana of nature into attributes.
The Dragon Heart even converts the energy of elixirs with set attributes into the attributes the dragon was born with, aiding in the dragon’s growth.
Knowing this, prospective dragon parents spent a long time collecting such elixirs for their future offspring.
“Do you like it?”
“Yes!”
“Eat plenty!”
“Will do!”
The elixirs that Lois was currently enjoying were collected over a long time by Genelocer and his wife for their child.
A faint worry appeared on Genelocer’s face as he watched his son devour the elixirs.
‘If I had known he would be born with four attributes, I would have prepared more…’
With more attributes, Lois’s body would require that much more energy.
No one could have rashly guessed how much elixir Lois, the first dragon in history to be born with four attributes, would need to grow.
‘I suppose I’ll have to go out to gather more elixirs before long, even though my father has offered to help.’
Even for dragons, acquiring elixirs was no easy task.
But Genelocer found Lois so adorable as he ate heartily that his worries quickly dissipated.
When Lois had eaten about half the snacks piled on the tray, his hands began to slow down.
Nod nod.
Lois’s head bobbed forward and backward as he stuffed elixir snacks into his mouth, his eyes already half-closed.
“Ha!”
An irrepressible smile spread across Genelocer’s lips.
The sight of Lois dozing off mid-snack was simply too adorable.
Thud.
Finally, Lois dropped whatever he was eating and plunged into dreamland.
Smiling, Genelocer picked up Lois and laid him in bed.
After giving Lois a large, woolen rabbit doll to cuddle, Genelocer stroked his son’s head once and quietly exited the room.
Soft breaths.
Soon, the room darkened, and Lois’s steady breathing was the only sound that filled the silent space.
* * *
The time Lois fell asleep.
A strange occurrence unfolded within Lois’s room.
A small dot emerged out of nowhere in the empty air.
The dot that appeared in the air began to move slowly.
Without a sound, a line followed the moving dot, and it started to take on a more definite shape.
It was as if someone was drawing with a pen in the void – a peculiar phenomenon.
After a very slow drawing process and considerable time, the shape that appeared was that of a fork.
Given the time spent, the result seemed ludicrously inconsequential.
But the astonishing event happened shortly after.
Swoosh.
The small fork, drawn with black lines in a 2D form, suddenly transformed into a real fork.
Thunk.
The newly formed fork stuck vertically into the floor of Lois’s room.
The black dot that had appeared in the air began to move again, this time towards the bed where Lois lay asleep.
Shush shush.
The black dot that touched the rabbit doll Lois tightly embraced began to move busily.
Soft breaths.
Deeply asleep, Lois was unaware of the strange events unfolding around him.
* * *
“…When did I fall asleep?”
Holding the white rabbit doll, Lois sat up, looking dazed.
He had awakened from sleep but his head felt very foggy.
Moreover, he had no recollection of the previous day.
He couldn’t remember when he had fallen asleep.
Lois tilted his head, pondering.
“Did I fall asleep eating snacks?”
As he was trying to recall when he fell asleep, a noise came from his stomach.
Gurgle.
“…I’m hungry.”
Lois’s growing body was in constant demand for nourishment.
Setting the rabbit doll aside, he got out of bed.
Just then, a booming voice called out.
“Lois, if you’re up, let’s eat!”
“Okay! I’ll be right there!”
Feeling a sudden hunger upon waking, Lois wasted no time in responding.
As he was about to scurry out of the room quickly,
“Yelp!”
Lois tumbled over when something tugged at his tail.
“Ouch.”
He rubbed his chin, which had hit the floor after tumbling, and his expression turned rigid as he spotted an object in front of him.
“……”
About 10 cm from where Lois had fallen was a fork.
A fork sticking vertically into the floor with the pointed end facing up.
Lois picked up the fork and muttered incredulously.
“…Now they’re putting ridiculous death flags like this in my path?”
If he had tumbled a bit further, his head would have been speared by the fork.
What were the odds of stepping on his tail and falling right next to a vertically standing fork?
“Where did all the probability go, really?”
Grumbling, Lois flung the fork away, as if it were no big deal.
After so many brushes with death, he had become numb to it.
He looked at his tail.
“…What’s this now?”
Lois’s complexion slightly darkened.
A white thread was tangled in the scales of his tail.
Following the thread with his eyes, it didn’t take long for Lois to realize its origin.
“Yikes! Toto!”
The rabbit doll that had been his punching bag and cushion since his reincarnation was dangling by the bed rail.
Hurriedly, Lois went to pick up the doll.
It was in a state of disrepair, its lower half gone due to the unraveling wool.
The doll had been his confidante during times of distress, offering much-needed comfort.
Lois looked sentimentally at his doll’s remains.
“I’ll have to ask Daddy to fix it…”
With a softened expression, he toddled off to eat, clutching the doll’s remaining ear.
* * *
A few days later.
“…Something’s not right.”
Lois was deep in thought, his expression grave.
He reflected on his condition over the past few days.
While eating.
While reading.
While snacking.
Even when walking around the lair to strengthen his wings.
Memories slipped away moment by moment, and whenever he awoke, he was always in bed.
“What’s… what’s happening?”
Initially, Lois thought he was just sleeping more, but as the days went on and the pattern repeated, he realized the gravity of the situation.
After much deliberation, he sought out Genelocer for answers.
“Daddy.”
“What is it?”
Genelocer, who was in the midst of preparing snacks for Lois, looked down at his son clutching his pants.
“Daddy… something’s wrong with me.”
Lois’s voice was downcast, and Genelocer’s face showed concern as he quickly scooped him up.
“Why, why? My son, are you hurt?”
“Um… Does it count as being hurt? I’m not sure. I keep falling asleep at random…”
“Ah!”
Upon hearing his son’s plight, Genelocer’s worried expression dissolved into a smile.
“It’s alright. There’s nothing wrong with you.”
“Really?”
“It’s just time.”
“Time?”
Lois’s face showed confusion.
Genelocer kindly explained.
“Our kind, the dragons, have two periods of deep sleep during our youth for growth.”
“……”
“The reason you’ve been dozing off so much recently is a sign that the first deep sleep period is approaching.”
“……”
Lois’s face grew pale as he listened to Genelocer’s story.
He stammered his question.
“How… how long will I sleep?”
“Well, there’s no set time… but on average, about a hundred years? Could be more.”
Lois’s mind went blank.
His brain, a blank slate, was filled with shock and fear.
‘Damn it!’
Lois’s mouth gaped open.
It had only been a few days since he almost died from a nonsensical death flag, the kind you’d sell in a yard sale.
And now, without any preparation, he was going to sleep for 100 years unprotected?
‘Never trust a cat with a fish! This is just like offering my neck to a madman with a blade!’
Lois’s life, at just over two months old, was facing the worst crisis possible.
* * *
After regaining his composure from the shock and fear, Lois hurried back to his room.
“Oh…”
He bit the ear of the freshly mended white rabbit doll.
His tail shook restlessly as if it had a motor attached.
Thump thump thump.
“Only two months old and my life… no, my dragon life, is this turbulent…”
Lois’s emotional graph over the past two months had been a rollercoaster.
The euphoria of realizing he had been reincarnated as a dragon had plummeted into despair upon learning that his dragon life was limited.
After wandering at rock bottom from the recurring death flags, hope in the form of talent had boosted him up again.
Now, his spirits had plummeted again in the face of a new, immense crisis.
Currently, Lois’s emotional graph was a mess, at what might be considered an all-time low.
“It’s dangerous… so dangerous…”
Lois muttered ‘dangerous’ repeatedly.
“I need a plan, a plan…”
His mind was blank as a whiteboard.
Despite trying to think of a solution to his current predicament, nothing came to mind.
Blink.
“Whoa!”
Startled by the sudden onset of drowsiness, Lois jerked his head up.
He slapped his cheeks with his fluffy hands.
Slap.
“Come on, Lois, focus! If you fall asleep here, it’s all over!”
According to Genelocer’s explanation, the first period of deep sleep could come at any moment.
He might fall asleep and directly enter into the deep sleep period.
‘What if a death flag hits while I’m sleeping?!’
The notion of ‘any moment’ could be terrifying.
For Lois, ‘falling asleep at any moment’ meant ‘dying at any moment’.
The period of deep sleep for Lois was like removing the oxygen mask from a patient gasping for air.
“I must not, absolutely must not fall asleep!”
Lois resolved never to give in to sleep.
However, it was impossible not to sleep for a lifetime.
Dragons could survive without sleep for decades according to their lore, but they were still living creatures.
Even for beings as powerful as dragons, sleep was essential.
‘I’ll try to stay awake as long as possible and find a way!’
A determined will to survive.
And thus began Lois’s ordeal.