Cain gradually woke from his slumber, dismissing the sound-proof magic circles and removing the leaf from his eyes. Yet he still laid in bed, reviewing the dream he just had. Why must my dreams be so realistic… to top it off, I have a wife in almost every one, as if they’re mocking me for being single…

—Group Chat: Cain, Dresil, Bob, and Rex— (95ms)

Rex: Hahahah, no way that’s true.

Cain: It is sadly.

Bob: How realistic are they?

Cain: If I didn’t choose to forget some of them, then I’d end up confusing reality and the dreams.

Cain: I’ve even had cases where the feelings accidentally transferred over from a dream.

Cain: I’ve also had a dream where I had wings and was flying around. I can still remember the muscles and the feeling of moving those muscles to fly despite not having them.

Cain: Something similar happened with mana and controlling fire.

Rex: dafuq…? They sound like different worlds at this point.

Cain: Ikr… They’re lengthy too. Some last decades, others years. Almost all of them can be fit into at least one novel.

Rex: Dang… at least it’s entertaining though.

Cain: Indeed.

Bob: Are you sure these dreams aren’t windows into other worlds? It’s possible with your soul that keeps getting stronger and the vast amount of mana you have along with the mutation of our powers.

Cain: I’d think that if it only happened here. It’s been going on for about a year before I was summoned here. The other dreams that I’ve had before then weren’t as vivid, but were still lengthy.

Rex: Damn… you could write your own novel from a dream then.

Cain: Pffft, if I find a way to export the novel from my brain w/o typing it. Otherwise I’d be stuck writing for decades with how long some of these are.

Rex: You’re capping.

Bob: Impossible…

Cain: …where did you learn that phrase? Anyways, it’s true. Some might have about thousand chapters, others will have tens of thousands.

Rex: Wow… Can you give us a brief summary of your dream just now then?

Bob: I concur, this seems interesting.

Cain: Sure, I’ve got nothing else to do until the party has lunch. It’s about 11am anyways so we have an hour ish.

Rex: I’m surprised you woke up on your own, thought you’d need Dresil you yeet you up.

Cain: Nah, I don’t sleep 13+ hours every night. I got my 13 hrs, not much more is needed than that.

Cain: Probably wouldn’t even be able to go back to sleep right now if I wanted to.

Dresil: Master… they’re having lunch right now.

Cain: …what kind of mad lads eat lunch so early in the morning?

Rex: I think you’re the mad lad for just waking up right now.

Bob: Agreed.

Cain: Pfft, this is nothing. I used to wake up at 6pm and have breakfast.

Cain: Anyways, let me have some food first before I share the summary of the dream. It’ll be pretty long though.

Rex: :popcorn:

Bob: Oooh, Dresil, use Rex to pop some popcorn.

Dresil: Oh, good idea. Rex come here, I have some memes for you.

Rex: :dafuq: You guys literally planned it in front of me…

Dresil: Damn… he got smarter.

Bob: Rip.

--------------------------

Cain propped up his back against the bedpost and recollected his dream while Dresil unmerged from the blankets and distributed his breakfast on plates laid around him. Cain absentmindedly snacked on the food around him as he attempted to piece together how to go about telling the summary of his dream. Just the summary was pretty lengthy in itself.

—Group Chat: Cain, Dresil, Bob, and Rex— (170ms)

Rex: Wait wait wait. Before you start, can you separate the messages out so it’s just not one big wall of text? It’s easier on the eyes.

Cain: …do you even have eyes?

Rex: Yes? Maybe? Idk… what do I have…?

Cain: Aight, existential crisis for later, I’m going to type out the summary now.

Cain: So I got reincarnated or summoned into a novel. Not sure how I got there, all I know is that I got there.

Cain: Anyways, the novel’s original plotline was me as the mc, converted into a cyborg. Mindless boi roaming about for the first few hundred chapters, then I gain sentience after a few hundred chapters.

Cain: So I leave the organization that made me, they weren’t good or bad, just scientists trying to make cyborgs a reality for prosthetic patients. Some of them used humane methods, others didn’t.

Cain: I was created by the humane branch so I just left them to deal with their own trash after informing the people who modified me about it. Served as a good distraction to leave unnoticed too.

Cain: While roaming about the world, discovering human emotions, actions, etc. I met a black dragon disguised as a food clerk of one of my favorite food stalls. She always gave me free snacks on the side, so naturally we became good friends.

Cain: Of course, I didn’t know she was a black dragon until about 50 chapters later.

Cain: Time continued pretty mindlessly until her family came to drag her back. I stood up for her since she clearly didn’t want to leave. She then took the opportunity to use me as a shield saying she was staying because I was her boyfriend.

Cain: I had no qualms about it, I had a crush on her after all. So we went along with the play, satisfied some of her family’s conditions, then she got the feels for me somewhere along the way and we started dating for real.

Cain: Anyways, a few hundred chapters later and then I find out it’s not just one novel, but multiple novels of different versions connected like a multiverse. General plot is the same and all, but the organization who made all of us knowingly let us leave to develop connections and sentience so they could use those against us to make the perfect weapon.

Cain: About a little less than a thousand chapters later, the mc (me) goes through some Warframe like battle scenes (they were hecking epic) but also ends up losing his sanity since his enemy made him believe his wife (the black dragon) died. Thus accomplishing the organization's goal. iirc, the reason we, I?, were fighting in the first place was to find an item to slow the corruption/poison of the cyborg parts.

Cain: Ah, right. About 400 chapters after the family conflict, first contact with the parallel novel world is made. There’s a bridge that connects each novel with employees from the organization managing each bridge.

Cain: Anyways, that’s just the normal plotline of each novel (roughly, since it varies per world), before I got yeeted into the mc’s position.

Rex: The… fuck…? That’s just the exposition?

Bob: Dang, that seems more like a world than a novel or dream.

Rex: You’re telling me the dream hasn’t even started yet?

Cain: Yep. So digest all that because shit gets real in the next part.

Rex: …is it too late to quit now?

Cain: Yep.

Bob: How did the novel’s information even happen in the dream?

Cain: Pretty sure there were a few days of normal me reading the book in which I digested the entirety of the plot and details of the novel.

Cain: It felt like a few minutes had passed though.

Bob: Damn… the human brain really is something.

Rex: Nah… I’m pretty sure you’re a cyborg right now and you just downloaded the info.

Rex: Like… the fuck man?

Cain: :hehe:

Dresil: :popcorn:

Cain: You guys ready for the next bit?

Rex: No… give me a break first.

Cain: Alright, I’m going to eat then. Let me know when you’re ready, but if you don’t before I leave to meet up with the party then I won’t share it anymore.

Bob: :noted:

Rex: Fine…

--------------------------

Cain instantly increased his consumption of food, shocking Dresil greatly. Having to recall, interpret, and message the dream all within milliseconds took greater amounts of energy than Cain realized. Thus he did his best to replenish it before his cells started to starve too much; the events of what happened under the microscope flashing to mind.

Cain devoured many plates of meat and fruits. All one could see was just a revolving wheel of empty and filled plates, vines kept the wheel going and prevented the plates from falling off. The moment a filled plate rotated before Cain, it appeared on his right as an empty plate to be refilled by Dresil on the other end of the wheel.

This continued for about 20 minutes until a message from Rex came in the group chat.

—Group Chat: Cain, Dresil, Bob, and Rex— (231ms)

Rex: Aight, let’s continue.

Cain: You’re sure?

Rex: ..I’ll manage.

Cain: Bob, you ready too?

Bob: I’ve been ready since you closed the group chat.

Rex: …can someone please reroll my stats

Cain: :kek:

Bob: :oof:

Dresil: :kek:

Cain: Aight, now for the part of the dream where I got yeeted into the novel. It’s a lot smaller compared to before, but you’ll need more brain cells.

Dresil: I’m afraid Rex might not have a brain to produce brain cells.

Bob: At least his fire will grow stronger if he overheats.

Cain: :popcorn:

Rex: :noted: That was actually a good roast

Cain:

Cain: Aight, now to the boi.

Cain: I got yeeted into the cyborg me within the first 100 chapters and continued the original novel plotline vaguely.

Cain: When I got free roam unlocked, I grabbed some treasures and made it seem like lucky encounters or deduction based off random info instead of previous knowledge since the organization always kept tabs on the cyborgs.

Cain: By the 550th chapter or so, I already had the same amount of power that the original had in 2000 chapters or so. By this point I had already met my future wife and had the family contact.

Cain: Right after she made the decision to date with me, I shared all of my memories and knowledge with her. Keep in mind, dragons are like wolves in the point that once they decide on their husband, they won’t leave them even after death.

Cain: In other words, once I knew she committed to us, I revealed everything.

Cain: This caused a few fights though, ended up taking about 60 chapters of the original novel timeline to resolve it and cool her head.

Cain: Then we made plans to overthrow the organization and prevent them from interfering on this world again.

Cain: She went off to deal with some members of the organization that were part of her family under the guise of “competing for the throne.” There wasn’t really a throne, but it was something more similar to family head.

Cain: Meanwhile, I made it seem like my discovery of multiple universes came from hard work, calculations, and boredom. Thus allowing me to access the bridge between worlds allowing me to make first contact with the other world 100 chapters earlier than the soonest boi.

Cain: I hopped around between different novels using various loopholes and blindspots to not be seen, taking the opportunities, lucky encounters, and other such things from other novel mcs who had already fallen to the point of no return.

Cain: I also set things up in their novel plot lines that would either kill them or render them useless for the organization’s plans.

Cain: I used the items/opportunities I gained to fix my corruption/poisoning of the cyborg parts a few thousand chapters before the soonest boi. But it also put me into a weakening state as my pure? I guess that’s the right term.

Cain: Anyways, I got put into a weakened state as my new body adjusted to the power it accumulated and learned how to use it without corrupting/poisoning me again. I essentially had to relearn how to walk, write, etc. but those simple actions are the martial arts, lasers, and other various weapons I had at my disposal.

Cain: I took refuge in another novel-verse while making it seem like I went to the mountains to go train in mine (a usual occurrence for some of us after learning about the Bridge.)

Cain: After recovering some power, I investigated the timeline of the current verse and found out this boi was right at the moment before the mc turned into a mindless weapon.

Cain: So I called up the black dragon waifu of that world and informed her to meet me, and shared my memories and such related to the future events about to occur.

Cain: Since they were already passed the point of having contact with other novel-verses, things went pretty smoothly and we worked together to prevent the boi from turning into a mindless weapon.

Cain: Basically +1 ally.

Cain: That’s where the dream cut off though.

Cain: Oh, my wife’s name in my phone was “Black Dragon Waifu”

Bob: Ah yes, very important info.

Rex: …and this was all a dream?

Cain: Yep.

Rex: Yeah… I’m just gonna…

Cain: F

Bob: F

Dresil: F

Rex: Wait, before I do actually go, how pretty was your waifu.

Dresil: Pffft, of course you revive for that.

Rex: Of course, it’s a must.

Cain: Slightly less than Dresil.

Rex: :ohmy:

Bob: Casual flirting, I see?

Dresil: :blush:

Cain: Nah, Dresil just morphs her body to match my tastes perfectly, so of course it would be slightly less than that unless there’s some modification done.

Dresil: Damn… and here I thought I hid that pretty well…

Rex: I don’t think there’s anything we can hide from him…

Bob: Have you ever considered not trying?

Dresil and Rex: But that’s no fun…

Dresil: Ew, I just shared a brain cell with Rex.

Rex: …aight, I’m going to leave now.

Cain: :oof:

--------------------------

Cain picked up his pace once again, albeit, not as fast as before. His consumption speed slowly decreased, mirrored by the speed at which the turntable of plates rotated between him and Dresil. Cain chugged a liter of soda then stared at his cup blankly.

Maybe I should start drawing mana from the Mana Storage to convert water into soda with how frequently I’m drinking it… Cain did some rough calculations and discovered that his daily mana expenditure on converting water to soda was roughly a million mana; the party’s cups not included.

Yeah… Looks like I have to do that from now on… Cain sighed while making another liter of soda and chugging it down, releasing a hefty burp that echoed off the barren wooden walls of the inn shortly after. “Dang… I take it you’re done then?” Dresil asked Cain as he stretched his arms against the bedpost while yawning slightly.

“Yep… How much longer we got until the party meets up?” Dresil cleaned up the revolving wheel of plates, crumps, and other dishes leftover from Cain’s breakfast while checking in on the party. “Jared and Jacob reserved a room already, it seems like Victoria and Veronica are discussing something with Maddison right now.” She answered, stuffing the Mana Trash dimension with Cain’s scraps from breakfast.

“Alright, let me know when you’re done and we’ll head over.” Cain said while leaving the bed and stretching his muscles out once more. It had become a habit to ensure the fluidity of his joints. Although, he never needed to stretch his limbs before any physical exercise to prevent cramps and the like, the moment he stopped exercising, his joints would become stiff and his limbs won’t move like they used to before.

Essentially, stretching everyday allowed him to be lazy on other days without worrying about a joint randomly locking up or the stiffness transforming a once fluid and wasteless movement into a rugged, stuttered motion.

Dresil merged into Cain’s clothes shortly after he finished his stretches, Cain created a portal to the room the boys were in and joined them at the table.