Icy indeed overlooked two things regarding entry to that stitched dream realm though. Firstly, he might have received the right to take the dragonstone, but that hardly equated to infinite entries to the realm. For that, he had to hand over a resource of specific value to gain entry, alternatively, he could just hand over a bunch of less valuable ones.

In truth, most of those top dragons entered so easily by the elders’ directly paying for them. A supreme tier possessed countless objects which met the requirements of a grade 2 item. The rankings for vault contents depended on only two real factors. The mana density, and whether it involved great languages.

Grade 3 simply contained mana up to mithril tier. Grade 2 then ended at the upper end of master tier. However, a grade 1 item required great languages within it, on top of mana at master or cornem tier.

Finally, grade 0 objects. Effectively, only supreme tier objects fell into this category. Items formed entirely of a great language’s runes with a mana at the appropriate level.

Icy solved this relatively easily though. The demon elf organisation provided dozens of applicable items for this. He handed over twenty grade 2 objects and entered the stitched realm; the quantity and value of these random assortment met the requirement for a grade 1 object, giving him a week-long duration to hide away from any of the glaring dragons in the Dragonlands.

He targeted a very memorable tree from the start, fortunately, the surroundings maintained the same layout even after a flow state. 16 days passed since he exited the realm, and since there were originally 3 days left of the ebbed state back then, he precisely had 7 days here for now. As for that tree, while Icy looked at it with a sappy grin, the tree’s shaken branches as it tussled out of a combination of emotions only endeared him. Unable to actually strike out, he pierced its bark and drew out a chamber of nicely refined sap. A pasty gel covered the small wound and staunched any continued bleeding.

While the tree clearly shook its leaves in annoyance, unhappy that he actually returned to take another large dose of sap, he took ten blue fruits from its branches and left.

As ironic of a name, the Reality realm is in fact a sub-type of dream realm like Terror or Nightmare, not the real world. But more importantly, if absorbed in great enough quantities, it solidified a descension… Once you reach Adept Mind palace, that is. A minor boost, but more than welcome.

Without much resistance, he devoured all ten of the blue fruits and the new chamber of sap. A ball of golden life essence drew his gaze for several seconds, but those thoughts broke as he stored it.

[Consumed Dream fruit (reality)! Received 340% EXP

Consumed Dreamstealer sap! Received 70% EXP]

“Some are real; others aren’t. Why like this though?” Some vague sense came back to him as he stared at the golden, shimmering pearl. His sealed memories hid exactly what he realised, but clearly, just a bit too much thought already sent him into a loop. “How long until I no longer suffer forced exposure problems?”

[Become a being acclimated to higher concepts]

“I should’ve expected that,” he sighed and let go of it. Obviously, every dragon understood that, but it only gnawed at his patience more.

[Consumed Dreamstealer tree bloodline! Assimilation progress 100%]

Prepared for the outrageous heat which annihilated his insides and required the use of the pocket watch and dedicated spell, Icy stared blankly as he realised the heat melted him partially, but the speed of regrowth actually offset this easily enough.

Undying Body really lived up to its name, so long as his heart and brain avoided damage, he healed everything in a matter of seconds.

“This feels way too powerful. Nexus, are you sure this is a Legendary bloodline?” Mana drained away rapidly as he healed, as expected, but if he wished, then any number of powers could replace this. Origin Force worked, as did soul power. Or the stored condensed mana within his Mind palace.

While not technically any more defensive, his healing rate at least meant that the destruction of limbs no longer impacted him in battle.

[Consider that most beings only ever have one or two pathways advanced to your level. Endless regeneration is a trait limited to gelatinous and absorption-related creatures too, a dragon should never usually be able to acquire it]

He overlooked the fact that many beasts at master tier possessed one powerful, special ability related to their bloodline. But only just that in the end.

Soul armaments might count for one. An evolved Auric spirit might count for another. His Undying Body a third. His special Mind palace a fourth, although only partially, as it hadn't evolved enough yet.

And technically, his Maestro of Candy bloodline. But not really. That damn thing was only good for making sweets, and not even normal types. He thought of the title it gave though every time this consideration appeared, it’d been a while since he last utilised this bloodline, and that meant his title hadn’t grown in the slightest. Just that every single use brought a wealth of unpleasant sensations and feelings.

[Maestro’s Touch: Every time a unique, stable candy is created, consumed, and enjoyed, randomly grants +0.1% boost to a random stat. View current boosts]

‘Unique’ and ‘Stable’ were two nearly antithetical concepts when it came to the bloodline. At least the title worked on candies with savoury flavours too.

While a bunch of ambient thoughts between a rather crucial assimilation, the lack of danger always left him so wilful. Weakness from this stage of the evolution kept him on the black sand, but nothing about it endangered him.

And soon enough, he gladly received another Legendary+ rank bloodline, perhaps a bit disappointed that even such a tree hadn’t reached that higher level. But then again, his Elder eyes revealed that its innards contained no great languages. In other words, it had yet to touch the cornem tier or be classed as a grade 1 material by the dragons.

So many names… And they only mattered because the ancient clans chose stubbornness over an overhauled scheme.

[Assimilated Dreamstealer tree bloodline! 6 new bloodline directions potentially available]

If it ended up like any of the other 6 direction bloodlines, he might get to see another overly poetic bloodline again. On that note, he felt as though ages passed since it last happened, but the Nexus killed that momentum just as it began to accelerate.

[With Authority level 3, we can utilise more power now, except for certain cases, it’s harder for uncalculated bloodlines to appear]

Certain cases, like the evolution to Auric Insanity. Such a very rare and uncommon situation…

“Wait? So that gave me enough? How much do I have?”

[Authority: 9.01]

Close to the upper end for Legendary rank… Obviously, the fact that it was a ‘+’ type raised the amount received, but he accredited the fact that he rarely assimilated plant bloodlines as the reason.

While ecstatic, he seriously confirmed an important fact, “And just to check, even if my Authority goes below 9 points, I retain the Authority level?” For the first time in his life, Icy sought to spend his Authority to obtain something from the Nexus. A recorded feature which endowed the eight worlds with several major improvements to their magical progressions each time.

[Authority level always remains at the highest ever achieved]

“I wish to purchase a method to protect and enhance one’s soul, while ensuring the awakening and usage of further items deep within my soul,” Icy phrased the request strangely for several reasons. Firstly, the concept of ‘training’ one’s soul may as well differ all across the universe. If he obtained a method to enhance his pool of soul power, then he effectively wasted a bunch of Authority.

But he focused more on the latter half of the description.

The Nexus disliked the term soul armament for some reason, so he chose a vaguer set of terms which ought to encompass all the strange, white spheres at those depths. Furthermore, he specified their awakening and use, as this limitation restricted the complexity of such a technique.

What if loads of other things existed down there, and a perfect technique for it all cost him a fortune?

[Purchase ‘Galactic Soul Armoury’ Manual for 1.50 Authority?]

Now to make a decision purely from name alone. In truth, ‘Soul Armoury’ alone fit the bill perfectly, it sounded like exactly what he needed. But names only amounted to this, and the Nexus never allowed more information beyond it. He changed the question a few times to see what other techniques it offered, and for what prices.

“A method to protect one’s soul but maintain access in and out for any and all purposes,” granted a new technique.

[Purchase ‘Universal Soul World’ Manual for 25.00 Authority?]

“Endlessly enhance the soul and maintain complete access to soul armaments,” dropped the price to almost funny levels.

[Purchase ‘Soul-metal Gate’ Manual for 0.15 Authority?]

He tried several more variations, and even applied further limitations to see how far it reduced the price, but at some point, it became clear that such limitations also cut off any further growth beyond cornem tier.

Such a weak soul stood no chance. Although, the absolute cheapest thing he found was a technique which many suggested over the past few years…

[Purchase ‘Soul Door’ Manual for 0.02 Authority?]

Why yes, he could just put a door on. He really should have asked for the price of this technique earlier, not that he even considered it. To be so cheap meant that the eight worlds might produce it any day now, or it was so weak that the Nexus internally priced it this low.

Obviously, the first one was the manual chosen by the Nexus as his perfect fit.

“I’d like to purchase ‘Galactic Soul Armoury’ for 1.50 Authority,” he said unreservedly. With price and name stated, the Nexus would automatically cancel the deal if any changes in either occurred.

[Transaction allowed. Prepare to receive information directly into your Mind]

Ready for it, he took a deep breath and awaited an unbearable pain as masses of information forced their way in. Manuals valued at 1.50 points equalled the value of many special techniques created by Great sages, although the Nexus bought it for a fraction of that, nonetheless, could such a technique ever be short? Especially something which created a dedicated structure in one’s soul?

A sudden sting impacted his head, like a spasm caused by a single spark…

Then it ended… Far faster than he expected.

[Galactic Soul Armoury transferred. Copies may be given for 2% of the purchase price]

Nevermind all those concerns then, the full book now appeared directly inside his Mind palace. As soon as he entered, he found it on the ground right in front of him, lying within the large manor. The book itself couldn’t have been more than half an inch thick, with thin leather as its cover and a complete lack of decoration on all sides. Its first page simply opened up to the book’s name and a subtitle.

‘Galactic Soul Armour - Universal and easy access to natural providence’

It also contained the manual’s author, a being named ‘Daolord Palgo’. Was that a title or name as well? Given the manual's cost, the title probably equaled a Great sage. And as the Nexus never responded inside a being’s mental space, he quickly jumped outside to ask it, “Nexus?”

[In some zones, the Nexus is able to decide a naming scheme in advance. And back then many of the Nexus nodes chose them based on our amusement]

Then asking, “How many of those decisions are related to those five years?”

[Quite a few]

A response meant more than nothing. The Nexus actually talked about that time for once.

That little tidbit of information aside, he finally had the method!

Back inside, he flicked through pages and realised that the technique within was a manual in the cleanest sense. Compressed, concise, direct, and complete. But just like anything written by and for well-learnt individuals, he struggled to read every word. The first page already confused him, and it only described the soul in a depth which a few Great sages and supreme tiers across the eight worlds might understand.

Maybe those top level demons knew of this stuff too.

And then he flicked through a few more pages, reaching the first part which actually performed as a manual. Things took a worse turn there, as he flipped forward over and over. All the way to the very end. Just 80 pages of content, as well as a few with commonplace filler at the front and end, making for a manual shorter than most of the books in his draconic memories.

But after all 80 pages of content, he put the book down and sat in his Mind palace for what felt like minutes. Just left in stunned silence, not only from the book’s information which revealed a whole breadth of knowledge completely unknown about the soul, but because of its contents: The method, spells, safety measures, materials, and worst of all, requirements.

He finally spoke, “You knew I already met all its needs?”

And even though it wasn’t supposed to reply, still inside the lit palace filled with countless bookshelves, a box did in fact appear.

[Why would we suggest a technique which literally cannot be used?]

A fair response, but he overlooked the fact anyway. He could go over the nature of every single part, as well as the specificity and unbelievable assumptions it made of the reader. But just the requirements fairly explained the ridiculousness of this manual.

‘At least two awakened providences, a soul unfettered by the body, a body unfettered by the soul, a palace capable of projection, 5th tier soul control, 6th tier array creation, and soul power equal to 5th tier.’

This is also how Icy found out that while local terms and titles existed everywhere, by far and large the universe used eight tiers to describe the major brackets of power. Basic tier was 1st, with supreme tier as 8th, rinsed and repeated for all bloodlines and naming schemes.

Incredibly simple and easy to follow.

But this technique was unreasonable. At least until Icy came to realise another benefit of a greater civilisation’s prowess, one that took a while as his limited experience closed in his thought process. Out in the universe, there existed a simple method to create a wall. A very similar wall which defended one’s Soul, but it came with a core advantage. This single thing made all those different manuals usable and plausible.

They could tear down their walls to begin anew! In comparison, those on the eight worlds died from such a thing…

That breakable wall single-handedly birthed a range of varied soul training manuals!

Other questions poured from his addled head as pages flipped by constantly. His voice pained as he said, “This is insane. Who even discovered all this? How many died in the process? And why are we still so far behind?”

In one week, he had to grasp this technique, create the arrays it demanded, and then successfully reach its first step, which equalled the defence of a Proto-formed soul.

One week was enough.