I tried to ignore the fact that I was slowly getting bored out of my mind. Being stuck in the room while Ethan, and Savannah did research for me was super sucky. I twitched my tail. I was ready for a fight, or just about anything else besides sit here. I looked down at the schematic I'd brought up on my watch, and looked it over quickly.
It seemed as if students had free access to the roof. That was good I needed that. If I could go up to the roof it would appear as if I was still in the dorms. I'd be able to stretch my wings properly, but I couldn't stay there for very long, and I had to do it at night. It would basically just being a stretching exorcise, and then back to the room quickly.
My new black coloring would help with keeping myself hidden. Doing this at night reduced my chances of getting spotted even further. I wanted to actually fly, but now I had a sneaking fear of flight from getting so close to dying while in flight. Well if I could even count that as flight. I would have to go to the top floor, and then up some stairs at the end of the hallway.
That was the one, and only way to get the roof of the boys dorm. Well the only way without scaling the walls or flying. I was too awake to take a nap so I started working on my study material. Which was difficult since I was doing it all from the tiny screen of my watch. I didn't even get irritated when I had difficulty with the tiny screen.
This annoyance was better than all encompassing boredom. A quick stretch on the roof, and then a quick run back down to my room. That was the plan. I planned to take Ethan with me. He'd keep an eye on the door for me.
I didn't even have to ask. When it came to hanging out with me Ethan always said yes. I started moving stuff around the room with my tail again. If my tail was as strong as the rest of my limbs then I'd be able to do a great deal of damage with it if I could control it properly. Curling my tail up close to my body before snapping it back out straight to do something with it.
It was kind of fun actually. Repeatedly curling, and extending. Shifting my bed around. Experimenting with how much of my tail I actually needed to lift the weight. My tail was easily as strong as the rest of my limbs.
If I could get it to work the way I wanted I could do a lot with it. Maybe not as much as my normal limbs, but a lot. The possibilities were endless. I cracked the door open slightly to peak out. Savannah, and Ethan had left a while ago.
They'd be back soon. I just hoped that I would be able to pull this whole roof stretch thing off because staying in this tiny little room all the time would basically be torture. It was already torture to play human all the time. Granted it wasn't painful torture. Just mind numbing irritating torture.
Stretching on the roof would just be a small bit of relief. I checked the time. It was getting fairly late now. I tucked my head up against my body, and settled. System can you wake me in two hours?
System would rather not interrupt healthy sleep cycle of youngling.
System this is important for my mental health.
System can, and will.
I was a little surprised the system had understood that, but I could think about that later. Nap time. I let my eyes drift closed, and allowed a shallow sleep to cascade over my mind. This sleep was different from the dead sleep I used to go into as a hatchling though. I felt myself going to another place within my mind.
It wasn't something I could describe easily. It was another world entirely within myself. I guess that was the best way to describe it. I was standing on a glacier that floated in an endless ocean. Lightning cracked in the clouds above, and the wind flowed gently by.
It should have been terrifying, but this place felt like home.
"System," I knew I was asleep so I spoke aloud, "What is this place?"
"This is your inner world," the system replied from everywhere.
"What do you mean inner world?" I looked around the place again.
"Youngling dragons do not always enter a deep sleep when resting," the system began to explain, "25% of the time when in a light sleep a youngling will instead enter their inner world. A dragon's inner world is very similar to that of the world within the VR pods. The biggest difference between a VR pod, and a dragon's inner world is that only bonded can enter freely, given they have proper training, and a strong bond with the dragon."
"So it's kind of like my own personal dream world?" I cocked my head as I waited for the system's response.
"That is not an entirely correct comparison," the system answered, "It is however close, and is currently the best way for user to understand this inner world at the moment so system will not correct user's current mindset."
"So I'll end up here instead of actually sleeping a quarter of the time?" I tilted my head to cock it the other, "Won't that make me even more tired than I already am?"
"Time moves slower in here than it does outside of the inner world," system started to explain, "This aware state of sleeping allows user to react to dangers in the waking world quickly, and effectively upon waking. It also allows user to observe the strength of various ally bonds as well as experiment with spell crafting without effecting the waking world."
"Spell crafting?" I felt a bit of excitement build, "Like create new spells, and strengthen my affinities?"
"Dragon's of the past were each capable of casting spells that could alter entire landscapes in an instant," the system answered, "Spells that could not be cast in the waking world repeatedly without causing horrible damage to ecosystems in the waking world so the creation of this inner world allowed them to create, and perfect spells that could devastate the waking world otherwise."