Slurp!
After the celestial dragon egg had slurped up all the energy from the Branch of the Imaginary Tree, the Monarch once again heard the System's broadcast after a long time.
However, the Monarch had no time to pay attention to these messages right now, instead focusing on the changes occurring within his body.
Inside the flawless sphere, the terrifyingly dense, fully solidified energy began to repeat the process of "disintegration-reconstruction" in microseconds, stimulated by the external energy. On the smooth, dazzling surface of the sphere, dense patterns gradually emerged from the diamond-like, transparent, iridescent light.
Then, accompanied by a tremor that could be keenly felt by "leaves" and even "branches," the dragon egg, which had been continuously expanding for four thousand years, finally began to slowly unfurl, gradually revealing its true form.
First were the wings.
The Monarch's eggshell did not shatter. Or rather, what enveloped the Monarch's "embryo" was not an "eggshell" at all, but the newly grown wings of this [Scion of Long]. The perfectly round sphere folded open layer by layer like a mechanical marvel. Diamond-like textures reflecting a brilliant golden halo formed a slowly flowing galaxy across the surface of the wings.
At the tips of the massive dragon wings, gear-like structures shifted mechanically. Behind the thick, stacked, energy-grille-like sections, four pairs of ethereal light-wings, gushing with Imaginary energy, extended along the shimmering patterns, further broadening the scope of the "dragon wings."
After the wings were fully unfurled, a slender dragon's body of the same color scheme—gold as its base, star-diamonds as its pattern—began to stretch out, layer by layer.
It possessed the elegance and grace of an Eastern dragon, yet lacked none of the majesty and power of a Western one.
The mechanical, angular features and body structure made the aura of civilization unmistakable. The iridescent God Halo behind the dragon's neck, continuously shedding "characters" of light, imbued this being with a sacredness that forbade a direct gaze.
If one were to describe it using a creature from the myths of Shenzhou, the "Yinglong"—the winged dragon that slew Chi You and killed Kuafu—would probably be the closest fit.
However, such a description could only capture a fraction of its true essence.
A Scion of Long that roamed the sea of stars was not something a terrestrial creature could ever hope to fathom.
This was—
---o---
---o---
Assimilating Phanes and the Imaginary Branch had brought him a three-level increase and two brand-new Dominions. The evolution, as always, came with a 50% attribute bonus.
It took a while for Lu Xing to gradually understand the meaning of his new name.
"Yú" (舆) means to bear or carry; "Dà Yú" (大舆) means to bear all living beings. "Dì" (帝) signifies his status as Emperor. "Shāng" (熵), or Entropy, is a term from statistical physics and information theory, which can be extended to mean "disorder."
The so-called "Dà Yú Dì Shāng" (大舆帝熵) meant "the Emperor who brings order to the people of chaos."
Using the original meaning of "Yú" as "chariot wheel," it could also be interpreted as "the Emperor who crushes chaos with magnificent momentum."
"..."
"Quite impressive."
However…
Lu Xing very carefully sensed his new body.
If nothing else, the "thrusters" behind his dragon wings were consuming Imaginary energy at a ridiculously high rate. This could be considered a form of metabolism, making the Monarch, who originally had the "attributes of a beautiful girl (specifically regarding a certain bovine feature)," more like a creature that conformed to the laws of nature.
To reiterate, for a being of Lu Xing's level, conforming to "laws" was an extremely important matter concerning strength, and even life and death. At the same time, the Monarch's transformation would cause all the subjects of the Empire who originated from him to undergo a new leap in their level of existence.
"It's just that the consumption is a bit high."
As the [Grand Sovereign Entropy Dragon], this fully unfurled colossal dragon appeared dozens of times larger than his egg form.
Simultaneously, his energy consumption had also increased exponentially.
After all, the previous Lu Xing was just an egg. His life-activity-related consumption was completely negligible compared to his intake. All the excess Imaginary energy he absorbed became fuel for his continuous "growth."
Appearing in his dragon form, although his energy absorption was still far greater than his consumption, his growth in size (and power) would definitely be much slower than before. After all, he was still an infant dragon, born only a few minutes ago. As the wielder of the [Dominion of Immortality], he should theoretically still have a great deal of room for improvement.
At least, that was how it was described in the memories inherited from his deceased "truly good brothers," the Seven Dragon Kings.
"Hmm…"
RUMBLE!
Accompanied by a dense and explosive storm of meteorites, Lu Xing tried to retract himself back into an egg shape. It had to be said, the process was much smoother than expected. Other than a large amount of "diamond starlight" now appearing on the "egg's" surface, the Monarch in his egg form looked no different than before.
Even his aura was completely concealed again, no longer possessing that vast, mighty feeling.
BOOM!!!
Littering is wrong, and space littering is even worse. The number of meteorites he had shattered while stretching was not small. If he accidentally bumped into something while traveling… Lu Xing did not want to see a "mission to destroy more civilizations" suddenly complete itself while he was sleeping. Although he was probably very strong now, there were simply too many powerhouses in the sea of stars. What if some [Grand Monarch] was playing a civilization-building game, and he accidentally wiped it out?
"Sigh~"
It was best to avoid such potentially offensive incidents as much as possible.
As Lu Xing thought, he acted.
The [Solar Storm] released by the [Dominion of Destruction (Flame Authority)] burned all the fragments scattered into deep space when he shattered Teyvat into ash. The gravitational field deployed by the [Dominion of Trailblaze] re-condensed the scattered large chunks of building materials, compressing them until they formed a solid sphere with only one-eighth of the original's radius.
This was the most important part of all the building materials. After being infused with the power of the [Dominion of Trailblaze (Rock Authority)], it would be used as the "planetary core" for the reconstruction of Teyvat.
With this, all the work regarding the Teyvat expedition was complete.
Next, there were a few small problems to deal with: "promotions," "emergency food," "remnants of the old regime," "the outlander traveler," and "the rock turtle's core."
"—"
The massive celestial body vanished from the void without a sound.