Silence.
The room remained peaceful.
The child slept soundly within the cradle.
Lizarius continued watching for several moments.
Then—
another thought quietly surfaced.
*...Then...*
*What is my True Name?*
Silence.
For the first time—
the system did not answer immediately.
Several long moments passed.
Only then did the familiar mechanical voice finally speak.
**[Current Authority: Insufficient.]**
Lizarius remained motionless.
"...Meaning?"
The system replied without hesitation.
**[I do not currently possess the authority required to perceive, identify, or reveal True Names.]**
Silence lingered for a moment.
Then the explanation continued.
**[True Names exist at a level beyond my currently accessible functions.]**
**[Current Authority: Insufficient.]**
**[Current Analysis Capability: Insufficient.]**
**[Current Information Access: Restricted.]**
Lizarius quietly absorbed every word.
"...So you cannot tell me."
The system answered immediately.
**[Correction.]**
A brief pause followed.
**[Not cannot.]**
**[Currently unable.]**
Silence.
Lizarius' eyes narrowed ever so slightly.
"...There's a difference."
**[Confirmed.]**
The mechanical voice remained perfectly emotionless.
**[The limitation is temporary rather than absolute.]**
**[As I continue to evolve and additional authority becomes available, access to higher-order information may gradually be restored.]**
Another line appeared.
**[True Names fall within that category.]**
Lizarius remained silent.
His thoughts moved rapidly.
"...Meaning..."
*The issue isn't whether you're capable...*
*Only that you haven't reached that level yet.*
Without hesitation—
the system confirmed.
**[Confirmed.]**
**[Current capability is restricted.]**
**[Future capability cannot be ruled out.]**
**[Once sufficient authority has been obtained, I may become capable of identifying True Names... including the Host's own.]**
Silence returned.
Lizarius quietly watched the sleeping child once more.
His expression remained unchanged.
*...Then I'll wait.*
*Eventually...*
*Both of us will reach that level.*
The system offered no further reply.
The room once again fell into complete silence.
The child continued sleeping peacefully.
His small chest rose and fell with each gentle breath.
The woman seated beside the cradle softly stroked his hair.
Completely unaware—
that an invisible predator now stood only a short distance away.
Lizarius had silently descended from the ceiling.
He now stood upon the edge of the cradle.
His golden gaze remained fixed upon the child.
Several long moments passed.
Then—
another thought quietly surfaced.
*...If I possessed the Namewright Bloodline...*
*And one day discovered another being's True Name...*
*Then I could establish a connection with their existence.*
His pupils remained perfectly still.
*If my understanding became deep enough...*
*Commands...*
*Restrictions...*
*Perhaps even laws imposed directly upon that existence...*
*A troublesome ability.*
*A dangerous one.*
Silence.
Another thought followed.
*...Yet I cannot obtain it.*
His gaze lowered slightly toward the sleeping child.
The bloodline lay directly before him.
Only a single movement was required.
One bite.
That was all.
His body remained perfectly still.
Not because he lacked the strength.
Not because he lacked the opportunity.
But—
because his body refused to move.
His claws flexed ever so slightly.
The instinct to consume remained.
The instinct to evolve remained.
Yet another instinct—
one born from the human memories he now possessed—
quietly restrained him.
The two impulses collided.
Neither overcoming the other.
Silence.
Lizarius calmly examined the unfamiliar sensation.
*...Interesting.*
*If this weren't a child...*
*It would already be dead.*
The conclusion formed without hesitation.
Without emotion.
It was simply fact.
His golden gaze never left the sleeping child.
*...But it is.*
Another long silence followed.
His thoughts gradually shifted elsewhere.
*Then...*
*How long will this restraint persist?*
*Five years?*
*Ten?*
*Longer?*
He had no answer.
Neither did the memories.
The fragments he possessed recognized only one thing—
that this was a child.
Nothing more.
No precise boundary.
No fixed age.
No clear definition.
Only an instinctive prohibition.
His gaze quietly studied the child's face.
*...How long before my own instincts cease to recognise you as one?*
No answer came.
His thoughts continued.
*Or...*
*Will these foreign instincts disappear before then?*
*Will I eventually digest them completely...*
*Leaving only my own will behind?*
Silence once again settled over the room.
The child shifted slightly in his sleep.
One tiny hand reached out unconsciously.
For the briefest instant—
it lightly brushed against Lizarius' foreleg.
The tiny white lizard didn't move.
His golden eyes remained fixed upon the child.
A moment later—
the little hand relaxed once more.
Falling gently back onto the blanket.
The child continued sleeping peacefully.
Lizarius remained motionless.
Watching.
Calculating.
Observing.
Once again—
he had encountered prey standing directly before him...
Yet found himself unable to harm it.
The contradiction quietly settled within his thoughts.
He neither rejected it...
Nor accepted it.
He simply observed it—
just as he observed everything else.
Silence.
The tiny white lizard continued staring at the sleeping child.
Neither of them moved.
Neither made a sound.
Several long breaths passed.
Then—
Lizarius quietly lowered himself into the cradle.
His small body settled beside the child.
The blanket shifted only slightly.
The woman seated nearby noticed nothing.
The maids continued attending to their duties.
The room remained peaceful.
Lizarius slowly curled into himself.
His eyes gently closed.
His breathing became almost imperceptible.
Silence.
His soul perception quietly spread outward.
Not forcefully.
Not invasively.
Only gently.
It brushed against the subtle fluctuations surrounding the sleeping child's consciousness.
Dream fluctuations.
Soft.
Pure.
Unstable.
He carefully aligned his own subconscious with them.
One heartbeat.
Then another.
The connection gradually stabilized.
Ordinarily—
he would step into another being's dream.
Observe it.
Manipulate it.
Search through it.
This time—
he chose a different approach.
His consciousness remained perfectly still.
Instead—
his own subconscious slowly expanded.
The endless white dreamscape quietly unfolded.
It spread outward like an infinite sea.
Then—
the sleeping child's consciousness was gently drawn inward.
Not violently.
Not painfully.
Merely...
Invited.
The connection reversed.
Rather than entering the child's dream—
the child entered his.
...
...
...
Endless white.
No sky.
No earth.
No beginning.
No end.
A world of absolute silence.
A small figure slowly appeared.
The dark-haired child blinked several times.
His round eyes wandered across the endless white expanse.
Confusion filled his young face.
"...?"
He slowly turned in place.
Nothing.
Only white.
Then—
he noticed something.
Not far away—
a tiny white lizard hovered silently in the air.
Its golden eyes calmly watched him.
Neither moved.
Neither spoke.
The child tilted his head.
"...Little... lizard?"
His innocent voice echoed softly throughout the endless white world.
There was no fear.
No panic.
Only simple curiosity.
Lizarius remained motionless.
He silently observed every subtle change in the child's expression.
Every movement.
Every fluctuation of the child's soul.
The endless dreamscape remained perfectly still.
One silent.
One curious.
They simply looked at one another.
For the first time—
the owner of the mysterious Namewright Bloodline stood face-to-face with the white-scaled predator.
Inside a dream that belonged...
Not to the child—
But to Lizarius.