I Can Only Cultivate In A Game

"Try not to murder it," Aria added primly, already drifting toward the aerogarden to inspect how it was seeded. "Oh, this plot supports herbs."

Danny beelined for the pool, toeing off shoes as he went. "Only one way to test a private pool," he announced while speeding towards the edge up ahead.

He cannonballed off it before anyone could stop him and crashed into the pool below.

The splash arced through the open doors. Selene didn't even flinch; the water missed her by an inch like it understood self-preservation.

Victor checked other locations within the accommodation, from the training rooms to the kitchen, to the bathrooms...

"This is epic... I can't wait to become an S ranked," Reed voiced excitedly.

"So... never?" Rylan teased, causing everyone to chuckle out loud.

The group ate pastries on the balcony as they discussed Outland stories from Reed and Danny ("They magical sea beasts are on an entirely different level," Reed voiced with ans incredulous tone)

"the instructors let us witness the defense for a reason," Danny stated. "and if you panic out there, it means you're not ready to face the real world."

"Reina peed her pants..."

Victor listened more than he talked.

A piece of him was worried about the registrar's suspicion due to his supposed Level 45 system and yet never visiting the level up sections.

But he wasn't too bothered. He only had to keep up the lie for the next two to three years before he'd be out of here.

"Three weeks," Danny voiced while flicking water off his wrist. "Then it's your turn. You better not piss your pants too when the time comes."

"Remember, I'm still the only one who has actually battled a Drakenar before," Victor voiced with a smirk.

"Show off," Danny crossed his arms.

"Wait what?"

"Victor has battled a Drakener before?"

Reed and Aria couldn't believe their ears.

"Yeah he has..." Danny tried not to seem enthusiastic about it because he was the only one amongst their group of friends that knew how that ended. He didn't want to bring back bad memories for Victor.

"Dude what? you actually fought them and lived to tell the tale?" Reed voiced with a curious tone.

"Tell us everything, how was it? How many of them did you battle? How did you survive?" Aria was just as fired up to know more.

Selene on the other hand noticed the uncomfortable look on Victor's face and tried to change the subject; "I wonder how deep the pool goes..."

"Probably like ten feet but I saw a button that controls depth so it can go even deeper," Danny followed up with this, causing everyone's attention to switch towards this new topic.

But Reed kept pestering Victor.

"Come on man, how many did you kill! I gotta catch up!"

"Uhm, I..."

Before Victor could answer, Danny grabbed Reed from behind, raised him and charged forward.

"Aahhhhhh!"

Thuuummm~

He jumped into the pool with Reed in his grasp.

They both floated to the surface a few moments later breathing heavily.

"This dude is trying to kill me!" Reed screamed in horror.

Danny slapped him from behind; "Grow a spine hahaha!"

Kai shook his head from the side; "You two are insufferable."

Selene on the other hand, walked towards Victor and stood beside him.

"Are you alright?" She questioned softly.

"Yeah yeah... I'm good," he responded with a misty gaze.

"If you ever need to talk, I'm here," she leaned in close and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

...

...

Hours later, the suite went quiet. His friends had left at this point and now Victor proceeded to set his duffels in the bedroom alcove and carried the legacy sword into the training dome.

The field lifted to meet him as the gravitional force in the environment increased slightly.

He proceeded to swing the blad a few times through the air, testing how training would feel like in here.

"AI, change settings... desert formation," Victor commanded loudly.

< "Desert formation sequence initiated... Terraforming..." >

A loud robotic voice rang out and soon the surroundings began to change.

The space within this particular training dome, extended, going from a radius of 100 feet to around 1000 feet.

Victor felt his feet sinking into the surface as yellow sands spread around him.

In a couple of seconds, the surrounding had completely terraformed, turning into an artificial desert.

"Woahh..."

Victor muttered and walked around. It felt very real with sand dunes every where as his feet made outlines all over the terrain.

"AI, change settings... Ice lands formation..."

< "Ice Land Formation sequence initiated... Terraforming..." >

The same robotic voice cut through the air again and the surroundings started to change.

Not only could this particular training environment terraform, it could also create copies of magical beasts within its field and materialized druids to be used as training dummies.

It was truly magnificent and Victor was just glad he had finally gotten his S- ranked privileges because now, he could do everything he needed from the comfort of his suite.

Victor crossed to the bedroom alcove, locked the door and lay back on the new King sized mattress.

For the first time since stepping onto campus, he didn't have a roommate breathing a bunk away, or a punishment shift to dread, or a blade of someone else's agenda at his throat.

Just a million credits on his account, a suite overlooking a cliff, and three quiet weeks before stepping into the real world outside the dome.

He closed his eyes. For now, he'd let sleep take him.

...

...

Victor slept.

Not the jittery, sheet-cocooned catnaps he'd been stealing between 02:00 and 04:30 alarms, but honest-to-void, gravity-heavy sleep.

No contraband helmet digging into his brow. No roommate pretending not to hear the muffled beeps. Just a dark room, a cold pillow, and the knowledge that, as an S-rank, he didn't have to present himself at morning drills like a winded penguin anymore.

Academy regs even spelled it out: "S-rank students may opt into or out of routine instruction at their discretion." He'd framed that line on his wall, right between the balcony and the training dome controls.

He'd woken up instinctively around 4:30 a.m but recalled that he was an S-ranked now.

"Goodbye, 4:30," he muttered to the empty room, and fell face-first back into the mattress.

When sunlight finally combed its way across the balcony, he stretched, rolled his shoulders, and grinned into the ceiling. "All right. Playtime."

No more hiding under blankets. He checked the suite's door seals, then slid the headset on and let the world tilt.

—◆—

(( Ascendant Realms — Violet Springs Sect, Core Disciple Courtyard ))

He arrived to the smell of wet stone and pine resin. Morning mist lay across the sect terraces like silk.

Bells tolled somewhere up the mountain, slow and calm, and a ribbon of disciples wound along the stairs below with robes flashing white and indigo.

Fang Chen stepped into the light with an ease he hadn't felt in months.

He couldn't recall when last he logged into Ascendant Realms by this time of the day.

He'd usually be in morning drills by now.

[Core Disciple Mission Active: "Escort & Temper"]

[Role: Senior Escort — Fang Chen (Core Disciple)]

[Objective: Lead & safeguard new disciples through Red Willow Ravine. Ensure survival, promote breakthroughs, return with at least 80% participants uninjured.]

"Eighty percent?" he said aloud. "So we can lose two of you, and it's still a pass. Volunteers?"

A few nervous laughs greeted him as the twelve bundled outside the mission hall. Most wore the wide-eyed look of people who'd spent more time reciting manuals than bleeding into them.

He counted a few faces he knew from the training squares, some NPC disciples, one with a player name floating above their head.

'Labyrinth'.

He clapped his hands. "Briefing time. I'm Fang Chen. You are not going to die today. If you try to die, I will be very annoyed, and I will personally drag you back so Elder Mo can lecture you for six hours on 'situational humility.' Trust me: death is kinder."

"I believe him," someone whispered.

"Names," he went on, pointing, not letting the nervous energy settle. "You. Hammer. Name."

"Q-Qian Bo," the big teen stammered while clutching a spiked maul like a teddy bear.

"Excellent, Qian Bo. You will not swing that unless I say swing that. You," he pivoted to a girl with calm eyes and a bow nearly as tall as she was. "Archer."

"Meng Xinyi."

"Welcome, Xinyi. You will call shots for our ranged line. If I'm wrong, correct me loudly so I can pretend I was testing you. You—robes with ink stains."

A girl blinked before pushing a smudge off her cheek. "Nie Lan, Senior."

"Perfect. We're going to make the ravine hate us."

He swept through the rest quickly: another one named Luo Min with a confident gaze; Zhang Rui, the shy one, Gao Peng, quiet and thick-set; Shen Yao, twin blades and bright grin; Yao Lin, stiff-backed, too proud. Last in line, the player, Labyrinth, nodded at him with faint amusement.

"Labyrinth Rook," the player who was the only non-Chinese handle among them voiced out. "But you already knew that..."

Fang's mouth twitched. "Of course I did."