I Can Only Cultivate In A Game

> [URGENT QUEST FROM CITY LORD – RANK: B]

> "Elite rescue and retrieval mission. Objective: locate and assist Assassin Tarkos.

> Realm Minimum: Nascent Soul.

> Reward: 5x Premium Treasure Boxes, City Lord's Favor, and a piece of Tier 3 Gear."

> — Limited Slots Available —

The moment it popped up, gasps echoed across the crowd. "Yo, it's from the City Lord himself!" one player exclaimed.

"I've never seen a quest that actually required Nascent Soul Realm just to apply…" muttered another.

"This is insane, I can't even apply for it... I'm still at Foundation Establishment Realm..."

Dozens of players and NPCs surged toward the palace gates with some dropping out immediately upon seeing the requirements.

Most players below Nascent Soul sighed and turned away in frustration.

Those remaining were about fifty in number. They were all ushered into the outer palace grounds by armored guards.

There, the City Lord's aides began the selection process. A combat ring was formed, and cultivators were asked to demonstrate their prowess.

---

Among those who stepped forward, several stood out.

> Zenn Hartblade – Player (Lightning Blade Style)

A dark-haired young man wearing a violet robe infused with arcane circuitry. He darted forward with his blade cloaked in lightning, and struck down three rank 4 spirit beasts in an instant.

> "My agility stat is maxed out, and I've got Flashstep. I can scout and assassinate."

> Mirael "Red Lace" – Player (Illusionist & Rogue Type)

A woman in black and red armor, her twin daggers spinning. The crowd cheered as she disappeared mid-combat, only to reappear behind the test instructor and place her blade at his throat.

> "I'm here for loot and glory. Also... Tarkos owes me ten spirit coins."

> Aeri Fen – Player (Aerial Fire Arts + Cultivation Realm: Nascent Soul Peak)

A petite girl with striking silver hair and a mischievous grin. She controlled flames while levitating in the air, creating rotating rings of fire.

> "Don't let the looks fool you. I burn things. Lots of them."

The City Lord observed the tests silently from his terrace. After reviewing their abilities and battle instincts, a final group of five was chosen.

He then descended the steps and said, "This is not just a retrieval. You may be heading into a trap laid decades ago. Tread carefully."

---

Just as the group began to prepare, they were startled by a figure stepping into the garden from the entrance of the inner palace.

He was also in robes that suggested he had quite the pristige here.

"Wait… is that another player?" Mirael blinked. "Wait… he's part of the mission hand-off?!"

Victor approached the team confidently, dressed in a black robe adorned with streaks of silver. On his back was a massive gourd-shaped container holding sealing parchments and crystal nodes.

"You're the team heading to retrieve Tarkos?" Victor asked.

"Yes," Aeri Fen answered while folding her arms. "I'm the appointed leader."

Victor gave a nod of approval. "Good. You've all been handpicked for your abilities, but this mission could turn deadly real fast. Serika, a dark cultivator locked below this palace—claims the area Tarkos was sent to has been rigged with a trap. Possibly a death zone."

The team fell silent.

Victor reached into his pouch and pulled out a silver-gray octagonal disk etched with glowing runes. "This is called an Anchor Disk." He handed it to Aeri. "If anything goes wrong… if he's dead, dying, or you run into something beyond what you can handle—tap this area here. I'll come."

Aeri blinked. "Wait… you'll come?"

"Yes," Victor said with a half-smirk. "This mission's priority is critical. If Tarkos dies, fixing the ancient seals becomes a lot harder. Keep each other alive... Well not like you guys can really die anyways."

Aeri's fingers closed around the Anchor Disk. "Understood."

System notifications appeared before all players on the team:

> [You have accepted the High Priority B-Rank Quest: RESCUE ASSASSIN TARKOS]

> Reach Tarkos' last known location. Eliminate threats. Secure the target.

> Reward: \\[Tier 3 Gear] \\[City Lord's Favor] \\[5x Premium Chests]

Within the hour, the group assembled at the skybeast landing pad on the upper east terrace of the palace.

A colossal, eagle-lion hybrid creature with golden runes along its feathers waited with a harnessed platform atop its back.

The team loaded in and held fast to the straps. Aeri gave Victor a final salute.

"You'll hear from me if we can't handle it."

"I'm counting on you," Victor stated.

With a screech that echoed across Blueflame City, the flying spirit beast ascended rapidly, slicing through clouds as the team of elite cultivators departed into the horizon toward the treacherous ruins Serika had long since sabotaged.

Victor watched with a serious expression as the spirit beast cut across the sky.

...

...

The journey to the Blight Swamps was not going to be swift. From the moment the group flew out of Blueflame City, it became clear this was not going to be a simple ride through the skies.

Aeri Fan sat at the front of the flying beast's saddle with her bright auburn ponytail swaying in the wind and her gaze focused like a hawk's.

Being the leader of the group, she had expected complications, but even she didn't anticipate how quickly things would spiral.

Beside her, Mirael adjusted the string of the enormous bow strapped across her back.

Her long scorched like hair flapped wildly, and her eyes scanned the clouds with an eerie calm. "There's something... off about the wind," she muttered.

Behind them, a lean figure leaned back casually with one leg swinging over the saddle. His player name was Juno and he happened to possess a strange spear with a devil-may-care attitude and a tongue sharper than his weapon. "Wind, clouds, moisture… This thing flies worse than a turtle on fire."

"Then why are you still on it, chatterbox?" snapped Brin, the heavily muscled Earth Qi cultivator whose stone-gray armor bore cracks from past battles. "You're free to fall off if you're so uncomfortable."

"Don't tempt me," Juno quipped with a grin. "Your bickering is starting to sound like a couple's spat."

Aeri sighed inwardly.

They'd only been flying for two days, and the tension was already brewing. Though powerful, her spirit beast was showing signs of exhaustion.

Its rhythmic flapping had grown irregular, and the altitude was beginning to dip dangerously close to the tree line.

All of a sudden, shrieks echoed from the northwestern skies.

A cluster of winged spirit beasts emerged from the clouds.

They were razor-beaked avians with streaks of electric blue running along their wings. A lightning-type species. Fast. Aggressive.

"Formation shift!" Aeri barked.

Mirael was already nocking an arrow.

Spiritual energy flooded the shaft as she drew back.

The bow crackled with violet light. "Sky Splitter Shot—release!"

The arrow shot forward with a thunderous boom, tearing a hole through one of the beasts instantly.

Juno raised his spear and gathered qi around him intensely before flinging it forward.

The spear traveled across the sky, parting the clouds instantly as it ripped through the heads of two beasts.

Their bodies instantly plummeted from the sky with blue blood oozing out of their punctured brains.

Brin stood at the rear, using his Earth Qi to raise a protective shield over the group as the spirit beast dipped into evasive maneuvers. "Too many! We'll have to land!"

"About time," Juno grinned while summoning his speartip back into existence midair. He leapt from the saddle as the spirit beast neared the ground.

They landed with a bone-jarring thud in a dense, fog-laden forest that looked like it hadn't been touched by sunlight in years.

The spirit beast collapsed to its side, breathing heavily. Its qi reserves were dangerously low.

"We'll walk from here," Aeri declared after checking its condition. "It needs rest."

The ground was soft with decay, and every step was muffled by layers of damp leaves. Strange chittering echoed from deeper within the forest.

"Nice. Ground walking in rot central," Juno muttered with an alert look.

Soon they encountered trouble. A group of root-limbed creatures slithered out of the underbrush. They looked like twisted trees with glowing yellow eyes and bark so thick normal blades barely scratched it.

"They're corrupted woodlings!" Mirael shouted. "Aim for the eyes!"

The battle erupted. Mirael leapt onto a branch, raining down arrows charged with her Wind Qi.

Aeri conjured flaming blades from thin air, slicing through the creatures with speed and brutality.

Brin activated a earth based technique that caused everything made of nature within a particular radius of him to melt...

He charged into the thick of the beasts as his fists smashed bark like it was clay due to the effects of the technique.

Juno twisted his body, dodging vine strikes and jabbing with pinpoint thrusts. "This is why I didn't sign up to be a gardener!"

...

...

As night fell, the group camped atop a rocky cliff that offered a temporary reprieve from the beasts. The campfire crackled weakly as embers floated into the starry sky.

Mirael sat quietly, meditating with her bow on her lap.

Brin was sharpening his sword while Vortex was cultivating.

Aeri finally relaxed slightly, sipping water from a gourd and glancing at the Anchor Disk Victor had given her.

She still couldn't believe a fellow player had shown up not to join a quest, but to issue one.

"He really was different," she murmured.

Juno who was chewing on a fruit he'd snagged from a bush, raised a brow. "You talking about white-hair pretty boy?"