I Can Only Cultivate In A Game

After a while Victor approached Lord Shen Yi and Master Yue Lan, who were waiting patiently in a Great Hall lined with array formations.

Their expressions held polite vigilance since they were expecting him.

"Master Lan," Victor bowed slightly. "I'm ready to begin Tier 3 training."

Lord Shen Yi held up a hand. "We were just discussing your schedule. You have less than two weeks to learn the third-tier seal formation and array reinforcement. Failure is not an option."

Victor shut his eyes briefly feeling a little pressured.

Victor's fist clenched: "Leave it to me."

—

Victor stepped into a secluded part of the hall that Master Yue Lan had prepared.

They were very concerned about how Victor planned to pull off learning Tier 3 in such a short amount of time.

This was because Tier 3 was obviously much more difficult than Tier 1 and 2; and was estimated to take months to learn.

"We might as well be doomed if Fang Chen is incapable of learning this within limited time," Master Yue Lan sighed.

Victor on the other hand, took a deep breath and sat in a crossed legged position with the scrolls and books around him.

Then he activated his Void Emperor Bloodline.

From his core, milky-white qi surged across his skin. His hair floated, eyes gleamed, and arrow-like patterns flared across his arms and neck. The air around him shimmered.

He then went on to activate his Void Domain that he used back in the altered world.

Within a fifty-foot radius... the space was his to control and command.

Time inside the domain slowed outward—relatively speaking.

Although time outside was normal, inside, it sped up by a staggering factor, effectively reducing days of learning to mere hours.

Which meant that within the domain, if three days went by, it would only be a couple of hours on the outside.

---------

<[ VOID EMPEROR DOMAIN ACTIVE ]>

Void Emperor Domain – Tier II

Time Dilation x200

Cooldown: 200 minutes

------------

"What is really going on?" Master Yue Lan felt the change and inquired.

"I have sped up time within this domain so we can get to learn without losing much time in reality," Victor only explained this much and yet Master Yue Lan eyes became as wide as saucers.

"Yo... you... you can do that?" He questioned with a jittery tone.

"Yeah I only just unlocked it recently," Victor responded casually not knowing the kind of shock that was going through Master Yue Lan's mind.

While it wasn't impossible to create such a space with time dilation using natural resources, it was incredibly expensive. So expensive that even the city's entire fortune wouldn't be able to keep it up for more than a single day.

And yet Victor was pulling it off like it was nothing.

He didn't know how much this would shock others if they knew of it.

"Master Lan, shall we continue?" Victor's words made him snap out of it as he seemed to have been lost in thought for a while.

The time dilation would allow Victor to absorb teachings at incredible speed which meant there was hope now so they resumed.

Master Yue Lan began the first Signs of the Supreme Array Formation, reciting ancient incantations while Victor simultaneously sketched them in the air with concentrated qi strokes.

The scrolls filled with glowing blue-ink tracings as layers of spiritual geometry unfolded across the room.

As Victor traced each line, arrays within the patterns began to link with thin threads of energy.

He adjusted sub-nodes, bolstered binding seals, and layered counter-symbols—all taught theory before, but now it was being made real.

Four hours inside the Domain equated to a week of normal time. When his domain deactivated, the wind snapped through the hall, and he collapsed to his knees, panting.

Master Yue carved symbols in the air with qi and smiled. "You've mastered the First stage of Tier 3 Array Configuration. Two more to go."

—

—Training Domain: Phase 2—

Over the next two days of accelerated training, Victor mastered the second stage and moved into third stage Tier III theory—the Perfect Seal Foundation formation.

It was a complex combination of five arrays nested together: Dragon Coil, Seal of the Grand Pacifier, Ether-Lock Cipher, Voidwell Engagement Matrix, and the Radiant Pale Flow.

Each component required precise qi input, energized through elemental catalysts: star-iron dust, crystalline jade pieces, herbal concentrates, liquefied moonlight, ghost-flame ash and a drop of Rank 2 spirit beast's blood.

Inside the Domain, the theory became practice. Victor emphatically repeated each pattern day and night, cycling through memory drills, array reinforcement, and error-correction feedback. By Day 4, he had internalized the Perfect Seal Formation completely.

When he stepped out again, exhausted but triumphant, two notifications glowed:

SYSTEM – TRACE COMPLETE

Tier 3 Array Formation – Learned.

Unlock: Seal Reinforcement Technique (Level 3)

SYSTEM – ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED

"Master of Tiers: You have learned the Perfect Seal Formation ahead of schedule."

Reward: +70000 Wisps Of qi, +5 to all sub stats.

Master Yue Lan and Lord Shen Yi watched with respectful surprise.

"You did it," Master Lan voiced in shock. "Learned Tier 3 in four days?"

Victor held his hand to his side. "Well, technically it was like a month but yeah..."

Lord Shen Yi frowned while tapping his chin; "A month?"

He hadn't been here most times when Victor was learning so he was unaware of the time dilation.

Master Yue Lan only chuckled softly and said; "Even a month is very impressive. It would take no less than six for even the best student."

Victor only shrugged and said; "Well, consider me the best now."

After a few back and forths, Master Yue Lan said; "Now you should know how to apply this... tomorrow you can begin seal reinforcement."

—

The next morning, Victor woke at dawn.

He needed to gather all the ingredients that had been acquired together...

The Moonveil Thistle, Crimson Sang Tea, Spirit-Leech Root, Firewind Mandrake, Dragon's Breath Crystals, Mists of the Blistering Peak, the high-clarity Caustic Moon Sand, Crystal-Petal Dew, the Jasper Horn Shard and the Phantom Jade Sliver.

He also needed special tools: an eight-fold cauldron made of Farling steel, enchanted parchments, binding scrolls with celestial silk threads, serpent-ink pens, and a set of lunar chiseling daggers.

These were the tools he'd need to make use of the ingredients.

The palace smithy handed him the needed high quality cauldron. The library gave him four sealed scrolls. The apothecary handed him bottles of reagents, mandrake root wrapped in silk, jars of dust, labeled and dated.

Alongside the reagents, he met Tarkos in the palace courtyard.

Tarkos approached and paused before handing over a root-wrapped Moonveil Thistle. "Ready whenever you are."

Victor nodded. "Thank you."

Tarkos's expression was taciturn. "Just... do it fast. We can't afford issues."

With all the ingredients and tools accounted for, the next step was Seal Reinforcement at Ancient Grove.

It was finally time...

He slid a hand over the cauldron lip and exhaled. "Let's finish this."

...

...

About thirty minutes later, Victor stood before the gnarled arch of ancient roots marking the entrance to the Ancient Grove.

Just like before, it was like the ancient grove blocked sunlight. From the entrance, it looked like once a person crossed the line, they would be going from day to night.

Elder Mo stood to his left with robes fluttering in the wind. Behind Victor, Tarkos and two other cultivators lined up with respectful expressions, waiting.

The mouth of the Grove was lined with thrashing vines that rumbled at Victor's presence. But Victor had walked this path twice before.

He was no newcomer.

A narrow tunnel of twisted vines stretched before him, dancing in silent greenness. Elder Mo stepped forward, planting his staff at the threshold and nodding to Victor. "We will wait here," Elder Mo whispered. "Enter and begin. But be swift. Your Integration still isn't fully complete."

Victor nodded as he took a breathe and stepped forward.

The vines ahead parted like curtains as he made his way down the ancient groves.

[ Notification: You have entered the Ancient Grove ]

Being at 72% Integration already, the pressure that coiled around his abdomen wasn't as heavy compared to the past.

Victor knew he had to head to the Hollow Verdant and was well aware of the path so he headed forward confidently.

He moved past twisted flora that oozed black ichor instead of sap, past the trees that had limbs entangled in bark, past the crazy terrains that made one see red phantoms...

The ground was a carpet of ash and dirt which occasionally crunched beneath his boots as if it were bone dust. The air held a faint burnt smell, mixed with the coppery tang of old blood but yet, Victor continued non stop, avoiding areas that he should.

...

Over an hour later, Victor had arrived at the gate.

The pressure here was still suffocating but not as badly as before.

Now it seemed more like a thing of Cultivation Realms.

The structure was like a brutalist sculpture centuries old. Chains thicker than a man's waist coil through ancient pillars, binding a floating ring.

Enchanted talismans fluttered against one another, glowing with a mixture of crimson and darkly dull colors.