I Can Only Cultivate In A Game-Chapter 34: New Art

Victor strolled into the house and tossed his bag onto the couch.

"Yo, Mom! I'm home!"

His mother's voice echoed from the kitchen. "Victor, you better not have caused any trouble today!"

He grinned. "Me? Trouble? Never."

She appeared in the doorway before giving him a look.

Victor held up his hands in mock innocence. "Okay, okay, maybe a little trouble. But no detentions, no fights, and I haven't been expelled yet, so I'd say that's a win!"

She sighed but smiled. "You are impossible."

Victor snatched an apple from the counter and took a bite. "By the way, you need to sign my class trip consent form since Dad's not back yet."

His mother wiped her hands on a towel. "Fine, put it on the dining table. I'll handle it later."

"Cool. You're the best."

She smirked. "I know."

Victor was already halfway to his room before her response came in.

He was obviously excited.

It was time.

Time to log back into Ascendant Realms and continue his journey.

As he reached for the door handle, his mother's voice rang out. "Victor! Don't you think you should eat something first?!"

Victor grinned and shut his door behind him. "LATER, MOM!"

Her frustrated sigh phased through the walls but he ignored it.

...

...

As soon as Victor logged in, he was back in the game, sitting cross-legged in the vast open plains that stretched before Dark Canyon.

An eerie energy spread through the surroundings, giving him chills.

The canyon itself was a massive gaping mouth of earth protrusions and spiky black rocks that stretched endlessly into the darkness below. It looked like a death trap waiting to swallow him whole.

Victor exhaled. "Yup. This place is gonna be my graveyard."

Before he could begin strategizing, a notification flashed before his eyes.

---

[ System Notification ]

- Congratulations! You have successfully killed a Qi Devouring Beast!

- Rewards:

→ +10,000 wisps of Qi

→ +1 Low-Tier Spirit Stone

→ +5 Attribute Points

---

Victor blinked.

"Oh shit. I actually killed it?"

Then it hit him.

The boulder trap.

The last time he saw the Qi Devouring Beast, he had tricked it into a deep pit and sealed it with a massive rock.

He had assumed it was trapped forever—but apparently, it had finally perished.

Victor grinned. "RIP, you ugly bastard. Hope you enjoyed that hole."

He pulled up his stats, watching as his Foundation Establishment Realm cultivation percentage ticked upward.

The 10,000 wisps of Qi made a noticeable impact, pushing him several percent higher.

"Nice. That's some solid progress," he muttered.

But his favorite part of any grind session?

Opening treasure chests.

---

Loot Time

Victor pulled up his inventory and clicked on the Low-Tier Treasure Chest he received for scaling the Misguided Misty Paths.

The chest materialized before him, adorned with strange ancient carvings and glowing inscriptions.

[ System Notification ]

→ You have opened a Low-Tier Treasure Chest!

→ Rewards:

1,500 Wisps of Qi

1 Mid-Tier Spirit Stone

Dragon Breathing Art (Mid-Tier Flames Art)

5 More Attribute Points

Victor's eyes lit up.

"A new art?!"

He quickly inspected it.

---

[ Dragon Breathing Art ]

Rank: Mid-Tier

Type: Flame Art

Description: A breathing technique that allows the user to spit out draconic flames from their orifices.

---

Victor grinned.

"Oh, hell yes. This looks good."

He couldn't wait to learn this new art so he could test it out but it would have to wait.

"Alright, I gotta increase my cultivation level before I venture into this death trap."

With a deep breath, Victor sat cross-legged on the grass.

The moment he began drawing qi from the surroundings, the system displayed his progress.

---

[ Current Cultivation Level: Foundation Establishment Realm (23%) ]

---

Victor focused, absorbing the surrounding Qi into his core.

Wisps of golden energy swirled around him, rushing into his body like rivers merging into an ocean.

His percentage climbed—

23%... 27%... 31%...

But then—

Something felt off.

No matter how much Qi he absorbed, his progress was slow as hell.

It took three times the amount of Qi just to gain a single percent.

Victor frowned. "Wait a second..."

He opened his status window and skimmed through his cultivation details.

And that's when he saw it.

---

[ Cultivation Progression: The higher the realm, the harder the breakthrough. Foundation Establishment is no longer an entry-level realm. Expect slower cultivation speed moving forward. ]

---

Th𝗲 most uptodate novels are published on ƒгeewёbnovel.com.

Victor groaned loudly.

"Ah, crap. Of course, it gets harder now!"

He should've known.

The stronger you get, the harder the grind becomes.

Just like any good game.

Victor flopped backward onto the grass and stared at the sky. "Man, this is gonna take forever."

But then he sat up and cracked his knuckles.

"Guess that just means I need to find a way to speed things up."

He grinned.

Challenge accepted.

...

...

Two days went by in the blink of an eye.

Victor was currently seated cross-legged with his eyes closed in deep concentration, as wisps of golden Qi swirled around him.

His Establishment Realm had progressed forward, but...

---

[ Current Cultivation Level: Foundation Establishment Realm (45%) ]

---

He let out a frustrated sigh.

"This is taking forever."

Despite absorbing Qi constantly, the process had slowed significantly compared to when he was in the Qi Refining Realm.

He cracked his neck and stretched before standing up.

"Alright, that's enough for now. I've got other things to do."

Victor glanced at the ominous canyon that stretched out in the distance.

He mentally calculated his time left in-game.

He had two days before he needed to log out for school again.

That should be enough time to cross the canyon... right?

Unlike the Misguided Misty Paths, where illusions were the main danger, the Dark Canyon was rumored to have...

- Hostile spiritual beasts

- Treacherous terrain

- Unpredictable Qi disturbances

- Sinkholes

- Toxic areas and a lot more mysterious dangers.

Victor took a deep breath.

"Alright, let's do this."

He tightened his grip on his cheap-ass broken sword and realised that he definitely needed a new weapon.

But for now, he'd have to make do.

As Victor approached the Dark Canyon's entrance, a system notification flashed before his eyes.

---

[ System Notification ]

Warning: You are about to enter the Dark Canyon.

Recommended Cultivation Level: Mid Foundation Establishment Realm or Higher

Danger Factors: ???

Proceed with caution.

---

Victor snorted.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. This place is gonna suck."

But he wasn't turning back now.

As he stepped forward, the temperature dropped significantly.

The air felt so strange that it made his skin tingle.

Dark cliffs stretched endlessly on either side, forming a massive natural corridor that led deeper into the abyss.

A faint mist clung to the rocky floor, curling around his ankles as he walked.

As he continued onward, another set of notifications appeared.

---

[ New Environment Detected ]

<[ System Update: Due to the chaotic Qi flow, cultivation in this area is significantly reduced ]>

<[ Lighting conditions will worsen the further you travel ]>

'Oh great... like things couldn't get any worse.'