A Year of Cultivation

After returning to the villa, Yin Congyang received the course schedule sent by the Training Camp's intelligent system.

As he had anticipated, his course load was likely the heaviest of anyone's. First, there was combat technique training—his axe arts were outstanding, a fact recognized by all the instructors and the Training Camp's intelligent system, so they certainly couldn't be neglected. The importance of movement techniques and neural reflexes to combat prowess was beyond doubt, so these courses also took up a significant portion. Next came the Spiritual Master Controller courses. Although his talent as a Controller was slightly lower than his talent as an Illusionist—a comparison he'd made himself—the instructors and intelligent system clearly felt his Controller talent was still considerable. Letting such talent go to waste would be shameful, so they allocated some time for Controller technique training, though less than combat techniques, neural reflexes, and movement courses. Third, and most importantly, Illusion technique training took up an even larger share than the combat technique courses. It was obvious that the Purple-Robed Dragon Lady and the intelligent system believed Yin Congyang had high Illusionist talent but a very poor foundation, necessitating more courses in this area. The remainder consisted of theoretical study, daily cultivation, weekly sparring, monthly battles, and other arrangements.

"Get up. Keep attacking me!" Instructor Golden Lion's stern voice rang out.

Yin Congyang gritted his teeth and climbed to his feet. Adjusting his breathing, he continued to execute his axe arts and charge at Instructor Golden Lion.

"Too slow. That strike needs to be faster... That one didn't integrate the domain well enough. Again..." Instructor Golden Lion's voice kept sounding off.

Under the full suppression of Instructor Golden Lion's nine-layered domain, Yin Congyang and the other trainees training with him felt as if they were trapped in a quagmire. Every lift of a hand or step of a foot required all their strength. At the same time, they had to guard against Instructor Golden Lion's counterattacks while attacking him. Even though his stamina was nearly limitless, he wasn't truly a perpetual motion machine. Every sparring session with Instructor Golden Lion left him utterly exhausted, but the training results were indeed excellent. Instructor Golden Lion's vast experience allowed him to specifically hone Yin Congyang's combat techniques, and even his physical evolution accelerated significantly.

Especially in the cosmic secret realm, where the primal cosmic energy was incredibly dense. Although the Green Pouch Secret Realm was a relatively low-level cosmic secret realm, for Planetary Level and Star Level cultivators, it was enough to speed up their training by several times. Additionally, the monthly allocation of Moya Crystals, which were rich in life force, were the most suitable evolutionary treasures for Planetary Level cultivators.

Half of the combat technique training took place in the virtual universe. The Training Camp's intelligent system would simulate all kinds of opponents—humans, Monster Race, low-level Zerg, Machine Race, and so on, as well as Metal Lifeforms, Plant Lifeforms, and Rock Lifeforms. This broadened Yin Congyang's horizons immensely, and combined with the knowledge from theoretical classes, he gained a basic understanding of the common races in the universe.

The other half of the training took place in reality. On the giant planet at the center of the Green Pouch Secret Realm, there were areas where gravity was tens of thousands of times the universal standard. In such places, they had to continuously spar with Instructor Golden Lion and Instructor Green Bat. Under tens of thousands of times the universal standard gravity, their bodies endured immense pressure. Normally precise movements easily became distorted, let alone having to fight against instructors who had activated their domains.

The first time, Yin Congyang could barely lift his axe. Tens of thousands of times the universal standard gravity was over a hundred thousand times Earth's gravity. A one-ton weight in such an area became over a hundred thousand tons. Especially since this gravity acted on every cell and gene throughout the body. Many areas that were rarely trained had to evolve desperately under this immense pressure, or they would fall behind the evolution rate of other body parts, causing imbalance. Thus, under these conditions, all trainees, including Yin Congyang, forged an exceptionally solid physical foundation.

Instructor Golden Lion had said that to go further in the future, one's foundation must be solid. And what was the foundation? It was your body, your telekinetic power, your primal force, your soul, your will—everything that comprised your being. Cultivate these fundamentals to the limit of your current realm, and with an elevation in realm comprehension, breakthrough would come naturally.

Did breaking through from Planetary Level to Star Level require comprehending a domain? Did it require understanding laws? Not at all. That was something to consider at the Universe Level. Being able to comprehend a domain at the Planetary Level showed great talent and aptitude, but could that directly allow a breakthrough to Universe Level or Domain Lord Level? Obviously not. Why? Because the foundation wasn't sufficient. It was like building a planetary skyscraper—the foundation had to be incredibly solid first; otherwise, the planetary skyscraper would end up as a shoddy construction.

So, keep training!

"Faster, faster! Your neural reflex speed is adequate, but your bodies can't keep up," the short-statured Instructor Green Bat, shedding his usual lazy demeanor, roared loudly. "You need to make your bodies match your reflex nerves, achieving muscle memory that acts instinctively without thought. Only then can you ensure you won't fall to ambushes in the future. Do you know how high the mortality rate is for cosmic adventurers? And of the adventurers who die, at least seventy percent fall to ambushes..."

During neural reflex and movement technique training, as soon as Instructor Green Bat activated his nine-layered Wind Domain, all the trainees stumbled and staggered. Under these conditions, they also had to constantly dodge the wind blades he condensed within the domain. These wind blades appeared without any warning—or rather, the Planetary Level trainees couldn't sense any sign at all. They could only rely on neural reflexes and instinct to dodge or shatter the wind blades with their weapons.

At first, each person facing a single wind blade was flustered, and some simply couldn't dodge it. Gradually, they began to handle it more calmly. Then Instructor Green Bat increased the number of wind blades—some got one more, others two more—in short, forcing everyone to dodge with all their might under immense pressure. Moreover, unlike combat technique training, this took place in an irregular gravity zone. One second you might be in a five-thousand-gravity area, and the next, after stepping back, you'd be in a three-hundred-gravity area, making all the trainees' centers of gravity even more unstable.

In the virtual universe, Instructor Green Bat would teach the trainees some movement technique tips and secret methods, setting up extremely complex training grounds for them to practice. This movement training could also be applied to the flight training of Spiritual Master Controllers.

Of course, after daily training, if they wanted extra practice, they had to spend points to exchange for training time.

In the training of Spiritual Master Controllers, there were various methods for cultivating and controlling telekinetic power: condensation, dispersion, softness, hardness, illusion, fusion, sharpness, toughness, and so on. These were all basic telekinetic power exercises. The points required to exchange for these training methods were low, but they were very practical. Not only did Controllers need to practice them, but Illusionists also had to. Controllers had telekinetic weapons to use, while Illusionists in the early stages had no auxiliary weapons. So, for an Illusionist to achieve great success, they needed an even more extreme demand on their fundamentals.

Besides the relatively relaxed training in the virtual universe, practicing the use of the Xinling Disk in reality was also of utmost importance. The advantage of a Controller lay in telekinetic weapons. No matter how well one cultivated the basic telekinetic power techniques, if they couldn't apply them to telekinetic weapons, it was like having sixty years of internal energy but only mediocre martial arts moves...

Instructor White Eagle had a rather cold personality, usually expressionless and stern, rarely smiling. But he was still attentive to the trainees, almost always answering any questions they had.

Yin Congyang's talent as a Controller was truly not very strong. He cultivated the basic telekinetic power techniques extremely well and made rapid progress, but when it came to using the Xinling Disk, he was practically the worst among the Spiritual Masters in this batch of trainees. Aside from his flight ability being above average, his other skills were at the bottom. This often made Instructor White Eagle's cold eyes reveal a helpless look of frustration at his lack of progress...

"Your original foundation was very poor, almost zero," the Purple-Robed Dragon Lady's clear, cool voice was very calm. "But you've been improving very quickly lately, and your foundation training is very solid. That's good."

She paused, then added with a hint of a smile, "Although your Controller talent isn't great, which has left Instructor White Eagle quite helpless... he did praise your foundation. That's rare, you know. Instructor White Eagle rarely compliments anyone..."

Yin Congyang grumbled inwardly: Do you compliment people often yourself? Don't you know you have a 'keep away' look on your face?

Among this batch of trainees, not many studied Illusion techniques as a secondary focus. Including Yin Congyang, there were only five people. So, aside from public training sessions and theoretical classes, the Purple-Robed Dragon Lady basically taught Illusion techniques one-on-one.

"Your soul power is very strong. This might come from your innate talent. The benefits of strong soul power are numerous—it greatly enhances Illusion techniques and also strengthens your will. If your close-combat axe arts weren't so outstanding, I would have wanted you to specialize in Illusion techniques," the Purple-Robed Dragon Lady continued. "There are several directions for Illusion techniques, such as focusing on destruction-type, confusion-type, enslavement-type, and so on. Of course, soul defense doesn't count—both Controllers and Illusionists must cultivate that. In the early stages, it's best for you to choose one main direction and treat the others as supplementary."

Yin Congyang thought for a moment. His greatest strength was still close combat. All other skills should serve to assist his close combat. In a life-or-death battle, if he could affect his opponent for even an instant, he might be able to chop them dead with one axe. Both destruction-type and confusion-type were viable options.

But there was a difference. Confusion-type techniques required more mental effort to execute because you had to create an illusion to bewilder the enemy. They took effect more slowly and consumed a fair amount of mental energy. In a life-or-death battle, you might not have the time or mental capacity for that. Destruction-type techniques were different. They consumed less mental energy and took effect quickly. If you could affect the enemy for just an instant, that was the difference between life and death.

He looked at the Purple-Robed Dragon Lady. "I choose to focus on destruction-type and supplement with the others."

The Purple-Robed Dragon Lady looked at him and, for the first time, truly smiled. "A wise choice! It's a pity I haven't completed my own apprenticeship yet; otherwise, I would have wanted to take you as my disciple..."

Yin Congyang shrugged, expressing a hint of regret, but didn't take it to heart. The Purple-Robed Dragon Lady's teacher was most likely a World Lord, and less likely an Immortal. But even an Immortal, within a superpower like the Virtual Universe Company, was hardly anything significant.

"Beep~"

Yin Congyang received an email from the Training Camp's intelligent system. The email's subject line read: The Training Camp's annual assessment will take place in seven days...