Ray stared at the cultivation vessel in shock.
His mind raced.
"Wait… is this thing cultivating for me?"
He looked down at the glass tube, watching as the blue liquid inside slowly rose.
"And when this fills up… I'll break through to the next cultivation realm?"
Realization struck him like lightning.
This was insane.
He almost wanted to laugh out loud at how ridiculous it was.
But then…
His excitement faded as he noticed something.
The speed of the rising liquid…
Way too slow.
"Ugh, at this rate, it'll take forever." Ray sighed, rubbing his temples.
Sure, his cultivation speed was twice the speed of a normal beginner, but that wasn't exactly impressive.
If an average cultivator took a month to advance, Ray would take half a month Which was still slow by his standards.
"No, no. This isn't enough."
Ray summoned the system panel again.
The moment it appeared in his Sea of Consciousness, he paused.
"Damn, so the system can even function here?"
He quickly checked his Spirit Stones balance and sure enough, there were 100 stones missing from his earlier purchase.
Ray grinned.
"Alright. Let's increase the speed!"
He rubbed his hands together, eyes shining with excitement.
Ding!
> Consume 1,000 Spirit Stones to upgrade Automatic Cultivation to Level 2 (4x speed). Confirm?
[YES]
WHOOSH!
Ray suddenly felt the spiritual energy surging into his body at twice the previous speed.
"Ohh, now we're talking!"
His body felt lighter yet stronger. The energy absorption doubled.
But he wasn't done yet.
"System, keep upgrading!"
Ding!
> Consume 10,000 Spirit Stones to upgrade Automatic Cultivation to Level 3 (8x speed).
[YES]
Ding!
> Consume 100,000 Spirit Stones to upgrade Automatic Cultivation to Level 4 (16x speed).
[YES]
Ding!
> Consume 1,000,000 Spirit Stones to upgrade Automatic Cultivation to Level 5 (32x speed).
[YES]
Ray felt his entire body trembling as his cultivation speed skyrocketed.
Now, instead of taking a full year to reach the first cultivation realm, it would take him just a few weeks.
He clenched his fists, feeling the changes.
"This… this is real!"
He turned to the cultivation vessel and sure enough, the blue liquid was rising visibly now.
It had already reached 2/20th of the pipe meaning he was actually making rapid progress.
But…
When he checked his Spirit Stones balance, his face twitched.
Spirit Stones: 8,888,900
"...Damn. Over a million gone just like that."
He quickly did the calculations.
"It took 1,111,100 Spirit Stones just to get to Level 5…"
He checked the upgrade requirements for Level 6.
Ding!
> 10,000,000 Spirit Stones required to upgrade to Level 6 (64x speed).
Insufficient funds. Please collect more Spirit Stones.
Ray gulped.
"Wait, 10 million?! That's almost everything I had!"
He clenched his fists.
"I need more Spirit Stones!"
A deep sigh left his lips.
"If only Nyxiel had given me 12 million, I could've reached Level 6..."
Still, 32x speed wasn't bad.
He gritted his teeth but quickly shook it off.
"Fine. Whatever. I'll worry about getting more stones later."
Just as he was about to relax, his eyes caught something strange.
On the system panel, under the Side Functions section
The second function had unlocked!
"Huh? I only saw the first function unlocked before…"
Ray quickly clicked on it.
Ding!
> Second Side Function Unlocked: Automatic Practice!
Automatic Practic: This function allows the host to practice martial arts, weapon techniques, and cultivation skills automatically 24/7, without direct intervention.
Swords, spears, knives, hand-to-hand combat, formation techniques ANY skill can be trained passively.
Even while sleeping, training continues forever.
Ray froze for a second.
Then he burst into laughter.
"I can cultivate lying down AND now i can even train without moving?!"
This was beyond cheating this was god-tier laziness at its peak.
People spend decades training martial arts, pouring blood, sweat, and tears into perfecting their skills.
And here he was…
Going to master techniques while SLEEPING?!
"System, activate Automatic Practice!"
Ding!
> Host, congratulations! You can now activate Automatic Practice. Activation cost: 1,000 Spirit Stones. Confirm?
[YES]
Wait.
Ray squinted.
"Why does Level 1 of this cost 1,000 Spirit Stones, while the first one only cost 100?"
He rubbed his chin.
"Wait… if the cost goes up each time… then Level 1 of the third function will be 10,000… and the fourth will be 100,000…"
His face darkened.
"If this keeps going… won't the fifth function's first level cost the same as Level 5 of Automatic Cultivation?!"
Ray let out a pained sigh, almost wanting to cry.
"This system is so OP, but so EXPENSIVE!"
Still, he had to activate it.
No way was he passing up free training.
Ray rubbed his hands.
System: Turn on the Level One practice function.
Ding!
> To activate Automatic practice function (Level 1), please pay 1000 Spirit Stones. Would you like to proceed?
[Yes] / [No]
Yup, go on
hmmm
Two minutes later
"Why haven't I felt anything yet? Huh… did the function not start?"
Ray felt a little strange. He had activated the Automatic Practice function, but unlike cultivation, he didn't feel any immediate changes.
"System, how do I use this function?" he asked, frowning slightly.
There was no response.
Then
WOOSH!
A sudden wave of energy surged through his Sea of Consciousness.
Ray's vision blurred, and suddenly, he saw another platform appear right beside the one he was standing on.
He blinked.
"Wait… what's this?"
His curiosity exploded, and without hesitation, he ran toward it.
"Damn it, here!" Ray yelled, sprinting toward the new platform.
When he arrived, he saw that the ground was the same golden-colored tiles, looking ridiculously expensive.
But what caught his attention was the black shadow standing in the middle of it.
Ray stopped.
He narrowed his eyes.
"Huh? What's this…?"
At first, he thought it was someone else in his Sea of Consciousness impossible.
But after looking closely, he realized…
It was just a shadow.
Or more accurately his own shadow.
Ray walked toward it, reaching out a hand to touch it.
His fingers passed right through.
"Huh? It can't be touched…?"
His brows furrowed.
He was sure this space appeared because he activated the second function.
But what was its use?
Scratching his head, Ray turned his attention toward the massive library of books floating in the distance.
He extended his hand toward them.
WHOOSH!
A book shot out like a bullet, stopping in his hands.
Ray looked down at the cover.
[Saint-Level] Void Stride: The Step Beyond Boundaries
"A saint-level skill…?"
His eyes gleamed.
Without thinking much, he threw the book toward the shadow.
"Here, practice this," he ordered.