I Can Only Cultivate In A Game-Chapter 369: Processing Memory Fragment

She blinked.

"A... name?"

"Yes," Victor replied. "Like Gojo." He gestured briefly toward the frost raptor, who huffed as though offended at being brought into the conversation. "A name is how others call you. It’s how you understand yourself. It separates you from what you were before."

She tilted her head slightly while her brows knitted together.

"I... don’t understand," she admitted. "What is a name?"

Victor paused.

Then he smiled faintly and began explaining.

He told her how names were given at birth—or chosen later in life. How they carried meaning, history, hopes, and sometimes even burdens. How a name could be a promise, or a reminder, or a wish for what someone might become.

As he spoke, her eyes gradually changed.

At first, they were merely attentive.

Then curious.

Then—slowly—something almost childlike bloomed within them.

"...So," she said cautiously, "if I have a name... I am no longer just... that?"

She gestured vaguely toward herself, toward the markings...

Victor nodded. "You’re still responsible for what you’ve done. That doesn’t disappear. But a name lets you move forward. It lets you exist as more than your past."

For several long seconds, she said nothing.

Then, unexpectedly, her lips parted in something like wonder.

"...I want one."

The words were quiet, but the emotion behind them wasn’t. There was a fragile excitement there, restrained but undeniable, like someone reaching for something they’d never been allowed to have.

Victor felt something tighten in his chest.

He turned away slightly, gazing out across the frozen horizon as he thought.

A name wasn’t something to give lightly.

It had to mean something. To her. To him. To what she represented now... not just destruction, but survival, pain, and the possibility of redemption.

Minutes passed in silence.

Even Gojo remained unusually still.

Finally, Victor turned back to her.

"I’ll name you Eirene," he said.

She repeated it slowly, testing the sound. "Ei... rene."

Victor nodded. "It means peace. Not the absence of pain—but the end of endless conflict. It’s a name for something hard-won. Something fragile, but real."

Her eyes widened slightly.

"Peace..." she whispered.

For the first time since he had met her, the darkness around her markings seemed to soften... as though the corruption itself had paused to listen.

"...Eirene," she said again, more firmly this time. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Something shifted.

Victor felt it through the soul bond... A subtle tightening. A confirmation.

She bowed her head slightly.

"...Thank you."

Victor exhaled quietly. "You’re welcome."

With that settled, Victor finally allowed himself to relax.

His purpose here or at least the part that had drawn him into this frozen nightmare, was complete. The Kahr’uun civilization had been spared. The corruption had been bound, redirected, given a path forward rather than a dead end.

It was time to leave.

They were just about to climb onto Gojo’s back when Victor sensed movement behind them.

The sound of footsteps rang out.

Victor turned instantly as his hand moved toward the hilt of his legacy sword, preparing to unsheathe it.

Then he froze.

"...Rhozan?"

The Kahr’uun leader emerged from between two ice spires with his breath coming slightly heavier than usual. He let out a rough chuckle as he straightened.

"You are... very fast," Rhozan stated while rubbing one of his shoulders. "Following you was no easy task."

Victor frowned. "What are you doing here?"

Rhozan didn’t answer immediately.

Instead, he shifted the two large, box-like bundles he carried—one in each pair of arms—and stepped forward, placing them carefully on the ice before Victor.

"They are gifts," Rhozan said simply. "For parting ways."

Victor’s expression hardened instantly. "I don’t want anything from the Kahr’uun."

Rhozan sighed, clearly expecting this. "Please," he said earnestly. "Listen first."

Victor crossed his arms but didn’t interrupt.

"No matter how painful the truth was... no matter what was lost," Rhozan continued, "you still saved us. You could have walked away. You almost did. But you didn’t."

His voice lowered. "Our civilization still exists because of you."

Victor scoffed quietly. "That doesn’t mean I want payment."

Rhozan shook his head. "Then don’t think of it as payment. Think of it as gratitude. And practicality." He gestured toward the boxes. "You are traveling far. Even someone like you needs food."

Victor opened his mouth to refuse again—then paused.

Food.

His stomach chose that moment to betray him with a faint growl.

Rhozan smiled knowingly.

"...At least look," he pleaded.

After a long moment, Victor sighed. "...Fine."

He opened the first box.

Inside were neatly folded clothes. Some were thick, durable fabrics suited for harsh climates along with ornaments, tools, and one familiar object that caught his eye immediately: a glowing stone, identical to the one he had found beneath the unfrozen river.

His eyes narrowed slightly.

The second box was food.

A lot of it.

Preserved meats, dried fruits, sealed containers of nutrient-rich pastes and delicacies unique to the Kahr’uun. Enough to last at least two weeks—probably more.

Victor swallowed.

"...Alright," he muttered. "I’ll accept them."

Rhozan bowed deeply.

Victor picked up one of the garments and turned to Eirene.

"Here," he said gently, holding it out. "You should wear this."

She hesitated, then accepted it, studying the fabric with curiosity before draping it around herself.

Victor secured both boxes onto Gojo’s massive back, tying them down with strings. Even after being fully loaded, they looked laughably small against the frost raptor’s immense frame.

Finally, Victor helped Eirene climb onto Gojo, then followed her up.

From above, the world felt smaller.

Rhozan looked up at them as snow swirled around his feet.

"You are welcome here anytime, Iru... Victor," he said sincerely.

Victor nodded once. "Take care of your people."

Gojo spread his wings.

With a thunderous beat, the massive frost raptor lifted into the air, carrying Victor and Eirene away from the frozen land, leaving behind bloodstained ice, ancient sins, and a civilization forced to remember its past.

Ahead lay the unknown.

And for the first time in forty years, Eirene was not walking toward destruction... but toward a future.

...

...

The world below soon became a blur of white and gray.

Storms twisted like living things beneath Gojo’s wings. Walls of snow rose and collapsed as the frost raptor cut through them with terrifying speed. The wind screamed past Victor’s ears constantly, yet it never reached him fully. Gojo’s mana field shielded his riders from the worst of it.

Hours passed.

The endless icefields began to thin, rough mountains gave way to fractured plains. Somewhere far ahead lay the boundary of the frozen region, and beyond that, the wastelands that might eventually lead back to human territory—domed cities.

Yet Victor barely noticed.

His gaze was unfocused and his thoughts ran amok.

Too much had happened.

Ever since he was displaced from the safety of civilization, everything had escalated at an alarming pace... the ruins, the statues, the wasteland beasts, the Kahr’uun civilization hidden beneath ice, the sin that birthed a forty-year-old grudge, and the being of hatred who was now bound to him by soul and fate...

And Bai Feng.

Victor eyes narrowed as he recalled the memory transfer.

The dying man’s eyes were lucid even as life faded from them. The conviction in his voice. The way he spoke of things that had happened or were meant to happen.

At the time, Victor had pushed it aside. He had no choice. There was no room for introspection then.

But now?

Now, as Gojo devoured distance beneath them and Eirene sat quietly nearby, gazing out at the endless frost with an unreadable expression, Victor finally allowed himself to slow down.

And the moment he did—

<[ Memory Transfer Fragment Available ]>

[ Progress: 1 / 10 ]

[ Status: Ready to View ]

Victor froze as his breath hitched slightly.

"...Time to find out if it is truly real," he muttered under his breath.

Eirene turned her head faintly, sensing the shift in his emotions through the soul bond, but she didn’t interrupt. She only watched him with quiet curiosity.

Victor closed his eyes.

’Alright, Bai Feng,’ he thought. ’Let’s see if you were a madman clinging to delusion... or someone burdened by truth.’

He accepted the fragment.

<[ Processing Memory Fragment... ]>

<< Synchronization Complete >>

<< Initiating Transfer... >>

The world around him suddenly shattered.

Victor felt himself fall as the howling wind around him vanished. The cold disappeare and Gojo’s presence faded into nothing.

All of a sudden, there was light.

Warm, golden sunlight spilled across stone streets, bustling with life.

Victor opened his eyes.

He was standing in the middle of a city.

Although the city was unrecognizable, the environment was a different case entirely.

"...Ascendant Realms," Victor whispered in recognition.

Tall jade pillars lined the streets, etched with ancient formations that shimmered faintly with spiritual energy. Cultivators moved openly among mortals with restrained but unmistakable aura. Floating platforms drifted overhead, carrying merchants and disciples between districts.

The air itself felt alive.

This wasn’t Earth... This was undoubtedly Ascendant Realms.

The surroundings transformed once more, becoming a small courtyard, enclosed by high stone walls.

Training cries echoed as wooden weapons clashed.

At the center stood a thin boy with fiery eyes. His clothes were simple compared to the others around him.