I Can Only Cultivate In A Game-Chapter 387: Bad News First

Danny snorted. "You should see the food portions here."

Max laughed, then sobered. "I heard about the rankings. Ninety-three, huh? That’s insane."

"Still climbing," Danny replied. "Not stopping."

They talked about the academy, about training, about how surreal it all felt.

Max spoke about tech school, about projects and exams, about how strange it was watching the awakened world from the outside.

"I’ve been visiting Victor’s mom," Max said quietly. "Whenever I can."

Danny’s lips pursed.

"I know," he said. "Thanks."

There was a brief pause before Danny spoke again.

"I’m going to ask again."

Max frowned. "Ask who?"

"The Mana Defense Corps. About Victor."

There was steel in Danny’s eyes now.

"And if they don’t have anything new," he continued, "I’m not waiting anymore."

Max’s expression shifted. "You mean—"

"I’ll go looking for him myself."

Silence stretched between them.

"You really think he’s alive?" Max asked softly.

Danny didn’t hesitate.

"Yes."

Outside the booth, fireworks burst against the artificial sky, further marking the new year.

...

...

(( Thirty Minutes Later ))

The door to the Vice Chancellor’s Office slid shut behind them with a muted hiss.

For a brief moment, no one spoke.

Selene stood at the front with her hands clasped behind her back. Aria hovered close beside her with fingers curled tightly into her sleeves. Kai leaned against the wall with his arms crossed and his eyes calm. Reed stood slightly apart while Kairo lingered near the doorway as his gaze flicked between everyone in the room.

Danny was the last to step fully inside.

The surroundings felt tense the moment they all stepped in.

They all felt it at the same time.

Someone else was already there...

The assistant quietly took her leave, closing the door behind and leaving the six of them alone with two figures seated across the office.

One was familiar.

The Vice Chancellor was seated with her hair pulled back neatly and her expression calm as she folded her hands atop the polished desk.

The other person... made the room feel smaller.

She stood near the window with her hands clasped behind her back and her posture relaxed. However, she radiated an intensity so dense it pressed against the senses like gravity.

When she turned around, the atmosphere changed...

She had soft blue eyes that seemed to radiate with power.

Mana stirred instinctively around her, causing everyone present to feel intimidated.

Danny’s breath instantly paused.

"...No way."

Aria’s eyes widened.

Kai straightened unconsciously.

Reed swallowed.

Kairo froze.

There was no mistaking her.

Her image had been plastered across news feeds, academy lectures, tactical briefings, and history modules.

Legendary Mage Cecilia Thorn.

The youngest Legendary Mage in recorded history.

A living myth...

A woman who had personally turned the tide of multiple large-scale incursions, saved entire cities, and walked away from battles that had erased landscapes from maps.

And now—

She was standing right in front of them.

The Vice Chancellor finally spoke.

"Sit," she said gently. "I know exactly why you’re here."

Although it took visible effort for some of them to move, they did.

Danny’s heart hammered in his chest.

’Why is she here...?’

Cecilia Thorn’s gaze swept over them, assessing and lingering just a second longer on Danny and then Selene.

"You’re Victor Revenant’s peers," she stated. It wasn’t a question.

Selene nodded. "Yes, ma’am."

The Legendary Mage inclined her head slightly.

"Good. Then we won’t waste time."

Vice Chancellor leaned back in her chair.

"Children," she said, "what you’re about to hear hasn’t been released to the public yet. Not even to most of the Mana Defense Corps."

Aria’s throat tightened.

Danny clenched his fists.

Cecilia Thorn stepped forward.

"I have both good news," she said calmly, "and bad news."

The room went deathly still.

Danny was the first to speak.

"Bad news first," he said immediately.

Cecilia Thorn shook her head once.

"No," she replied. "It’s better you hear the good news first. Context matters."

Her gaze sharpened.

"The good news," she began, "is that we have confirmed—from a reliable, firsthand source—that Victor Revenant did enter the red runic circle before it closed completely."

For half a second, the world stopped.

Then—

Aria gasped.

Selene’s eyes shone.

Kai let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.

Reed’s lips parted in disbelief.

Kairo’s shoulders slumped in relief.

Danny’s vision blurred.

"He... he made it," Danny whispered.

"Alive."

That single word echoed in all of them.

Victor was confirmed to have entered... which meant he was undoubtedly alive.

Hope blazed in Aria eyes but it faltered almost immediately as she stepped forward.

"Then... then why?" she asked quickly. "If he entered the gate... why didn’t he come back with the others? Why didn’t he reappear at Sector K-22?"

The room quieted again.

Cecilia Thorn’s expression changed.

Just slightly.

"That," she said, "is where the bad news begins."

She raised a hand, and a holographic projection blossomed in the air displaying an intricate diagram of interlocking dimensional rings, energy nodes, and spatial vectors.

"The red runic circle was a two-ended dimensional gate," Cecilia continued. "One end anchored to Sector K-22. The other... unstable."

She looked directly at them.

"By the time Victor entered, the gate was already collapsing."

Reed frowned. "But if he went in—"

"The exit point," Cecilia interrupted calmly, "was no longer stable."

She waved her hand, and part of the projection fractured, splintering into void-black shards.

"Our dimensional experts believe the far end fully shut down before Victor could arrive."

The words sank in slowly.

Danny’s jaw tightened.

"...Meaning?" Kai asked quietly.

"Meaning," Cecilia said, "that Victor Revenant was displaced."

Aria felt her chest tighten.

"Displaced... where?" she asked.

Cecilia Thorn exhaled softly.

"That," she said, "is the problem."

She dismissed the projection.

"All reclaimed territories," she continued, "have been combed. Every secured city. Every checkpoint. Every monitored zone. Every known settlement under Mana Defense jurisdiction."

Her voice remained calm but there was seriousness beneath it.

"He is in none of them."

The silence that followed was long and drawn.

Danny’s eyes darkened.

"...Which means," he said slowly, "he’s not in reclaimed territory at all."

Cecilia Thorn nodded.

"Yes."

Selene felt a cold knot form in her stomach.

"Unclaimed territory," Kai murmured.

Cecilia Thorn folded her arms.

"Correct."

The Vice Chancellor spoke with a grim tone.

"Unclaimed territories are regions beyond our control. No stable environment. No reliable reinforcement. No mapped threat indexes."

"And no safety," Aria whispered.

Cecilia Thorn’s gaze softened just a fraction.

"Victor Revenant is still a student," she stated. "Talented, yes. Exceptional, even. But he is not a fully fledged Mana Defense officer."

Danny bristled. "You don’t know what he can do."

Cecilia met his eyes without flinching.

"I know exactly what he can do," she said evenly. "That’s why we’re still searching."

She paused.

"However," she continued, "there is another concern."

Reed frowned. "Another?"

Cecilia Thorn nodded once.

"Some unclaimed territories are simply dangerous," she said. "Others are... worse."

She hesitated.

Then spoke the words that made Aria’s heart drop.

"If Victor Revenant was displaced into the Uncharted Wilds..."

No one breathed.

"...then," Cecilia finished quietly, "he would already be dead."

Danny slammed his hand onto the armrest.

"No."

Cecilia didn’t raise her voice.

"The Uncharted Wilds are regions we have never reclaimed," she said. "Places where mana behaves unpredictably. Where apex entities roam freely. Where entire squads vanish without leaving traces."

Selene’s fists clenched.

"But you don’t know that he’s there," she said firmly.

Cecilia Thorn looked at her.

"No," she admitted. "We don’t."

Her gaze hardened.

"And that uncertainty is the only reason this conversation is happening."

She straightened.

"We are expanding search parameters. Quietly. Carefully."

The Vice Chancellor nodded.

"But understand this," Cecilia continued. "If Victor is alive—and if he is in unclaimed territory—then he is surviving in conditions that would break most trained officers."

Danny’s voice was steady, but burning.

"Then he’s surviving," he said. "Because that’s what Victor does."

Cecilia Thorn studied him for a long moment.

Then—

A faint, almost imperceptible smile touched her lips.

"...Yes," she said. "That’s what I’m hoping."

●●●

●●●

Meanwhile...

A few had gone by already.

The land around the abyss remained hostile and the air remained faintly tainted with withering mist and residual corruption, yet Victor had carved out a pocket of stability through sheer presence alone.

Each day, he activated Celestial Restoration again and again, timing the cooldowns precisely, pushing the technique to its limits without crossing into recklessness.

Gojo had regained his crystalline sheen and almost all his internal injuries were gone.

His breathing evened out. His aura stabilized. The violent fluctuations that once rippled through the soul bond faded into a calm pulse.

Now Gojo was standing tall again, flexing his wings with renewed strength as frost gathered naturally along his feathers as though the land itself recognized his recovery.

Victor watched him carefully.

"Don’t rush," Victor muttered, more to himself than to Gojo.

The beast snorted softly, releasing a plume of cold mist, but obeyed.

Eirene stood a short distance away, silent as ever.

She was changing little by little... and although, she was still silent as ever, Victor could feel the difference through the soul bond. She was observing more... becoming more curios. Her awareness was increasing.

She was finally starting to exist outside of the identity of the corrupt entity.