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I Can Only Cultivate In A Game-Chapter 53: That Doesn’t Make Any Sense
"We'll do everything in our power to find a way to support you."
Victor's body tensed as his lips parted slightly.
A lump formed in his throat.
He could feel it.
Their sincerity.
Their resolve.
Their belief in him.
But he just…
Couldn't accept it.
He pulled himself away from their grasp, standing up abruptly.
Then, with a voice laced in quiet exhaustion, he muttered:
"…I don't see how that's possible."
And without another word, he walked to his room and shut the door behind him.
---
The moment Victor was alone, he leaned against the door.
His breathing was shaky.
His eyes burned.
He swallowed the pain down, but it refused to settle.
Slowly, his gaze drifted toward the VR helmet resting by his bedside.
The same VRMMORPG helmet he hadn't touched in over a month.
It was covered in dust.
Neglected.
Forgotten.
His fingers hovered over it before finally reaching out to grab it. His hands trembled as he slowly picked it up.
A quiet shuddering breath escaped him.
This was…
This was the last gift his father gave him.
His chest ached.
A single tear slipped down his face.
His mind, as if acting on its own, dragged him back to the past.
Back to that day.
The world had felt gray.
Colorless.
Lifeless.
Victor had never felt so numb in his entire existence.
But nothing—nothing—could have prepared him for what happened when he brought his father's corpse back home.
His mother…
She had collapsed the moment she saw him.
Her scream tore through the walls...
She sounded so broken that it shattered him.
She didn't just cry.
She wailed.
She sobbed and clutched at his father's lifeless body as if she could force life back into him.
"Wake up! Wake up, damn you! Wake up, you idiot!"
Victor stood there, frozen with his fists clenched so tightly that his nails dug into his skin.
His mother's sobs echoed in his ears.
Her pain was… unbearable.
Victor thought he could handle the loss.
But watching her go through it?
Watching his mother break into a thousand pieces, screaming, sobbing and unable to accept reality?
That…
That broke him in ways he never thought possible.
Because no matter how much he wanted to take her pain away…
He couldn't.
He was powerless.
He had never felt so weak.
---
Back in the present, Victor sat on the edge of his bed while gripping the VR helmet tightly.
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His teeth clenched.
His knuckles turned white.
His breath was uneven.
He closed his eyes…
And whispered to himself:
"…What the hell am I even doing?"
But no answer came.
The only reason he could use cultivation powers in reality was because his father had given him this game.
His father.
The man who worked hard every single day. The man who always made sure there was food on the table. The man who believed in him, who thought he deserved something special, who gifted him the one thing that had changed his life.
And yet…
He couldn't even save him.
Victor let out a shaky breath as his chest tightened.
What was the point of this power if he couldn't protect the one person who mattered the most?
His father should still be here.
If only he had been stronger.
If only he had been faster.
If only—
A soft knock on his door interrupted his thoughts.
For a brief moment, he considered not answering.
But then, a voice followed.
"Victor, honey, can we talk?"
It was his mother.
---
Earlier, while Victor was still locked away in his thoughts, his mother had returned home and met Amara and the others as they were leaving.
She had been taken aback seeing them all gathered.
She hadn't seen Victor's friends in a while.
"Oh—Danny, Max, everyone... what are you all doing here?" she had questioned with a slightly surprised expression.
Amara and the others shared glances before Danny spoke up.
"We came to check on Victor, Mrs. Revenant. We haven't heard from him in a long time."
Max added, "He won't answer our texts…"
Victor's mother sighed. She knew Victor had shut himself off, but she didn't realise it had been this bad.
She had been working a lot and thought that, at the very least, they might have seen him on days when she wasn't home.
"He's… been keeping to himself," she admitted. "Thank you for checking on him."
There was a brief silence before Amara hesitated and then said:
"Mrs. Revenant, Victor is an awakened."
Victor's mother paused.
"What?"
"He has abilities," Jake chimed in. "We don't know how, but he does. He should be capitalizing on that. The Awakening Academy could help him—"
"Wait—wait." His mother raised a hand with a bewildered expression. "Victor has abilities? He never told me that."
They blinked.
"You didn't know?" Amara questioned with a tone of confoundment.
She shook her head.
The Molten Wastes incident. The Drakenar invasion.
Victor had been there.
Victor had fought.
But she had never known.
Her lips parted, as though trying to make sense of something that simply refused to settle in her mind.
She thanked them again before heading inside.
---
Now, as she stood outside Victor's room, she felt a strange mix of emotions.
Pride.
Worry.
Sadness.
She wanted answers.
After a brief pause, Victor finally muttered, "Come in."
She opened the door and stepped inside.
Victor was still sitting on his bed, looking lost.
She sat down beside him.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Then, softly, she asked, "Why didn't you tell me?"
Victor blinked. "Tell you what?"
"That you have abilities. That you were at the Molten Wastes when your father—"
Victor's stomach twisted.
He didn't reply.
His mother exhaled.
"I just… I don't understand," she continued. "When did this start? How?"
Victor scoffed bitterly.
"Because of a game."
His mother blinked.
"A game?"
He let out a small, humorless laugh before lifting the VR helmet.
"This game. Ascendant Realms."
She watched him carefully.
"It's how I can use abilities in reality."
Her brows furrowed in confusion. "That doesn't make any sense, Victor."