In the Central mountain of Sanya's sect
Her parents were both talking with each other. They were also in their real forms, just like Sanya. They didn't want to use any game character other than their real bodies.
They wore simple outfits—nothing fancy or elaborate.
They were now talking with Sanya. Or rather, Sanya was arguing about something.
Kamal sighed and said, "Sanya, I know what you're feeling. But…"
Neelam completed his sentence, "But Sanya, understand that we can't play a match."
Kamal then added, "We don't want to bully those weak players. We've already seen your gameplay videos on the E.A. Network. Those players are just mortals. We don't want to bully them. When they get stronger, we'll play at that time."
Sanya had shown them her gameplay videos so they could understand the game. But now it looked like that video had made her parents lose interest.
Sanya nodded her head. She understood how her parents felt. She could just play with them later when players became stronger. But it would be difficult for players to reach a level that could entertain her parents—because her parents were also going to start cultivation in game world. They likely wouldn't be thrilled by ordinary players, even in the future.
But was it really true? No one knew.
Sanya then called a puppet instructor to teach her about the Rasa Maker profession. She also asked her parents to come.
They agreed this time.
***
Meanwhile, in the real world – Dark Haven Fortress.
A separate small world existed in the deepest part of the fortress.
This world was created by Ankit, so no one could disturb him while he was making the item to help comprehend the time element.
And now, finally, he had made it.
Ankit sat cross-legged, floating in mid-air at the center of the world.
In front of him stood a massive mirror. Even unactivated, it radiated wonderfulness and power just through its reflection.
Thousands of reflections overlapped and constantly shifted inside the mirror. Some showed a normal world like Earth. Some reflected martial worlds where people used martial arts. Some showed worlds full of monsters. Some displayed fantasy creatures. Some showed the era of dinosaurs, some the medieval period, some…
Each reflection was a world. A dream, yet complete.
This was the item he had painstakingly created.
The Eternal Ascendancy game made by Ether Clone used the same method.
But this mirror was like a god-level version of the game.
Ankit murmured, "Now, let's go to the first world."
He had chosen a modern world, one without any essence flow. It was just like his previous timeline—nothing surprising.
Ankit had picked it randomly. He simply wanted to test the mirror's function.
As soon as he commanded the mirror to activate, all the essence flow inside the hidden world was sucked dry in an instant.
But the essence-gathering vyuhas activated at the same time. They began supplying more essence flow to the mirror.
The shuffling reflections in the mirror suddenly stopped. Only one reflection continued moving—the chosen world.
From that reflection emerged millions of invisible thin threads. They slowly moved toward Ankit.
Ankit could see these threads clearly, but he didn't react. He knew what was about to happen.
The threads gradually covered his body, which was still floating mid-air in a cross-legged position.
They wrapped tightly around him so he couldn't move.
The threads formed a complete cocoon. Not even air could pass through. But he felt no lack of oxygen or discomfort.
The ends of the threads remained connected to the reflection of the chosen world.
The threads acted as an invisible bridge between Ankit's body and the chosen world.
As the bridge fully connected, Ankit's consciousness began to blur. He didn't resist. He let it happen.
After some time, he opened his eyes.
He was no longer in the hidden world inside Dark Haven Fortress. He was in a completely different place.
Ankit could feel that his cultivation had been sealed perfectly. He couldn't use any cultivation power or abilities. His current state was that of a mortal.
This was the mechanism he had built into the mirror himself—otherwise his powerful presence would burden this dream world and possibly fracture the mirror.
It was different from Eternal Ascendancy. In the game world, the character was a completely new body. A player could switch between real body and game body at any time. It was permanent. So even if a player had cultivation in the real world, it would not carry over to the game character body.
On the other hand, in the mirror, Ankit's current body was just temporary. It directly reflected his real-world cultivation. That's why he had installed a mechanism to seal cultivation of Stage 3 and above cultivators—so it wouldn't affect or overload the mirror.
Below Stage 3, there was no burden at all. The mirror could handle it without any risk.
Ankit looked around. He was in a forest. A river flowed beside him, and the forest stretched for miles.
He saw his reflection in the river. He was exactly the same as in the real world—no change at all.
Ankit murmured to himself, "I was thinking of coming inside these dream worlds as a child—like in the novels, where the protagonist is reborn as a baby."
He had considered being born as a child to experience life from the beginning.
But he quickly abandoned the idea.
He didn't want to create unnecessary relationships.
He had already lived as a child once. He didn't want to feel it again.
He had only come here to experience time—not to form attachments with anyone.
He knew these worlds were illusions, not real.
Every person inside was just a creation of the mirror, not a true living soul.
The mirror had built all these thousands of worlds from Ankit's memories.
Some worlds were inspired by novels he had read.
The characters inside were also shaped from those memories of novels—nothing more than reflections.
Ankit knew the people here were illusions, so he chose to enter as his adult form.
That way, he wouldn't gain another mom and dad.
He wouldn't form new family ties that would only complicate things.
Ankit followed the river trail.
Following the river would lead him to a city or town eventually.
There, he could find food and survive.
He was no longer a cultivator, so he would have to eat to live.
Right?
No.