Ancient Ruin

He had decided to let the simulation be on free reign, hoping that it would end up surprising him.

[Ding, talent selected successfully! Simulation starting...]

[at 18 years old, you started cultivating in seclusion forsaking everything and completely focusing on your breakthrough]

[a week later, your diligence paid off and you became a first level Qi refiner]

[a month later, you reached the second level of Qi refinement]

[You decided to end your seclusion and pay your master a visit. He was overjoyed with your cultivation speed and rewarded you with several mid stage mortal grade spiritual arts and spells. he then disclosed that he had only reached the first level of qi refinement after two weeks but had lied to rouse your competitive spirit making you understand that there are differences in cultivation speed even among spirit roots of the same grade]

[While walking around the sect grounds you stumbled upon the coliseum where disciples fight to the death and where the sect holds their annual sect competitions]

[You were like a fish in water, every bet that you made ended up being correct, and that day, you left the coliseum with a bulging space pouch]

[you continued cultivating not forgetting the daily visit to the coliseum to renew your resources and before you knew it you had already reached the third level of Qi refinement]

[rumors about the new core disciple forsaking cultivation and gambling every day started spreading wildly making you gain a terrible reputation. The inner elder responsible for the coliseum, incurring a huge loss due to your gambling talent, had enough and decided to share the news with your master]

[the furious supreme elder forced you to cultivate in seclusion at his mountain peak]

[at 19 years old, you reached the fourth level of Qi refinement as well as the initial stage in flash steps and learned the first form of the seven Flowing River Sword Forms]

[at 21 years old, you reached the fifth stage of Qi refinement, attained small achievement in flash steps, and learned three forms of the seven Flowing River Sword Forms]

[your strength was at the top of the inner sect, and only core disciples were still stronger than you so you decided to pick up some missions and leave the sect to broaden your horizons]

[before leaving the sect, your master gave you a bunch of life-saving treasures as well as a high stage mortal grade sword making you have a warm feeling]

[at 22 years old, you stumbled upon a war between two mortal kingdoms, you didn't intervene only watching how the Fire Nation destroyed the Yellow Spring Kingdom, its people were mercilessly slaughtered and enslaved and its wealth plundered]

[you pitied a random man because he had the same appearance as your past life and you decided to save him and his family on a whim]

[you didn't expect the simple farmer to repay you by leading you to his destroyed house and showing you a decrepit old well. Just as you were about to teach him some manners, the old farmer picked up a big rock and threw it inside. No sound came out of the well and even the water was unmoving as if the rock was simply swallowed into the darkness]

[you decided to enter inside since it seemed like it was an ancient ruin; a space fraught with danger but also containing immeasurable treasures and opportunities. After all risk and reward often come hand-in-hand]

[once inside you were horrified to find that the ancient ruin only contained a staircase composed of 10 steps leading to a dilapidated pavilion with the words Library Of The Forgotten Paths engraved in bold words]

[You were not permitted to leave unless you reached the pavilion and you discovered that with each step you took on the staircase you were given a spiritual art and you had to cultivate it to at least great achievement before you could move on to the next step]

[knowing that comprehension isn't your strong suit and seeing the countless skeletons around you, you knew that you were doomed and you ended up wallowing in sorrow for a whole year]

Lin Fang had a thoughtful expression on his face, "it seems like the me inside doesn't know of the existence of the simulator", he noted, "as if the memories of me using it were completely wiped out of his brain"

[at 23 years old, you finally remembered your family back on earth and your vow to slaughter everything on your way to the top. With fiery eyes, you stepped onto the staircase and sat down to start comprehending the first spiritual art.]

[at 25 years old, you finally pushed the low stage mortal grade spiritual art to great achievement reaching the second step]

[at 30 years old, you reached the third step]

[at 40 years old, you reached the fourth step]

[at 102 years old, you still couldn't break the bottleneck to comprehend the earth grade spiritual art. Sensing your impending doom, you started your final struggle by switching to cultivation hoping that with a high enough realm, you could break out of this prison forcefully]

[However, to your absolute horror, you found that this separate dimension only contained a limited amount of True Qi and even after absorbing every speck of it you only reached the seventh level of Qi refinement, far from the level needed to break out of this ancient ruin]

[at 150 years old, you reached the end of your lifespan and died of old age, still stuck on the fourth step of the staircase with your eyes filled with immense sorrow and unwillingness]

[Due to your death the simulation is ending...]

Cold sweat rolled down Lin Fang's spine, even thinking about being stuck in such a hopeless situation makes him break out in goosebumps.

'Even with the simulator, if I were to enter that ancient ruin carelessly, then I would be doomed', he thought his eyes narrowing dangerously.

He vowed to himself that from now on he would never enter an ancient ruin without using the simulator to scout first and to keep a spare one or two simulations in case he finds himself stuck in such a situation unknowingly.