He remembered that Cultivation in the dream couldn't increase his Cultivation level.
However, a Cultivation Technique's Skill Level was different from one's Cultivation.
Gu Ming easily grasped the difference: when cultivating a technique in the real world, both Cultivation and Skill Level increased together.
But Cultivation in the dream didn't affect his Cultivation level. It was like practicing a Refining Technique in a void; it only increased Skill Level, not Cultivation.
"Cyan Treasure, use Head Hammer on the wooden table. Ah Kun, you swallow a Spirit Stone... no, wait, the Spirit Stone has already been swallowed. In that case, eat some Fish Food. Cyan Treasure, use your tail to help feed it."
"As for me, I'll practice my Cultivation Technique for a bit."
After giving his orders, Gu Ming immediately started practicing on the spot.
Cyan Treasure and Ah Kun were both a little stunned. They hadn't expected their master to sit cross-legged and begin his Refining Technique right after speaking.
The two Pet Beasts exchanged a glance. It seemed they had no choice but to comply.
This miraculous Space was strange; one could revive infinitely, and items would refresh endlessly.
However, the items here weren't created from thin air but were copied from his real-world house.
Cyan Treasure climbed on top of the Fish Tank, dropped in some Fish Food with its tail, then got down and used Head Hammer on the wooden table.
THUD. The impact made its forehead ache, but the wooden table only trembled slightly.
Cyan Treasure couldn't see its own progress bar, but on Gu Ming's end, its Head Hammer Skill Experience had genuinely updated.
「Cyan Treasure: Head Hammer Skill Experience +1」
Ah Kun's notification followed:
「Ah Kun: Devouring Secret Technique Experience +1」
'So slamming into a table and eating Fish Food really can grind for experience.'
'Now I can have my Pet Beasts furiously grind their Skill Experience.'
Gu Ming closed the system's message window and shut his eyes, performing the Cyan Pine Visualization. He pictured a Cyan Pine taking root in his Sea of Consciousness, using it as a model.
Last time, he hadn't even finished the first Circulation before his Spiritual Power was depleted.
This time, inside the Dream Training Space, his mind wouldn't get tired. In theory, he was in the best possible mental state for training.
'If I could just grind Skills tirelessly forever...' He soon realized he was overthinking it. There was no such thing as a perpetual motion machine for grinding.
The future version of the *Cyan Pine* Cultivation Technique had an enormous consumption rate. It used almost as much Spiritual Power as he had, operating at maximum output.
It was a Cultivation Technique that adaptively adjusted its Cultivating Technique pathways. The better Gu Ming's mental state, the more ripples it generated—far more than the ones he had perceived at school today.
Gu Ming didn't dare choose a path without ripples. He could only bite the bullet and imagine a brush condensed from Spiritual Power. Using twice the mental effort he had in class, he began to draw a pattern on his Spiritual Sea Surface, outputting his Spiritual Power.
Stroke by stroke, a mysterious pattern gradually took shape, completing a full circle within his Sea of Consciousness.
A large circle formed the outer ring, containing countless wondrous lines within—Runes shaped like pine trees.
He had a faint feeling that this was something like an Array.
'Is the future of Cultivation Techniques to carve Arrays into one's mind?'
'Seriously? Are they really that bold?'
Gu Ming had never heard of a Spiritual Technique that involved carving an Array into the brain.
'This is completely beyond the curriculum, isn't it? Is this really something a high school student should be practicing?'
Furthermore, after drawing it just once, Gu Ming's Spiritual Power was depleted again.
The Dream Training Space did indeed prevent mental fatigue, but constructing the Spiritual Array required Spiritual Power as its ink.
'Once the ink runs dry, it doesn't matter that you're not tired. With no ink to draw the talisman, all you can do is wait.'
Fortunately, he discovered that by simply waiting in the Dream Space, his Spiritual Power would recover at a rate similar to when he was asleep.
While waiting for it to recover, he glanced at the history in his message log:
「Cyan Treasure: Head Hammer Skill Experience +1」 x95
「Ah Kun: Devouring Secret Technique Experience +1」 x242
「*Cyan Pine* - Uninitiated: 1/500」
'Not bad, not bad. Both Pet Beasts are training diligently.'
'It's just that my *Cyan Pine* is so hard to practice. After all that effort drawing the Array Talisman, I only gained one point of experience.'
Gu Ming gasped when he thought about having to draw it five hundred times.
'This thing is no joke to practice.'
In the real world, due to various distractions, his Spiritual Power was never full, so he couldn't draw the complete Sea of Consciousness Array Talisman.
Only by taking a Soul Reviving Pill could he fully replenish his Spiritual Power and meet the requirement for drawing the Array Talisman in a single go.
'Without taking a Pill, can this Cultivation Technique even be mastered?'
And this was with him having the Dream Training Space, which allowed him to start with his Spiritual Power at its maximum.
Even so, it was only enough to draw it once.
After drawing it, he had to rest for a long while.
Gu Ming watched his two Pet Beasts train as he scrolled through his history.
He had learned this Cultivation Technique at the future Qing Lake High School, which meant the technique hadn't diverged from the Da Zhou Academy's Cultivation system.
The future Qing Lake High School still had a culture of cultivating with the aid of elixirs, and it might have even intensified.
High school Cultivation Technique teachers had already accepted the practice of pairing *Cyan Pine* Cultivation with Elixirs. It was a two-pronged approach to accelerate a Beastmaster's Spiritual Power development, allowing them to contract a second Pet Beast by the time they graduated high school.
'No, my thinking isn't bold enough.'
'If future high schools can already get students to wield two Pet Beasts upon graduation, they will definitely up the ante, pushing them to have two Pet Beasts *before* graduation.'
'Once the future college entrance exams are full of eighteen-year-old Beastmasters with two Pet Beasts each, the level of competition will skyrocket.'
'To put it bluntly, it's an upgraded rat race.'
'The college entrance exams thirty-two years from now will be more than twice as cutthroat as they are today!'
'What a terrifying future.'
After figuring this out, Gu Ming instantly understood why *Cyan Pine* was so difficult to practice.
It was a Spiritual Technique inherently designed to be used with Elixirs. There were no shortcuts in this world; anything with super-high efficiency always came at a price.
Gu Ming closed his eyes and rested quietly.
Three hours later, he felt his Spiritual Power fully restored and continued practicing *Cyan Pine*.
「*Cyan Pine* Skill Level Experience +1」
The practice was simple and monotonous, with no increase in his Cultivation.
Though drenched in sweat, he persisted. The reason was simple: he had nothing better to do anyway. His Pet Beasts were training hard, so why shouldn't he?
'Increasing its Skill Level is still progress.'
He was eager to see just how fast he could cultivate his Spiritual Power in the real world after he reached the Entry Level with *Cyan Pine*.
...
BAM.
Cyan Treasure struck the wooden table for the two-thousandth time.
It had slammed its head so many times it was dazed, having lost count of how many Head Hammer attacks it had used on the table.
The previously immobile wooden table had been knocked back several centimeters, and its surface was now covered in visible cracks.
Cyan Treasure's mind was groggy, its head feeling as if it weighed a hundred pounds.
It struck again with that imagined hundred-pound weight, and this time, the result was different.
The wooden table leg exploded on impact. Having broken one of its legs, the table collapsed to the floor.
The cracking sound instantly sobered Cyan Treasure, and it hastily dodged the falling table.
It looked back at the corner with the broken leg; the fracture was splintered and distinct.
'Did... I do that?'
"Congratulations, Cyan Treasure. You've reached the Entry Level for Head Hammer." Gu Ming walked over and patted its head.
The injury on Cyan Treasure's head healed in an instant, but the pain didn't vanish. That was part of the experience.
Two thousand repetitions—each impact added one point of experience.
Even a fool could master a Skill that way.
Compared to a Cultivation Technique like *Cyan Pine*, which was incredibly complex and demanded perfection, the Head Hammer Skill required no intricate thought. As long as you slammed your way to the Entry Level, you'd possess considerable destructive power.
Cyan Treasure froze for a moment.
'I... I learned it just like that? Isn't this a bit too simple?'