The Science of Cultivation-Chapter 277: Lunchtime

Four hours flew by before Li Lang realized it, causing him to reluctantly pause his cultivation session.

Has it really been four hours already? Time’s been feeling shorter and shorter recently.

Shaking his head, Li Lang exited Ruby’s artifact space and ventured out of his room to find his friends and students. Heading straight to the mess hall, he surprisingly found it empty.

What? It’s lunchtime, isn’t it? Where are they?

It wasn’t hard for the owner of the Crucible to locate the presence of others within its premises, and Li Lang soon found them asking the artifact spirits. They were scattered around the pocket realm, so he visited his companions, specifically Wei Ping, first. He found him cultivating in the outdoor section, punching a tree.

“Wei Ping, what are you doing?”

“B-Boss? I’m just practicing the Lingering Impact Technique. I wan-wanted to brush up on it before I went to fi-find my teacher again for the next par-part of the technique.”

“Okay, but it isn’t like you to be so absorbed that you’d delay lunch for it. Neither are most of the students. Why is everyone working so hard all of a sudden?”

“Huh?” Wei Ping stared back at him blankly for a few seconds. “What d-do you mean?”

“What do you mean, what I mean? It’s noon, and no one was in the mess hall.”

“Er—Boss, i-it’s only late morning. There’s st-still quite some time until noon.”

“What?” This time, it was Li Lang’s turn to stare vacantly.

Without another word, he retreated into Ruby’s artifact space and strode straight to the alarm. He confirmed the time a little past noon before heading out back.

“Blue, Orange, Green,” he called out.

The three artifact spirits of the Crucible quickly appeared. Li Lang had normally kept their existence to himself, only alluding to their existence, but he didn’t care about that at the moment.

“How may we help you, Master?” Blue greeted as the representative of the three spirits.

“What time is it outside? Is it noon yet?”

“Master, there’s still a full shichen until noon.”

Li Lang absentmindedly nodded at her words.

That’s two hours until noon. I am sure when I set the alarm, it was around eight in the morning, and the alarm in the lab corroborates this. Then this can only mean that—

As Li Lang’s eyes widened at the realization, everyone else around him was visibly confused.

“Umm, w-what’s the matter, boss?” Wei Ping asked softly.

“I’ll talk about it another time.”

Without giving an explanation, Li Lang briskly walked away. He swiftly returned to his private room and returned to his lab.

“Ruby! Why didn’t you tell me about the time dilation of your artifact space? Is this because of your recent unshackling?”

“Master, I had no idea about it! I’m just as surprised as you are!”

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Left with no answer, Li Lang fell deep into thought.

I am sure this time dilation never existed back when I first obtained Ruby. I tested it before, and time flowed the same as the outside world!

When did this change happen? The most likely answer is during Ruby’s recent upgrade, but it could be when I broke through to Foundation Establishment Realm as well. That can’t be it, though. I thought the days were getting shorter during that time period, not longer!

After some introspection, Li Lang had to admit he wasn’t the most reliable witness. He still remembered how he had a reputation for easily losing track of time when doing research. His perception of time couldn’t be trusted when it came to lab time.

I mean, my research has been progressing quite smoothly recently. It is plausible that this is because of the extra time I spent on each project.

No, Li Lang, what happened isn’t what’s important. It’s the significance of having more time and how I’ll use it that matters right now!

So far, time had always been an invaluable resource to Li Lang, or to pretty much anyone in the world. The fact that he now had more time changed everything.

Sure, Ruby’s artifact space didn’t allow him to progress his cultivation, but it didn’t matter when it came to honing his techniques. He could still perfect his martial arts and Qi arts, as well as all his research. Undoubtedly, Li Lang was going to be spending a lot more of his time in his lab in the future.

His entire schedule had to be adjusted now to account for this new windfall. Several ambitious plans and research projects that he had set aside came to mind, but he quickly restrained himself. He knew it was better to focus on completing what he had in the pipeline first, rather than split his attention further.

“Ruby,” he called out. “You created my lab based on my memories, right?”

Ruby poofed into existence, hovering in the air with a smile. “That’s right, Master.”

“Then can you adjust it as well?”

“Of course!” the artifact spirit proudly declared.

“Can you add an adjacent room that is like the training hall from my time in Spirit Grove? Something spacious with some greenery outside sounds nice.”

“Sure thing. Just give me a moment, Master!”

Ruby didn’t disappoint him. A few moments later, the space around him rumbled, and the previous door that led nowhere disappeared and was quickly replaced by a sliding one. It was made of finely polished wood, exactly like the ones Li Lang had seen in his old sect.

Without needing any explanation, he slid the door open and went to explore this new area.

A gorgeous wooden hall, reminiscent of the dojos of his old world, stood shining before him. It was thanks to the sunlight peeking through the opened doors on the opposite end of the room, where a small courtyard and a pond could be seen.

Stepping foot outdoors, he found a flat grassland on the side, huge mountains in the distance. However, everything in between was covered in a white mist.

“I take it the foggy area is the border of this place?” he muttered.

“That’s right, Master.”

Li Lang nodded. It seemed Ruby learned his preference well. There was no need for an endless expanse. He simply had this place created so he could cultivate in peace. In his opinion, since he planned to spend more time within Ruby’s artifact space, it was a requirement.

Once he was satisfied with what he saw, he proceeded to practice the combat techniques he had been neglecting. Previously, he only had the time to just maintain his mastery over his existing repertoire, but now he could truly dedicate more time to his training. It meant he could finally get started on learning Earth–grade martial and Qi arts.

Thankfully, Li Lang had been collecting everything he could get his hands on during his collection spree for Earth-grade cultivation techniques. It was why he had decided to attend The Dark Sea Arena in the first place.

The gathering there had allowed him to discuss and trade with numerous cultivators. It helped that his students and companions contributed to the cause as well, as his time was limited. Now, it was finally time for him to peruse the bookshelf worth of techniques they collected.

Hm, it’s a little unfortunate that the techniques people didn’t mind sharing are likely subpar in some way. However, with the extra time I now have, maybe I can work on combing the best bits of several techniques to create new ones?

Yes, that sounds like a good idea. My cultivation speed is entirely reliant on finding materials with pure Qi aligned with the five main elements—or the remaining four, to be precise. It wouldn’t be time efficient to cultivate in the real world without them.

I can start my search for these heavenly materials or the equivalent to heavenly flames of the other elements when we set off to find new students and track the Abductress down.

A new plan formed in Li Lang’s mind. He was now determined to spend as much time as possible within Ruby’s artifact space. A plethora of techniques was waiting for him to learn. In fact, he was thinking of telling the group he would be in closed-door cultivation until it was time for them to leave Emberglow City.