Solo Cultivation in The Apocalypse

Hitori simply did not believe in the Crime Department at the Mage Ministry, that was the reason why he had not informed them about Kiku\'s death and Tengoku\'s attack.

To rely on the crime department was not an option. They would progress at the turtle\'s speed and would not even care enough to find the actual culprit or investigate what actually happened.

They will first spend half of the time investigating Hitori and other people he knew, then they would not make a move till his parents arrive. Amazing.

Hitori had kept the incident hidden from everyone, Kamiya did the same. So about Kiku\'s death, no one knew.

Hitori had tried to inform his parents about the incident through calls and emails but another day had passed and he had received no message from his parents.

Yesterday, Hitori tried to investigate a person known as Tengoku Kagaku. He did not have anything much on his plate but he got an overview of who this person actually was.

A science professor at the Science or Scientists\' Academy. Not just any professor, he was one of the top grade professors who taught Weapons Engineering at the academy.

His profile picture was not updated, and his last check-in time was a year or so ago. So this was an inactive account. That made Hitori wonder if this was the person he searched for.

And yesterday, after Kamiya spent several hours arranging the dungeon\'s positions, upgrading defenses, selling useless monsters such as goblins, firedogs, and Utsu. And reinvest the money back into buying more Undead Ogres, Flame Tigers, and fire wolves.

After they both logged out for the day, Hitori went home. Whilst Kamiya went to the city hospital to meet his sister, he had to pay his remaining money for further medication.

His sister\'s silhouette was only visible even when Kamiya leaned closer to kiss her forehead, "Do not worry, Akemi-nee-chan. Once we win this brawl, I will have enough money for Christmas."

He left the hospital. On his way home, he acted on his instincts and brought groceries even when they had the morning grocery already at home.

The next morning, they both woke up at six O\'clock. They both helped each other to prepare breakfast.

On this Friday morning, it was not even seven in the morning when both of them arrived at the Vr-cade. At the counter stood the counterman to welcome them.

Things have been different and difficult between Hitori and the counterman since the beginning but today, Hitori felt a different, even creepier, and yet even scarier vibe from the counterman. He felt the man\'s stare till he reached the fourth gaming alley.

They both inserted their cards in the magic slot, Hitori quickly texted Reon to log in before he was about to transmigrate to the game. But to his surprise, when he texted Reon, he saw that she was already online!

Hitori and Kamiya quickly logged in to the game. They were spawned right in front of their territory, if not inside their territory.

Hitori looked around him, he saw two dark caves- Kuri and Pontianak Lairs. Then his eyes fell on an ice-covered dungeon that had an arched gateway entrance with no door but white snow covering the entrance.

"Let us hurry," Kamiya opened his tab and started walking, "watch out, follow me. I have not told you about the traps I have set here yet…"

Hitori was surprised to hear that. He never thought Kamiya had already done setting up the traps. Now that made him wonder, how did Reon-san manage to get inside?

"Oh-" Kamiya came to a sudden stop, "I forgot… I forgot to activate the traps last night!" he suddenly exclaimed.

"Hah? You left the base unprotected, Kamiya?" Hitori spread his arms open.

Kamiya tilted his head back and muttered, "y- yeah." Hitori sighed, "but, looks like we are not attacked yet. T- T- that is good!"

"That is just luck!" Hitori corrected him, "anyway, man…" he shook his head coldly.

"Forgive me…" they both started walking inside Pontianak\'s Lair. Hitori looked around him once again.

While casually taking a look around the beautiful combination of ice dungeons and normal caves decorated with trees, snow, and darkness, his eyes fell on a timid personality.

Hitori saw a timid player covered in dark robes, "Kamiya, I think we have trouble–" he suddenly paused when his eyes fell on the player\'s level.

"What? Where?" Kamiya scrolled through the map as he frantically asked Hitori.

"Level… three?" his eyes twitched, "forget it." Hitori pushed his katana back into its scabbard. Kamiya stopped scrolling through the map, gave Hitori a shrug, and continued walking.

They reached the courtyard, Reon was waiting for them on her throne. Hitori and Kamiya greeted her as they both walked up to their thrones too.

"So, what is today\'s plan, H- Hi- Hitori-san?" Hitori looked at her with surprise before he sat on his throne, "Kamiya-Kun?" it was turning awkward so she turned to Kamiya.

"We were going to… find a dungeon and then conquer it," he replied without looking at her, "t- to increase our defenses," he added.

"Oh…" she nodded her head, "I- I will protect our base while you two are away–"

"Ah, no."

"Eh?" she turned to Kamiya who had interrupted her with disagreement.

"I am not going anywhere," he looked at her, "you are, Reon-san." he quickly turned his head away, back to the main screen.

"What? Why?"

"Because I have created this base, so I know how to defend against enemies," it was true. It was Kamiya who had prepared everything since last afternoon.

That left Reon with no choice but to nod her head, "then… Hitori-san and I are going to… conquer a dungeon?"

"Yes, you are." Kamiya went back to the screen, "I have not found a dungeon yet so it looks like you will have to find one on your own. Sorry."

"Nah, it is fine, Kamiya," Hitori coughed and got up from his throne, "we will be fine," he glanced at Reon, "we have faced bigger difficulties together."

They both came out from the Pontianak lair and started walking in the north direction. Hitori had not activated his fire ring as there did not seem to be many monsters around, at least, not around them.

Without their notice, a timid guy dressed in robes was following them. He tried his best to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"So we need more defenses?" Reon asked.

"Yes. At least an above level twenty-five dungeon or a lair would work too."

Reon nodded, "now the question remains… where to find them?" She continued to walk.

The guy from behind took up the pace and started running in Hitori\'s direction. The sound of his footsteps was audible but before Hitori could dodge, they bumped into each other.

​ "Oh! Sorry, sorry!" The timid guy quickly apologized.

Reon had taken a step away, Hitori was patting his shoulder calmly. His eyes fell on the person, the same person once again. Level three and his game name was \'A_NewbieNoob\'.

"It is fine…" Hitori and Reon walked past the newbie noob without giving much care about that person.

"Yeah, so we need an above level twenty-five dungeon, and a lair would do well too, you say," Reon repeated Hitori\'s previous words.

The noob heard their conversation once again and rushed back to both of them, this time, not colliding with Hitori or Reon.

"Hm." Hitori nodded, "to improve our defenses, that is what Kamiya–"

"Sorry to interrupt," he quickly jumped in between, "b- but, I know exactly what you are looking for!" he quickly spoke.

Reon squinted at Noob but decided to listen, "you want an above level twenty-five dungeon, right?" he started, "I know exactly the same! There is a level twenty-six dungeon on the northeast side, a few hundred meters from here."

Hitori kept staring at him, he seemed quite suspicious, "too bad, I can not enter the dungeon as I am a low-level piece of shit but you two… you surely look powerful." Then he continued, "let me apologize for bumping into you and offer the directions to this dungeon I found!"

Hitori thought for a while before sending the Noob a friend request, "thanks, brother! Thank you, I will send you the directions right now!"

Just as he said, he sent Hitori a direction map which showed the directions to a dungeon called \'Clone Dungeon level twenty-six.\'

"Thanks," Hitori lifted his eyes to thank the timid guy but… to his surprise, the Noob had already logged out.