Solo Cultivation in The Apocalypse

On the twenty-seventh of December, Hitori and Kamiya were taking a lunch break from their daily session of collecting experience points and other items.

It has been a long time since the trio, now accompanied by Senso Guntai and Bake Monotaro, had raided a dungeon. They spent their days exploring new locations on the map but refrained from raiding a dungeon.

Monotaro's wish to explore and collect the cores of as many monsters as possible was finally getting somewhere but after defeating Kuzu in the Midnight Battle, Hitori and others were just logging in to pass the day somehow, they had no particular goal to achieve.

Hitori leaned back in his chair, thinking about what to do for the rest of the day. From the entrance came Kamiya and took his seat beside Hitori.

"So, what is the plan?" Kamiya asked as he took a sip of his mocktail.

"I was just thinking..." Hitori said, "the Christmas holidays are over-- will be over in a few days."

"Hm-hm, after New Year, yeah, but why the academy now?"

Hitori leaned forward. "I have decided to fight the trials and go on the last year-end expedition."

The glass touched Kamiya's lips but the liquid did not flow out of it. Kamiya placed the glass on his table.

"Y-you are kidding, right?" Kamiya scoffed.

Hitori shook his head. He stared at Kamiya, confused at his reaction. "Now that I see back, I never attended the academy seriously after entering the sophomore year."

Kamiya quietly listened. Perhaps he was too shocked to say anything.

Hitori continued, "I always hated magic and thought there was no need to learn it. But now, given the circumstances, I have decided-- I need to learn magic for my own protection, at least."

"Oh, just for your protection? I-I can teach you, I learned magic to defend myself and Akemi-nee-chan."

Kamiya still stared at his drink with a strange look in his eyes. "No, Kamiya," Hitori said, "I want to learn it professionally. Graduate the academy officially and become a warlock."

Kamiya's eyes widened, and he turned to Hitori. "A warlock? If you are joking, then stop."

Hitori contrasted his brows. "What is there to joke about?" he lifted his shoulders.

"But why?" Kamiya turned to face Hitori. "Why do you want to work for the ministry?"

"Ministry? I never said I---"

"To graduate from the academy means to get employed by the ministry. And why the heck do you want to do that when we can earn fortunes from this game!"

Kamiya was true but it was not the money Hitori wanted to graduate from the academy, become a warlock, and serve his country.

Kamiya turned back to his screen and typed something. "Look at it."

Hitori had to lean forward to take a look at Kamiya's screen. It was his DMs. Number of then-- hundreds of them.

"We are famous, Hitori," Kamiya said, "it is like we own this gaming world. After the battle and since Kuzu's defeat, we have numerous followers."

Kamiya read the messages and true that Kamiya was telling the truth. While Hitori read, Kamiya moved his hands over the keyboard and changed the screen.

"And take a look at this." Kamiya pointed at the screen. "Hundreds of players are dying to watch us fight again. They were impressed by our battle and want us to invite them for another battle."

Hitori frowned. For some reason, he did not like the idea of displaying their battles to everyone.
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"You know what, Hitori? We can stream our battles! We can stream our gameplay and make thousands online. We have fans, remember that. "

"And we do have enemies too, remember that," Hitori said, as he pulled himself back, "and as much as they want to see us fight, they want to find our weakness."

"What are you saying, Hitori? What weakness?" Kamiya closed the tabs.

"What happened to you, Kamiya? You once tried to keep our battle strategies as confidential as possible, and now? You want to display our strategies to the whole world of gaming... just for money?"

Kamiya clenched his fist, dropped his head, and gritted his teeth.

"We can earn money, true, but we would not be able to use the money if Kuzu kills us."

"It would not be us who will die... it will be Kuzu."

"Exactly! We might kill them over and over and over in the game but in real life, they have the advantage over us--- they are more experienced.

"That is why, Kamiya, I want you to come with me. Let us fight the trials together and win. We will go on the expeditions, graduate from the Academy, and continue playing games as usual!"

"Not usual. If we do that, we would not be able to do this," Kamiya muttered.

"Oh, come on, what is wrong? Everything will be alright!" Hitori tried to get a hold of Kamiya's hand before he shook it away.

"NO, Hitori, no!" he shouted, "I do not want to go back to that shithole again! We can make a living from this and this is what I want to do."

Kamiya rose from his seat. He took a stroll around the alley-- rubbing his forehead, came back, and sat down.

"Listen to me." Kamiya leaned forward to Hitori. "You want me to come with you, fine, but then you will have to stream with me. Give and Take." He smiled-- in the hope of the light.

Hitori looked down. He did not like the idea from the start. Kamiya's smile disappeared when Hitori shook his head. "I am not a streamer, Kamiya, I am a gamer."

Kamiya sat there, staring at Hitori, blankly. Then Hitori realized Kamiya's hands trembling.

"That is it." Kamiya bolted up. "You want to do that, do not you? Graduate, become a warlock. You want fame, and that is eating you! You are being enchanted!" Kamiya declared.

Eya leaned forward when she heard the shouting. She opened the cameras and focused on the two boys arguing in the fourth gaming alley. Her eyes dropped and so did her usual smile.

"What the heck are they doing?" She continued to watch as the conflict unfolded.

"No..." Hitori shook his head but Kamiya continued:

"Ah! Why?!" he demanded, "why are you doing this? Why do you want to do this?"

Hitori looked down again, moving his eyes away from Kamiya-- trying to come up with an answer.

"Why do you want money, Kamiya?"

"Money! Yes, money! I want money. Because that is the only thing I need in my life. Nothing else, no traveling, no big expenses, just money. To freaking pay the doctor's fees so that they could heal my Akemi-nee-chan!"

"I know." Hitori raised his eye. "My reason is the same: Because my sister wanted me to become a great wizard and protect myself and my loved ones-- which I failed once-- it was her last wish. She said it before she died, she said it while she was dying, and I still hear her saying it after she is dead."

Hitori looked at Kamiya, pushed his chair, and stood in front of Kamiya.

"I could not protect her, I can not protect myself. I want to get stronger-- just for her, for you, for Reon-san, for Akemi-san, and..." Hitori dug his hand into his chest and pulled his silver locket out, under Kamiya's face, "for her."

Hitori jerked the locket back and turned around. He moved his hand down his head, pushed his hood back, and turned back to Kamiya.
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"You are being eaten by your need for money, Kamiya, you need to snap out of it. I know you need money, we are trying to make big money but choosing every irrational and odd job for making little money-- which would eventually turn into big-- is not the right thing. You need to stick to one domain and make it big in that domain. Money will come to you, you would not have to run behind it."

"Shut up, Hitori." Kamiya turned.

"We will make big money but only from gaming. Do not pick other jobs just because they are giving you money, make it big in this domain-- we will earn money from other sources-- I do not want to become a freelancer who jumps wherever he sees work."

"So? And so? So work for the fucking ministry? Oh god, fuck, I will die but not work for those bastards!" Kamiya pointed his finger in the air. "Never," he said, as he brought his finger to Hitori, "never, you heard me?"

Kamiya threw his finger down and turned around to walk out of the alley.

"Kamiya, wait---!"

"No. We are done, Hitori. Keep your dungeons, keep your territory, and find someone to replace me. I do not want your money either, I will send it back as soon as possible."

"Tch." Hitori sighed as he dropped his head. "It is your anger speaking, calm down," he said, as he lifted his head, "you need to think with a calm mind---"

Hitori's hand was in front of him when he stopped all of a sudden. Kamiya's wand trembled in his hand, but he still kept it held straight at Hitori.

Eya gasped and clenched her fist. "That bastard, Kakashi was right, after all." She disappeared from the counter.

"Do not speak a word. I will create my own territory, bigger than you, and you will regret insulting my need for money."

"I am not insulting anything---"

Kamiya swung his wand a beam of light erupted. Eya appeared at the right time and defended Hitori against the beam.

Kamiya's color faded. "Shit." He jerked and ran out of the alley when Eya threw a series of blast spells.

Hitori's eyes widened, he lifted his hand and grabbed Eya's arms. "W-what are you doing?! He might get hurt!" He pulled them down.

Kamiya fleed. Eya was disappointed. She turned to Hitori with a frown. "What was that for? I saved you from a grave injury. No fighting here, Hitori-san."

And she disappeared.

Hitori took deep breaths to calm himself. "No fighting here?"

He pulled around his chair and took a seat. His eyes fell on Kamiya's drink, he did not hesitate to gulp it down in one go.

"Where were you when Kamiya was getting beaten like a donkey, in your Vr-cade, in front of you, by Kuzu?"

Then Hitori thought, 'Oh heck with it. It is not even your Vr-cade, you are just working under an owner.' He better not say it directly to her though.

Hitori clenched his fist and banged it on his table. "Why did this happen?"

They were all good two days ago and one little argument killed everything between them.

Hitori closed his eyes and took deep breaths. "You need to stay calm. Everything is alright, it was just his anger speaking, he will come back tomorrow."

Hitori got up and exhaled. He collected his cloak and card and then ran to check out. "Thanks for---"

"Oh, shut up." And Hitori banged the door behind him-- the little fairy was startled.

Eya watched from her counter as Hitori left the Vr-cade. She touched her ear with her finger.

"Kakashi? God, you need to come back home. Now."

"Alright, I am on my way. What happened?"

"They fought." Eya sniffed. "They fought with each other, it is serious."