Solo Cultivation in The Apocalypse

Hitori and Daichi logged out after completing the game. "There it goes…" Hitori murmured, "another game… completed." There was a tone of dissatisfaction in his voice.

"Ah~ that was amazing!" Daichi's message popped up on the message window.

"Yep, it was…" He lowered his eyebrows, the corners of his mouth were drawn downwards and his lips were drawn in tightly.

"Do you want to join me for another game?" Daichi asked with a muscle arm emoji.

Hitori rested his finger on the magic keyboard, he took his time before he replied. "No." his reply somewhat surprised Daichi. "Thanks, Daichi but—"

"Oh, okay, no probs!" he then added a thumbs-up emoji.

"No, I mean, it is not you—"

"Oh no, it is fine. Looks like I am not good enough for you." he sent a grinning face with sweat emoji.

"I think," Hitori pressed enter, "I will be taking a break from gaming."

"It is okay, you do not have to explain." then another message appeared. "Wait, what?!" he sent a surprised face. "W- why? No, it would be a waste if a player like you sits out of the field," Daichi continued, "you should not take a break! Man, it-it would really be such a waste."

Hitori was not in the mood to explain, he simply decided to bid farewell. "Have a good gaming journey, Daichi." Hitori texted. "I hope we meet someday."

"...it is disappointing," Daichi replied, "but okay, I hope you come back soon."

"Yes, I hope so too, see ya."

"Bye."

And thus Hitori had to say goodbye to his online gaming partner with whom he had played over six games within three months.

Hitori exited the gaming portal and went back to the magic net.

Although Hitori decided not to play games ever again, here he was, browsing through the list of top trending Vr games. "Passion," Hitori muttered, "that is the problem with passion… it is volatile."

Hitori wondered if Daichi will ever text him after a month or so, and ask him to play another game together.

While going through the forums, articles, and blogs regarding the best Vr-game to play, Hitori's eyes caught an interesting topic in an article.

It read: "The best VRMMORPG-game since the last five decades." when he scrolled down there were titles like, "The Best Apocalypse, open world, kingdom-building, survival game in the history."

Hitori kept going through the backlinks and before he could even notice, he was already on the main server of Sony Interactive Entertainment.

The forums there were booming with discussion topics like: "You got to play this game before you die." and: "Even if you are not a gamer or a gaming fan, this game will make you obsessed over gaming." and: "Play this brand-new thrilling addictive game!"

This was enough to get Hitori curious, he opened one of the discussion forums.

Below, there was a link embedded. When Hitori scrolled down, it was a four and half minute trailer of a game called 'The Emperor of the Apocalypse.' Or how it was in Japanese: Mokushiroku no Tennou.

Hitori could not hold back anymore, he clicked on the video and played the trailer.

The video started with an aerial view of Tokyo city on the screen. The Tokyo Tower, the tall buildings, its people, the bullet trains… just the normal.

The screen went blank, the next second, meteors fell from the sky, spaceships fell, and a few billion monsters descended to the earth inside a billion capsules.

The whole city of Tokyo crashed. The alien monsters went insane and went on a rampage. The trains stopped in the middle, people's blood splattered all over the city, the buildings crumbled on fire, and the monsters roamed free.

The plants mutated into dangerous species that science had never even thought would come true. The screams of people filled Tokyo city soon, and the whole world fell.

An apocalypse had descended on earth. The whole world stopped moving.

Suddenly, with a beat, the screen went dark black. Some words faded in on the screen: "For the world that was taken from humans…"

The screen faded, a scene of humans fighting back against the monsters appeared, and the letters appeared back on the screen. "Humans fought back to conquer their land from the monsters."

The humans gained control over the monsters. More than half of the country had recovered from the apocalypse after they had cleared billions of monsters.

"Till… the second wave hit."

Meteors fell down, alien species were sent to earth, and spaceships with another set of billion monsters inside descended on earth. Again.

The background music rose. "An Apocalypse in an apocalypse," a man said in his deep voice, "a world snatched back from humans, who will conquer this world where no government rules? Only survivors live, conquer, and rule."

The music reached its peak before dropping down to deep opera aria music, and the screen slowly faded.

With another hard beat supported by the opera. "The Element Realm." those words appeared in blood-red bold color.

An individual clad in black robes smiled cruelly, he chant his magic words under his breath. As spikes of ice sprung to life and waves of water swirled in his hands, he attacked the hundreds of monsters in front of him with his fiendish ability to manipulate elements.

The screen went black again. "The Stats Realm." another man with a bulky body frame appeared in the middle of a ruined forest. He punched the ground, the ground cracked open, and he jumped in the air before vanishing with the speed of light. Hundreds of monsters fell, and the heads of another hundred smashed into bits of dirt.

"The Magic Realm." clad in purple robes that denoted her station, a woman closed her eyes to distract herself from the monsters and began chanting her spell. She opened her eyes, lifted her hand, and launched a tiny bead of purple energy, that ran through her veins, towards the monsters where it erupted into a conflagration that engulfed the hundreds of monsters.

In "The Martial Arts Realm" a man draped in a black martial arts suit swung his arm, landed a kick, and knocked the monsters dead just by the air ripples.

In "The Skillset Realm" wearing obviously seductive clothes, a woman stepped toward the army of monsters. She curled up her lips and drown deep into her incantation. The next second, she opens her eyes and turns around. The monsters behind her drop dead as she casually walked away.

The opera stopped, and the screen went dark black once again.

"Create your own story." the background music rose all of a sudden, and the background beats came into motion.

At 2x speed, a man wearing a black cloak and sitting on a throne with fire surrounding it flashed.

"Conquer the world"

A bulky man sat on a pile of thousands of dead monsters with his chin in his hand.

"Build your empire"

A woman from the magic realm appeared, sitting on the top of a castle's tower, with a pile of monsters under her feet.

"Can you…"

The martial arts man sat in his dojo with serious expressions and blood on the left side of his body. He slowly opened his right eye.

"...become…"

And finally, the woman from the skillset realm flashed. She was sitting on her throne too.

"The Emperor of the Apocalypse!"

With a bang, the logo of the game appeared. The game's name was written in Japanese letters, with monsters on one side of the circle while the five characters from the realm on the other side, on the top was a red crown.

And finally, in the end, with the same text. "By Alien Game Developers." then appeared at the end. "Published & distributed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Copyright: Alien Game Developers."

In the end fading scene: "Out for sale on seventh of June 2052, preorder now!"

The amazing trailer left Hitori speechless for a while but when he paid more attention, he noticed the game's release date.

"June? It is December right now… that means, it was launched six months ago?!" his eyes popped out, "and why am I not aware of this…" he calmed down.

He looked more at the game's gameplay, setting, etc. after spending another fifteen minutes, Hitori decided. "This is what I wanted… this is what I was longing for," he clenched his fists, "a game with no storyline or a plot but… an opportunity to create one yourself."

Hitori pulled his card out, got up from his chair, and rushed to the counter where the lady was standing with a smile on her face.

"How may I help you, Hitori-san?" She greeted him.

"Uhm, I would like to open a gaming account for the game Mokushiroku no Tenno," Hitori ordered his set of the game.

"And I was wondering why you have not purchased the most popular game yet." she went down to her magic computer screen. "That will be twenty-five thousand yen, sir." She lifted her head.

Hitori's pursed his lips. "There goes my whole year's allowance." He felt his throat turning dry.

"...no money?" she raised her eyebrows and squinted at Hitori.

Hitori sighed. "Sorry." Hitori turned.

"It has been a great pleasure, sir."

The fairy waved him goodbye as he walked out of the Vr-cade.

That was such a shame. Hitori looked forward to buying the most popular game but fate played against him. Not enough money. If he still wants to buy, he would have to wait for another six months.

But by that time, it would be one year since the game's release date, and everything and everyone would have progressed a lot!

'I guess… retirement fancies me.'

Hitori sighed once again. He looked up at the bright sky with no hope.