章 6: An Apocalypse in an Apocalypse.

Hitori arrived at the Vr-cade. He walked up to the man who was standing at the counter to ask him for a console station.

"I would like to play Mokushiroku no Tenno, this is my account card." Hitori pulled out his gaming card and showed it to the man.

The man glanced down at the card and was about to head to his computer when he suddenly stopped and took a look at Hitori's card once again, the man double-checked his account card. Then he raised his head to glance up at Hitori.

Hitori moved his eyes behind the man to avoid his strange stare.

Behind the man, there were countless action figures of the legendary characters from the game for sale, the game's logo as a poster, etc.

"Would you like Station Service?" The man went back to his computer screen and searched for the best consol station available.

Hitori said, "I do not want any station service so please do give me a cheap station. As long as the station has enough magic net bandwidth to support the game, I am fine."

Hitori looked up at the man who stared blankly at Hitori. "As you say." After a few seconds, the man handed Hitori his card back with a QR code sticker on it.

"Thanks." Hitori accepted his card and turned around.

Next to the QR code, the station number and playtime were written in small letters.

Hitori headed to a console station that was located at the end of the Vr-cade's fourth alley.

There was a magic circle drawn on the table, a magic case to keep your valuables safe so they can immerse in the game carefree.

Just four stations away from Hitori's station, he saw another boy who was immersed in the game. There was a magic circle on the top of his head.

"Another guy who does not want to go on those shitty evolution expeditions." Hitori moved his eyes away from the young mage whom he had not recognized, though, by his uniform, Hitori was sure that the kid was from the mage Academy.

Hitori made himself comfortable in the chair, placed his card inside the bright magic circle, and finally, Hitori got ready to experience the game.

[You have has logged in]

A notification from the game appeared.

Hitori opened his eyes. He lifted his hands and saw them covered under a navy cloak. He lifted his blue eyes to look around him.

Destroyed buildings, collapsed pillars, and in front of him was a broken, rusted water fountain. No roof, and the night sky was visible

Hitori turned his head to two players who appeared out of thin air.

"The road to the dungeons is too dangerous though…"

"You are a noob."

More appeared in the main hall, some went out from the front door and disappeared into the outside world.

Then Hitori caught two more players who spawned beside him. One of them, a guy who looked more serious, asked, "What is today's plan?"

"How about we attack a zombie dungeon today?"

"Zombie dungeon…" A player who was covered in a purple robe pulled open the game's map. "It is far from here… and it is a level twenty-five zombie dungeon."

"Yeah, we can take it, can't we?" said his partner who wore a thick red samurai kimono that clearly explained his class.

"Hm. But there are a lot of unclassified monsters in the way. And if we are going to a dungeon that is far away then we will have to fight numerous—"

"Oh, stop. My strategy master, leave it to your samurai friend." Hitori saw the player's avatar. Strong jawline, and he had a muscular face structure. He had deep green eyes and red-brown hair.

"No, Hirohito, we need to plan first—" his partner took off. "Ugh, you!" His partner, Hirohito-Kun, started running out of the building without waiting for the strategy man.

Hitori raised his head at the running players. "Pretty good names..." he muttered to himself.

Above the heads of both of the players, they had their names and level. The samurai's name read: Ronin Samurai, level eighteen. And the strategy man's name read- Rotten mind level seventeen.

Hitori ignored them. He saw there were many players around him. Some were planning their strategy for today's gameplay. Some were thinking of exploring the wild and killing a few unclassified beasts for extra experience points.

On the other hand, Hitori's goal and plan for the day were clear. To explore this game's world, of course.

First things first, Hitori thought. There is a basic rule of any video game. You first find an NPC as soon as possible and get a quest from him, which will set you on the path of your story.

Hitori had hoped to see a village or a town outside, where he would find lots of NPCs roaming around, having nothing to do, and just waiting for a player to knock on their doors.

Hitori walked to one of the gates of the building that led players out of the building and into the apocalyptic world.

But… "Wahahwah!" As soon as Hitori stepped out of the collapsed building. "Ghaghra!" He did not see a single village, not a single town, in fact, not a single hut or a building. Not a single non-playing character in his sight.

"So this is an apocalypse?" Hitori pulled his bare hand in front of him, "Hi no Mahou," he muttered. He saw a bunch of monsters roaming around like crazy. "Fireblast."

He used the most basic spell that was taught to him at the start of his second year at the Mage Academy.

And thankfully, he had gained the Fire element skill so he was free to use spells regarding the fire element.

Fire came out of his bare palm. A skeleton-type monster with tentacles spreading out of its body from everywhere took a head-on hit and got eliminated.

[Killed a level six normal grade unclassified apocalyptic creature in the apocalypse. Gained fifty Exp]

Collapsed buildings, broken-down houses, vehicles turned upside down. Dead bodies of humans and other monsters lying around on the field. Dried up, withered trees, fire burning wildly in the far distance.

Several unclassified, disgusting monsters ran around the field, trying to chase down other players and some NPCs who had only one job of shouting for help.

Some of the monsters had weapons in their hands. Such as advanced guns, swords, sickles with chains, hammers, spears, etc. A few monsters had WANDS in their hands. Wonder how they were even able to chant the magic spells?

But among them, almost half of the monsters had a skill or power of their own. One threw fire, another used its hard shell to knock out the players, one used its speed and power, and another attacked the players with its claws and chew them in its mouth.

The words of previous players ranged in Hitori's head as he continued killing the monsters coming after him one after another.

'Damn, the road to the dungeons is very dangerous!'

'What is today's plan?'

'How about we attack a zombie dungeon today?'

'But there are a lot of unclassified monsters on the way.' Hitori remembered what the player in a purple robe, the Rotten Mind, was talking about.

"I should have come more prepared." Hitori sighed in regret before he finally charged at the monsters himself.

The door closed behind Hitori. Kiku waited till Hitori had left, then Kiku's eyes directly fell on a room door.

'I should not…' Kiku clenched her fists and turned around, 'I should not exploit the young master's privacy.' With that, she got back to work.

She first started cleaning the house. With the help of her magic enchantments, she made the broom do its work on its own while she went to the kitchen.

Kiku sat on the kitchen counter and supervised the actions and commanded the tools to do their work. Pots came out of the cupboard, the gas stove lit on itself, and knifes cut the vegetables on their own.

This in exchange, sucked a lot of her mana. But it does suck less mana than the amount of energy and time she would have needed to do the work herself.

'What must he be hiding from me?' She took a peek at that room door, 'He never…' she stopped all of the work and started heading towards the door, '...locks his room door.'

Kiku took small but quick steps and reached the door. A wand appeared in her left hand as her right hand grabbed the doorknob.

The door did not open. "Hitori-Kun. Forgive me." She pointed her wand's tip at the doorknob and said, "Burglar's magic, unlock the door."

There was no need to even push the door. As soon as Kiku cast her spell, the door opened on itself and gave a view of Hitori's room.

Dark wooden walls, green trees visible from the window, a bed that sat in front of her, and a console table right next to her at the entrance.

She took a step inside the room, then another. She kept walking till she was inside the room.

'Why would you lock the room?' she thought with a cold and dead expression on her face. The opposite of the expressions that she had a few moments ago.