Solo Cultivation in The Apocalypse

Hitori stayed on the ground with his wand under his hand. His mouth dropped open and so did Mono's mouth. He was watching from the distance, but when Hitori took the electric shock, he started running toward him.

"Oh-ho, damn, you actually took out a third-year mage. That was amazing!" the bully's friend shouted.

Hitori, hearing their cheers, stayed on the ground, too shocked to move. That spell… you should not have… he thought.

Even the bully was surprised because he was sure Hitori would deflect or block his attack, but no. he had won a fight against a third-year mage for the first time.

The girls watched in disappointment, then turned to the bully and asked him how he did it. Nothing that interested or even made Hitori feel bad, except the spell he had used.

He raised his eyes from the ground to the nerd who was getting off the ground. The spell was not strong enough to paralyze or do a major injury to him, but the chant paralyzed him.

The nerd rubbed his nose and put a hand over his chest. Then he glanced at Hitori. Their eyes met, and he could not move his eyes from the nerd, but the nerd could.

He felt a hand falling on his shoulder, then on his other shoulder. He knew who it was, so he did not bother to turn around.

"Hitori! Are you okay? Hey, are you hurt somewhere? Do you want me to call someone?" While Mono tried to make Hitori snap from the shock, he continued to think about Kamiya.

The bully and his friends cheered and started leaving the training arena. Why would they even need a volunteer when he can not protect himself and knows nothing about the campus?

"We are free! Let us explore the campus!" the bully shouted.

Mono's group stood at the back, staring at him in disappointment. Why was he helping that nerdy volunteer? Why did he care about the volunteer who could not even hold his group together?

But they stayed back. Mono shook Hitori's shoulder and did not call for help. "Oi! Give me some sign for me to know you are okay!"

Hitori opened his mouth, his eyes still fixed on the nerd, he said, "Heal him." It was not loud enough for Mono to hear. "Cast a healing spell and stop his bleeding. Then take him to the healer to fix his broken nose and ribs."

Mono opened his mouth as if to say something, but froze. He gulped, then said, "What about you? Are YOU okay?"

He sniffed. "I gave you a sign," he said.

Mono sighed and patted his shoulder for the last time before leaning back. He heard a guy from his group call his name. He turned and saw them waving at him– they did not even bother to come close.

Mono raised his hand but lowered it before waving. "At least get someone, you guys," he muttered under his breath as he reached for his wand. "But who am I to say? I could not do anything."

He stopped near the nerd, he was looking at Mono with big eyes. But Mono held his head low and pointed his wand at the nerd.

"If this was in the game… I would be useless." Then he cast the healing spell.

Hitori shook his head after spending a minute or so more sitting on the ground. He clenched his wand and got off the ground. He was putting the wand back, but he stopped on the way to admire the wand's structure.

"Oh, Kamiya…" He kept the wand on the side. Hitori lowered his eyes and looked at the nerd's shoes, but kept his eyes away from his face.

Then he turned and avoided the nerd. He sighed and thought he could get back to the Vr-cade earlier than planned.

"Ryu," said a voice behind him.

Hitori prepared himself for another shock because the voice behind was not Mono's voice. Who else would call him besides Mono?

Mono's eyes widened and his wand slipped from his hands, but he grabbed it at the end. He raised his eyes, the nerd was unaffected by his stare.

Hitori could feel the nerd staring at his back as he hesitantly turned around. Please, don't. Please don't, he wished.

But his wish failed him. "From the game," the nerd said, "you are Ryu from the game, are not you?"

Hitori gulped. He saw that Mono was shocked too. No one should have been able to identify Hitori out of the game, but he did. The nerd did.

He gritted his teeth and shook his head. "I don't play nerdy games," Hitori said, and Mono's mouth dropped open. He opened his mouth, but Hitori cut him. "You have got the wrong guy," he said.

He lowered his eyes again and suppressed the surprise somehow. He took a deep breath and calmed his heart, then he turned around, and tried to leave the training arena as soon as possible without coming off suspicious.

"I know who you are," the nerd continued. "Thanks for helping me." But Hitori was going farther away from him. "Where is your partner? I bet he studies with you. I want to meet him."

Hitori's foot scrapped the grass underneath it as it came to a stop. He lifted his shoulders and wanted to shout back at the nerd, but as his shoulders dropped, his emotions did, too.

"I told you I am not someone called Ryu. And I don't know what partner you are talking about," Hitori said and walked away.

Mono stood behind the nerd, knowing what he would have to face now that Hitori had teleported.

The nerd stared at the sky and muttered, "He is stubborn."

Mono gulped and repeated, "Yeah, he is stubborn." He chuckled.

The nerd turned to Mono, and he shuddered, but when the nerd nodded in agreement, he sighed in relief.

The nerd lifted his hand, Mono thought it was for hi-fi, but then he touched his nose. And in an instant, the nose was back to the being as it was. Then he rolled his hands down to the chest.

Mono watched with his eyes widened. "W-What did you just do?" he asked, scared and overwhelmed at the same time.

The nerd blinked. Then he pointed behind him. "What about your group? Don't you think you have a lot of explanation to do?"

Mono looked behind the nerd and saw only eight to seven people of his group members remaining. "Oh, shit… no…" He braced himself and raced towards them.

He raised his hands and waved to them, only two waved back at him. He knew things were getting out of his hands– or they already had.

"Sorry to keep you!" he shouted as he closed in the distance. "We will continue after the lunch break. You are dismissed!"