Solo Cultivation in The Apocalypse

They had passed through the hole on the ninth floor. Hitori felt as if the whole world spun before it stopped and he appeared in a closed place.

There were tall walls on the left and front side, behind was the exit hole, and on the right were three big rocks. It created a small closed place.

In the middle of the tiny place was a tiny shiny object. Kamiya glanced at Hitori as he went closer to the shiny object. Then he paused in front of the object. Kamiya raised his hand and gestured to Hitori to take the shiny crystal.

"All yours," he muttered with a smile. Hitori glanced at Kamiya, he gulped and walked near the tiny crystal.

"This…"

"The secret item… not weapon but an item," Kamiya explained, "take it,"

At Kamiya's command, Hitori stretched his hand and reached for the tiny object. As soon as he got it in his hands…

[you have discovered the secret skill]

[Acquired:

+1 Skill: Water Saber Level fourteen

+50 fire mana gems]

"A skill…?" Kamiya curved his lips for a second, "well, let me have the dagger though…"

"Ah, yeah, sure," Hitori opened his inventory and handed Kamiya the magic dagger.

Hitori turned to Kamiya, who was still surprised by the secret skill that was hidden on the ninth floor.

<Reached the maximum threshold of water element cultivation>

<You will enter the next domain of element cultivation>

"Power 55, Magic 10, Speed 33… hm, a pretty good skill… it would have helped us bring down the phoenix," Kamiya read further, "a skill that enchants a weapon with water."

"I tried covering my blade with water but it barely-"

"This skill consumes less amount of mana and… it is ideal for killing a fire phoenix and… it is quite effective on a fire dragon," Kamiya continued, "it would have been more effective than using water magic to cover your katana," Hitori nodded in agreement.

"We won anyway," they both exchanged glances before they let out a soft chuckle.

After they both exited the hole, Hitori stopped and asked, "what is the actual use of these gems, Kamiya?" Kamiya stopped in front of Hitori, he glanced back at Hitori, dabbed his glasses, and muttered…

"Come with me," they both took the exit portal and came out of their dungeon. As soon as they stepped out, a notification appeared.

[This dungeon and the area within a 75-meter radius of the dungeon is your territory]

[The monsters on each floor will protect your dungeon, including the boss from other players during a raid]

[The dungeon can be upgraded, re-build. For more information, please open the territory window]

"I would suggest you ignore that for now, we do not have enough resources or the required items for upgrading a level fifteen dungeon,"

Kamiya opened his screen, "take my shoulder," Hitori did as he was told. In a second, they both disappeared into pixels.

A cold wind blew under the rising dawn sky. Snow fell from the sky, the snowflakes covered a few dried-up trees' branches beautifully.

On the borders of a ninety-meter radius, an area stood dried-up trees covered in snow. An outer ring of 6-feet tall wooden walls covered the trees behind them.

On the trees were a few owls sleeping under the rising daylight, on other trees were several crossbills. And above this ninety-meter area were northern goshawk, gliding in circles. As if protecting the two caves under them, inside the tree and wooden borders.

Another glitch of pixels flashed and two men appeared in front of this ninety-meter area. They both landed outside the border.

"No way… this is… your dungeon?" one of them glanced at the other.

"Hm," the second man to whom the question was asked, dabbed his glasses back with his middle finger, "of course,"

A smile appeared on both of their faces, "Beautiful…" indeed. Snowflakes, beautiful snowfalls but… dry trees with barely a single leaf on them, but the sweet chirping of birds covered the area.

"One of them is a lair though," Kamiya told, "I linked a level seven ice dungeon and a level eleven elf LAIR," Hitori kept staring at the entrance of the caves, two of them with dark mouths.

Hitori nodded, "I see… and elf huh," he was partly curious about the insides of the lair and… the bosses of the ice dungeon & the elf lair.

He looked around the dungeons. The trees and birds and defense wooden walls defended the dungeons.

"Now you know what the gems are used for…" Kamiya started walking towards the entrance gate, the wooden gate with snow on the top slid open, "thankfully, I had plenty of ice mana gems and enough money," he waited till Hitori was inside the border too before closing it.

"To upgrade the dungeon?"

"Uh-Hm," he nodded as he walked towards the dark mouth of the cave, "to add defenses, monsters, decorations, and other things…"

[entered God's Hell's level seven ice dungeon- Kori]

Hitori silently followed Kamiya inside the dark cave, suddenly the message.

Hitori saw a couple of lawn gnomes bowing down to Kamiya as he and Kamiya walked through the first floor, "they bow…?"

"Ignore them," Kamiya sighed, he jumped straight into a portal in front of him. Hitori followed him from behind.

"We can use mana gems to feed our pets and monsters. Of course, we can eat them too. But apart from that, the gems are not of any use. We need to use the money to buy defenses and monsters, and upgrade our dungeons or lairs."

"We can eat the gems too?" that was new to Hitori.

"Suppose you ate a… just suppose, you ate an ice gem, your affinity for ice element will increase."

Hitori nodded. He imagined what would happen if he chews every gem he has right now. A few tens of them were monsters' core gems.

[entered the fourth floor of this dungeon, the final boss floor]

"Slowly, make sure you do not pass out from the panic–" before Kamiya could end his words, a strange roaring sound interrupted him.

Hitori covered his hands in fireballs when he saw a long, slender silhouette of a monster. He was standing on the floor with snow all over the area. It had a wide entrance but the floor got narrower as it progressed further.

"Easy," Kamiya muttered, but he had equipped his wand, it stood close to his thigh.

From behind the walls, snow walls, a silhouette with long arms, wide ribs, and chest area but thin waist area. Legs, no more than two inches thick, a long snout with… beard or ice froze on the beard. A monster appeared.

Hitori adjusted his eyes to the scary, hideous-looking creature and read its description.

[Name: Wendigo Level ten

Owned by: God's Hell

Challenge level: Three]

'...Wendigo?' Hitori gulped.

"Probably… it is safe cause I own this dungeon and hence it is… my dungeon's boss to protect the dungeon and… hopefully me," even he was not sure.

Just how many times have you tried to enter your dungeon? Hitori kept his thoughts inside his mind.