8 Chapter 8: More humans

After a lot of difficulty and trouble, Sven finally got to the basement where the weapons are stored. The hardest thing for him with this was the choosing part!

All the weapons look good and strong, making it hard for anyone to choose. But after some time, Sven settled on a slender and thin sword that he judges as a katana. He doesn't want to choose a heavier sword as his body won't be able to use it properly. While other weapons like daggers are too short for him, as much as possible, he doesn't want any blood to spill on his body while fighting

Sven chose another exquisite looking sword with a black handle as he thinks that his uncle darkness likes black considering what he is

After finally choosing the weapons, Sven immediately head back to not make Caizher wait for too long

Caizher saw Sven running back to him and the youth handed him the black sword

The man grabbed it by condensing his darkness into a hand-like shape but Caizher frowned on his mind. Although after three whole months, he has some good control over his body but it still wasn't enough

Complex shapes like hands are still hard for him to maintain as the fingers need to have spaces to hold the sword. It was unlike the palm that he made before, at most the shape is like a palm but it's just a single block of darkness. It also doesn't have many functions like being able to hold a sword

Caizher returned his darkness back to normal and instead of making a hand, he just covered the whole handle to hold it in place

He tried swinging the sword around and it wasn't that bad, his control of it is still passable

"Attack me with your sword!" Caizher said and Sven nodded his head. The youth was excited to be taught by an 'expert' and shouted like a barbarian before charging at Caizher's direction and swung his sword

As a katana is famous for its speed, although Sven was still inexperienced, the speed of his sword is quite fast. However, Caizher saw lots of flaws in it

Caizher parried Sven's sword while putting a lot of strength on it. This caused the youth to be off-balance and fell on the ground butt first

"Don't just put all your strength on the sword! Make sure that your body has enough power to stay rooted on the ground. If not, it's easy to make you lose balance like this!" Caizher said in a cold tone and his demeanor suddenly turned into a strict teacher

"Try again!" Sven pouted before charging back at Caizher, but this time, he put strength on his legs so that he won't lose balance like the first time

Just like before, Caizher parried Sven's sword attack and the youth's grip on his sword loosen. The sword flew a few meters away from Sven that scared the 'kid' as he thought it will land on him

"Pour strength on your legs but don't make your arms too weak! Hold your sword properly, never loosen your grip on it like that!" Caizher shouted and Sven wanted to cry. He missed the uncle darkness before that ignored him, he doesn't like this strict uncle darkness!

Thus, Caizher started training Sven swordsmanship, and the youth always ended in a terrible situation as the man will always shout at him for all mistakes that he committed

"Damn brat, attack your enemy's body, not their swords!"

"Idiot! Just because you are holding a sword doesn't mean you need to stop using other parts of your body!"

"How can you be this stupid?! Swing your sword properly!"

-----

Sven was verbally abused by Caizher for a whole month before he started having some progress on his swordsmanship. But as he refined his skills, the easier it was for Sven to kill fallens or hunt mutated animals

In this full month, his food reserves were used up. But Caizher was kind enough to give him the direction of another room that stored emergency supplies

It was also below ground but it was harder to go there. It was a room fortified by a very durable metal and even weaker guns can only leave some scratch on it

It was an emergency room for the Vel family in case they were attacked by enemies. There are also a lot of non-perishable foods there intended to be eaten by the Vel family if they cannot exit the room for a long time

The food was enough to sustain a single person for a few months but Sven will naturally get tired of it. With his newfound confidence from learning proper sword skills, he starts hunting the stray animals that found its way into the mansion

He was happy if he encountered a weak mutant animal as he can kill and eat it. But of course, he was still cowardly. If the enemies are too powerful, he will directly run to Caizher's room and seek protection

"Smelly brat! It's been a month yet you only had this kind of progress!" Caizher shouted that brought more tears on Sven. Although he always experienced this kind of verbal abuse for a whole month, the kid still always teared up

But Caizher was lying though, Sven's improvement was at least satisfactory but of course, he wouldn't admit that

Caizher originally planned on just giving Caizher lectures from time to time but he discovered that he made more progress on controlling his body by sparring with Sven

It became more ingrained on Caizher's mind how to properly use his body and his progress skyrocketed. He can now use two sharp tentacles at the same time. Also, it wouldn't be long before he can make it three

Caizher suddenly parried Sven's sword and covered the man's hand with darkness to stop him from swinging his sword. Sven was surprised but then looked at his side and saw the reason why Caizher stopped him

Another group of humans found the mansion. This time, it was a small group of four people. Their group was composed of two men and two women

Their skinny looks made it obvious that they are also not having a good time in this apocalypse. Maybe, due to luck they survived, but in terms of fighting skills, they are quite lacking

Although it was hard to secure food in the apocalypse, but if you are powerful enough you can easily hunt mutant animals. You won't be starved at all

"W-what's that?!" One of the women asked fearfully while her trembling fingers were pointing at Caizher

The other three also has the same question but the fear of the unknown paralyzed them and they lose the ability to run

"Hey woman! It's rude pointing at people like that!" Caizher glared using his imaginary eyes at the 'rude' woman. He knew what he looks like but does she need to act like this?

"I-It talked!" The other woman said with a trembling voice and Caizher rolled his imaginary eyes

"What? First time seeing a lump of darkness talk?" Caizher asked annoyed. Forgetting the fact that people can't easily meet a lump of darkness like him?

"Uncle! You're scaring them!" Sven said before smiling at the four

"As I said, stop calling me uncle!"

Too bad, Sven just ignored him. "Hello, don't worry about this strange uncle. He's actually kind and helped me a lot. I become stronger because of him!" Sven boasted and this made Caizher think of something

Just how broken is this kid's mind? After the initial scare and when Caizher said he won't kill him, Sven's fear of him vanished like a bubble that bursts

Sven didn't even ask him what or why he is like this, a lump of darkness. The brat treated it as if it's something normal

'Well, an idiot will always be an idiot!' Caizher can only have that as his answer

"U-uncle?" One of the men said while fearfully looking at Caizher and was being rude on his thoughts 'Even something like this has a gender? Just how strange the world become?'

"Yup, he's my uncle!" Sven answered

Caizher was bored at this kind of nonsense and just head back to his room. He doesn't care if the four will attack Sven. If the brat can't even defeat four people, then he might as well stop teaching him. It would be a waste if he put effort into training a weak man

His goal was to nurture someone that might possibly help him in the future. If Sven won't become powerful then the youth might be the one to ask for his help instead and he doesn't want that to happen

"Wait, uncle! Where are you going?" Sven shouted but Caizher ignored him and just pass through the walls

'C-creepy!' The four thought on their minds

"Hmph, let's just ignore that rude uncle! Anyway, why have you come here?" Sven asked in a friendly manner

One of the men gritted his teeth and decided to thicken his face. "We are searching for food, c-can you give us some?" The man's face turned red from embarrassment. Asking someone you don't know for food in this apocalyptic age is very embarrassing

After all, everyone has to work really hard for scarce food supplies. The supermarkets and even houses were mostly cleaned away now after a few months since the apocalypse started

"Oh? No worries! Don't be shy. Come with me!" As Sven is kind-hearted, he naturally won't mind giving them some food. Besides, as his strength grew, he is confident that he can hunt more mutant animals to eat

He won't be starved if he's powerful!

The four heaved a sigh of relief. They are really hungry now. They are already not that powerful and their strength was even lowered from not eating any food

But they are still on guard. Although their fear lessens after Caizher walk... or rather, floated away but they are still suspicious of Sven. The youth looks so kind and naive just like the normal kid before the apocalypse. It's like he didn't experience any hardships for the past few months. Who knows if he actually has an ulterior motive for being this kind to them?

Actually, after his former team was killed, Sven didn't experience the harshness of the apocalypse again. The mansion was quite a peaceful place to live

Sven gave them some biscuits and canned foods and they started chatting. Sven was the most talkative and talked a lot about Caizher that he greatly admired

Although his former teammates were killed by Caizher but for him, it was because they attacked the man first. Look at him, he was too scared to do anything back then and he didn't attack Caizher so the man didn't kill him and he managed to live a relatively peaceful life because of his uncle

Besides, he doesn't have much feelings for his former teammates. They are not good at him because of how timid he is. He was even given less food making him have a small grudge against them

-----

The next day, Caizher and Sven resumed their normal life of training. But this time, there are other four people watching them curiously

The four were amazed at the scene in front of them. Even if they are amateurs, but they can still see how skillful the two were

One of the men who looks the most courageous step up and steeled himself to talk to Caizher

"H-hello" the man greeted

Caizher and Sven stopped their sparring session and waited for what the man to say what he wants

"C-can you also teach me swordsmanship? I-I wish to learn it" the man swallowed his pride. They experienced a lot of hardships in this apocalypse

There are even times where his team was forced to surrender their supplies so that the enemies won't kill them. But he knew that if he's powerful enough, no one will dare bully him and his team

Caizher was about to refuse but saw that Sven is panting hard. They already practiced for quite some time and the youth is already starting to feel tired. It won't be long before they needed to take a break

This gave Caizher an idea

"Alright, but I'll only teach you during Sven's break time"

If it's just Caizher, he doesn't want to take any breaks as he wants to get used to his body faster. However, Sven has a human body that was easier to get tired. If he doesn't want to tire the kid to death, they need to take breaks

Caizher doesn't plan on staying in the mansion all his life. He was just waiting for the time that he's powerful enough to leave and explore the world. Training another student will help him to attain his goal faster