Uncertainty.

Hugo's eyes widened the moment Monk Talon made that statement, he was thinking all his family died due to the apocalypse...they most likely turned into zombies. But seems like his thinking was wrong. He uttered to the monk,

"I thought all your family died due to the apocalypse?".

"No, my eldest son was bitten by zombies, that I'm sure of. But as for my wife, she died about five years ago before the apocalypse began. Before that time, she had already given me my three lovely children. We aged together, her death pained me for weeks,

My children are all grown-ups, the youngest is 20. And two of them weren't at home when chaos took over our boulevard, it was only my eldest son that was home. I've already told you how we began journeying to this academy after seeing the notice written on a paper and plastered to a wall. How he died, and how I got to this academy safely,

And that's it, I don't know what happened to my other children, a male, and a female. So I can't even say if they are dead or not". Monk Talon explained.

"They might still be alive". Hugo said.

"But the probability for that is really low, like, how would they survive on their own? So I just took it like they are dead, I don't want to raise my hopes".

Hugo just nodded his head, then Monk Talon spoke again, "Let me show you the picture of my daughter, my only daughter. She's 20 years old, the youngest of my children".

After making that statement, he stood up, strolled to a certain bag, took out a picture, strolled back to Hugo, and sat back on the floor. Then he handed the picture over to, Hugo, and said,

"That's the picture of my daughter".

Hugo glanced at the girl in the picture, she was beautiful, and she had a smile on her face. But this girl might have turned into a zombie by now, damn! He glanced at Monk Talon and said,

"She's beautiful".

"Yeah, my princess, out of all my children, she was the only one that didn't like the fact that I was a monk, her father was a monk. But that doesn't mean that she doesn't love me".

A smile appeared on Hugo's face as he nodded his head once again. He and Monk Talon discussed for some minutes more, and now, it was about time for Hugo to leave.

"I'll be leaving now, Monk Talon, I've got to go sleep. Tomorrow would be another hectic day for me, I and Captain Wayne would most likely be moving to another training". Hugo said.

"Okay, you can go. But at least, you can say you're improving with your fighting skills".

"Yeah, my fighting skills have improved, I've learned a lot regarding martial arts".

"Hmm, that's good. You have to become stronger, you have to do so to survive in this turbulent world".

"Yeah, I'm aware of that. I'll be leaving now".

With that, Hugo strolled out of Monk Talon's room. He walked along the first floor's corridor glancing at the compound, things were different today, no students were there training...everyone was in their rooms. He evacuated the building strolling to the other building where his room was situated. He reached the door of the room and entered.

As usual, some people were busy with other activities, while some were asleep already. Hugo just strolled straight to his bed beneath and lay on it, all he wants to do now was go straight to sleep. He wasn't in the mood to chat with friends and other things like that. For these past days, it had become a habit for Hugo to check his stats, he was monitoring it.

As he trained, he could feel that he was getting stronger, but he still had a long way to go. But for almost every single day he trains, he does check his stats...as known, it wasn't a regular thing. And right now that he was lying on his bed, he wanted to check his stats again. He called out on the system in a low tone of voice,

"System".

[ Yes, host]

"I want to see my stats". Hugo uttered.

The system has no right or power to tell him that he was checking his stats too much, even if he wants to check it hundred times in a day, she'll show it to him. And to, Hugo, he wasn't checking his stats too much, he was just monitoring it as he trained. The interface appeared in front of him though he was lying on the bed, and this is what he saw there,

[ Name: Hugo Tuffin]

[ Age: 18]

[ Level: 1]

Agility: 14

Endurance: 16

Physical DMG: 8

Strength: 18

Speed: 12

Exp: 120/300

Done glancing at his stats, the interface disappeared. His stats had increased 'cause of the training he's been engaging in. And from what he saw right now, each of them had added one stat point each. He's been working on his speed, both in attack, defense, and running, and it's been reflecting in his speed stat...the points were increasing.

But a lot of improvement was still needed, he was aware of that. Tomorrow was gonna be another hectic day, martial arts training would most likely be climaxed between him and Captain Wayne. To keep working on his martial arts skills, he'll have to train personally. They'll most likely move to the weapon training tomorrow, he chose sword, he'll have to learn how to use it.

Closing his eyes, he drifted into sleep slowly until he dozed off completely.

*******

The compound of the Lotus sage academy was bustling once again. What was the aim? For the students that weren't that strong to become strong. The strong ones were supposed to become stronger. And all these were for one reason, for them to survive this apocalypse, for them to be able to defend themselves against those zombies.

And for these to take place, the compound has to be bustling every single day. Right now, Hugo was waiting for Captain Wayne's arrival on the compound. He had been doing this for some time now, he'll tell Hugo to go wait for him on the compound, then he'll keep him waiting. But the fact was, he wasn't doing it on purpose.

Hugo saw that some students were already learning how to make use of pistols and AK-47s, when would he get to that stage? He hadn't even learned how to use his weapon yet. All of the students learning to use pistols and AK-47s were all A class, but they've been there for some time now. Most of them were more skilled than, Hugo.

Hugo just imagined how it would be like when he starts learning how to make use of the guns, that feeling of holding an AK-47 in his hands. Standing there for some minutes more, he sighted Captain Wayne heading towards him. He wasn't angry that he kept him waiting, he had gotten used to it. And Captain Wayne had told him severally that he wasn't doing it on purpose.

Captain Wayne got to where he was standing and uttered to him,

"You already know the reason why...."

Hugo didn't allow him complete his sentence before cutting him short, he knows what he wants to say.

"Yeah, I know the reason. Let's dive straight into the main deal".

"So, you should have discerned by now, we are done with martial arts. You've improved tremendously, I'll say your martial arts skills are above average now, your power level has increased. As you've been doing, you can keep training personally to keep improving your martial arts skills. But we are done with martial arts". Captain Wayne said.

"So we'll move straight to my weapon, right? You'll start training me on how to use my weapon, right?".

"Yeah, we close to that, but as for now, follow me".

The moment Captain Wayne made that utterance, he began sauntering, and Hugo followed him from behind. And Hugo couldn't help but wonder where they were heading to. Or was he taking him to the weapons compartment to take the weapon he chose? That's sword? But they weren't heading to any of the buildings, they were just strolling along the compound, so he wasn't taking him to the weapons compartment.

After a minute of strolling, Hugo noticed that they were heading to a certain pole in the compound, but he wasn't sure it was the pole they were heading to, like, what do they want to do with the pole? But as Captain Wayne kept on sauntering, and Hugo was following him from behind, they were getting closer to the pole.

Hugo discerned something, seems like it was truly the pole they were heading to.