He didn't choose, but headed over to his sister and smiled. "This should be yours.", he said gesturing at the scroll. "No, no, no, giving you this is the least I can do. You saved my life brother." Although tempted, she rejected it.
"It was your kill though and besides, you need it to protect yourself in case I'm not there to help you one day." He gestured again. Alice, knowing her brother, knew he was going to be stubborn about this. Besides, he was right. She needed it to defend herself so, she won't be a burden to him in the future. So, she took it and nodded firmly at him.
The same screen popped up in front of her, and without hesitation she clicked 'Yes'. She stood still as information about combat skills and, the right attack and defense tactics to use at the right time. It explained the best weak points of the human body to hit. It even emphasized on weaponry like knives, swords and guns. It was fascinating to her. She felt like she could implement everything right away. It was like a second nature. She snapped out of her enlightened state and immediately started practicing. Throwing punches and kicks like a veteran and then, she implemented her rolling pin, as if she was fighting a real enemy. She was shadow fighting. After a minute or two, she stopped but looked dejected. "No matter what fighting method or technique I use, I can't see any way of the defeating that stupid mantis." She said with an angry pout. Damien seeing her like that pinched her cheeks playfully. "Although you know the fighting techniques, you still need strength and agility or else, it will just be useless. At least, you have a good foundation." He encouraged her with a gentle smile. "Besides, not everyone can be as strong as me." Before she could even feel better, he made a snide remark as his smile turned into a small smirk. "Damn it!!!" With gritted teeth, she jumped on him to attack, but he quickly dodged.
Alice knew that this was one of the rare moments, where her brother showed so much emotions. So, she was ready to take full advantage of it as she continuously attacked with repeatedly failed attempts. She knew her brother well. Quiet but intimidating, handsome and endearing, over confident, almost bordering on arrogant. Although it's wasn't easy to notice and, he was mostly rational. The only moment she had seen him a little shy, was with his best friend, which of course she was envious of. She wanted to make him shy too.
Wwwwaaaahhh!!!
Their parents watched this exchange gleefully. They were glad that even after the apocalypse, their kids were still their kids. Obviously, they had no objections to Alice getting the 'Skill Scroll'. After all, she did kill the zombie herself and besides, they wanted their little girl to be able to defend herself.
"Oi, it's time to head out. Let's go!" Oscar finally broke it up and they were back on the road, with Damien being tempted to cut some meat from the mutated Boar. But, he wasn't sure if it was beneficial or poisonous. So, he left it and they continued with their journey, walking cautiously by expecting anything to pop out.
As they walked, there were a lot of dangerous opponents, like groups of zombies and mutated beasts. Surprisingly, his father was a magnificent archer. Apparently, his grandparents were hunters and farmers and, he learned those professions from them before he went onto learn medicine and, got away he was now. It could be said that he had risen to the top with only his brain and will power. One of the reasons why Damien respected him so much.
As soon as a zombie human, mutated dog or insect showed up,his Dad would shoot it down with an arrow. Straight to the head and anything he couldn't handle was taken care of by Damien. For example, when they encountered a giant beetle, the height of a young adult. When on it's six legs munching on a man's head in the middle of the road. It was a gruesome and terrifying sight. And because of the traumatizing scene, Oscar couldn't aim well enough and couldn't hit the eyes. Which was the only place his arrows could pierce and cause lethal damage. Because of that, Alice, who was already used to such scenes moved quickly and put her skill to use and, with a bowling stance, rolled the rolling pin in her hand towards the Beetle that was pouncing towards them as if it was a hungry beast in the middle of a desert. The rolling pin collided with the Beetle's front left leg, which logically was supposed to smash the wooden rolling pin into pieces with its sharp and powerful limbs, tripped as if lady luck herself was by their side. As it came sliding towards them, Damien quickly went into the 'Grasshopper's Stance' and channeling qi to his leg and thigh muscles, he jumped 5 meters high. Then, using the momentum contributed by the Earth's gravity, he swung the axe piercing the Beetle's head and, destroyed it's small brain that it had managed to cultivate. He removed the 'Soul Stone' from it's head and looked at his sister that was excitingly bragging to their parents with a smile on his face.
'It seems that she has managed to get some benefits from her innate gift.' He speculated. For as they were walking, they talked about their stats and they realized that only Alice and he, himself had an innate gift. There was no such attribute in his parents' stat panel. They discussed about their innate gifts and Alice told him about hers, 'Goddess of Luck'. There was no info about innate gifts, meaning they had to find out themselves. Although Alice managed to figure out hers, which was to give her immense luck at the cost of mana, Damien had not managed to figure out his at all. It was written on his stat panel that his innate gift was 'Multiplication' but, he was trying to multiply anything but, it wasn't working (ノ｀Д´)ノ彡┻━┻ . It seems that he needed to study and practice further because, he didn't know what exactly he was multiplying. Was it his strength? Body size? Was he going multiply into clones?
' I guess I will find out sooner or later.' He thought with excitement. He actually had a super power! Just like with in the comics he read with Jason!
He was excited at first, but when that thought came to mind, his eyes turned dim and whatbaccompanied was a slouched lonely figure looking at the ground.
Alice and her parents who were talking excitedly saw this and couldn't help us sigh. Her brother hadn't always been this strong. In fact, he was once what people called 'A Brave Weakling'. But, an event took place that even the doctors could hardly understand the sudden change in his body. He often had depressing episodes when he thought of that event. The event which led to the death of his best friend Jason.
He remembered it clearly. That blonde head and golden eyed boy was like a beacon of light to him. You could literally feel the kindness and warmth oozing out of him but, he also had a mischievous son extremely cunning side. Remembering it all, Damien chuckled self-depreciatingly. He was so kind but, that was what caused his downfall. The main reason why Damien closed off his heart and only cared about his family and a few friends that he had and, he planned to keep it that way. After all, he didn't want to end up like his best friend. 'He always stood for me, didn't he? Damien signed with a hint of the regret and self mockery. 'Now, it's up to me to look after myself and my family.' His eyes once again burned with indifference and determination. The world could burn for all he cared. After all, he didn't want what happened to Jason to happen to him. If it did, who would take care of his family. As for what happened between Damian and Jason that day..... This was a story for another day.