Painful memories

"Add twenty status points to [Strength]." Blake said, finally exhausting all his status points.

After allocating all his status points, he could feel that same tingling and refreshing sensation course through all parts of his body.

Somehow, he felt like his hands had become thicker, and his bones had become stronger also.

"Status Window." Blake muttered.

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[Status Window]

[Name: Blake Greville]

[Race: Human]

[Level: 12]

[Class: None]

[Title: None]

[Mana: 120/120]

[Health: 20/20]

[Strength: 47]

[Agility: 31]

[Stamina: 25]

[Endurance: 18]

[Intelligence: 89]

[Magic power: 110]

[Status points: 0]

===========

His stats had visibly improved compared to before, and Blake couldn't help but feel fulfilled.

He hadn't bothered to allocate any status points to [Mana], [Intelligence], and [Magic Power], because they were already a lot higher than his other stats.

He felt like there was no need to increase them for now, and was more bothered about his other stats, to make all his stats balanced.

Besides, he could still increase those three stats by killing zombies or mana beasts, so there was no need to waste status points on them.

However, what he didn't know was that his current stats and level were higher than most in this current time.

Due to the large number of zombies he killed in his "berserk state", he had gained somewhat of an head-start over others with how much he leveled up and also the number of status points he gained.

Still, the most impressive out of all Blake's stats were still those three stats he felt would be a waste to allocate status points to—mana, intelligence and magic power.

What Blake didn't know was that the mana of the average human being at level one was between 20-40 points, while the more talented ones had between 60-80 mana points.

On the other hand, Blake's mana point was well over a hundred, making him a genius in magic and mana.

They weren't just high for show, as they each affected the power of his skills and their activation speed.

After closing the [Status Window], Blake sighed and then rested his head on the wall behind him, the earlier events still replaying in his mind.

If he doubted what was happening before, he didn't anymore because what just happened erased any more doubt that was in his mind.

Even now, he could feel strength coursing through his veins, strength that he know he didn't have before.

Blake clenched his fists tightly, he couldn't help but wonder; if he had this strength before… if he had this strength when the apocalypse first arrived and zombies attacked his parents… would he be able to save them…?

Would they would still be alive now…?

Would the situation have played out different than it did?

He stared at the drawing in his hands again, his eyes lingering on his parents figures.

In his drawing, they all stood together with happy smiles on their faces, however, his last memory with his parents wasn't filled with happy smiles, but tears and pain.

His eyes then moved to the figure of the brown haired boy standing at the other end of the image and a wry smile appeared on his face.

The smile on the boy's face looked quite awkward to him, mainly because he had never actually seen him smile that happily in real life.

The name of the brown haired boy was Stanley Greville, there was about three years age difference between him and Blake, making him the elder brother.

Unlike Blake, he wasn't adopted and was the biological son of the Greville family.

Blake was adopted into the family when he was eight, and ever since then, they had never gotten along well.

The problem wasn't with Blake, but with Stanley who for some reason hated Blake, and didn't like to be around him.

Their parents had always tried to resolve this, but each time they made an effort to bring them together, things only got worse.

Blake also didn't like this, as it always made him feel guilty, however, he still always tried his best to appease his brother and didn't interfere in any of his business.

Their relationship only got worse over time, until eventually, Stanley decided that he wanted to continue his university education abroad.

This decision was sudden, and it even took their parents by surprise, but they still supported him, sending to a university abroad.

The Greville family wasn't poor in any way, instead, they were actually very rich, except that they weren't popular.

His father was an engineer, and a successful one, while his mother was the owner of "Key academy", a large school with more than three branches in the country Lontheon.

Blake and his brother also did their secondary education in their mom's academy.

However, even though Stanley said it was only for educational purposes only, every one knew… that one of the reasons for his decision was because he wanted to stay far away from Blake.

The only reason they didn't stop him was because they felt that maybe that was what was needed for him to finally get rid of his hate for his brother.

Since they had already tried bringing them together, and it only made their relationship worse, maybe separating them might actually be the best option.

Right now, Stanley was the only family Blake had in this world, and despite their bad relationship, he still hoped and prayed that wherever Stanley was currently, he was alive and well.

After all, he still considered Stanley his brother, and he wouldn't wish any bad thing upon him.

"What is… that?" Suddenly, a soft, yet indifferent voice sounded from the side.

Blake, startled, instinctively turned his head to where the voice came from.

His eyes met that of a beautiful golden-haired girl with sky blue eyes. Her eyes squinted slightly, and for a moment, her breathing became uneven as she stared at the thin paper in Blake's hands.

"Huh?" Blake mumbled. His mind calmed down when he noticed that it was just Aria—one of the survivors Shane introduced to him.

Aria slowly pointed her hands at the drawing that was held loosely in the middle of her fingertips.

"That…" She muttered in a low voice, while also slowly moving closer to him.

Blake finally understood what she was referring to after tracing where her hands was pointing to.

"Ohh, this?" He said, raising the drawing towards her with a wry smile on his face. And without waiting for her to reply, he continued: "It's just a small sketch really…"

He was actually quite surprised that Aria was asking him about his drawing. Since the first time he met her, she had always been quite cold and distant to him and despite her not openly saying she hated him, it was clear that she didn't exactly like him either.

Her suddenly approaching him and asking about his drawing seemed quite strange to him.

"Can I… see it?" Aria asked, her tone even softer this time. She moved closed towards Blake, standing beside him and resting her back gently on the wall.