Chapter 63: Alternative

Gary still had three days of exclusion left, which meant that today was another day that he was technically free to do as he wished until practice time, while everyones else his age would be stuck in school. Most kids would have enjoyed this time off, yet he couldn’t.

For one, Gary didn’t want to worry his mother, so he had to keep up the ruse that everything was fine by leaving for school. However, even if that hadn’t been the case, the high schooler had far too much on his agenda to be sitting around watching TV.

There was still so much for him to figure out about the Werewolf System. Barry’s Mark might be gone, but there was still the one he had left on Gil just two days ago. Judging by the direction of both remaining Marks, it appeared as if he and Tom had already headed to school today.

Then there was still the rampant Omega wolf on the loose, but with the police looking for him, he would have a hard time finding him. After yesterday’s run-in with the police going after Billy was even riskier. He had been stabbed by the deceased bully so his blood had been left all over the scene. If they hadn’t been looking for him before, they would surely do so now that Barry had died.

The high schooler was lucky that he had no criminal record, so they didn’t have his DNA on file. However, if he ever did get taken in as a suspect, it would be easy enough to match up his DNA with the other two events.

If he became a criminal he could help no one. The better option was to look out for Innu and just wait for Billy. Not really knowing much about him though all he could do was hope he texted him if he got in trouble.

For the first time this week Gary was making his way to the gym. The last two days he had been unable to go there, Monday he had encountered the Altered Hunter and yesterday he had been stabbed. He was also eager to test how his extra Strength translated in terms of power.

Gary noticed the questioning looks he received from the other gym goers. They seemed to wonder why a high schooler was there this early in the morning. Some thought he was skipping school, others gave him the benefit of the doubt and assumed his school started late, yet in the end nobody came over to bother him. All of them seemed to agree that it was better for Gary to be here than to roam the streets.

The high schooler proceeded to follow the system’s instructions while reminding himself what he had learned today. ‘I know now that I can gain additional stat points for successfully hunting a Mark even when it isn’t the full moon. I only got a single point, but I would have gotten more if I had eaten him as well…’

‘I have no idea whether Billy also has a system or not, but if he gets stronger the same way I do, then he must have gotten a lot stronger after eating his victims. There’s a good chance that he’ll be as strong if not more so than me under Charging Heart. I have to find a way to close that gap by playing with my system!’

[Daily quest complete]

[5 Exp received]

[390/460 Exp]

Receiving the notification after his last rep, Gary took a quick shower, before heading to a nearby park. It wasn’t the same one Innu had called him to, but this one was closer to their apartment and most importantly it contained a forest inside.

Gary was completely broke after giving his mother his emergency fund, though he would do it again in a heartbeat if it meant that they wouldn’t have to move away.

‘I just hope that winning that tag team match will pay off as well as the fight against Billy. Until then, I have to make sure I don’t go crazy from this continuous loss of Energy. Whether I like it or not, I’ll have to go feral on some animals.’

His second Daily Quest required him to consume 2kg of meat a day. Thanks to yesterday’s unexpected meal Gary now knew for a fact that the system didn’t care about where it came from or how processed it was. In fact, he even started to suspect that it had been goading him towards going out to hunt all along.

The thought of eating forest animals was still somewhat gross to the high schooler, but it was far better than the alternative. It also had the benefit of keeping down his bloodlust, so he wouldn’t try going for something ‘bigger’. He was here today, since rats weren’t exactly on the top of his to eat pile, even if they hadn’t tasted that bad.

It didn’t take long for Gary to find a squirrel running across the forest ground. His first attempt to get to it, failed completely. Not used to this sort of thing, he stepped on a branch, alarming the critter. Seeing that his stealth approach had failed, he immediately sprinted towards it, but the small creature was faster and closer to a tree which it promptly climbed.

Climbing a tree would have probably been impossible for the old Gary in the past, but thanks to his stats it was easy enough. Unfortunately, this hadn’t made him an expert tree climber overnight. The teenager had followed after his prey, yet by the time he had climbed to where the squirrel had been, it had already leapt to a nearby tree.

Gary didn’t want to give up yet. He had memorised the scent of the squirrel and had waited for it to get down again. After widening the distance between the two, the squirrel was on the ground, foraging for food. This time, he made sure not to alarm it, but alas, when he tried to snatch it at the last second, the squirrel had somehow sensed him and had hopped onto Gary’s arm, jumping onto his shoulder and leaping to a nearby tree for safety.

That was the second time he had failed.

Unsure what he could do better, Gary decided to try his luck with another animal. In the forest there were several pigeons that would stay on top of the branches, while others on the ground. Regardless, the same thing would happen to the pigeons on the ground. The second Gary got close his feet would cause the leaves to rustle, scaring them away.

He knew he had to decide on a different approach. This time, Gary decided to climb up high in one of the trees. He looked for a strong branch and started to walk along it, and stayed there.

All of the birds that were on the tree he was currently at had already left the same one nearby. That was when he decided to patiently wait..wait and wait… until the pigeons had gathered on the trees not too far away.

‘Damn, so I really have to act like one of those animals who are hunting out in those shows, huh?’ Gary thought.

He crept slowly along the tree branch, It started to bend slightly under his weight which was making him worry. Still, he kept his eyes on the one pigeon that looked at him, moving backwards and forwards with its large head.

‘Just stay still, you stupid bird!’ Gary cursed in his head.

That's when he could see that the bird was starting to move.

‘No! I waited too long for this to fail!’

[Skill activated Charging Heart]

[All stats have temporarily been doubled]

[-10 Energy]

With all of his stats doubled, he rushed and leapt through the air. The birds scattered flying from the other tree branch. At this moment, Gary was fearless and he just wanted to catch one of these damned flying rats after trying for so long. He reached out his hand for the bird, but it seemed that it was already out of reach.

Something inside of him was telling him that there was a way. Images he had seen while researching about werewolves came to their mind, about their large claw-like hands.

[Skill activated Claw Drain]

[-15 Energy]

His fingers started to extend slightly and his nails grew and sharpened. With it growing slightly larger, Gary managed to cut the pigeon’s belly, his finger slicing through it easily, and it tumbled to the ground with the leaves on the floor.

“Oh, that hurt a bit.’ Gary thought, but at the same time he had done it.

‘Was I..imagining things?’ Gary thought, looking at his hand, that it seemed to have gone back to its normal self, but he was sure of it.

‘Well I suppose I should have figured that a skill called CLAW drain would do something like this, but would it have killed you to maybe mention it in the skill description, you stupid system?! Thank God, I didn’t try it out in the middle of a fight. I can’t exactly be using this in public like Charging Heart, now can I?’ Gary directed his anger towards the system.

There was another problem. Although he had finally managed to kill a pigeon, he had been forced to use both his skills to do it. If even a rat had only been good enough to replenish around 10 Energy points, he doubted the pigeon would be much better.

‘I guess, until I get faster, it's back to the rats for me… Will it help if I use some condiments or will that just make matters worse?’

It was then that the phone in Gary’s pocket started to vibrate. He grabbed the phone in his pocket and saw that it was his secret one. To his surprise the sender wasn’t Kai this time and even more baffling was the content of the message.

[I found him.]

*****

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