Chapter 74: The rugby match (1)

Before the match was about to start, Gary wanted to check on a couple of things. For one his growing headache that just wouldn't go away. He tried his best to hide it, as he didn’t want Tom to notice, else his best friend would just nag him even more, only worsening his headache.

[7 hours until the next full moon]

This was the reason for his headache, and this wasn’t even the first notification either. Around five hours ago a message had popped up informing him that there were 12 hours until the next full moon and it had repeated every hour since. Just like the previous ones he mentally closed it, before he went to check on his Energy bar.

[100/120 Energy]

The reason why his Energy levels were still so high was due to him having enjoyed a big lunch. He had eaten a lot, and was even stealing food from the others. At the same time, while walking around school, there was always some type of creature he could find not too far away.

He hated to admit it, but he was getting used to this scavenger lifestyle. Nevertheless, without really doing anything and even after toggling off his Marks, 20 Energy points had been consumed.

‘It looks like after this game, I'll have to go hunting again before trying to sort out this Werewolf crap.’

Gary let out a big sigh as he got into his newly assigned position. Today, he was placed on the right wing, while Blake would be on the left wing. Even though he wasn’t left handed, the stat player could play well in any position.

‘I should probably refrain from using Charging Heart for now. Let’s see how I do with just my basic stats.’

Initially, one of the benchwarmers had been selected to start the match by kicking the ball. However, he dropped the ball and it hit the ground as he swung his leg and missed the ball. To avoid further embarrassment, Mr Root requested Blake to be the kicker. It was a good strong kick that made it to the other side, signalling the start of the game.

In rugby, the players naturally ran as a line together, this was the same as the other team. To score a point, one would have to run up to the long white try line to score. The main rules were that you could only throw back the ball, you could use your feet and hands on the ball, but other than that, players were free to tackle each other as they wished.

Gary immediately ran towards the player who caught the ball. The Eton High players were confident in their strength, especially when they saw a scrawny boy come towards them. Even if they got tackled, they intended to pass the ball to the next person before falling.

However, Gary got close and immediately dived down hitting the ball carrier’s legs. The surprised student fell down like a sack of potatoes. Part of it was due to the unexpectedness of the unconventional method used, but the other half was because of the strength that he felt from Gary.

When the student fell he dropped the ball, yet a short-haired red haired boy picked it up almost instantly. Sren ran forward, yet Gary quickly recovered and went in for another tackle. As he dived, the new ball carrier quickly spun and thereby evaded the attack.

“Too slow.” Sren sneered running forward. Using his agility and his teammates, he was able to avoid most of the Westbridge team. Blake was their last defense.

Another player ran across trading paths with Sren. It only took a split second and the redhead continued to run forward. Blake successfully tackled him to the ground, but that’s when he could see that he no longer had the ball.

“You might be a good player but you seem to be lacking in the brains department.” Sren taunted the other.

The referee blew into his whistle signalling that Eton High had scored the first point of the match. As for the one that had scored, it was none other than Leng.

“Damn it!” Gary cursed kicking the ground. He was mostly upset that he had let the other person get away. During the last two weeks rugby had become more than a mere hobby for Gary. Thanks to the system his performance had improved immensely, allowing him to play earnestly. He knew that he was basically cheating, but it just felt good to be recognised for once. Of course, being allowed to work off his frustration was a nice bonus.

The game restarted with Eton High kicking off. Alas, now that Westbridge was in possession of the ball things only got worse. The passes were bad as it instantly became obvious that the fielded players lacked any actual practice.

Gary was having his own problems as if he saw that Gil was open, the only other decent player on their team he refused to pass to him.

It didn’t help that they were all scared of getting hit by the other team. They all got rid of the ball so fast that one might mistake them playing ‘hot potato’ over rugby. Tom was in the unfortunate situation that he got passed the ball, yet Gary had been too far away from him. Having hesitated for too long, the high schooler ended up getting hit before he could pass.

Eton High ended up scoring a total of four times, before Blake managed to finally score one single point, something he had Gary and Gil to thank for. Unlike in professional rugby, the highschool didn’t use multiple points per touchdown, and just counted them as one for simplicity.

“Arghh!” Gary yelled. “I can’t catch those two redheads. They’re too fast and nimble. They get away every time, even with my current speed!’

‘I should be okay if I use it until the end of the game, right? I know the half time still hasn’t been called.’ Gary tried to convince himself, unwilling to let his first rugby match end in a complete catastrophe. It would be one thing if the other team was simply better than theirs, but it just didn’t sit well with him that they were sorely losing because of Eton High’s dirty tactics. To be honest, Gary wasn’t sure if they could win even if they had all of their regulars, that was what was more annoying Eton high were good, so why the need to resort to dirty tactics.

[Skill activated Charging Heart]

[All stats have temporarily been doubled]

[-10 Energy points]

[Dexterity 10 (+3)]

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