Professor Hai went on to explain what their life would be like, and how they could rise through the ranks, be it in the form of passing the assessments, challenges, or through fighting against other students. He also explained how there would be teachers inside but no lessons, since those were there just to observe and nothing else. Still, they would have the facility to train as they wished, and higher numbers meant access to better facilities to train in order to encourage students to improve. “You will be able to leave whenever you wish, but if you do choose to leave as someone outside the top 10, then that means you will forfeit your only chance to join the AFA. It’s in your own interest to do whatever it takes to reach the top positions, and hopefully, I will see you all at the real academy again. Once you enter, that will be the start of your next step.”Before the adults left, Professor Humfree looked at Gary, and he had a few more words that were mainly directed at him. “Alt
With all the food being controlled by the facility, money was practically worthless inside this part of the academy. From what Gary could see, the only way to get access to better things was to increase one’s rank.‘If this is the level of food we receive for each meal, I’m going to lose Energy throughout my stay!’ Gary thought, cursing the high metabolism rate of his Werewolf body. ‘Should I try and fight off one of the high-ranking guys straight away while my Energy is at its highest?Looking around, Gary’s table wasn’t the only one with only chicken soup. The same held true all the way to the table with rank 101 sitting on it. Still, the treatment for those ranked 100-76 wasn’t that much better. Those students were sitting at a normal table, on actual chairs, with their meal consisting of a bigger portion of the soup, with a few simple side dishes added to them.Rank 50 was the point when the meal started to look decent, with a big serving of curry with various side dishes, though
Having overheard the conversation from before, Gary was about to explain what he had just seen, but someone else was one step ahead of him. “It was a trade,” Izzy answered. “What we saw earlier at the canteen must have been them agreeing to the terms, and this was the transaction itself. I thought it was strange what the professor said, but now it's clear. People inside here are definitely using their position and connection on the outside to get certain benefits. It's not just a question of who is the strongest. “Thinking one step further, this means that if you cross the wrong person in here, or get on their bad side, you might not end up as the only one suffering. Worst case scenario, it might be your whole family.” Izzy gulped. If that was true, this begged the question, what position those in the top ten held for them to be treated like some type of gods. Others would constantly approach them, seemingly trying to curry favour. For the one that had just traded away his position
Gary had already received this type of reaction before from others, but at least he understood why the others were doing that, but now he felt like it made no sense. The only reason he could think of for them to act like this was because of the words that had just come out of his mouth. “What's wrong?” Gary eventually asked, a little puzzled by the situation. “Is it really that surprising to hear that I’m being sponsored by my gang? I thought it would be fine to mention that in a place like this. I mean, it’s not like I’m the only one, nor are the Howlers active in any of your towns.”None of the three really answered his question, so the green haired teenager looked towards Izzy who had been the most talkative up until now. This awkward silence continued for a few moments, but Gary’s gaze alone continued to put pressure on the teenage girl until she eventually said something.“Look, it's nothing against you personally, but… well, you should understand that the relationship between g
The first day passed without any major problems for Gary. Surprisingly, nobody had challenged any of the newcomers. Due to the lack of decent food, Gary had felt hungrier than usual, but since there had been no need for him to act, it had been tolerable.As intended, Gary had simply spent his time observing those who had been here for a longer period of time, and the Werewolf continued doing so on the second and third days. His Energy reserve had fallen to 178, but he had at least learned a lot in the meantime. For one, those public fights in the centre had been a daily occurrence. However, the green haired teenager had discovered that the fights held there were mostly the ones following some secret agreement between both parties.Far more interesting were the seemingly spontaneous fights that had happened elsewhere. As it turned out, fights could take place practically anywhere and at any time during their ‘free time’, so outside of meals and bedtime. Interestingly, even if it was
A second ago, everyone had been about to leave and do their own thing, worried that staying there might get them in trouble with the top rankers. However, when they heard Gary being shouted at, they couldn’t help to turn around to satisfy their own curiosity.“You think that guy has a death wish?” One of the students murmured to the one standing next to him. “When’s the last time someone dared to go up against anyone in the top ten?”“I dunno about that death wish part, but that fresh blood’s stay is destined to be miserable now. The poor idiot probably doesn’t even have an idea what kind of mistake he just committed.“ Another replied.“I feel bad for him. He’s going to get killed if someone doesn’t pull him out.” A third one chimed in.“You’re a Cat Altered, aren’t you? If you want to play the good Samaritan, go sacrifice one of your nine lives to save him. I’ll make sure to pray for the both of you after they’ve sent you to the other side.” Another one ridiculed the notion.At the s
Saying those words, Gary simply turned away, though not before seeing Sty’s face turn completely beet red. Before the top ranker had a chance to say anything, the Werewolf had run off.Not because he was scared or anything like that, but because he knew this would be far more annoying to someone high and mighty. In the end, Gary arrived in his room to think about what he had heard just now.The reason he had insulted Sty was because those had been his real feelings towards the guy. Just listening to him talk for a bit, he was convinced that the top ranker was someone who abused his power and position. It reminded him a lot of how the Underdogs used to participate and how Damion used to act.In a place like this, there were lots of little Damions all over the place, it was taking a mental toll out of the Werewolf to avoid following his gut instincts to outright punch them in the face during his time observing them.Still, he understood that he had to bide his time, so he kept his feelin
Gary was making it crystal clear who these words were directed at by looking straight at Sty during the last part of his sentence, making the rank 4 student experience an odd feeling of Déjà vu.‘Why am I getting this annoying bubbling feeling when looking at this guy… for some reason, seeing his annoying green hair is reminding me of something. Am I just annoyed, because my Mom forced me to eat broccoli in the past? No, that's not it.’ Sty was left puzzled.Usually, he would take any small threat seriously, teaching the other person a serious lesson, but the moment his eyes wandered to the number on the green haired teenager’s badge, he just chuckled. The scene reminded him of a baby trying to threaten an adult, and he just found it amusing.“Numba, this person is being an eyesore. Make sure that he leaves.” The rop ranker ordered, waving his hand nonchalantly towards Gary as if he was a fly pestering him.The top rankers sitting next to him at the table laughed at this comment, look
Xin had already expended a lot of energy in her Altered form, and holding her breath during her combat had worn her out quite a bit. Her single wing sticking out from her back was still there, but the lightning power that sparked from it was dwindling.“Big guy, be careful; this one’s tough,” Xin commented.Austin stood strong, looking at Gil getting up on his feet. As he did, Gil’s body muscles were flexing in and out. The smoke that was lingering from his body was starting to grow as well.“I know. I hit him with a pretty big shot, and I know I’m not weak,” Austin replied.After just getting back out from the hospital and recovering, the first thing Austin didn’t expect was that he was going to have to get into a fight, but from a single look, he could tell this person was strong.Not wasting any time, he had jumped out of the window and knew what he needed to do.“You're a bigger hitter than me, so I’m going to have to support you!” Xin said.As soon as she finished her sentence, G
With Xin being who she was, she had faced many different types of Altered, but going up against Gil was the most unique one yet. For one, he was a rare Mythical type. These had great power and a chance of great elemental ability as well.Not only that, but she had seen something somewhat unique to an Altered which she hadn’t seen before. The fact that Gil was able to transform his body, and in doing so, it affected his powers.Being large in size, he was strong and durable, while being smaller in size he had incredible speed. It was because of these transformations that Xin had felt like she had already seen it all.They had been fighting for a while now, so he had to have used either his partial or full transformation. There was nothing left for him to show, with no surprises, it was time for her to finish off the fight herself.The one wing that extended out from her back, the same size as a hand, was covered in yellow sparks that continually went off. They were condensed in size, g
Sparks from Xin’s Altered form couldn't stop flying off from her body. The strange hardened feathers constantly were shooting off small bolts of energy from one to the other. Even just standing still, her elemental power was activating.“You think things are going to change just because your appearance is now a little different!” Gil shouted as he lifted both of his hands up, locking them together. He was in his large form, having shifted from the smaller one.Doing so allowed him to pick up more strength than he usually would. The attack was going to be a big one. Gil’s hands smashed against the ground, and the whole building started to shake again.The people from above fell from their seats. Shelves tumbled down from the vibration, and it looked like the building was warping from within itself. However, the shaking had eventually stopped.With it stopping, the people on the second floor could see that they were now okay, and it was the same for Amy and White, who were close to the
The message sent out by Kai was heard loud and clear by everyone in the Howlers, and some of them took it to heart. Instead of trying to win their fights, they now were trying to last as long as possible.Raven had transformed his body; large heads had appeared and were in the air. Numba had been picked up by one of the Hydra Altered’s heads, its teeth biting down on his stomach and flinging him to the side until he hit a wall.“This Altered’s strength is crazy; does he have the same strength in each head?” Numba thought as he tried to get back up.Charging in were both Marie and Olivia at the same time. They struck from two sides, trying to hit the heads, but weren’t fully committing. They were carefully waiting for a strike and moved from side to side.Marie had avoided attacks from one of the Hydra’s long winding heads, while Olivia, as she jumped back, swung her hands and used her whip. It was effective in hitting the Hydra, but she didn’t dare try to wrap it around its head due t
There were a lot of decisions to make with the new stats and pawn points that Gary had managed to achieve, and it was best if he used them now because at any moment, he felt like something was coming.The fight against Ice was far tougher than the fight against the North and the South leader, but all of this was for more to come.‘First, I will allocate the stat points,’ Gary thought as he tapped his system, giving himself a few points in two areas.The first was his endurance.[Endurance 88 >>> 90]‘The strength difference at every ten is increased, but as the numbers get higher, the difference isn’t felt as much. Either way, as I’m fighting tougher enemies like that of Ice, Endurance seems to be a big factor in getting hurt less.’[Dexterity 82 >>> 85]‘With that, rather than being able to hit harder, I need to be able to hit more and get my attacks in, so I’ll increase my dexterity.’As for the pawn points, Gary then went ahead and used two of them on his health. Each pawn point at
---The final plan that Carter had, to try and turn those who had allied up against each other, had failed. Carter already knew about Ice’s past; there wasn’t much he could do with that.He was one of the few prisoners who knew what they had done. Through the extent of his own powers in a clash, he had killed those around him that had no involvement. He wanted to stay in the prison, but he suddenly had a change of heart.Then, there was Blackjack, the first man Carter was unable to get any information about, so he only had Gary, and now even that hadn’t worked.“What were you going to do?” Gary asked as he moved forward. “I bet if I was in here, and the Phoenix Gang wasn’t already targeting me, you would threaten my friends, my family, that are on the outside.”“You are a cruel person in this place; those that are already trapped, you force them to do your bidding by trapping them even more in this place. I can safely say that you are a person that I don’t mind getting rid of.”Gary n
---In the center of the prison, many had backed away from Ice standing in the middle. He felt like an unstoppable giant. No matter what attacks landed on him, they barely left a mark; if they did, it was almost as if it didn't affect him at all.His giant club was hitting the physical-type Altereds and overpowering them with his strength. Even those that were fast and could get closer were affected by his strong ice powers.He could block attacks with his ice, freeze those who came close to him, and create a number of unique attacks of his own. When a group of prisoners approached him, he slammed his foot on the ground. Ice grew from the floor in several sharp spikes, piercing those who took a step too far."What are we meant to do, Stinger? This guy is too strong!" one of the prisoners exclaimed.They looked around, waiting for an answer, but the prisoners themselves were struggling to even see Stinger. That was because he had hidden himself among the crowd of prisoners, waiting for
Blackjack was on the move to the North side. He was quickly going past the Altereds that were trying to attack him, ducking and weaving through them all at a fast speed. At one point, he leaned back, and one of the prisoners accidentally attacked another.‘It’s a good lucky day today, I knew it would all go well today.’ Blackjack smiled as he progressed further and deeper inside. As he finally got near the end, he threw out the last of his cards.They came out sharp, hitting four of his opponents on the head, causing them to fall to the floor, and that’s when he could see Calvin sitting on the floor, healing one of the prisoners.“Calvin, it has been a while, right?” Blackjack asked. “I’m surprised to see that you teamed up with the South Group. After going against them for so long, it resorted to this.” “I had invited you several times to join my side,” Calvin stated. “I had even healed your body after the fight with the Warden, and yet you still refused. So what else was I supposed
The fight continued with all three of them continuing to fight against the Altereds coming their way. Although most of them were relatively easy to deal with, there were a few tough ones.Those that knew how to fight either waited for the right time to strike and got a good hit in or were harder than just a single hit or two to take out. When this was the case, Gary would use one of his skills.He would use his Lethal Pounce, Claw Drain, and even once in a while, he even used his Claw Strike to attack them from surprise. When this was used, it seemed like next to no one could stop it.Blackjack had been keeping an eye on things that were happening around him, and when this happened, he would focus on just avoiding blows that he was able to do with ease.‘Is he conserving his strength?’ Blackjack thought. ‘That’s surprising. I don’t see many Werewolves fight like that. Is it because he’s worried about when he has to go up against the Warden? No, that can’t be it.’With a keener eye, Bl