Miss Degrace offered to drive everyone home, but Gary declined, claiming that just like Marie wanted, he would head straight to the hospital to get himself checked. Of course, there was no way the teenager was actually going there to waste his hard earned money when his body could naturally heal. Heck it would probably get even better than whatever a doctor would do, especially since there would be no wound by the time he would arrive.
The group had agreed that they would meet up at the pool club tomorrow once classes and club activities were over. They intended to do that everyday to do a bit of spring cleaning and physical work. On the way back home, Gary stopped by a convenience store, making sure he grabbed whatever he needed for himself and many items from the shop.
‘Does Amy even know how to cook? Maybe it’s something I’ll need to learn while Mum is away. Let’s not risk it, better just get some pot noodles and microwave food to be safe. I know it’s not the best but it will be better than me burning the house down.’ Gary decided.
The high schooler looked at the cash he had earned. He could pay for the hospital bills for a while with this, allowing his mother to stay, and he could perhaps pay rent. Other than that, there was still a mountain of bills that this sum wouldn’t be able to cover.
Money was still on his mind, and it didn’t seem like these events were a reliable source of income, nor could they earn as much from it as in the past.
It reminded him of some of the scenes he would see frequently while walking around the area. Where delinquents students would extort money from other students, but you never wanted to be that type of person.
‘One day I hope I’ll be rich enough to hire a personal chef for each of us. Not having to worry about anything, just doing whatever I want and enjoying the tastiest food.’ Gary day dreamed for a while. ‘Maybe by then, I can enjoy some normal food, and although I was never a big chocolate person now that I can’t have it, I do kinda miss it…’
The streets were mostly empty, with a few strange adult men in black suits, at a street corner now and then. These were members of the Underdogs and Gary understood that he had to be more careful than ever. He pulled his hood even closer over his head.
Since the gang war, it looked like a lot of the black colour gang had been injured, so now the Underdog gang members had come out, looking after the area so a second attack wouldn’t happen… at least not so soon. The good thing was, this led to a significant decrease in the crime rate in the area.
‘Those bastards, if they had just protected this place from the beginning , or if the police could do something then my mother wouldn’t have ever been hurt in the first place!’
Before completely heading back, Gary decided to check out one thing, and that was his newly unlocked skill.
[Full Transformation]
[When activated, the user’s body transforms into its Werewolf Form]
The skill will take 20 points of Energy to use.
After activation, the skill will consume 10 points of Energy per minute
Warning; Skill will forcefully be cancelled when Energy reaches less than 10 Energy!]
Gary had to read through the description a couple of times, just to make sure he was understanding it correctly. When he had seen the name of this new skill he had believed that it would be far more limited, perhaps allowing him to transform an entire part of his body, yet he hadn’t thought it would actually turn him ENTIRELY into a Werewolf.
‘Come on, system, can’t you elaborate a bit more?’ Gary pleaded to no effect as usual. ‘I kinda need to know if I will stay conscious or whether this will make me pass out and act on auto-pilot! I have no desire to become a wild and feral beast, especially when Blake’s family might have it out for me, you know?!!’
It was because of this possibility that the teenager wasn’t so keen to simply test out the Full Transformation skill right here, right now, though it did look like it would have some differences to when he had forcefully been changed into a Werewolf due to the full moon.
For one, he could see that it had a clear time limit, one tied to his Energy. It appeared as if the maximum duration of Full Transformation would be nine minutes, and that was assuming he would activate the skill with a full Energy bar. It would probably end far sooner if he used any skills as a Werewolf or if the Energy he expanded for anything would be separate from the 10 points of Energy it required to uphold the skill.
‘I mean, unless I’m constantly eating while in that state. Because then my energy would be restored at the same time while I’m fighting. But a situation where I would willingly want to eat all those around me…is not something I want to think about.’
Based on the information given to him by Tom, he had been in his Werewolf Form for a very long time. Perhaps he would have stayed until sunrise if it wasn’t for his Energy getting low at an incredible rate. Which he assumed was due to his fighting and healing when fighting Billy. He also still didn’t know if he would have transformed back into a Werewolf if he had eaten his fill during the full moon.
‘If anything, it might be for the best if I consider this a last resort skill but even then… I would have to know If I couldn’t beat my opponent at all. If I fought someone for a while then my Energy would be lower, meaning the time limit would be shorter. That’s not the only problem though, it doesn’t even tell me what type of boost I get for going full Werewolf.
‘Where’s the improved stats? Where’s the exclusive Werewolf skills and all that Shiz!’ Gary complained, yet all he got was silence. It was then that Gary saw a member of the Underdogs walk past him on the street.
His heart was thumping loud, thinking that he might notice him, or ask him a few questions. Gary continued walking and could see an alleway nearby.
‘If I use Claw drain a few times to lower my energy, and then use Full Transformation it should only last a minute at most, right?’ Gary looked at the Underdog member near him.