After training was over, Innu actually came over to Gary to tell him that there would be no practice today. Although Innu had just joined the school, he had been advised to join the Rugby club by someone in particular, and it had been no surprise to him when he had arrived the other day that he could see Gary there. Kai was clearly a person that just loved to pull strings and act as the puppet master behind everything.
As for Innu’s reasons for canceling practice, for one, the high schooler was still mentally tired from what had occured yesterday. He didn’t want to stay out, and his other reason was that he considered it important to rest before an important match, like the one they would have tomorrow.
Too much training was just as bad as no training, and he thought that whoever they would face in their match tomorrow he was confident the two of them could deal with it. Before leaving, he informed Gary that he would update him on anything to do with the Billy front, but since he would be staying at home today it was unlikely anything would occur.
It seemed that Innu hadn’t put together that Billy and the Werewolf were the same person, but Gary couldn’t blame him. Were it not for his Werewolf System, even he would find it impossible.
The fact that training was cancelled was great news for the high schooler, who quickly hit the gym on his way back. There was no need for him to consume extra meat since he had already had his fill thanks to the generous ‘donation’ of a certain Altered superstar.
‘I know that my stats have gone up, but training is starting to seem pointless with how long it takes me to increase any of my stats naturally. With a measly 5 Exp per session it will take me ages to Level Up even once.
‘If I want to get stronger, I need a faster way to earn Exp and for that I’m going to have to take risks. By now, the colour gangs should have calmed down, so perhaps I can incite another turf war. I can’t just sit around and allow Billy to get stronger on his own. But first, I need to do something else.’
Arriving home, Gary pushed the door open, and was positively surprised to see his mother in her work clothes. She was wearing a plain blue top with a badge that had her name along the top. He figured that today might have been one of her very rare free days, or perhaps her shift had been moved to later.
“What are you doing here, mum? Did they call you for a late shift again?” Gary asked, as he popped his head into his room, hoping to find his sister, yet she was nowhere to be found either.
“Yeah, they have me on the late shift again.” His mother replied as she was texting on her phone. The middle-aged woman had a smile on her face as she did this as well. Which worried Gary, if this was the case she was either talking to her friends, or it was with another man, and Gary dreaded the thought of meeting another person from Slough.
That and he didn’t like the idea of another person being introduced into their family, he was the one that would help their family out of their situation, not a stranger who didn’t know the struggles they had gone through.
His mother worked as a cashier at a twenty-four hour supermarket. They would call her in for extra work at all sorts of times and she would always accept. Because they knew she always said yes, they always asked her first.
For Gary though he hated it, the later the shift the more likely there was for trouble to be caused. The only saving grace was that the supermarket was under the Underdog’s territory in Slough, so no one touched it. If they did, they would be facing the biggest gang in Slough.
Still, that didn’t stop some gangs, or strays from trying to do things once in a while.
“If you’re looking for Amy, she’s staying over at Stacy’s tonight.” His mother shouted, noticing that her son was looking in every room, and even knocked on the toilet.
‘She went out… Well as long as she stays indoors, I guess they’re safe, but I really wanted to do something today.’ The reason Gary was a little bummed was because he had been planning to create a Bond Mark with her.
Although it was unlikely that Billy would go after his sister, it wasn’t impossible and it was mostly a question of when the Underdogs might unearth his real identity and the people around him. After hearing what Tom said about him protecting him as a full Werewolf, Gary was confident he wouldn’t harm them.
‘Well, I guess I will just have to leave it for next time then.’ Gary thought.
There was still one other person he could Mark though. Going up to his mother, he pulled a chair and sat down opposite her. She intricately turned her phone over, which made Gary even more suspicious that she was talking to a guy on the phone. However, seeing this gave him an idea.
“Mum…I don’t mind you talking to other people, but… I get kinda jealous sometimes. I know looking after me and Amy can be hard sometimes. It’s just that I get worried that sometimes…you might leave us.” Gary had his face down and was putting on an Oscar worthy performance.
His mother immediately raised her arms and gave him a big hug.
“Gary, you and Amy are the most important people in my life and that won’t change. You even saved up all that money for me. I hate to admit it, but you can’t even imagine how much it has helped our situation. I wouldn’t give you two up for anything in the world! I will never leave you!”
“You promise?” Gary asked, holding out his pinky.
“I promise!” His mother replied as her own pinky touched her son’s.
And at that moment, a notification from the system had appeared.
[A spoken deal has been made, would you like to Mark “Maya Dem”?]
[3/5 Marks have been assigned]
Gary was pleased that the system was pulling through for him for once, but that was when he received another message he never expected.
[You have successfully bonded with another person!]
[The system has decided to reward you for your hard work, keep going!]
[At the end of each day, you will receive 10 Exp for every active Bond Mark]
[Protect those promises, and the people you trust.
Loyalty is the number one priority for every upright Werewolf!]
‘Huh, is the system sick today or is this supposed to be a type of reward for surviving the full moon? Either way, it’s finally actually giving me some good things for once! With this I can easily get 30 Exp every day with the Daily Quests!’
‘That’s not all, I still have two free Marks. …Hey, System, what do I have to do to increase the number of Marks?’