Gary put his brand-new room to good use… by hiding in it. The teenager even went as far as to skip his next meal to avoid having to face the consequences of his actions. He simply didn’t know how to cope with all of this sudden unwanted attention.

Naturally, his absence did little to nothing to stop the rumour mill that was coming up with crazy ideas about what the strange Wolf Altered would do next. However, the other students were just as curious about how the other top rankers intended to handle him.

Since the Werewolf had won the duel, everyone else had their rank adjusted. Normally, that would be barely worth mentioning, but this time around, one of the former top rankers suddenly found himself disqualified from advancing to the AFA.

Only… what exactly could he do about it? By himself, barely anything. Challenging Gary after the teenager had revealed that he was actually capable to fully transform into his Altered form was akin to suicide.

The only ones who might stand a chance against him were Apollo Zorion, Snow Light or Wu Chen, and it was questionable whether they would risk their own position with their advancement only a few days away. Not to mention, the duel had been set up by the adults so that there would be no more bad blood between the two duellists.

“What do you think about the rumour that Gary is going to challenge the top three next?” Ian asked as he and Izzy headed towards a certain location. “If someone had told me that earlier, I would have called that person crazy… but now… after what he did to Sty…”

“I’m not sure.” Izzy replied cautiously. “I asked around, but nobody ever saw any of the three fighting, so it’s hard to say.”

Stopping in his tracks, Ian’s face was one of pure confusion. He was unable to figure out how such a thing would be possible in this kind of place.

“Sty was the one actively fighting, until he eventually ended up as rank 1. After that, Wu, Snow, and Appolo challenged him to a duel. Each of them ‘defeated’ him with a single strike. I don’t think I need to tell you that those were all just show matches.

“All of that happened right before we entered the place, and then Apollo suggested that the top rankers enter a pact so that they could all advance together. Since he had some connection with Sty who defeated all of them, and all of them stood to benefit from that type of arrangement, they had all agreed to it.

“Well, that’s when we came into this place, and now Gary managed to destroy their little utopian dream…”

Finally, the two of them stopped before a door and knocked on it. A few moments later, Numba came out, his head held low.

“You ready? All three of us agreed to do this, remember?” Izzy reminded them, and the two boys nodded their heads.

——

Gary staying in his room wasn’t all bad. He had barely noticed the time passing with how much there had been to check out in such a luxurious place. Even Jayden’s top suite paled in comparison. Gary’s favourite boon of the room was definitely the jacuzzi style hot tub.

As he was soaking in it, he suddenly overheard some students talk outside.

“Hey, it’s Sty, he’s back.” A student said.

Hearing a knock on his door, the green haired student put on a luxurious bathrobe before he opened the room. Next to Sty were some of the teachers who were there to help him move some of his things.

Moving rooms was a somewhat annoying process for the students involved, but since this place valued strength above everything else, the top rankers had the most luxurious rooms. As such, it was always an extra hassle whenever one of them was defeated and had to move rooms.

Sty looked to be in a lot better shape than at the end of the duel. The wounds on the back of his arms from Gary’s claws looked to have healed a lot, but there was a certain part that hadn’t healed yet. His chest was banged up, and part of the blood could be seen having soaked through the bandages, revealing fang marks.

“Hey.” Gary greeted him with a nervous smile. “Are you feeling alright? You don’t have a craving for meat, right? And you don’t smell things any differently than before?”

Everyone was surprised to see the wildcard newcomer suddenly act so chummy after having defeated the top ranker. The strangest thing was that it didn’t seem to be an act on Gary’s part, rather genuine concern. That was because it was, as the green haired teenager was worried about Sty’s condition after he had bitten him.

Although the System had been unable to turn Kirk, the Werewolf didn’t really have a complete understanding of his mostly silent helper, and after what had happened to Billy, he wanted to avoid any such surprises. The easiest way was simply to ask Sty himself.

Unfortunately, the other teenager wanted nothing to do with Gary any more. He headed straight into his room and started gathering his things. What nobody noticed was that his hands had been shaking the entire time Gary had looked at him.

‘I can’t even look at him without getting like this…’ Sty thought. ‘He’s acting like nothing happened… trying to be friendly with me… What a joke. Has the realisation finally kicked in what I might do to his family? … Tsk, if only Apollo would let me. Still, I don’t need to tell him that part. Hopefully, he’ll suffer nightmares throughout his stay here.’

Eventually, Sty and the adults left the place. Just as Gary was about to go back to enjoying the hot tub, there was another knock on the door.

“What is it? Did you overlook something?” The Werewolf asked, only to look into three familiar faces.

“Holy **, your new room is awesome. No wonder you haven’t left it at all. You could fit about a dozen of us in here without it getting cramped!” Ian stated, as he shamelessly went inside, passing Gary who just stood at the door.

Hurrying behind him, Izzy slapped him on the back, reminding her childhood friend why they had come here in the first place. As for Numba, he seemed a little more reserved compared to his usual self.

“So, did you just come to enjoy the sigh of my new room?” The Werewolf asked, closing the door behind the Goat Altered.

Izzy pulled the other two towards herself, and made them stand. All three suddenly got down on their knees.

“We’ve all come here to ask you for a favour, Gary.” Izzy answered with her own head held down as well. “Please train us. With your help, we’ll be able to get out of this place and advance to the AFA. In exchange, we’re ready to help you with whatever you need.

“If you need manpower, we’ll fight at your side. If you plan to expand, our families will help your gang with that. Please help us enter the AFA, and we promise that for the rest of our lives, we’ll be in your debt!” Izzy bowed her head again until it was touching the floor.

*****

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