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 there was a significant improvement from 25 upwards. Just looking at the food at those tables, the green haired teenager felt his mouth start to salivate.
‘I should probably avoid making a ruckus on the first day. My gut is telling me that Professor didn’t warn me just for fun. Unlike me, these guys must be the ones who had been scouted, and I have no idea how long they’ve already been here. If I pick the wrong target, I might just waste my Energy, which will just further decrease my chances of improving my current situation.
‘Alright, I guess I should try to get a feeling as to how strong those ranked higher than me are, and just rank up to the point where the food is more adequate before I try something more crazy.’
With the next full moon weeks away, and him still having over 200 Energy, he felt confident that he had at least two to three days of leeway. That should be more than enough time to find a good target to challenge. Of course, if somebody were to challenge him before that, he would defend himself.
“Bleargh, this tastes horrible.” Ian spat the soup out the moment he tasted it. Izzy too showed an appalling reaction to its taste. Gary and Numba were the only ones at their table that had finished it without a single complaint.
‘I nearly forgot, everyone, is a rich kid here. I might be sitting next to the poorest rich kids, but those two are spoiled.’
Seeing the leftover food, Gary licked his lips, desperate times called for desperate measures.
“Hey, if you guys aren’t going to eat that, do you mind if I have it?” The Werewolf asked.
“Ermm, are you sure you want the food even after I spat it back out?” Ian asked cautiously, thinking the act was a bit disgusting. However, Gary didn’t care, he just casually slurped up Ian’s bowl, as well as Izzy’s who had shoved her portion over to him.
[2 points of Energy have been restored] x2
[212/300 Energy]
“Say, do we get any other food, or is this all we get for breakfast, lunch and dinner?” Ian asked the table in front of theirs. Since they were ranked at the bottom, he wasn’t too afraid of them. The one he asked looked a little hurt and bruised up, as if he had just gotten out of a fight.
“This is all we get.” The student replied, pointing at the empty bowl of soup. “If you want my advice, you should just get used to it. Trust me, soon enough you will be enjoying every last drop of it. If you want to get better food, you’ll need to either beat someone higher ranked than you, or you need to show off in the weekly challenge. Neither option is really feasible on an empty stomach.
“Alternatively, if you have something substantial to offer, you can always try to strike a deal with someone.”
The student pointed to one of the other tables. A teenage boy with 86 on his badge walked over to one of the tables in the 26-50 range. The others could only see what they were doing, but with a small usage of Controlled Transformation on his ears, Gary was able to eavesdrop on their conversation.
“Alright, you win, if you agree, I’ll tell the Moro Family to lower the percentage of protection money from your family by ten percent. Deal?”
The other student nodded, before the two of them swapped food. The others on that table weren’t in the least bit surprised, indicating that this wasn’t anything unusual in there.
‘The Moro Family… sounds like they’re a gang. Is this what Professor Humfree meant? So much for all of us being equal in this place…’
Lunch had come to an end, and most of the students returned to the main room, which was apparently the place the Altered used to socialise. There were also several doors, which was where others slept as well.
Either way, it was a large place that had seats, places for people to read and just relax. While in the centre, it looked just like an ordinary circle, though people seemed to stay clear of it for some reason.
‘That kinda looks like an arena now that I look at it?’ Gary discerned.
Just then, the two students they had seen from before had entered the centre ring.
“I challenge you to a fight!” The lower rank student stated, while the other one just nodded. Once accepted, both of their badges lit up, and immediately the lower-ranked student’s arm transformed into one made of rock.
He leapt up, and swung his fist right towards the other's face. His opponent lifted his hands to block, and was hit with a heavy blow. For some reason, he had not transformed, and now he was lying on the ground. He remained there, and ten seconds later the number on their badges changed.
The next moment, the student who had been ranked 47 before brushed himself off and walked away.
“I'm a bit confused as to what just happened?” Ian confessed.
Something strange was certainly going on in this facility, and it wasn’t as straightforward as the others imagined.
*****
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