A year had gone by since the fight between Gary and Midwak for the battle over who would be the Alpha of the Howlers' pack. In turn, whoever won this fight would have control of the other Beta Werewolves, which included Kai, Olivia, and Maria.
It wasn't just the Howlers' pack, but more so the entirety of the Howlers' corporation that was on the line. Thankfully, Gary had managed to win. It wasn't an overwhelming victory, but it was a victory that had been achieved during the day.
It showed that Gary now had the strength to defeat a powerful Omega wolf at Midwak's level without using the class skills he had obtained. The reason for him doing this had worked out as well.
Midwak, although able to challenge Gary once every month, had never challenged for the position again, nor did he seem to complain about the tasks he was given by Kai.
This was all because a promise between the two after that fight had been made, and although Midwak was still wild and hard to control, he seemed to be keeping to the promise that had been made between the two.
Progress was fast for the Howlers and what used to be the town of Slough. Slough was now considered a city rather than a town, and not just any city; it was officially recognized as a tier-2 city.
This was mainly due to the connections that it had brought in with Cardenez Electronics and AJ Entertainment. The city grew, absorbing the surrounding towns as well, and the place looked nothing like it did in the past.
Large grand buildings, business offices, freshly paved roads, and sidewalks all appeared in the area. There was a high level of skill and workforce that was constantly coming into Slough.
To the outside world, there were two groups of people responsible for this. One was the famous investor and ex-AFC fighter, Gary Dem. The rumors stated that using the money from his short-lived AFC career, he had made a few successful investments and continued to rapidly expand from there.
Although this wasn't the case because Gary had already invested in multiple projects under his name before he even made his debut. However, the public knew next to nothing about that, so the rumor that fit the better narrative was the one that was spread in the end.
Then the second group was the Howlers Corporation, which was just a gang under disguise. The other gangs knew this and knew they had to have a high level of strength since the Howlers also were in charge of Notsburg, another tier-2 city.
For many gangs that were too focused on themselves, they had felt like the rise of the Howlers was overnight, and if anyone was to try and mess with them, they would lose too much in the process. They were now too big to just wipe off the map.
There were multiple reasons for this. One was that the number of Altereds in the Howlers' group had increased.
Kai was successful in obtaining Altered solutions from the auction. In turn, they had given the solution out to the squads within the Howlers' group, to those who were most loyal to the Howlers and were willing to go to Notsburg that day with Gary.
These Altereds were then trained by the ex-AFA teacher Crowley. He had come to terms that he was working for a gang, but for the things he had seen the Howlers do in the time he had been here, his impression of them was a good one. Kai had even had a direct talk with him explaining the full scope of the situation and invited him on board as an official member of the Howlers.
His answer was a no, but he stated that he would always protect his students, and if there was a situation where he felt another was in the wrong, he would help. So he continued to teach the students. Despite knowing about the Howlers, Crowley still had no clue that the leader was Gary, only that Gary was a part of the gang.
Crowley training the Altereds had a big impact on the gang's strength, and he wasn't the only addition that helped them grow. Surprisingly, there was Vere as well. She had kept up communication with her tier-4 roots.
Later on, it was found out that Vivi had taken over the role of communicating between the factories and the NIRV. Because of this, a scheme had been set up where they would take a small amount of each delivery of beast crystals, and it would be handed to the Howlers without NIRV knowing about it.
They were kept for research as Tom would drop by every now and then. A facility was still in the early stages of being built for the Howlers to make their own Altered solutions. If they did, then it was safe to say that they could even match up to the kings.
There were some unexpected things that had happened though. For one, Blake and Innu had yet to return from the Altered Hunters. Innu did keep in contact with them from time to time, through letters of all things.
But it seemed whatever he was doing, it was taking longer than they thought. The fact that letters were still being sent on a monthly basis showed that Innu still cared quite a bit.
Which led to today. Gary was walking down a street with a fairly large overcoat covering his body. He had grown taller and filled out his shoulders, making him look a lot more like an adult.
If one was to glance at him, they would think he was in his mid-20s, not a boy turning close to eighteen. His green hair was in the same state it always was, flowing in the wind, unchanging though.
Stopping for a moment, Gary looked up. "This city really has changed a lot." Gary stood in front of a giant centerpiece of the city. It was a large round tower-styled building, and at the top, there was a circular revolving restaurant that would allow one to view the entire city.
"When mum wakes up, she's going to think she's traveled into the future or something."
Gary continued to walk, entering through the door. The entrance was busy and packed with people. They were waiting to be seated at the bottom floor restaurant, all dressed up for the evening.
One of the men at the door greeted him, to which Gary reached in his coat pocket and handed a blank black card with a golden trim on the outside.
"Please follow us, sir, we will take you right to the top floor."
"Hey, wait, did he just cut the queue!" One of those who were waiting said.
"Hey, shut up, don't you know who that is? That's Gary Dem?"
"Wait, what, that's the Gary Dem! Ah crap, I'm sorry," the man said, rubbing the back of his head, embarrassed.
Entering the elevator, it shot up right to the top floor. The floor with the revolving restaurant, which was booked out 6 months in advance. As he stepped out the doors though, the floor was practically empty. That was because the entire place had been reserved for Gary.
Walking forward, there was a seat that was right by the window, and a female with stunning grey hair was sitting looking out.
"Were you waiting long?" Gary asked.
"Long time no see," Xin smiled.
*****