Level Up

He was only given a few short hours for what was, practically, a power nap. It didn't bother him too much, and he wasn't as tired as he should've been.

"What even happened yesterday? I was on the game and then, the full moon!" He realised, reaching over to his phone.

Much to his surprise, he found a piece of paper inside the case of his phone, displaying a new number he'd never seen.

Curious, he just placed the number in his phone, and texted it.

"Who are you?" He asked.

He didn't receive an immediate reply and just left it at that before he began his usual morning routine.

Walking in the streets of Kol Heights, accompanied by Enzo, he received a reply. He didn't get any notifications from anyone besides his parents or Enzo.

He wasn't very social at all, and only communicated with people on videogames outside of the people that would personally message him.

"Meet me in Jolsby Grove this evening. Your life is about to drastically change." The contact claimed.

'Oh yeah, that guy that walked me back home. He was... he was a werewolf too!' Lycanos realised, before giving a reply.

"Sure."

****

In the same hanger as before, Skulls remained on his throne and ahead of him was a group of 10 gangsters. At the forefront was a larger mobster, with muscles that could be seen through his tight suit.

He was 6'2, and wielded a submachine gun. He had brown hair in a ponytail, with a scar across his right face.

"Sir, we've gotten the information we need. His name is Lycanos Ramio, who is the supposed son of Samson Ramio that is indebted to us."

Skulls chuckled upon hearing this last remark.

"Wow, who would've thought. What else did you find?" He asked, taking a hit of his cigar.

"He is close friends with Enzo Arius. His father was killed by one of the Outlaws." He further explained.

"They walk home together and part ways shortly before reaching their homes in Kol Heights. We will capture Enzo and do what is necessary to gain answers from him. If we don't get anything, we shall swiftly move onto Lycanos. It'll be safer to use his friend as a medium to get to him."

"You're smart. This boy might be poor and scrawny, but he must have something to have taken down 4 of my men. Now, I don't want to be embarrassed by a mere teenager again, we're a gang for god's sake." Skulls ordered.

"Be on your way. For Crisco!" He shouted, lifting his right fist.

"Crisco! Crisco! Crisco!"

****

The evening soon came, and Lycanos and Enzo walked home alongside each other. They conversed about what they usually would, football, girls, and other things.

Both had joyous smiles on their faces as they approached a T-junction road. Their homes were in separate directions on this road, so they bode each other farewell.

Enzo turned left and Lycanos turned right. A few minutes away from where they had turned, Lycanos heard a suspicious noise from behind him.

He heard the unsheathing of a blade but shrugged the noise off.

'That could've been any metal.' He told himself, before walking ahead further.

Enzo continued his walk too, and didn't have as acute senses.

BAM!

A metal bat slammed into Enzo's face, and he lost all strength in his feet. Dropping down to his knees, he was then dragged by somebody and was too disoriented to resist or scream.

Dragging him to the back of a building, he then received another blow from a bat, this time to his gut.

He grimaced upon receiving that blow and could feel the force even in his internal organs.

"W-why are you doing this?" Enzo asked, barely able to catch a breath.

Nobody gave him a reply but, instead, he received a blow to his face that slammed his head into the brick wall behind him. The collision dropped him to the ground immediately, and his eyes briefly rolled into the back of his head.

He was too stunned to even perceive the pain of those strikes. His eyes blankly stared outward, but everything around him continued to move around in his vision.

"We need your friend, and to get him, we're going to lure him to us. We know that he runs past this path every evening and so, he's going to meet you here, broken apart." The largest mobster said, with his bat resting on his right shoulder.

This was the man with brown hair in a ponytail and a scar across his eye.

"We don't even need to fight him here. Once we have him on edge, we'll have him exactly where we want him. Blindly gunning for us." He said, with a creepy smile across his scarred face.

"P-please... let me go..." Enzo weakly pleaded, only to receive another swing to his head.

The man grasped his bat even harder and roared, maniacally smashing his bat onto his head and body. Blood soon started to spray onto his weapon's exterior, but this didn't slow him down in the slightest.

"How dare you say that to me! How dare you!!" He shouted, before swinging at his face once again.

Lycanos charged ahead in his 10 kilometre run with lightning-quick pace. He could feel his body almost flying in his movements, and the 25 minute run was simply getting too easy for him. Breaching past the 10-kilometre mark in only slightly over 20 minutes, he started to smell a familiar smell.

Blood.

Human blood.

He came to a complete stop and could smell the scent getting more intense. Looking around for the source, he was lured around the back of a building.

There was a trail of blood in the area, and he then saw Enzo on the ground, with a face covered in blood and nobody else around.

"Enzo!" He said, dropping right to his aid.

There was no reply from his friend, and no acknowledgement of his presence.

He continued to stare out into nothing, and blood dripped out from his nose and mouth. Feeling his heartbeat, it was terribly slow and he looked around to see a pool of blood around him.

'He's lost this much blood?! He'll be a goner soon!' Lycanos realised, examining the area.

[New Quest!]

[The Bite]

[Give your friend your bite to pass on your power to him and make him just like you, a supernatural.]

[Rewards: Level Up]

Lycanos stared at the panel, immediately becoming conflicted. He bit his lip and his eyes tracked between the panel and Enzo. No matter what the right choice was, he had to make one and make one fast.

'I can't let him die!' He thought, dropping down to his dying friend's level.

However, memories of his past experiences flashed in his mind. He could see the dead bodies, the corpses resulting from his own actions. Some were murders he couldn't even have controlled.

Was Enzo ready to live a life like this? Did he deserve to live a life like this?

Lycanos had nothing else, there was no other option for him except for death. However, Enzo had opportunities, talents, goals.

Now in this situation, it looked like Enzo was just like him. Either he would accept this power or die.

Lifting his friend up from the ground, he bit into his trap muscle. The sweet human blood just fell into his mouth, and he couldn't help but have some himself. He felt the strong urge to resist because his friend had lost so much blood, but he couldn't help himself.

He forced himself to cut his drink short and lifted up.

[Quest Complete!]

[LEVEL UP]

[+1 Stat Upgrade]

[+2 HP]

[+5 Energy]

He didn't have much time to think about where to place his stat upgrade, and just placed it into his speed.

[User: Lycanos (Ramio) Damaskus]

[Level: 4]

[XP: 0/50]

[HP: 16/16]

[Lunar Empowerment: 1]

[Regeneration: 1]

[Strength:2]

[Speed: 3]

[Durability: 1]

[Stat Upgrades: 0]

[Energy: 115/115]

[Talents: 2] [expand]