The giant owl gradually descended through the clouds, its enormous wings flapping steadily through the night sky.

Below, the familiar outline of the university slowly came into view.

Theo barely paid it any attention.

’It’s going to be a close one,’ he thought, his gaze fixed on the transparent screen floating beside him.

[System Upgrade Completion: 00:03:31]

The countdown continued ticking away, second by second.

He quietly tightened his grip on the owl’s feathers.

Even with everything that had already happened today, his excitement for the upgrade hadn’t faded in the slightest.

If anything, it had only grown.

’I really wonder,’ he thought, smiling widely, ’what will this already insane system be able to do after upgrading?’

Just then, the owl began gradually slowing down.

Glancing below, Theo quickly pointed ahead toward the university dorms.

"Can you land there?" he shouted through the wind.

The owl’s head twisted almost completely around, its golden eyes settling on Theo.

For a brief moment, it simply stared at him.

Then it let out a quiet hoot before banking gently to the left.

"Thank you!" he shouted again.

A few seconds later, the giant owl folded its wings slightly and landed smoothly on a patch of grass outside the dorms.

Theo immediately jumped off its back.

He’d barely even landed before his eyes darted toward the screen again.

[System Upgrade Completion: 00:02:41]

’Two minutes...’

Nodding once, he quickly turned back toward the owl.

"Thank you for bringing me here," he said, smiling. "I’ll be sure to tell Elise how kind you were later."

The owl let out a loud hoot and took a step forward.

It slowly lowered its head in front of Theo, allowing him to scratch its neck.

Theo couldn’t help but chuckle.

"Yes, yes," he said before letting go. "Now go back to Elise before the students start complaining."

The owl retracted its head and let out a loud, satisfied hoot.

A moment later, it pushed off the ground with a powerful flap of its wings.

WHOOSH!

The gust knocked Theo a step back as the massive creature climbed back into the night sky.

Within seconds, it completely disappeared inside the clouds.

Theo didn’t watch it for a moment longer.

’Let’s go.’

He spun around and broke into a sprint toward the dormitory entrance.

Students walking past stared at him with a mix of confusion and recognition as he rushed past them without slowing.

He took the stairs two at a time, burst into the hallway, and fumbled his keys out of his pocket.

Click.

The door swung open.

Theo stepped inside, shut it behind him, and immediately looked back at the floating screen.

A grin slowly spread across his face.

"As always," he said. "Just in time."

[Cooldown: 00:00:12]

With the remaining seconds, he tossed aside his jacket and threw himself onto his new couch.

[Cooldown: 00:00:03]

His heart began to pound inside his chest.

’Let’s see...’

[Cooldown: 00:00:00]

The cooldown window vanished.

For a second, nothing happened.

DING!

Another window popped up in front of him.

[System upgrade complete.]

Theo’s eyes remained locked on the screen.

A golden light suddenly burst out in front of him as dozens of windows rapidly unfolded before him.

[Checking host status...]

[Configuring core functions...]

[Integrating new function...]

[Integrating new reward models...]

Theo’s heart pounded violently.

’New reward models?’ he thought. ’What does it mean by that?’

Before he could think of an answer, another set of windows popped up.

[Integration complete.]

[System Version 2.0 Activated.]

[Summoning first Would You Rather now...]

The system windows disappeared for a moment.

Then, a massive golden window popped up in front of him.

One by one, six glass vials materialized beneath the golden window, each filled with a different shimmering liquid that glowed faintly from within.

Finally, text began appearing underneath them.

[Would You Rather—]

Choose two potions.

Option A: Drink the Crimson Potion - Instantly erases all fear from your mind.

Option B: Drink the Silver Potion - Instantly forget your most painful memories.

Option C: Drink the Azure Potion - Gain the ability to breathe and speak freely underwater.

Option D: Drink the Emerald Potion - Become completely immune to all poisons and toxins.

Option E: Drink the Ivory Potion - Your body will never visibly age beyond its current appearance.

Option F: Drink the Onyx Potion - Become immune to all forms of mental control attacks.

——

For a moment, everything fell silent.

Theo just stared at the screens with his eyes wide open.

"What...?"

It wasn’t just the options that stunned him.

The system itself had changed completely.

Instead of forcing him to choose between two predetermined outcomes, it had presented an entire collection and told him to pick any two.

’Do I also have to drink them?’ he thought. ’Doesn’t that mean I can save them for later too?’

Many more questions ran through his mind.

After a moment, he finally recomposed himself.

’Okay,’ he thought, letting out a deep breath. ’Let’s just check the options.’

His gaze swept across the six vials again.

He paused on the first.

’Erasing all fear, huh,’ he thought. ’Isn’t that nice.’

Even so, he skipped over it practically instantly.

’Fear is the foundation of instincts. If I remove all that, I’d never be able to dodge sneak attacks.’

As he got to the second option, his stomach sank for a moment.

Forgetting your most painful memories...

For just a moment, memories he’d forced deep down resurfaced in his mind.

Joop... David... David’s family...

He remained silent before moving on to the next potion.

One of his eyebrows slowly rose as he saw it.

"Be able to breathe and speak freely underwater?"

He stared at the Azure Potion for several seconds before slowly nodding.

"That’s... actually incredibly useful."

The oceans covered the majority of the planet, and countless underwater ruins and dungeons had never been fully explored.

Not to mention, he himself had a water affinity.

"If this also works for my own element," he muttered softly, "wouldn’t that allow me to absolutely abuse everything and everyone?"

Almost any living creature needed oxygen to live.

What if he simply raised the water level in a future battle and waited for his opponent to drown?

’A simple but very effective strategy.’

Even so, after a moment, he moved on.

Before making such strategies, there were things he’d rather have.

Especially if those things could save his life.

His eyes drifted toward the Emerald Potion.

"Become completely immune to all poisons and toxins."

Now that was something to talk about.

A ridiculous smile slowly appeared on his face.

"That’s actually insane."

This potion could make the entire poison element obsolete.

And that wasn’t even all of it!

Monster venom, airborne spores, contaminated food, biological attacks, even strange magical substances — all of them would become meaningless.

’’It’s definitely one of the best options so far.’’

Theo moved the Emerald Potion into his mental list.

Then his gaze landed on the fifth vial.

"Never visibly age..."

He chuckled to himself.

"I know a lot of people who would kill for this potion."

The effect was fascinating, but it wasn’t something he desperately needed.

His attention shifted to the final potion.

"Become immune to all forms of mental control attacks."

Theo’s expression gradually turned serious.

"Now this," he muttered, "this is a must-have."

He’d not forgotten about his first encounter with Sophia.

If his mental fortitude hadn’t been strong enough there... who knew what would’ve happened.

His smile disappeared completely.

"Ending up as a slave is the very last thing I’d want."

With that in mind, the first selection had already been made.

But the second option, that was one he wasn’t entirely sure about yet.

His fingers unconsciously tapped against the couch.

"I really like the idea of water breathing," he muttered. "Just the dozens of ways I could improve my fighting with that are valuable."

But on the other hand...

Poison was far too common and way too dangerous.

Just like mental control attacks, your strength and affinities barely mattered if they struck at an unexpected time.

Nearly a full minute went by as he compared them.

Eventually, he let out a long breath.

"I’ve decided."

He reached forward and tapped on the black vial.

"For my first choice, I pick the Onyx Potion."

The screen flickered for a moment.

Then, the black bottle popped out and slowly drifted towards him until it hovered within arm’s reach.

Without hesitation, Theo wrapped his fingers around the cool glass.

Then he looked toward the final remaining decision.

Slowly, he raised his other hand.

"And..."

"I choose the Emerald Potion."

The green vial popped out of the screen, floating down toward his other hand.

The remaining four potions shimmered briefly before fading into countless specks of golden light, disappearing as though they had never existed.

At almost the same instant, a new notification appeared.

[Selections confirmed.]

[Chosen rewards have been materialized.]

[The host must consume them within the remaining challenge time.]

[After consumption, the host’s second Would You Rather will start.]