Becoming The Strongest Using My Would-You-Rather System!-Chapter 40 - Training

Once Theo got back to his room, he sat down cross-legged on his bed with the Thunder Storm manual on his lap.

’Let’s see how this works,’ he thought, flipping the manual open.

He flipped through page after page until he reached the Bronze Core stage.

Rows of text filled the page, together with an image of a single broad lightning beam coming down from above.

’’The first and easiest step, form two separate lightning beams and have independent control over them.’’

That wasn’t a problem, as he’d practically already learned that with his basic lightning bolt spell.

But the next step made him stop for a moment.

’’Guide the lightning beams at least two hundred meters into the sky and maintain strict control over them.’’

’’A hundred meters in the air? That is something far beyond what I’m capable of now,’’ he mumbled, raising an eyebrow. ’’Guess I found what I need to train next...’’’

He continued reading, skimming through the most important parts.

’’Make the lightning beams swirl around each other in the specific way shown in the image on the next page.’’

’’As the lightning beams collide, clouds will form with a golden glow. That’s how you know divine power is merging into the lightning strike.’’

’’All that remains is to use all the gathered lightning in the cloud and strike down with one devastating beam.’’

After finishing the instructions, Theo closed the manual and stared in front of him for a moment as his mind churned.

’’All the steps are doable,’’ he muttered. ’’There are clear instructions on how to do it, even detailed to the point that there are drawings in the manual.’’

But there was just one thing he still hadn’t figured out.

’Divine power,’ Theo thought, narrowing his eyes. ’I need to check which element they are referring to exactly.’

Without much thought, he took out his phone and started searching for any articles and old historical research on divine power.

Minutes passed as a frown slowly formed on his face.

’There are only two elements that have ever been called differently,’ he thought. ’The healing element, which is the most common result... and the light element.’

Both of them were somewhat viable options, but one was much more likely in his eyes.

’It has to be the light element,’ he thought. ’And then the punishment of dark power would refer to the shadow element.’

As for the healing element, it was still possible, but just very unlikely.

’The healing element counters the curse element,’ he thought. ’But there’s no practical need to strike people with lightning just to drive curses out.’

The curse element also didn’t have any spells that could protect the user’s own body, at least as far as he knew.

That meant there was no need to channel divine power to punish them, since a lightning beam alone would be enough to kill them anyway.

’’The only thing that bothers me...’’ Theo muttered slowly. ’’Is that the records of the light element being called divine power are all from at least a thousand years ago.’’

Theo fell silent for a moment, his mind focused on one question.

Where did the system get this manual from?

’’...Whatever,’’ he finally said. ’’It’s not like it matters that much anyway.’’

He didn’t waste any more time and put his phone back in his pocket.

Without much more thought, he picked up the manual and his jacket before walking the same familiar path to the forest for the third time today already.

’I don’t have much time before the dungeon,’ he thought, stepping into the clearing. ’I need to actually make good use of it and not spend my time on doubts.’

Placing the bag with his manual aside, Theo raised both arms beside him.

Within seconds, two bright yellow lightning bolts formed above them.

’That’s step one,’ he thought, raising his eyes to the sky. ’Now let’s see how far we can get with step two.’

He slowly released the two lightning bolts, keeping their speed as slow as he could.

The lightning climbed steadily, quickly reaching a dozen meters into the sky.

’’Slow down...’’

At twenty meters, one of the bolts started growing unstable, zigzagging instead of going in a straight line.

Theo clenched his jaw, trying to keep it together.

But it was of little use.

The lightning bolts collided with each other, rumbling loudly once before dispersing.

’That’s my limit right now,’ he thought. ’I need to get it at least four times as high...’

It wasn’t that he was dissatisfied with the result, as it was already far more control than what ordinary people could muster.

But it just wasn’t good enough for the spell yet.

Theo let out a deep breath, quickly forming two more lightning bolts.

’I’ll just have to keep going until I do have control.’

He failed again.

And again.

For the next hour, Theo didn’t stop once.

He repeated the same process, pushing it higher, even if only by a little bit.

Sometimes he reached twenty meters, sometimes thirty, while other attempts failed at fifteen.

Eventually, Theo lowered his arms, exhaling deeply as he stepped back.

’’...This isn’t working,’’ he muttered. ’’It’s way too unstable and unreliable.’’

He walked over and sat down on a nearby tree stump, picking up the manual again.

His eyes scanned over the pages once more, flipping through them one by one.

’’There has to be a better way to train this...’’ he mumbled.

But the manual showed him nothing.

Putting it down, Theo stared at the trees for a moment.

Keeping the lightning straight had never been the problem. He had done that countless times while training his accuracy.

But that was different.

Back then, he fired the bolt and let it go.

’It’s not the straight line that’s the issue,’ he thought. ’It’s everything after.’

He paused for a moment, the image of the lightning bolts flashing through his mind.

’The moment it shifts even a little... I lose complete control trying to fix it.’

That’s when it clicked.

"...Then maybe I should just focus on controlling its movement first... not the distance."

That made far more sense.

He’d just been trying to force it higher instead of fixing the actual problem.

Theo stood up, glancing at the trees around him.

’They’ll make fine obstacles,’ he thought. ’Let’s see if I can steer my lightning bolts around them.’