Becoming The Strongest Using My Would-You-Rather System!-Chapter 41 - New Spells

Theo narrowed his eyes, manipulating two lightning bolts to zigzag around a set of trees.

He split up his attention as best as he could manage, careful not to let either of them collide with any obstacles.

’This... is way better,’ he thought, taking in a deep breath.

After the third circle, one of the lightning bolts shifted too much, colliding straight with a tree instead.

CRACK!

Theo’s expression shifted for a moment, watching the tree slowly topple over.

"...Oh," he muttered.

BAM!

The tree clattered on the ground, the loud thump echoing through the entire forest.

"Shit."

Theo glanced around for a moment.

"Let’s hope no one heard that..."

He waited for a few seconds, listening carefully.

Letting out a soft breath, Theo shrugged and summoned another set of lightning bolts above his hands.

Like that, he continued training for hours.

The lightning bolts were slow at first, just barely passing through a simple course of trees. But slowly, their speed increased as Theo’s control did.

After an hour, Theo sat down on a tree stump again and exhaled deeply.

’Much better,’ he thought. ’This step probably won’t take me longer than a few days.’

Just then, his phone buzzed in his pocket.

Theo snapped out of his thoughts, quickly pulling it out.

’Mail?’ he thought, raising an eyebrow. ’Oh, it’s from the Hunter’s Association!’

He tapped the notification, opening the message.

"Congratulations. Your mission, Coastal Patrol, has been completed."

"Please visit your local Hunter Association branch to receive your merits."

Theo tilted his head for a moment.

’It’s been completed?’

He stared at the message for a little longer before letting out another soft breath.

"Well, that saves me the trouble of canceling it myself," he muttered, glancing up at the sky. "Wonder why they canceled it though."

It wasn’t like all the low-rank hunter scouts had been worthless, as it had been one of them who’d seen the previous beast tide early.

Theo’s gaze slowly dropped back to the last sentence.

’Since merit is the only way to advance my rank,’ he thought, nodding slowly, ’I should get it added right away.’

Only by reaching higher ranks as a hunter could he start earning good chunks of money after all.

Without another thought, Theo pushed himself off the ground and slung his bag around his shoulder.

He glanced around the clearing one last time, his gaze briefly landing on the fallen trees.

"...I’ll deal with those later."

With that, he left the forest and started making his way through the city.

By the time the familiar building from the Hunter’s Association entered his sight, the sky had slowly started to darken.

"Let’s get this over with and go home," Theo mumbled, pushing through the front door.

As he stepped inside, he noticed far more people in the lobby compared to the first time he’d been there.

’A lot of others must’ve also had their missions completed, huh.’

Theo silently joined the line in front of the reception, his mind still occupied with his training from earlier.

A few minutes passed by as the line slowly progressed forward.

Finally, a woman in her late thirties glanced up at him as he reached the reception.

"Name?" she asked, her tone polite but clearly stressed.

"Theo Lane."

She typed quickly, her eyes scanning the screen.

"...Ah. Coastal Patrol mission."

Theo nodded.

"I got a mail saying it was completed."

"That’s correct," the receptionist responded. "The mission has been officially closed."

Theo tilted his head slightly.

"If you have some time, could you tell me why?"

The receptionist smiled softly and nodded once.

"The national army has taken over the coastline for the next month," she explained. "There were concerns about a second beast tide forming."

A look of realization appeared on Theo’s face.

’So that’s why...’

"That means all lower-rank patrol missions in that area have been canceled for safety reasons," she continued. "No need for unnecessary casualties after all."

Theo let out a small breath, nodding.

"Yeah, that’s good."

With the national guard there, he had no doubt anything coming this way would be handled easily.

The receptionist tapped a few more buttons on her screen, then held her hand out to him.

"Could you please hand over your hunter’s license?"

"Of course," Theo responded immediately.

After handing it over, the woman swiped it through a machine before handing it back.

"There, the merits have been logged," she said, smiling. "Anything else?"

Theo shook his head lightly.

"No, that’s all," he said. "Thank you."

With that, he turned around and walked out without lingering.

Back in his room, Theo dropped his bag beside his bed and sat down.

For a moment, he just stared at the ceiling.

’’Can I see the cooldown again?’’

A holographic screen opened up in front of him immediately, showing two lines of text.

[Cooldown: 02:21:11:59]

[Daily Descent: 02:48:01]

"Ugh," he let out, dismissing the screen again. "I still need to do it today."

Without much thought, he took out his phone and opened his balance.

It was day sixteen of the falling challenge now, earning him one hundred and sixty thousand so far. On top of that were the seven days of the baby food challenge, which paid fifteen thousand per day.

’From all that... I still have around sixty thousand left,’ he thought, nodding slowly. ’Should be just enough to buy one or two spells for my water affinity.’

His goal was simple.

Have at least one water spell learned before entering the dungeon, just in case something happened.

’I should get one focused on defense or utility,’ he thought, pulling up the online spell library.

After filtering out the attack spells and making sure only Bronze Core spells popped up, Theo started scrolling slowly.

’’Water Sense, a utility spell that allows me to detect enemies in water.’’

It wasn’t bad, but far too situational.

The next few spells were much of the same. Each of them had a practical use, but were simply not something he needed.

Finally, he came to a stop as something interesting caught his eye.

’Mist Burst,’ he read. ’A short-range, instant release of mist that confuses the enemy.’

At first sight, it didn’t look like much.

But it allowed him to retreat from close range any time he wanted, which could save his life.

’If I’m right,’ he thought, smiling faintly, ’it’ll be strong in combination with my lightning element.’

It wasn’t too expensive either, its price sitting at a beautiful fifteen thousand dollars.

Theo didn’t hesitate any longer, purchasing the online manual on the spot.

A small confirmation email popped up for a split second before disappearing again.

’Good,’ he thought. ’That’s one.’

With how little he spent on that manual, Theo decided to return to the list, this time focused completely on a defensive spell.

He skipped past anything situational or overly complicated again.

It didn’t take long before he found what he needed this time either.

As he read the description, a small smile formed on his face.

"That’s perfect," he muttered. "Combined with the crushing pressure from my mutated water element, no one will dare try to land an attack on me anymore."

Without hesitating, he tapped the purchase button.

Another confirmation flashed across his screen before disappearing just as quickly.

Theo leaned back slightly, exhaling.

’That should be enough.’

Now all that remained were two days of harsh training.

After that, he’d get to test his training firsthand.