Becoming The Strongest Using My Would-You-Rather System!-Chapter 23 - City-Level Destructiveness

Early next morning, Theo found himself seated on the beach once again.

Instead of training like usual, his full attention was on the manual in front of him.

He skimmed through lines of text, graphs, and images page after page with a wide smile on his face.

’Bronze stage is a single destructive beam,’ he thought. ’Silver has multiple and allows me to control where they go.’

’Gold gives me a lightning domain, suppressing enemies and paralyzing them.’

As Theo flipped to the platinum stage, he stopped for a moment, eyes locked on a vividly drawn image of what it was supposed to be like.

Massive swirling thunderclouds sat above a single figure, lightning striking endlessly, even chaining through raindrops.

’This is where the technique truly starts, huh,’ he thought. ’This one can wipe out an entire town.’

As he stared at the image, he couldn’t help but imagine what it would be like if he could manipulate a storm like that.

Theo slowly dragged his thumb over the name above the image.

Heavenly Thunder Apocalypse.

Then, he started flipping through the pages again, only coming to a stop at another image.

’’Diamond core stage, Skybreaking Catastrophe,’’ he whispered, eyes locked on the image. ’’Can wipe out an entire city...’’

A gigantic yellow storm, appearing almost like a hurricane of lightning, sat above a single figure. Thousands of lightning bolts shot out of the storm, obliterating trees, houses, and even the ground itself.

Theo fell silent for a moment.

The image looked less like a technique... and more like a natural disaster.

’When would I be able to do something like that?’ he thought, lost in thought. ’Something that destructive... amazing.’

After a few more seconds, he let out a soft breath and flipped to the next page.

He froze, a deep frown appearing on his face.

’’What’s this?’’ he muttered, dragging his finger across the binding of the book. ’’The next page was ripped out?’’

But upon closer inspection, he realized it wasn’t just one page that had been ripped out. More than a dozen were missing, and the damage was clearly visible.

’What happened to it?’ he thought, tilting his head. ’What was on these pages that they were ripped out?’

The entire manual had been flawlessly made, with nearly no mistakes outside the use of old language.

Which made the torn pages seem even more out of place.

’This doesn’t seem like something that the author would just do,’ he thought. ’Not after being so meticulous throughout the entire manual.’

Glancing past the torn pages, there were only a few blank pages remaining. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Theo stared at the gap for a moment and let out a quiet sigh.

’’Whatever was there... must’ve been important.’’

But it wasn’t like he could change anything about them missing.

’It does raise another question,’ he thought silently. ’Where did the system get this book from?’

After a moment of thought, Theo shut the manual closed and glanced out over the ocean.

He exhaled softly.

’’Guess there’s no point in thinking about it now,’’ he muttered.

The system had given him the book, and even if some pages were missing... the technique inside was still very real.

Just as he sat there for a moment, a familiar voice rang out beside him.

’’What are you talking about?’’

’’Nothing much,’’ Theo said, stashing the manual away.

Iris glanced at him for a moment, but didn’t pay it any mind.

Instead, she unfolded a chair and placed it in the sand beside him.

Theo raised an eyebrow, caught off guard.

’’What are you doing?’’ he asked, confused.

’’What?’’ Iris asked, glaring at him as she sat down. ’’You can take your own folding chair with you, but I have to sit in the sand?’’

Theo blinked a few times before letting out a soft chuckle.

’’Fair enough,’’ he said, rubbing the back of his head.

Iris leaned back in her chair and glanced out over the ocean.

For a moment, neither of them spoke.

The morning sun was slowly rising above the water, painting it in a soft orange glow.

Then Iris turned towards him.

’’I showed that pipe fragment to my father yesterday,’’ she said.

Theo immediately turned to her.

’’And?’’

’’He wasn’t happy.’’

Theo frowned slightly.

’’That bad?’’

Iris let out a deep sigh and glanced down.

’’It’s not the first time this has happened.’’

’’Really?’’ Theo asked, raising an eyebrow.

’’Yup,’’ she answered, pressing her lips together. ’’The city keeps saying they lack the money to hire proper earth mages to solidify the ground.’’

’’But everyone knows that’s just a load of crap. Most of that money is just going into their own pockets.’’

Hearing that, Theo remained silent for a moment. As an ordinary citizen, he had never imagined that corruption ran so deep in Santa Barbara.

’’What now?’’ he asked after a few seconds.

It was very clear to him what kind of danger those creatures could pose if they crawled under the city.

Iris exhaled quietly, her gaze fixed on Theo.

’’My dad’s dispatched several squads to inspect the sewer systems.’’

She crossed her arms.

’’Only time will tell how bad the situation actually is.’’

Theo turned back to the ocean, his mind still turning.

"At least it was detected early," he muttered. "The military should be able to handle it before anyone gets hurt."

As Theo was lost in thought, Iris glanced at the side of his face.

A faint blush appeared as she watched him, but it was quickly pushed away by a wide smile.

’’Well,’’ she said, quickly clapping her hands. ’’Enough about that.’’

Theo glanced back at her, tilting his head slightly.

’’Can you watch over me while I train my spells?’’ she asked, standing up.

Theo raised an eyebrow but nodded. ’’Sure.’’

Iris flashed a wide grin and took a few steps back.

She stuck her spear in the sand beside her and raised her hand in front of her.

At the same time, Theo glanced at her with much interest.

’Now that I think about it,’ he thought. ’What kind of affinity does she actually have?’

He had figured out that she was the same age as him, but had never seen her use her affinity even while they were under attack.

’’I’m starting now,’’ she called out, a wide smile still plastered across her face.