Becoming The Strongest Using My Would-You-Rather System!-Chapter 24 - Renting A New Place
Iris closed her eyes for a moment.
Not even a second later, a faint gray light began glowing from her palms.
Theo leaned forward slightly, curiosity flickering in his eyes.
’Oh?’ he thought. ’Is that...?’
Before he could continue his thoughts, the spear beside Iris started shaking.
Then, it shot out of the ground.
The spear hovered in the air for a brief moment before slowly drifting toward Iris.
As it reached her, she calmly moved her hand, spinning the spear horizontally.
Theo’s eyes widened a little.
’Metal element...’ he realized. ’That’s a rare one to start out with, just like lightning.’
The gray glow surrounding Iris’s hands slowly grew brighter.
Then, she shot the spear forward to a sand dune not so far away.
As the spear pierced into the sand, she spun around with a soft smile.
’’And?’’ she asked. ’’What do you think?’’
Theo looked from Iris to the spear buried in the sand dune.
’’It’s good,’’ he answered, nodding.
Iris’s smile widened. She turned around immediately and began using her technique again.
It took slightly longer to retrieve the spear, but that was to be expected considering how far away it was.
As Iris continued training, Theo simply watched while his mind wandered off.
’I’ll have enough money for a down payment on an apartment in just two more days,’ he thought. ’Then I’ll finally get my parents out of that car.’
So much had happened the past few days that he’d almost lost sight of the original goal for taking this mission.
’After that, I’ll also be able to sleep peacefully again.’
He paused for a moment.
’As for what I’ll do from there... I don’t know yet.’
Just sitting passively on the beach was nice and all, but deep inside something was urging him to become stronger faster.
There was no doubt that he’d need to move on in two weeks anyway, as he’d be reaching Bronze Core by then.
’It’d be nice if I can go into the wild or even a dungeon after that.’
As he mulled over his future, his eyes followed Iris’s training, watching her repeat the same technique over and over again.
Finally, Theo pushed himself from his chair.
’No point thinking about it now,’ he thought, cracking his neck. ’I should also continue training now.’
The next two days passed by quickly.
Theo spent most of his time training his endurance and cultivating his core, occasionally killing small groups of F-rank creatures and even killing an E-rank Saltback Crab all on his own.
Whenever he wasn’t actively training, he was studying the Bronze stage of the Heavenly Thunder Storm manual in advance.
As Theo found himself on the bus back on the second evening, his eyes lingered on his phone with a small smile on his face.
’That should be enough.’
His balance had hit just over five thousand dollars, which was more than he’d originally expected.
’A bunch of F-rank cores and a single E-rank core really earned me an additional fifteen hundred dollars, huh,’ he thought, grinning. ’No wonder everyone wishes to become a hunter.’
Theo glanced out the window for a moment, watching the buildings pass by with a satisfied feeling in his chest.
’My parents should be waiting at Owen’s apartment now too,’ he thought, nodding slowly. ’Now all that’s left is to browse some apartments and pick one.’
He leaned back slightly, scrolling through real estate listings on his phone.
The apartment wouldn’t be something amazing, quite literally just two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a small living room with a kitchen in the corner.
But at least it was better than a car.
It didn’t take long before the bus finally came to a halt near Owen’s apartment.
’’Thank you,’’ Theo nodded with a smile as he stepped out of the bus.
The apartment complex wasn’t far from the bus stop, only taking him a few minutes before reaching Owen’s door.
He climbed the stairs and knocked lightly on the door.
Not even a second later, Owen’s face popped up as he pulled the door open.
’’Yo,’’ he said simply. ’’Your parents are already waiting inside.’’
’’Thanks,’’ Theo said with a wide smile on his face.
As he followed Owen inside, his eyes immediately fell onto his parents who’d been seated on the couch.
Their faces looked thinner and their complexions paler, with dark circles under their eyes. Despite that, they sat there with warm smiles like nothing had happened.
His mother noticed him first, immediately standing up.
’’Theo,’’ she said softly, walking towards him as his father stood up behind her.
Theo walked over and hugged them both tightly.
For a moment, none of them said anything.
’’Have you been doing alright?’’ his father finally asked.
Theo nodded with a small smile.
’’Yeah. Things have been going well.’’
He pulled his phone out of his pocket.
’’Now that we’re talking about it... I wanted to show you something.’’
Theo held his phone out, switching between his bank account and an apartment listing.
His mother’s eyes widened slightly as she looked at the listing.
It was just a small apartment relatively nearby, but the look in her eyes told him everything he needed.
’’Theo...’’ his father suddenly said, slowly shaking his head. ’’You shouldn’t spend your money on something like this.’’
He paused, voice firm.
’’Save it for when you need an apartment near your future college.’’
Theo stared at him for a moment before letting out a quiet breath.
’’No can do,’’ he said. ’’I’m getting us an apartment.’’
His father frowned slightly.
’’Theo—’’
Theo shook his head and interrupted him.
’’You’ve both done enough for me already,’’ he said. ’’The least I can do is make sure you don’t have to sleep in a car anymore.’’
The room fell silent.
His father just stared at him for a moment, while his mother glanced at the pictures on his phone again.
’’It looks nice,’’ she said quietly.
Theo smiled and nodded once.
’’It’s nothing special,’’ he said. ’’But it’s close and has a far better bed than a car.’’
His father kept staring at him, many emotions flashing past his eyes. For a moment it looked like he wanted to argue again.
Instead, he let out a quiet sigh and rubbed the back of his neck.
’’You’ve grown up fast,’’ he muttered.
