Theo merely glanced at Gabriel.
’’Alright?’’ he said, raising an eyebrow.
Even Owen’s brows furrowed as he stared strangely at the man.
’’What are you getting involved in for?’’ he asked. ’’I don’t think anyone was talking to you...’’
Gabriel remained silent for a moment, one of his eyebrows slowly raising.
He glanced at Owen with displeasure for a split second, as though his interruption alone had been an insult.
’’As the leader of the main expedition team,’’ he finally said calmly, ’’every decision regarding the Imperial Church’s actions falls to me. That includes Lady Lucienne’s separate team.’’
Lucienne’s brows furrowed slightly, but she remained silent.
Gabriel finally looked back at Theo.
’’Besides,’’ he continued, ’’cooperation is only meaningful between parties of comparable strength. Otherwise, one side simply becomes a burden to the other.’’
Silence fell between them for a moment.
Theo’s expression didn’t change one bit the entire time.
Dealing with a conversation like this was the last thing on his mind with everything he still had to do.
But behind him, Owen slowly raised his hand to his forehead.
He rubbed his temples for several seconds before letting out a long sigh.
’’I’ve heard the same damn thing over and over these past few days,’’ he muttered through a forced smile.
Jim’s eyes flickered over to Owen right away, widening.
He immediately stepped in to prevent what was about to happen.
Owen looked Gabriel straight in the eyes.
’’If one more little shi—’’
A hand suddenly clamped over his mouth from behind.
’’MMPH?!’’
Jim laughed awkwardly as he pulled Owen back a step.
"Haha... don’t mind him. He’s had a rough week."
Gabriel stared at the two of them for a brief moment.
His expression remained calm, though there was a faint trace of disdain in his eyes.
Theo let out a quiet sigh, nodding in Jim’s direction as he held the struggling Owen back.
’’We’ll be leaving now,’’ he said, glancing back at Lucienne and Gabriel. ’’As for what happens inside Petra... we’ll just have to see when the time comes.’’
Without waiting for a reply, he turned around.
"Let’s go."
Jim gave Gabriel an awkward smile before dragging the struggling Owen after the others.
"Mmph! Mmmph!"
"Will you calm down already?" Jim muttered under his breath. "I’d rather not offend the largest organization on Earth in the middle of the street!!!"
Iris and Lyra didn’t spare Gabriel a second glance, following behind Theo right away.
After they were several yards away, Owen finally pried Jim’s hand off his mouth.
’’Fucker,’’ he cursed, kicking a rock out of anger. ’’That guy was begging for a beating!’’
Jim let out a sigh as he glanced around.
"Can you at least wait until we’re out of public view next time?" he said quietly. ’’We already have enough enemies as is...’’
Just as Owen was about to retort, Theo glanced back.
’’He’s right,’’ he said calmly. ’’Besides, beating up a guy like that for a few words simply isn’t worth it at the moment.’’
If Gabriel ever decided to act against them, it’d be completely different.
But even then, Theo knew they’d have to be careful and handle things cleanly.
’’Fuck!’’ Owen cursed again, shaking his head in disappointment.
As they continued walking, Iris couldn’t help but stare at Theo while Lucienne’s veiled face flashed through her mind.
She silently clenched her fists before shaking her head.
Before long, the group got back to Nadia and Yusuf’s house.
The moment they opened the front door, Nadia’s loud, annoyed voice rang out.
’’I swear! They’re just treating this thing as a game!’’ she cursed. ’’All of those church fuckers looked at me like I was crazy when I told them how dangerous it was!’’
Yusuf only chuckled as he shook his head.
Only then did he notice Theo and the others standing by the door.
’’Oh, welcome back,’’ he said, smiling warmly. ’’Do you want me to make dinner for you all?’’
Theo smiled as he stepped inside.
’’No, I’m fine,’’ he said respectfully. ’’I’d rather get back to cultivating while there’s still time.’’
Yusuf nodded in understanding.
’’Fair enough,’’ he said lightly. ’’I won’t hold you up then.’’
Smiling faintly, Theo quickly made his way upstairs.
The others, sharing the same thought, followed after him after politely excusing themselves too.
Soon, the house fell quiet once more as everyone devoted themselves to preparing for Petra.
...
The following three days passed in the blink of an eye.
Theo disappeared in the morning for the first two days to complete his final two Daily Dives before finally gaining the ability to breathe underwater.
The rest of the time, he spent purely on cultivation.
And slowly but surely, the silver spots on his core’s walls became hard to spot.
On the night of the third day, Theo sat alone in his room, silently staring at the blue window in front of him.
After a few seconds, the window suddenly expanded.
[Would You Rather—]
Option A: Save this Would You Rather for your next breakthrough with increased rewards.
Option B: Receive one answer from the system, regardless of the question.
——
Theo’s gaze lingered on both options for a moment.
’A single answer... regardless of the question?’
His heart began pounding faster and faster.
The value of the second option was something that couldn’t be measured!
’I could ask where you came from, why you chose me, or even how I can become the strongest...’
Theo’s thoughts halted for a moment on that last question.
His gaze slowly shifted to the first option.
’No...’
What if the system simply answered with, ’By choosing option A on the previous Would You Rather,’ or something even worse like, ’Do this in another plane of existence,’ and he couldn’t even get there?
One answer was all he’d get.
And if it wasn’t an answer he could actually make use of... the entire opportunity would be wasted.
Meanwhile, every major cultivation breakthrough since obtaining the system had rewarded him beyond his expectations.
If the system itself was willing to postpone this Would You Rather in exchange for significantly greater rewards...
Just how valuable would those rewards become?
Theo slowly closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
’One question isn’t going to help much anyway with the countless questions I still have,’ he thought. ’In the end, guaranteeing my own personal growth is far more important.’
With that, he slowly opened his eyes again.
’’I’ll choose option A,’’ he said.
The blue window flickered for a moment.
[Selection confirmed.]
[Current Would You Rather postponed.]
[The next Would You Rather will receive significantly increased rewards upon the Host’s next major cultivation breakthrough.]
With that, the screen faded away again.
Theo remained seated in silence for a moment.
’Gold Core,’ he thought, clenching his fists. ’I’m coming.’
’You’d better not make me regret this choice.’