Chapter 112: Hell Difficulty

It was the strongest Fire Bullet he had ever attempted to create, and despite the danger, a faint smile slowly appeared across his face. He was enjoying this.

Standing in the thick of danger made his blood boil for some reason.

One small mistake would kill him instantly, yet that only made the process more exhilarating. There was something deeply satisfying about understanding Mana, refining his control, and creating stronger spells. Growing stronger was enjoyable, and overcoming impossible opponents through his own effort was even more rewarding.

The completed Fire Bullet hovered silently before him, then he supported it on an Elastic Mana Thread. Alex slowly raised his head toward the sky and steadied his breathing. He poured even more mana into his head.

His skull made a creaking noise, barely holding the storm of mana inside. But Alex didn’t feel it. Only the spell and the approaching danger remained to him.

Time seemed to stretch endlessly before a sharp whistling sound finally pierced the morning air. Battle Instinct immediately pushed Alex’s senses to their absolute limit, making the entire world appear unnaturally vivid. Although he still couldn’t see the incoming spear, he knew it was about to arrive.

Instead of relying on his vision, Alex trusted calculation. Battle Instinct reached an unprecedented level. He recalled the direction and angle from which the previous spear had descended, adjusted for his current position, and reached an answer within a fraction of a second. The moment his calculations finished, he fired.

The elastic Mana Thread snapped forward, launching the oversized Fire Bullet with explosive force.

Unlike before, the overloaded spell erupted violently the instant it left the sling, blue flames bursting from its open rear like the exhaust of a missile. The projectile vanished into the sky almost immediately.

Alex couldn’t follow it with his eyes. A heartbeat later, something collided with the Fire Bullet high above the surrounding buildings. Whatever it struck was far too fast to see, but Alex already knew it had to be the spear.

A terrifying explosion blossomed across the early morning sky. Brilliant blue and orange flames lit up the clouds as waves of heat rolled through the city. The shockwave arrived a moment later, rattling buildings and scattering loose debris across the streets.

Alex planted his feet firmly. The blast nearly threw him backward, and every injury he had accumulated during the fight screamed in protest. His mind was too strained to even use Mana Threads to anchor himself to the ground. His battered body felt ready to fall apart, but he remained standing.

A faint smile slowly spread across his face.

He had done it.

He had stopped the spear.

One notification after another appeared before his eyes.

[Level 17 Wild Orc killed.]

[Lightning Reflex Spell has leveled up. Level 2 → Level 3.]

[Mana Bullet Spell has leveled up. Level 4 → Level 5.]

[Mana Cable Spell has leveled up. Level 7 → Level 8.]

[Mana Blade Spell has leveled up. Level 2 → Level 3.]

[Fire Bullet Spell has leveled up. Level 9 → Level 10.]

[Fire Bullet Spell has reached Max Level.]

[Fire Bullet Spell can now be evolved. Choose an evolution...]

Alex quietly looked over the notifications. Every spell he had relied on during the battle had grown considerably, and Fire Bullet had finally reached the point where it could evolve. If he had chosen the easy path and killed the Wild Orc immediately, none of this progress would’ve happened.

His decision to fight the Wild Orc in close combat had been the right one. The battle had pushed every one of his abilities forward, removing weaknesses that would’ve otherwise remained. That was exactly the kind of growth Alex had been looking for.

...

Stefan watched the fading explosion overhead. He could vaguely hear voices calling his name, though whether they were real or merely hallucinations brought on by blood loss, he couldn’t tell anymore. Elizabeth, his team’s Priest, was probably healing him while simultaneously preparing to scold him for rushing into a battle far beyond his ability.

Stefan barely heard any of it. Part of the reason was that his eardrums had ruptured during the fight, while the rest was simply because the pain flooding his body drowned out everything else. Even so, his eyes never left Alex.

He was enamored by that figure.

The young man still stood quietly in the middle of the ruined street, staring toward the sky. Stefan couldn’t make out Alex’s expression from this distance.

Was he still wearing that unnaturally calm look he had maintained throughout the fight, or was he smiling after accomplishing something that should have been impossible?

For the first time in years, Stefan found himself genuinely fascinated by another person.

Stefan had been born into a comfortable upper-middle-class family. He received a good education, was blessed with good looks, and never had to worry about money.

Stefan was intelligent enough to recognize the value of all three. He also understood that being likable could open just as many doors as talent or wealth, so he deliberately refined his social skills.

Combined with his academic success, privileged upbringing, and natural charm, those qualities allowed him to become friends with almost everyone he met.

Why did Stefan invest so much effort into things that many people found exhausting, or even pointless?

Because he was ambitious.

He wanted to climb as high as possible on society’s ladder, and he understood that people were often the most valuable resource a person could possess.

Everything had been going according to plan until the System suddenly appeared. Surprisingly, Stefan adapted to the new reality far faster than most people around him.

He had always been good at reading situations and adjusting himself to fit them, so he simply treated the System as another environment he needed to understand.

When the choice of difficulties appeared, Stefan’s first instinct was to choose Hell Difficulty. The ambitious part of him wanted the greatest rewards, and according to the common sense, greater danger usually meant greater gains. At least it should be, since the System logic mirrored games to uncanny degree.

Even so, ambition wasn’t the same thing as recklessness.

He ultimately chose Normal Difficulty. Stefan considered himself intelligent, not fearless, and he wasn’t going to gamble his life without knowing what waited ahead.

..

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