Rivers of the Night

’Is an Echo… supposed to feel… like this?’

Theron felt as though something in his mind had opened up wide. Large amounts of Water Mana rushed toward him, and for a moment, he even thought that he would break into Silver Mancy directly.

But rather than that happening, it was something even more shocking that did.

His Bronze Resonance core was compressed, and then compressed again. Impurity flaked off of it, and yet instead of tending toward Silver Resonance, Theron even began to think that he would regress.

But just when his Bronze Core was about to fall back to Eighth Resonance, an even larger wave of Water Mana rushed into him.

The oddity was that Theron never felt like he was growing weaker. If anything, he only felt like he was continuously growing stronger and stronger despite the constant regression and progression of his aura.

In fact, if others were watching and couldn’t feel his body’s situation as intimately, they might not sense a regression at all, but rather his aura continuously climbing up the side of a steep mountain.

’This commotion will be far too much

Theron frowned. He hadn’t accounted for this.

Second, an Echo was supposed to fuse with your Bronze Core, but his… well, he had tried to direct it to his Bronze Core, but on the way there, it had dissipated into his body instead.

According to the texts, this was exceptionally dangerous and he should have received a great amount of backlash for it. But not only was there no backlash…

He was growing stronger?

Third, his wounds were actually healing at a considerable speed. He would have already undergone three or four sheddings instead of just two. But most of the Water Mana he had gathered was actually healing him.

At the same time as all of this was going on, the composition of his body itself was changing. If a large portion of his Water Mana was going toward healing him, then it was also taking the opportunity to increase the concentration of water in his body.

Before, Theron was probably around 70 to 75% depending on how hydrated he was. But he had already crossed 80% now, and it felt like it was still increasing.

Water intoxication should have been on the table, a result of over-hydration. Yet, he didn’t feel that way at all.

If anything… he felt better now than he ever had in his entire life.

’I need more Water Mana, and it can’t come from the atmosphere anymore.’

If he pulled any harder on the ambient Mana, it would extend beyond his dorm, and the formations wouldn’t be able to protect him from detection anymore.

There was only one solution.

Theron opened up the Black Limbo Tortoise box and placed a hand on top of it.

It was as though a cyclone-like vacuum formed in the palm of his hand.

SHUUUUUUUU!

A Beast Core wasn’t just where the soul of a beast resided, but it was also the source of their cultivation. There was a large amount of Silver Resonance Mana within it. 𝙍𝘼ɴÖ฿È𐌔@@novelbin@@

Theron had no idea if his body could convert it to the Bronze Resonance Mana he needed, but he would just have to hope.

And that hope paid out.

A sliver of Silver Water Mana made his body shudder, but then it was ground away and then burst apart. It exploded in size as its quality plummeted, filling his body to the brim in a single instant of time.

Flakes fell from his Bronze Core and the process repeated.

A third time, then a fourth, then a fifth.

Every time, his Bronze Core became smaller and smaller, shimmering so bright that if an outsider took a peek, it would look more like a Gold Core than it ever could a Bronze Core.

The Black Limbo Tortoise Beast Core found itself getting dimmer and dimmer, fading into obscurity. But likewise, the pressure it gave off lessened considerably as well.

Theron fell into a silent trance, his body rhythmically thrumming like the movement of the waves in the ocean. Almost softly, he eased into Ninth Bronze Resonance for the final time, reaching the very pinnacle.

Impurities practically poured out from his pores, a grotesque stench filling the air.

His Bronze Core had gone from around half the size of a fist to barely the size of his thumb. And yet, the Bronze Resonance Mana it was resonating with was so pure and lively that breathing it in alone made him feel like he was walking on cloud nine.

Water Mana fell into silence around Theron and he felt like his control reached a completely new level.

Until this point, he had felt no confidence at all battling against someone of the Silver Resonance, even with the support of the rain. But right now…

Theron’s eyes slowly opened, a flash of deep blue coming from their depths. Large amounts of frosty energy left his lips, but the steamy smelliness coming from him caused him to miss it entirely.

Theron was a huge fan of being cleanly, but this time, his first instinct wasn’t to get clean. Instead, he looked toward the Black Limbo Tortoise Beast Core.

Without the oppression of the Mana within it, he could see into its depths clearly.

The most obvious thing was the miniature, illusory tortoise with a shell as black as night within it. But the less obvious thing… were the complex runes etched into its shell.

’I can study those Theron thought to himself, still having no intention of integrating it.

This sounded odd. After all, a person should only be able to integrate a single Echo in their lifetime. Enjoy more content from

But Theron’s thoughts were very different.

If his Bronze Core was still unoccupied, and Echoes diffused into his body…

Could he take on another?

’A Ninth Silver Resonance Blue Pufferfish costs a hundred thousand silvers to exchange for. It seems I need to earn more money.’

This time, he would have his cake and eat it too.