Rivers of the Night

The sight looked no less ridiculous than the statue had to Theron earlier. To the spectators on the outside, it looked more like Theron was doing an interpretive dance than anything else.

And yet, not a single one of them spoke. That was because there was a large surge of Mana that suddenly rushed toward the tower.

But then Theron suddenly stopped, standing straight once more.

…

Theron stood there, his eyes closed. It hadn’t quite felt right, but he didn’t know why. He had moved perfectly in his estimation, but…

’The Immortal Jellyfish?’

There was an echo of distaste in his mind, as though he wasn’t quite perfect.

Distaste felt like an odd word to describe it. Normally, Theron would probably call it discomfort. But the feeling was so personified that he changed his perspective.

’Is it guiding me on how Water Mana should be used?’

Had he made a mistake? Or had he made the perfect decision, after all?

The Immortal Jellyfish was far superior to the Blue Pufferfish in terms of integration with Water Mana. If Theron had integrated with the Blue Pufferfish first…

This feeling wouldn’t be so clear.

’Again

Theron’s body moved.

This time, the feeling wasn’t nearly so sharp. There was a fluid edge to it as though it had softened. He had been too focused on striking the pose perfectly and not focused enough on the journey to that point.

His body almost glided into position like water streaming across a smooth surface.

The Immortal Jellyfish seemed to hum in satisfaction, Water Mana flowing into it as naturally as it always did, its body melding into Mana as seamlessly as it had since its very birth itself.

’What a wonderful feeling

…

The rush of Mana returned outside the tower, this time far greater than ever before, as though plumes of Heavenly energy were descending to bless them.

Cyclones of wind kicked up and formed into streams of circling waters, a gorgeous scene of sparkling liquid droplets dancing through the air and yet refusing to fall like rain.

There were very few Water Mancers in the crowd, and yet most of them held their tongues out, hoping that just one of these drops of dew would fall, just a single one would be enough.

But it never happened. It all rushed into the tower and toward Theron.

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Theron felt the shift in his body.

Mana cultivation occurred through either the mouth or nose; there was no other option. But right now, it felt like Mana was surging into his pores, opening them up and flooding into his body.

At that moment, he was locked in position. Even if he wanted to move, he couldn’t.

What he didn’t know was that the Patriarch’s gaze was only growing sharper and sharper.

The fact that Theron had gotten it on the first try was already enough to leave him stunned. But…

There was also a reason Theron had thought that this was only half a cultivation method and another half a battle technique.

The Mana was supposed to overflow. The body was supposed to reach a limit of what it could take in, leaving the cultivator with no choice but to expel the rest in a technique.

So…

Why wasn’t Theron hitting his limit?

…

Theron stood in place for two minutes before the energy withered away and he regained control of his body once more. While he could have broken free whenever he wanted, why waste such perfect energy?

However, what left him stunned was that despite the sheer amount of Mana he had just taken in…

His cultivation had hardly budged. He edged a little closer to Quasi Silver, but that was it.

That energy just now should have been enough to break through ten times over. How had he only improved just a small sliver?

’The Blue Pufferfish?’

This was bad. Theron had thought that with his current momentum, reaching Silver might just be a matter of weeks. Accumulating the amount of Mana he had just now would have been the equivalent of three months of training for him at the very least, and that was assuming he kept extorting the Thistles and maybe applied some pressure on the Vermouth as well.

Theron exhaled a breath, knowing that he had to calm down.

Requiring such accumulation should mean good things for his future. The problem was that he didn’t have time.

However… wasn’t this tower giving him a chance to close that gap a little bit?

It seemed that he would have to move forward no matter what. Any plans he had to half-ass the next floors were thrown out of the window.

…

Theron progressed… almost too easily.

Every statue was simply another pose. Using his own control and his sensitivity to the feelings of the Immortal Jellyfish Echo, he was like a fish in water.

Larger and larger cyclones of Water Mancy formed, and every time, the sliver of progress that Theron gained was just a little bit larger.

And yet, he felt that the more he progressed, the further away he got. The chasm between himself and Silver Mancy was so large it was as though something physically did not want him to get there.

…

Theron struck the ninth pose, and this time, he was stuck in place for a full three hours. In that time, not a single one of his muscles so much as twitched.

His back curled, his legs twisted, his neck bent into an arc. He looked more like a human pile of limbs forced into a statue of a mad artist’s making than a cultivator.

But the chilling calm in his eyes all the while painted a picture all to itself.

The Patriarch had long since stopped knowing how to react at all as he realized something shocking…

Their world… it simply didn’t have Mana density high enough to allow Theron to use the attack methods at all.

’His talent is above the cap limit… a True Chosen fell into my palms like this…?’

…

The surge of Mana came to an end and Theron slowly stood, his body aching beneath the strain. He knew that if he were to try to strike such a pose again, his very skeleton might explode.

At best… he could do this once a month. And that was factoring in his new healing factor abilities. Though the lesser poses, he might be able to get away with more often.

’There’s another floor?’

Theron raised an eyebrow. He was sure he had only counted nine.