Rivers of the Night

Theron walked up to the next floor, not quite knowing what to expect.

He wasn’t completely ignorant to the possibility of a building being larger on the inside than the outside being very real… but this wasn’t normal by any means.

Spatial devices could either be forged by Soul Mancers or exceptionally rare Space Mancers. At the very least, Soul Mancers were common enough—though it was difficult for many of them to grasp the necessary formations and runes, which was why spatial devices were so expensive.

However, changing the inside of a building like this… no normal Soul Mancer could do that, and no normal Space Mancer either.

As far as Theron’s deductions could tell, one would likely have to at least be among the most powerful Gold Mancers to pull something like this off. And there was a good chance that he was overestimating Gold Mancy when he said this.

What level was this ancient Luminescent Moon Sect on, then?

…

Theron’s vision cleared and he raised an eyebrow. He was back in the first room?

He hardly finished the thought when the statue moved.

Theron was always on high alert, side-stepping with deft speed.

’Hm?’

There was an oddity in Theron’s body just now. He shouldn’t have been that fast, and it certainly wasn’t because of the sliver increases to his Bronze Core.

’My body… interesting.’

His body didn’t necessarily feel stronger. He would have already noticed something so obvious. Instead, it was like it was more flexible, more fluid. His transfer of energy was smoother and his ability to accelerate and decelerate had increased.

Right now, he was more in tune with himself than ever before. And he began to wonder… if he could create a blade technique based on Water Mancy, why not a movement technique? Why even stop there?

The statue shifted from its place, lunging at Theron. There was a flexibility and strength to its movement that was riddled with sharpness and suffocating swiftness.

Fast.

Theron knew that it was, but its movement pattern was so obvious to him that even though he moved much later, he seemed to reach the target destination even faster.

With a swift motion, Theron unsheathed his short sword. Holding it in a reverse grip, he pointed it toward the ground, flexing his wrist and twisting it to the side.

The statue’s thin blade collided with his edge just as he twisted, sending it parrying to the outside of his shoulder and hip.

Theron took a step forward as sparks flew between their blades, unsheathing his dagger in a movement somehow even more fluid than the first.

The head of the statue fell from its shoulders as Theron took two calm steps by it.

There was no point in even watching it fall. Hearing the sound behind him, Theron had already turned his attention to the staircase to the next level.

…

The scene seemed to replay itself again and again.

Theron didn’t really understand the point of this. He already understood the technique; why was he being made to fight it? The movements were so predictable he knew what was coming before even a step was taken.

It was like he was given a map of their attack patterns ahead of time, and they were foolish enough to follow them.

The worst part, though, was that Theron gained nothing for this effort. His body couldn’t withstand using this cultivation method right now, and there didn’t seem to be any rewards.

By the time he got to the "ninth" floor again, he almost lazily took the life of the statue. It was the strongest and the trickiest, but the end result was just the same as always.

Until Theron froze.

’This

Memories rearranged themselves in Theron’s mind until it felt like a flashbang of deductions were being completed one after another.

How had he not seen through the real secret here? These attack methods… sure, it would be great if he could actually use them—though for some reason he couldn’t. But wasn’t there something obvious that he was missing?

These attack methods, they embodied a blade style that could be used as a template for not just one form of Mana, but all of them.

If that was the case, and he used it as the foundation to his Water Blade Style, or even as just an addition, how much stronger would it become?

Would it reach the level of a Forbidden method?

Theron felt that he was getting ahead of himself, especially with how much stress these poses placed on his body. He couldn’t imagine using them continuously in battle.

But there was certainly something to gain here.

’Hm?’ Stay tuned for updates on

Theron was so deep in thought he nearly didn’t react in time.

White gold energy descended in streams, pouring into his body. He felt nourished and refreshed.

By the time it was finished, he felt like he could run through all of the pose floors again and benefit once more.

That was when a booklet fell from the skies, ancient and looking so yellowed and brittle that it might collapse at a single touch.

Without even looking at it, Theron calmly put it away. With a step, he had already left the tower. But rather than appearing outside like he had expected, he was transported a long distance away.

**

When Theron could see again, he was sitting across from a familiar old man. And yet, he felt like he was facing off against someone he had never met.

The split was hard to fathom, and the cognitive dissonance left him without the time to adjust himself before the Patriarch spoke.

"Let me see it."

Theron realized he was speaking about the booklet. In the end, he just obediently handed it over.

The Patriarch stroked it as though it were his child, reminiscing about something.

"… Every time the tower is cleared, another piece of our legacy is recovered. You’ve done the Sect a great service, River. If it were up to me, I would wave a hand and deal with all your problems for you. Unfortunately, I cannot even control the fate of my own adopted son. There are too many things I am bound by."

The Patriarch waved a hand and the despicable booklet floated through the room and slotted into what was almost a barren bookcase.

"What I can give you is what I’ve promised. Chosen status, and… I can give you the right to look through all of these ancient methods. But whether you can understand any of them will be up to you."