Rivers of the Night

Theron balanced on the balls of his feet, staying there for a while as he crouched down. Taking deep breaths, he slowly pulled himself out of Veinsong.

The aches to his body came in waves.

He got tired much faster today than before, and it was certainly related to his stint in the tower.

It had already been over a week since then, and yet he still hadn’t recovered completely.

Normally, he would have been fine, but in order to end the battle, he had forcefully pulled out the first and second stances.

He shook his head.

Silver Mancers… even the weaker ones had so many abilities to account for. Theron already had the strength to face off against them, but he didn’t have the auxiliary skill.

To match up to their Third Eyes alone, he had to put in so much more effort. It wasn’t easy to keep the Immortal Jellyfish Echo active for an extended battle, and to trigger the Blue Pufferfish Echo at the same time was an even greater strain.

But if he didn’t do all of that, their sensory control over the atmosphere would have overwhelmed him.

For most, it was a great drain so it was reserved as a trump card.

That wasn’t to say that it wasn’t a great strain for Theron as well, but rather that he hadn’t had a choice.

Both times he had pulled it out early now, he had been facing off against Silver Mancers.

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This time, he had taken advantage of their confidence to kill two of them before they could pull out their Echoes, but there was no guarantee he would be able to do that again.

’This is just the qualitative difference between cultivation realms

In Theron’s views, these four had been the bottom of the barrel in terms of Silver Mancers, yet they pushed him so far.

He pulled his blades back, their blood running smoothly down their edges as he stood to his full height.

’The density of Water Mana I’ve left here after [Tidal Convergence] and [Tidal Wave] is far too high. I’m not sure I could clean up this battlefield even if I wanted to.’

Theron shook his head before pausing.

’Hm, this might be useful. As for the Water Mana

Theron stored the corpses away and then took a deep breath.

His long black hair began to wave in the air, sparkling mist of pale violet, shallow pinks, and delicate baby blues rising.

It would take someone with very strong senses to tell when Theron activated his Echo normally. His control extended to it, and most often, the physical forms of Echoes were just empty displays of strength.

Oile’s wings hadn’t been real, nor had the shadows coming from Tenn been tangible.

But there was another level one could reach once an Echo reached its peak.

Unfortunately, Theron hadn’t reached that level yet. Right now, the real reason his Echo was manifesting was because he had to focus on strength to do what he wanted right now… Control was secondary.

His mind flickered between the healing spells he had learned, and a strong suction force formed.

Swirling cyclones of Water Mana were pulled from the surroundings, the dense moisture now coating the ground and the trees being sucked away.

Like solar flares, the sparkling mist rose from Theron’s fluttering hair, his hair itself looking like dancing silk threads.

Several dozen minutes later, Theron opened his eyes and nodded his head.

’It worked.’

The Immortal Jellyfish’s Echo was just a Quasi Third Eye in effect. It was no wonder most thought it to be worthless. After all, if you were integrating an Echo, you were close to Silver Mancy anyway.

However, Theron wouldn’t foolishly pivot just in exchange for such an Echo. He felt that there were other secrets to gain from the Immortal Jellyfish… namely its ability to integrate with Water Mana and its control.

Using its Echo, Theron became far more sensitive to Water Mana than usual. Then, because it was integrated with his body, he was able to pull at even these minor strands of Water Mana to replenish his Core and Meridians.

Finally, he used [Aqua Resonance] to heal himself. Though the healing spell was still only at the Entry Boundary, Theron felt that the Immortal Jellyfish made it far more effective than usual, allowing its results to be the equivalent of the Proficient Boundary.

’There are definitely more secrets to pull out from these Echoes. I think I made the right decision.’

It wasn’t lost on Theron that he was able to pick up on these secrets with far greater ease thanks to whatever hidden abilities were locked away in his body. But even if he wasn’t aware of exactly what was going on, he would surely take advantage of it.

He would pull out all the secrets from the Immortal Jellyfish and the Blue Pufferfish.

’That and

Theron’s eyes narrowed, his thoughts flickering to the runes on the back of the Black Limbo Tortoise shell.

He hadn’t had time to truly go through it, but he hadn’t forgotten. In this time, though, he had seen through one thing.

Those runes just might trigger interesting synergies with the Blue Pufferfish Echo.

Taking one more look around the battlefield, Theron took a step and then vanished.

It was barely a few seconds before a figure appeared where he had just been standing.

The figure was quite familiar… she was none other than the very same woman Ruu had handed in her mission to.

’Is that him? Hm she looked around. ’Interesting. He didn’t leave behind anything that could be used. A Ninth Resonance Bronze Mancer killing two First and two Second Resonance Silver Mancers… a shocking feat, indeed. No wonder Gian is so protective of him.

’Is this a True Chosen? Was that really the Immortal Jellyfish…?’

Her eyes narrowed before she vanished once more.