Rivers of the Night - Chapter 243

Chapter 243: Odd
Theron tracked the hounds expertly. There were probably no other Silver Mancers in the world that would dare to follow a pack of hounds so closely, but Theron was undetectable to them.

The hardest part was hiding his scent, but once you understood the principles of odor and how water could influence it, it was a simple matter for Theron with his new level of Mana control to manage it.

Moisture tended to make smells stronger. The power of a scent often came from the length of contact with the nose as well. Not only did water and water vapor do a much better job of trapping scents and forcing them to linger in particular regions, but when these odors reached the nose, the extra water content would cause them to coat the olfactory senses for much longer.

This sounded like Water Mana would do the opposite of what Theron wanted, making him smell stronger to the nose of these hounds and thus picked out with far greater ease. But it was all about applications.

Not only could Theron control his own body to the extent that not much of his own scent would leak out through the most obvious methods like sweat, but he could deploy his Water Mana strategically to make it so that scents around him were dramatically exaggerated, masking what scents he might accidentally leak all the better.

If he was amplifying the scent of leaves and bark in a forest filled with, well… leaves and bark, how would the hounds pick him out? Especially if he did so over a large enough area?

The applications of Mana control simply felt endless, and every time Theron thought of a new method of application, he was all the more certain in his own assessments of the right path to take forward.

Now, when he started playing with the density of these waters as well…

The results spoke for themselves.

Theron came to a stop, his eyes narrowing. Up ahead, there was a rocky region that cut into the otherwise green landscape. This rocky region had several openings that formed what seemed to be a network of underground tunnels, cave systems, and things of the like.

Until now, Theron had yet to lay eyes on what it was the hounds had come here for. In fact, he had found it quite odd that the pack was just lazing around in the middle of nowhere.

Other than being near the normal flow of the river—albeit stymied by the block of the in-flow—there was nothing special at all about the location he had found the hounds in.

He thought that maybe by using the hounds to find those hidden in the background, pulling strings, he would be able to spot what was so special about this region. But once again…

‘Wait.’

Theron took a look at the rock formations again as the hounds charged in. He remained hidden in the line of trees. Due to the rock formations, there was little in the way of cover ahead, so it had become far riskier to move forward. In fact, he was even tempted to wait for nightfall right now, which didn’t seem too far away.

However, right now, this wasn’t what was at the forefront of Theron’s mind. Instead, he was looking at the rocks, staring at them as though they could give him the insight he wanted.

‘… Indeed…’

Theron was certain of it. These rocks were formed by the same person who formed the blockage up the river.

Every Mancer’s control had unique imprints on them. For something like Earth Mana, or Mana that took solid forms in general, these imprints were more obvious.

It was like a clay sculptor constantly molding their fingers around an object they were forming. Various Earth Mancers would all have their own ways of building up and forging Earth Mana.

Over the years, they’d get used to particular patterns, not just because of familiarity, but also ease.

Earth Mana was particularly difficult to take from the world around them because it was rooted in the Life Mana of the world itself. Although this Life Mana was more forgiving, that didn’t make it easy.

Because of this, Earth Mancers needed methods of cutting corners and conserving their own Mana to the greatest extent possible. Depending on the skill of the Earth Mancer, these methods would come in various forms, but no two methods were exactly the same.

Ironically enough, the more powerful and skilled the Earth Mancer, the easier these patterns were to pick out, almost like sediment locked away in the earth.

If he split these rocks in two, the patterns would become even more obvious, and he would be able to follow the layering technique the Earth Mancer loved most.

‘If these rock formations aren’t natural, then that means that whatever their target is happens to be underground? But then why is it that the hounds haven’t been here the entire time? Was their migration more coincidence than not? Then why ignore the Blood Weed?’

Theron thought of the Mist Mancer. Then he considered the fact that Mana Beasts, in particular, were much more intelligent than their feral beast counterparts.

‘Could the tunnels have confused them? If that’s the case, then they might have pulled back to rest or find a solution… until I gave them a method to use their noses to find their targets directly.’

By the time Theron had gone through his thoughts, the entire pack had surged inside. There had been more of them streaming in from behind him, but now even they were gone.

Theron had counted over about 80 or so of them, the weakest of which was in the mid-tier of Silver Mancy, and the strongest…

Well, that was the Alpha at Quasi Gold.

But he had also noticed that there was something peculiar about the Alpha. It seemed almost…

Hollow.

As though some part of it was missing.

It felt so weak that Theron thought he could kill it with a single blow.

‘There’s definitely something odd going on here.’

Theron looked up at the skies again.

Logic said it was far too dangerous to enter tunnels formed by an Earth Mancer, especially since said Earth Mancer would likely have Gold Resonance.

Theron took a step and shot forward.