Rivers of the Night - Chapter 361

Chapter 361: Lagging Behind
Theron watched the corpse crumple to the floor, his mind still calm. He cast a look at the Alpha, but the latter seemed completely uninterested in the corpse. He wondered if that was because the corpse was truly useless, or if it was because of something more superficial.

However, he shook his head. He wasn’t here to guide the Alpha; he was here to observe, to see if there was anything interesting he could glean from its habits.

What he was most interested in was his own bloodline.

Theron was sure that the evolution of the Alpha only had a small part to do with the actual Blood Crystals, because Theron had taken over 99% of them for himself for, apparently, almost no benefit to his actual bloodline at all.

Back then, Theron had felt innately that the Blood Crystals couldn’t help him at all. It made him curious that his bloodline would still take so many of them, though… but Theron had his own theories.

It was like his bloodline had been trying to shake itself awake back then, like the Blood Crystals everyone else salivated over in hopes that they could take a small step forward were more like a doorstop to creak open a sliver of what was hidden inside of him.

There were many ways Theron’s bloodline overlapped with the Alpha in interesting ways. Blood Mana just seemed like another way of controlling one’s own Life Mana—something that should be impossible.

But both Theron and the Alpha were capable of this.

Theron was also technically a Blood Mancer. Could he not control his own blood? In fact, that was how he had tricked Elder Black in those last moments, by making her think one of his clones was actually him by siphoning away some of his blood.

But… it still felt meaningfully different. At the very least, Theron couldn’t use his blood to bolster his physical strength like the Alpha could, and he also couldn’t just trade in Mana to replenish his blood either—he needed water to do that. Specifically, Water Mana external to himself.

That was very different from the Alpha just converting Flux Mana already in its body into more blood. The latter was far more convenient and shockingly effective.

There was also the fact that Theron had to be in Veinsong for any of that to work for him either.

It was truly odd.

The Alpha’s new abilities definitely branched from Theron’s, so why did it seem like he had far more restrictions than it did?

The Alpha trotted back to Theron’s side, licking at its paws to groom itself and then shaking its majestic mane with a shiver. There was so much power in its body that it felt as though the simple actions would cause a whirlwind in the underground space.

Theron’s hair was blown back, and then he got another idea.

‘Hm…’

He flipped a palm, the moon rock appearing.

Was all of that to say that he could elevate the Alpha to this so-called Divine Realm if he gave it this chance?

Honestly speaking, Theron had no interest in taking this route. It felt hollow in ways that he couldn’t exactly describe.

If it was just a matter of gaining power, he would do it. The problem was that if the power was too hollow, then any chances he had at revenge in the first place would crumble before his eyes.

Theron didn’t care about ruining his future for the sake of revenge. But this was a time where his own personal pride and his goals aligned.

Right now, he could defeat those far above him in strength and power because his foundation was as steady as a mountain, and the achievements of his comprehension were his own.

But the leap from the pinnacle of Silver Mancy to the pinnacle of Gold, like this platform would provide, was too large. It would be enough for all of his strength to dilute.

In fact, if Theron was correct, he might not even gain as much from this as everyone else did. He was still quite far from the strength of the Divine Realm—this so-called Quasi Realm just a half-step above Ninth Gold Resonance—but not nearly as far from it as a Quasi Gold Mancer should be.

Not by a long shot.

But if he gave this opportunity to the Alpha instead, he would not only gain himself a far more solid means of protection—one that would allow him to do a great deal more with far less caution—but he would also be able to observe how the Alpha progressed in accelerated fashion.

Theron thought about it for a while, but when he looked into the Alpha’s eyes, he realized it was impossible.

This wasn’t because he cared about the Alpha’s progression. Originally, he didn’t want the beast to follow him at all.

The problem was that he wasn’t a Spirit Mancer, and this Alpha was supremely intelligent.

The Alpha had chosen to follow Theron because it knew Theron was its path to reaching a level it would have never had a chance to otherwise. It had also heard the conversation just now and was definitely smart enough to know that any method used to advance it would come at the cost of its foundation.

If it saw Theron use the platform personally, then maybe it wouldn’t be averse to it. But setting aside the fact Theron was fairly sure that only one person could use it at a time, he would definitely never do that.

Ultimately, the Alpha was following Theron because it felt that it could gain something, and it was grateful. If Theron betrayed it—and in this sense, that would certainly be what happened—it wouldn’t be nearly as faithfully loyal.

At that point, Theron would just gain a Divine Realm Runebound Beast that was very, very angry with him. He might as well put his hand on an altar right this moment.

Theron slowly shook his head and realized that this wouldn’t be possible, as convenient as it would be.

With a flip of his palm, he took out the moon rock again, looking toward the platform as though in an attempt to try and understand something.

Aliza had said that she was from the Sangun Empire. The old assassin had then said that her mother and grandmother were here in some capacity.

But Aliza had also never said that Mesmeralda was either one of those women.

That left Theron wondering. Hadn’t Aliza lied? The old assassin, at the very least, didn’t seem to confirm that one way or another. All he had said was that Theron should come here to stabilize the situation.

Honestly, Theron didn’t know if he had actually succeeded in that, but he also didn’t really care one way or another. He had mostly come for the knowledge, and he had gained a great deal in that respect.

But it still wasn’t enough.

There was definitely another secret here, but it felt like he couldn’t access it unless he did exactly what he didn’t want to do.

‘I bet that I could…’ Theron thought.

After a long while, Theron walked away from the platform and sat in the stands surrounding it. With the Alpha curled up around him, he closed his eyes… and then fell asleep.

He was too tired. He had been through too much tonight. His body was in alright shape, but his mind? It might as well have been Swiss cheese.

Every step felt like he was swaying on the deck of a boat, even simple thoughts coming like booming steps of thunder, rocking his ears and balance.

He needed to rest. So he did so.

Maybe he was one of the few people in the world that could fall asleep like this, in the middle of an assassin’s guild with countless killers lurking and waiting for an opportunity. But he didn’t even hesitate.

His breathing became even in a matter of seconds, and soon, his breath began to alternate in streams of fiery heat and frigid cold.

However, Theron didn’t notice at all. He only sank into a deeper sleep, the rhythmic cadence of his breath the only sign that he was still alive at all.

His chest hardly moved, his body didn’t so much as twitch, and his breath, despite being both frigid and heated, hardly made a single sound at all.

As he sank deeper into sleep, his hair began to flicker with life. From a deep black, and into a frosty white, and then back to a deep black, before moving toward a deep mauve… and then back again.

Water Runes danced around him, his Core churned, impurities peeling out of his body as though running away from something that scared them down to the depths of their soul.

But Theron continued to sleep.

The vastness of his mind was being unearthed one step after another, running deeper and deeper, as though there was no limit to just how deep his breath could go.

Theron’s cultivation didn’t seem to be moving at all, and yet everything was changing nonetheless.

Theron had progressed from Manaborn to Runebound far too quickly, but if one was paying attention to his body right this moment, it felt a lot more like a Manaborn transformation.

It was like his body was only now finally awakening to its Manaborn abilities after reaching Runebound, as though it was constantly being restricted by something… or as if it was constantly hiding from something.

Theron’s body and that of his Water Mana were only more closely becoming one, as though he was becoming a Manaborn Beast.