Rivers of the Night - Chapter 55

Chapter 55: Doubts

Sigil laughed heartily. “It’s rare to find such a straightforward man. I think we can be good friends.”

Theron smiled a gentle smile. It was refreshing in a way that was hard to describe, almost like one was taking a sip of the morning dew.

Looking at this side profile, Sadie found herself lost for a bit, a dull sort of pain flickering in her eyes for a moment. She was smart enough to tell that… whatever happened next would surely strain her and Theron’s relationship beyond repair.

Worse than that, she wasn’t sure if there was even anything that she could do to change that.

“This weekend I planned on having a welcome banquet. I think you should come. The young nobles of Thistle Brook and a few that have joined nearby Sects will be there. I think that you have more of a right to attend than any one of them. You will be my special guest.”

“In that case I will be there.”

“Good, good.” Sigil laughed again. “Alright, I may have overstayed my welcome. This is your moment, I’ve long had my own.”

With that, Sigil waved a hand and then left, his steps light and airy. Despite the fact they were very much inside and there was hardly a place to disappear to, he still seemed to.

In a few steps, he wove through the crowd and vanished.

Theron could tell just from the clasp of their hands. Sigil might only be 16 or 17 years old, but he was already at the Second Silver Resonance. In all likelihood, he wasn’t very far from the Third.

Theron also felt that there was a small possibility… that his senses had been fooled.

Sigil’s Mana control was the best that he had seen in the younger generation outside of his own.

Another echo of claps came, interrupting Theron’s thoughts.

This time, it was someone that had already been near the front of the group—someone that Theron had actually walked by to get to Sadie in the first place.

Teacher Burne Thistle.

“Indeed, a great talent. You’ve surpassed all of my expectations, Theron. You are also the first First Year to pass the new requirements, I’m sure that congratulations are in order.”

“Thank you for your praise, Teacher. Like I said before, I was only lucky to have some improvements and enlightenments recently, likely thanks to Teacher’s teachings.”

“I also want to formally apologize for so abruptly leaving your class when we last met. I had a sudden bout of inspiration and there was nothing I could do. I did not want to miss the opportunity.”

“Ah, so that was what happened,” Teacher Burne nodded with what seemed like sincere understanding. “That is odd. Usually, if such a thing happened, you should go to the closest safe location. From my understanding, your dorm room has been completely unoccupied this last month.”

There was a look of puzzlement on Burne’s face that didn’t make it seem like he was interrogating a student at all. But with his intelligence, how was it possible that Theron couldn’t feel it?

Of course, Theron’s smile didn’t waver.

“Originally, I wanted to go to my dorm room as well, but I chose to ultimately leave the city. I needed a substantial water source, and I wanted it to be as in tune with nature as possible. As you can see, I’ve improved greatly.”

There was a flash in Burne’s eyes after Theron said this, and he felt a heart-fluttering pressure land on him. It was so controlled and perfect that he was certain that no one but himself could feel it, but it was a striking reminder…

A striking reminder of the difference between a Bronze Resonance Mancer and a Gold Mancer.

Theron’s body was completely frozen solid and he felt an oppression he couldn’t shake off. Even moving was entirely impossible for him.

He frowned, the slightest crease appearing on his brows.

He could have controlled it. In fact, he could have shown no expression at all.

This time, however, he chose to express himself quite thoroughly. It was still in line with his personality, subtle and hardly detectable. But he knew how to toe the line between genius and monster.

It was the same reason he had pretended to use his water bottle against Wasian.

No one truly needed to know what level he had reached.

After he was finished, it was Burne’s turn to frown. He didn’t even care for Theron’s reaction, what was a Bronze Resonance ant to him? If he told Theron to strip down in front of all of these people, what choice did he have but to obey?

But the main issue was that there was a huge hole in his theory now.

If Theron had left for so long to recover from injuries, was it really possible for him to improve by not just one cultivation level, but three?

Unfortunately for Burne, the last time he had bothered to check Theron’s cultivation, he had been at the Fourth Resonance. He hadn’t caught it when Theron improved to Fifth Resonance. Why would he care enough about a child to check up on their cultivation every day?

Because of that, Theron’s improvement was even more difficult for him to explain.

There was simply no way a Fourth Resonance child could come out of that sort of death knell with such improvements.

He had already studied the best of geniuses. This was something even Sigil wasn’t capable of. He didn’t believe that Theron could.

The only explanation was that he truly had had some sort of random enlightenment, maybe even a minor bloodline awakening.

What Sigil said about the oddity of Theron’s last name stuck with him as well.

Was he wrong?

He was suspicious and couldn’t help but look up from his thoughts to analyze Theron again. What was he missing here?

After a long while, he opened his mouth to speak again.

“The Dean has said that he would like to meet talents of your caliber. You will come with me.”

“I understand, Teacher Thistle.”

“Mm.” Burne nodded indifferently. Clasping his hands behind his back, he walked away, expecting Theron to follow on his own.