Rivers of the Night - Chapter 556

Chapter 556: Technique Tower (1)

“The technique tower is a bit more lax than the treasure tower is for obvious reasons, but you still can’t just take things and expect to never give them back. There are copies of certain techniques, but for others it’s hard to say. Plus, here, you have to listen to me! You said you wanted my help, so I’m going to give it.”

Theron raised an eyebrow, but he didn’t say much.

What he first noticed about the technique tower was that it was immediately obvious that there were far more people. This made sense. The treasure tower was a place that would only be visited once a disciple was promoted to a new rank, something that very rarely happened and usually took place at a very specific time of year.

The technique tower, though, was frequented far more often, and it was a place a disciple might visit once every month or few months depending on the situation.

Of course, the Sect wasn’t very accommodating toward these actions. The best way to grow powerful as a cultivator was to select a single or handful of Spells and grind them to the dust.

Though… Theron wasn’t sure if what he’d find here could be considered “Spells” at all.

On the continent, the term Spell and technique was often mishmashed and mixed, bleeding into one another without much of a care. But even so, Theron had vague understandings of what each was.

A Spell was more of a prototypical mage’s ability—something that required conjuring up Mana and expelling it, usually from a distance. It changed the world in some fundamental way.

A technique, by comparison, was more focused on the body and what changes it was triggering within it.

Though, there could be some overlap.

[Entangling Blood Vein Pupils], for example, had some Spell-like characteristics as it targeted change in the outside world by entangling the Mana of the host with that of Mana that was far more difficult to control in order to amplify the former.

In fact, it was the existence of [Entangling Blood Vein Pupils] that made Theron feel that he could cast more Spell-like abilities in this world—that, along with his own talent.

But if Theron had to classify it, he would say that it was a technique. That was because the foundational prowess of [Entangling Blood Vein Pupils] came from a change it made to Theron’s eyes.

Another obscure technique that fell into this category was the way Kaelen used his Dark Mana to extend the length of his spear and used it to attack.

Kaelen was relying on his palm’s contact with the weapon to trigger that change, and he wasn’t communing with the outside world at all, so Theron would likewise classify it as a technique.

Techniques that were far more akin to what Kaelen had used were what Theron expected to find here. However, Theron didn’t mind it.

Before he left the Nightingale Empire back on the continent, he had gone through a great number of Spells, and his memory was impeccable.

Of course, the problem was that many of his Dark Mancy Pathways had been cannibalized by his Water Mancy Pathways due to the changes in his body. But not all of them—not just yet. There were still some Spells that he could use.

However, Theron had a feeling that if it was so difficult for others here to use atmospheric Mana, he was going to have to improve his Dark Mana Control a lot more first.

And a good starting place was his carving knife and the techniques Lyra would choose for him.

“Agree first or I’m not helping you!” Lyra pressed.

“Alright, alright, yes, yes.”

Many disciples in the tower couldn’t help but turn fleeting gazes over toward Lyra. In fact, there were several elders here as well, doing the same.

Since there were more disciples here, more oversight was needed as well. It was clear that whether it was the old or the young, Lyra was very much a hot commodity—though Theron “guessed” the old were a little better at hiding it… albeit just a small measure.

No one really knew who Theron was, but guessing at his youth, many just assumed he was a younger family member of Lyra’s. The fact Theron was only just a Silver Mancer despite his age seemed to confirm that all the more. They felt only a back door would allow someone like Theron into the Sect so easily and without them even knowing.

But none of them were Kaelen, and not a single other Core Disciple was present here. Even if they kept some disdain in their heart, they certainly didn’t dare display it in front of Lyra, and they certainly wouldn’t target Theron now.

“Good!” Lyra said with a bright smile. “The technique tower has a lot more floors. The first floor has lower-middle Silver Resonance techniques, and the second floor has upper-peak Silver Resonance techniques. The third and fourth floors are mirrors, but rather than being Manaborn, they are Runebound Grade and much more difficult to use. On average, a Peak Silver Resonance Manaborn technique is still a bit easier to use than a Lower Silver Resonance Runebound technique.”

Theron’s gaze flickered. On the continent, there weren’t such divisions… at least not out in the open.

But that day in the Nightingale Pavilion when he raided their Spells on display, he had found a Spell that the Empire seemed to have missed the core abilities of. He had concluded back then that the Spell was different and hard to comprehend for them because it required Laws to use.

If Theron was correct, the Laws needed, how much mastery you had to control over them, and how powerful the Law itself needed to be, was the distinguishing factor in these Grades.

The most powerful Spell in the Nightingale Pavilion had likely been a Runebound Resonance Spell.

Of course, Theron wasn’t just deducing all of this here. He had spent days speaking with the experts once under Patriarch Nightingale’s control.