Rivers of the Night - Chapter 689

Capítulo 689: Running

Theron wasn’t offended by the assessment. In fact, he extrapolated it, even adding in things that the Nightingale Ancestor Bird didn’t say.

Sometimes he still even used [Water Bullet] in battle, a mere Bronze Resonance technique. While this seemed impressive, it was a waste of his talent. In fact, there was an argument to be made that he was wasting more Mana boosting [Water Bullet] to a level that it could compete with his current enemies.

There was a point of diminishing returns.

Any cultivator could work backwards and pick out a weaker Resonance Spell and cast it with stronger Mana. So why didn’t they do it?

For one, the Runes of a Spell were very strict and finite. If you ran Mana that was too powerful around it, the world wouldn’t even respond to the call. It was like overloading a circuit.

The only reason Theron was able to do it was because he not only had a ridiculous amount of Control, but he had also evolved, modified, and tweaked the Spells so much upon reaching Consummate Mastery that it was practically like a whole new Spell.

Plus, there was the fact that it couldn’t be forgotten Theron had been a Silver Mancer all the while. So there wasn’t that big a gap between the Bronze Resonance Spells he used and the Silver Mana he cast them with.

But now he was a Gold Mancer.

If he tried to pour Gold Mana into the pathways for [Water Bullet], or even Cloud Mana, it was hard to say if his Mana Control would be able to make up for the gap.

The Spell would become unstable because the Runes used to form it would be too simple to contain such powerful Mana. The Mana would almost disdain the Spell itself, wanting to return to the more perfect world around it instead of heeding the call of the Runes of [Water Bullet].

Every time Theron cast a Spell of lower Resonance with higher Grade Mana, he was putting a great deal of effort into suppressing the tendencies of the Mana itself, forcing it to obey the Spell he was casting.

Of course, this wasn’t to say that he was a fool who couldn’t see this before. The reason this was still a useful path to Theron was because it gave him a great deal of control over the minor details.

Because his comprehension of the Spell was deep enough to accomplish something like this, other things were even easier.

He could turn [Water Scythe] into an attack that was three meters across to one that was thirty meters across with a single thought. He could use [Bursting Water Shield] and [Pressure Burst] in tandem, or he could use [Shedding Water Skin] on a [Water Clone] instead of directly on his own body like he was supposed to.

He could blur the lines between Spells with great ease, and that gave him the flexibility in battle that the Nightingale Ancestor Bird wanted him to gain from multiple Spells instead.

When one simple Spell could easily accomplish three separate things, Theron hadn’t seen the point in taking this route.

However, he still felt the Nightingale Ancestor Bird was right.

For one, Theron’s situation was different now. His soul was no longer just at the same level as his Mancy—it was a level above. That meant that what he had once only been capable of doing with Spells a level beneath him, he just might be able to do with Spells at his level.

Second, Theron had no choice but to focus on simpler Spells in the past because his knowledge of the cultivation world was incredibly shallow.

The more complex something was, the more experience it took to make full use of it, and Theron didn’t want to lead himself astray. He had no backing and no real information about the world of cultivation. How could he take the path the Nightingale Ancestor Bird was suggesting when in the past it would have been like trying to swallow something much too large for him?

But now… things were very different.

Theron’s understanding of the cultivation world was much deeper, while the things he still didn’t understand could be made up for by his far stronger soul. Mistakes his experience couldn’t catch, his soul would be able to—for that reason.

And he also had an Ancestor hanging from his chest that he had strapped to a lie detector.

If he didn’t do this now, then when would he?

‘I agree,’ Theron said. ‘What do you suggest?’

The Nightingale Ancestor Bird seemed surprised by Theron’s response to criticism, and an odd twinge of something appeared in its heart.

Finding geniuses was hard enough.

Finding geniuses willing to learn was a completely different matter.

It had real worries about Theron’s character, especially after seeing his state following his Soul Tribulation.

However… though it could tell there was a deep seed of darkness within Theron right now, the face of gentleness he wore over it was enough to make someone’s heart shudder.

Whatever it was that made Theron so focused…

The Nightingale Ancestor Bird almost felt bad for the child’s enemies.

‘In that case, I would advise that you have two short, two medium, and two long-ranged attack methods for both Dark Mancy and Water Mancy, for a total of twelve unique attack methods. Then I would suggest you have two evasion-type defensive methods and three reflection types, regardless of Mancy, for a total of seventeen methods combined with your attacks.

‘Then you will need control arts. Here, I suggest only two—one for Dark Mana and one for Water Mana—preferably ones that can both work separately and together.

‘As for movement, I do not think you need them. You have your [Death Walk] for less-than-ideal situations, and I’ve seen your movement methods in combat. They rely on your Resonance, I believe, and they are more than good enough.

‘As far as I’m concerned, so long as you reach your full potential…

‘You won’t be doing much running.’