Soul lamps were uniquely special items. On the one hand, any Clan worth almost anything would have some, even those too insignificant to be considered minor nobles—Clans that didn’t quite have true noble status, but had made their way in the world in other ways.
But, on the other hand, they could scale to shocking degrees.
The vast majority of soul lamps could only work within certain ranges. Because of this limited range, it was hard to tell when or if someone died at all unless they did so within said radius. If an important member of a Clan planned to leave this range, they would often have to take an amplifier of some sort with them.
There were many cases of such members of Clans leaving for too long, causing their soul lamps to extinguish. If they ever returned, they would have to reignite them.
A tier higher than these soul lamps were ones that worked anywhere in the world. In the Nightingale Province, such powerful soul lamps were only available to those with the wealth of Marquis Clans at the very worst. And even for them, they would often only use them on key pieces of their Clan while using normal soul lamps for all the others.
Even at this tier higher, though… such soul lamps could never cross the barrier of a Secret Realm to decide who had died within it and who survived.
However, Patriarch Gian’s could.
Unfortunately, that was all that it could do.
Detecting a death in the Secret Realm was already the limitation of this soul lamp, and yet its expense was hundreds, even thousands of times more than that of the tier beneath it.
All it could tell him was that Ironvale had somehow died despite all the advantages. And worst yet… he had no idea who had done it.
No, that wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was that this person almost certainly knew of the weaknesses of soul lamps and knew that they could get away with it.
If they also made sure that there were no witnesses, although Patriarch Gian might be able to guess at what might have happened, he would never know for certain.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t a matter of trying to cut corners. This soul lamp… was already the strongest in the Nightingale Empire. If he had wanted to give Ironvale a stronger one, well…
Only those Behemoth Clans would have such a thing.
If he had the sort of resources they did, would he even be in this situation in the first place, though…?
**
‘I don’t think I like dual-wielding swords. There’s not enough variety. But for now, it will have to do.’
Theron slowly got used to the black iron sword, but he decided that dual-wielding two swords wasn’t for him. Technically, the black iron sword wasn’t the sort he liked the best either.
He preferred swords that had blades that were two feet long at the longest. He also liked them to have straight edges without any curve or taper.
The black iron sword was mostly straight, but its tip angled into a defined, though symmetrical point. The main issue, though, was that it was closer to three feet long and it was quite heavy.
It was definitely a Silver Resonance weapon created for a Soul Mancer, which meant that it would need a Soul Imprint—something that could only be formed with Third Eye.
This made it doubly useless to Theron, at least on the surface. Without a Soul Imprint, it wouldn’t display its true strength.
Theron would still use it for now because it was incredibly sharp and durable, far more so than any of his other weapons. But he looked forward to returning to his dagger-wielding ways.
A dagger just gave him more control, more flexibility, more agility. It was a nice change of pace.
If he wielded two swords, it felt like he wouldn’t be able to tap into his Water Mana Blade Resonance nearly as easily.
Maybe that was just an illusion, but it was a gut instinct Theron trusted in.
‘This should be it…’ Theron thought to himself.
His steps came to a stop, and there was a complete silence around.
There was a rock formation ahead that almost looked like the rounded seats of a coliseum depressed into the ground. But after a second and third inspection, it seemed more like a curious pattern of erosion.
Theron pulled out the Verdant Bloomstone once again. It was slightly warmer to the touch now than it had ever been before.
After some thought, he tossed it forward.
It tumbled down the eroded steps until it fell into the deepest depression, rolling to a silent stop.
‘Interesting.’
Nothing happened.
Theron nodded, having already expected this.
He then pulled out the Echo Pill.
For a long while now, he had been wondering what the purpose of this thing was. He thought that maybe it was even supposed to be used with th secret inside this realm at some point. But the more he thought about it, the less it made sense.
If the Echo Pill was so important, it wouldn’t have been for Yonowai to get it. It was much more likely that, since it was with the guide to the entrance, it should also be part of how to enter.
But how?
An Echo Pill was supposed to be swallowed by a cultivator to help with the integration of an Echo. Not everyone was a Spirit Mancer, so integrating a soul into your body didn’t come naturally. A pill was needed as a medium.
This left Theron confused for a while until he saw the Lava Imbued Beast swallow a Bloomstone.
He was looking at things from his own constrained worldview. If one stripped everything back and just thought about the purpose of the Echo Pill…
Could it really be that this Verdant Bloomstone was only meant to direct him here and nothing else?
Or was it that it too had a power inside of it that had to be triggered? But much like normal cultivators not named Theron Galethunder, this opening needed a little help integrating with the Bloomstone.
A slight smile appeared in Theron’s eyes, one that he didn’t even notice. He loved stuff like this, it was where his inner child came out. Complicated problems that could only be solved when you took into account every little detail.
Playing people in the palm of his hands was too easy, he never really cared much for it.
But this…
He had always wanted to be an Imperial Scholar, locked away in a library reading everything he could get his hands on… This was where his heart bloomed most.
A burst of light came from the Verdant Bloomstone as the Echo Pill touched it.