Theron left Ruu’s abode with a flash of his step, disappearing into the cool night air. Streaks of icy blue followed his irises as he dashed ahead, his thoughts moving with added swiftness.
Now, everything should be in place.
He had already planted the first seed of discord after he caught Ruu and let her go the first time. But after his mind received an enormous buffer, he realized that he was missing a piece of the puzzle.
How was Patriarch Gian directing a branch of the guild from a completely different province?
It wasn’t a matter of distance that had Theron confused, but the control Gian was exerting.
Theron was almost 100% certain that the Patriarch was not an assassin. Although it was possible that the Patriarch was just better at hiding these things than others, Theron believed in his own intuition.
If the Patriarch wasn’t an assassin, then how could he control a branch of Dagger of the Night? That didn’t make any sense.
But then it clicked. Who was to say that if the Patriarch could be friends with the old man, he couldn’t be friends with another important figure of another branch?
In that case, Theron wasn’t just facing the threat of two powerhouses; he was facing the threat of three.
This left one big hole that had yet to be filled.
Traveling just from Thistle Brook City to the Imperial Capital took days. Crossing a border and moving to a completely different province would take weeks given the very best conditions. Factoring in the fact that Ruu had to remain stealthy, it taking months wouldn’t be outside the realm of possibility.
But somehow, in a little over a month, Ruu had had the time to complete a round trip? Why were they even confident in sending assassins here to complete missions in the first place?
This led Theron to two conclusions.
First, the relationship between Patriarch Gian and his liaison wasn’t normal by any means. This liaison was risking offending another branch of Dagger of the Night by stepping onto their territory.
It also had to be remembered that Ruu didn’t know that Theron was aware that she wasn’t of his branch. Asking her such a line of questioning would definitely reveal to her that he was more tied with Dagger of the Night than she knew—so obviously, he didn’t ask and could only speculate himself.
To her, it wasn’t a surprise that she had gotten back so fast. But to Theron, it was the biggest of red flags… which led to the second conclusion.
This second branch had a method of moving across incredibly fast distances in short order. And for that to be possible, there were only two possibilities.
Teleportation platforms or Space Mancers.
Technically speaking, the latter was far rarer than the former. But there was a very obvious reason why the former wasn’t an option…
Where was the relay station?
A teleportation platform needed a receiving end to work properly. Maybe there were some that didn’t need a formed connection between two, but they would be on a completely different level entirely.
Theron’s level of knowledge now couldn’t be compared to before he entered the Secret Realm. While he hadn’t had nearly enough time to read through the entire library, he had accomplished some reading…
Enough to reach one final conclusion.
Ruu’s guild branch had a Space Mancer. In fact, said Space Mancer might very well be exactly the liaison that Patriarch Gian was relying upon.
This wasn’t something that Theron could have ever expected, and it made things a thousand times trickier for him. It was already going to be difficult to escape from the old man and Patriarch Gian, but how would he manage against an old monster that could cross hundreds of kilometers with a thought?
Despite this, Theron was eerily calm.
He looked down at his palm, squeezing it closed as he felt his blood pumping through him.
Since the first time he used Third Eye on his necklace, he had tried to enter two more times, failing both times. From what he could tell, he would have to cross into Fourth Resonance before he could again.
He still wasn’t entirely sure what happened in there, but rather than finding the answers he wanted, he instead felt a clashing energy. On one side was a sharp cold and on the other was a blazing heat.
The two slammed together as though trying to force themselves into a state of cool calm. But that volatility of both ripped his mind apart instead.
Yet, rather than crippling him, his soul came out far stronger. With it, his Mana control climbed to higher and higher levels.
Maybe he still hadn’t reached the threshold his necklace wanted him to, but at least for now, it was no longer a useless weight around his neck.
And if his necklace had such a secret… what secret did his father’s blade carry?
‘Soon.’
Theron slowly unclenched his fist, his calm returning.
Tomorrow would be the day he got the ball rolling. He had no time to waste here at all.
A branch bent beneath him as he accelerated once again.
**
By the next day, there was hardly anyone in the Imperial Capital who hadn’t heard of Theron’s appearance. But this time, it was Theron’s turn to be caught off guard.
He had only just woken up to attend his first set of classes, only to be called to the Dean’s office.
Honestly, until now, the only times he had been called to the Dean’s was for Dean Thistle. Half of him thought that there would be another Thistle on the other side waiting for him to deal with. But the reality was very different from what he expected.
There was an old woman he didn’t recognize across from him. But she radiated the gentle aura and fragrance of a Soul Mancer who specialized in alchemy.
It wasn’t the old woman, though, that attracted his attention.
Standing by the side of the desk, there was a chubby middle-aged woman whose eyes were brimming with tears.
The moment she saw Theron, she couldn’t seem to control herself anymore and rushed forward, pulling him into an enormous bear hug that almost suffocated him to death.